Category Archives: Cryptocurrency

The Russian central bank allegedly said it wants to ban investments in cryptocurrencies in the country, seeing risks to financial stability in the rising number of crypto transactions.

The countrys financial kingpin did give digital currencies legal status in 2020, but it prohibited using them as a means of payment.

However, the chairman of the Duma Committee on Financial Markets, Anatoly Aksakov, said there was a very tough approach to the complete prohibition of cryptocurrencies, such as acquisition or ownership.

There exists an approach where there must be appropriate crypto exchanges, where everything is legalised, transparent, and understandable to regulatory bodies, he said.

It would be easier for the Federal Tax Service of Russia to tax such exchange transactions.

For now, Russian authorities prioritise the launching of a CBDC ruble and have enacted tough crackdowns on the private crypto sector, including banning mutual funds from investing in Bitcoin (BTC).

Most recent figures, however, suggest that Russians transact about $5bn each year in cryptocurrencies and that cryptocurrencies are a hedge for 46% of Russian retail investors.

According to a survey, cryptocurrency is the primary source of income for 12% of the Russian-speaking crypto users, and more than 90% of the respondents expressed their desire to use digital coins as a means of payment.

Russia can boast many prominent names in the crypto world, including Vitalik Buterin and Igor Barinov.

Some of the other names associated are Aleksander Ivanov, founder of the Waves Platform; Sergei Chekriy and Yury Mukhin the two Russian entrepreneurs behind I-chain, while Alex Fork is the CEO of Fintech firm Humaniq.

Some of the most popular Russian cryptocurrencies, which need not be originated from Russia are:

Bitcoin is being widely used in Russia 40% of the participants view cryptos like Bitcoin as a good long-term investment. People already can pay with Bitcoin for some hotels and restaurants and also cars and furniture, meaning it is being used as a payment medium.

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According to a study by big data platform Brand Analytics, Bitcoin was the most popular cryptocurrency in Russia in 2021, outpacing coins such as Tether (USDT) and Litecoin (LTC) in terms of social media mentions.

Cryptocurrencies have been growing increasingly popular among Russian investors in recent years, with 77% of Russian investors preferring Bitcoin to gold in a survey last year.

Ethereum is the creation of Russian-born Vitalik Buterin and is one of the esteemed cryptocurrencies in the country.

Russia also introduced Ethereum blockchain in the voting system to make it more transparent.

Golos is a Russian cryptocurrency, which is the Russian version of STEEM coin, which is the most popular blockchain-based social network.

It was conceived and developed by Cyber Fund, a renowned Russian cryptocurrency organisation in late 2016.

Litecoin also is a part of the list, which has been extensively used in Russia.

According to analysts, people who cannot afford Bitcoins, get easily converted to buying Litecoins, as both are having similar properties.

Dogecoin became quite popular in 2018 when Russia allowed it as a payment option during the World Cup.

However, with the constant upgrading by Elon Musk, Dogecoin adoption kept rising in the country.

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What was the most popular cryptocurrency in Russia in 2021? - Yahoo Finance

Cryptocurrency Shiba Inu (SHIB) is not a joke anymore. Inspired by a dog meme and posed as Dogecoin killer, SHIB was the most viewed crypto in 2021, beating the likes of Bitcoin and even Ethereum, announced cryptocurrency price-tracking website CoinMarketCap.

According to CoinMarketCap, the Dogecoin spinoff recorded more than 188 million views during the last 12 months, while apex cryptocurrency Bitcoin came in second with 145 million views in 2021. It should be noted that SHIB is currently the 13th largest cryptocurrency in the world, with a market cap of over $20 billion.

Meanwhile Dogecoin was ranked in the third position among the most viewed cryptocurrencies with 107 million views, while Cardano had around 86 million views, and Ethereum garnered 81 million views.

SHIBs rise is speculated to be fuelled after tech billionaire Elon Musk, tweeted a photograph of the Shiba Inu meme going to the Moon on October 18. At that time, the token was trading at $0.000026 (Rs. 0.0020). His tweet pushed the coin to nearly 50 percent to reach a high of $0.000044 (Rs. 0.0033), according to CoinMarket cap.

Another major reason is also rumours floating in the crypto world that the SHIB will soon be listed on the popular stock trading app, Robinhood. A petition on Change.org has also implored Robinhood to list the coin on its platform. It garnered almost 3 lakh signatures.

This is not the first time SHIB was called the most discussed cryptocurrency. Earlier, in October, data compiled by ICO Analytics revealed Shiba Inu was the most dusccused crypto in October, receiving a 22 percent share of all crypto assets discussions on the platform, dwarfing Ethereum by 8.1 percent and Bitcoin by 7.2 percent.

On Twitter, SHIB supporters have been loudening their voices using hashtags such as #SHIBARMY #ShibaSwap #shibainu #shibainucoin, and #SHIB to rally support for the meme coin.

Meanwhile, cryptocurrency Safemoon, Solana, Cardano, and Binance were among the ten most discussed crypto coins on Twitter, as per the graph shared by ICO Analytics. However, none of the cryptocurrencies came even close to the popularity of SHIB.

Interestingly, almost 70.52 per cent of SHIBs circulation is controlled by eight whale accounts, of which, one whale holds 41.03 per cent. This means all of these whales have made at least 800 percent gains on their investments, last month.

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Shiba Inu was the most viewed cryptocurrency in 2021, surpassing Bitcoin: CoinMarketCap - The Indian Express

NEWARK, DE / ACCESSWIRE / December 27, 2021 / EverGrow, a newly launched crypto, is making stunning moves in the crypto market with massive price surges. Since its launch 2 months ago, Evergrow (EGC) coin has already distributed more than $30 million BUSD in rewards to its holders. BUSD is a regulated stable coin managed by Binance and pegged 1:1 with USD. According to BSCScan, a Binance chain explorer, The crypto has already passed the benchmark of 117K+ Token holders and is rapidly heading to 120K Token Holders. EverGrow (EGC) contracts collect 8% as taxes from every transaction and automatically distribute it among the holders in BUSD.

The team behind EverGrow is fully doxxed and, in a recent AMA, made it clear that EverGrow "is not a meme-coin."What makes EGC unique is the suite of utilities being developed in its Ecosystem, which includes the NFT lending platform and BSC NFT marketplace. All EverGrow utilities will be based on Binance Chain, which is currently considered the fastest growing blockchain after Ethereum and offers much lower transaction fees and faster speed than ETH. The lending platforms will allow NFT owners to borrow Stablecoins like BUSD, USDT by keeping their NFTs as collateral. For Q1, 2022, EverGrow has a suite of planned utilities, including an Exchange and crypto wallet like Trustwallet. These upcoming utilities are already in Beta Testing. Once launched, utilities will bring in significant revenue for EverGrow, 100% of which will be used to BuyBack and Burn EGC from open markets.

EverGrow (EGC) Ecosystem will also include:

EGC is hyper deflationary as 2% from every $EGC transaction is converted to BNB and stored in the contracts for Buyback and Burn.

Analysts have calculated that based on the current market cap of just $300 million, Even at just $30 million daily volume, $10,000 invested today would see $273,750 per year in rewards, and that is not accounting for any investment growth. EverGrow's record daily volume exceeded $50 million but is currently averaging around just $1-2 million when the general crypto market was in downfall and investors are waiting for utility alpha launch. With returns at that level, by applying traditional investing valuation techniques, EverGrow could well be the first new cryptocurrency that could 100x in 2022, so the idea of $20-30 million in daily trading volume is very achievable.

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Buy EverGrowCompany: Evergrow CoinEmail: contact@evergrowcoin.comWebsite: https://evergrowcoin.com/

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EverGrow New Cryptocurrency That Could 100X in 2022 - Yahoo Finance

Dont Know Which Cryptocurrency to Invest In? Scan Todays Cryptocurrency Prices

Cryptos brought in radically new ways of making payments. Since then, investors have been keeping a close eye on all cryptocurrency prices to make sure they take the right decision while trading in digital currencies. The top cryptos today yield the maximum profits. With increased institutional adoption, more and more investors are joining the crypto market. Analytics Insight lists the top 10 current cryptocurrency prices on December 29, 2021, for making easy and better decisions.

Bitcoin (BTC)- US$48,042.97 (down by 3.51%)

Ethereum (ETH)- US$3,818.94 (down by 3.55%)

Tether (USDT)- US$1.00 (down by 0.03%)

Binance Coin (BNB)- US$539.33 (down by 2.00%)

Cardano (ADA)- US$1.42 (down by 3.17%)

XRP (XRP)- US$0.8614 (down by 3.28%)

USD Coin (USDC)- US$1.00 (up by 0.10%)

Dogecoin (DOGE)- US$0.1769 (down by 2.34%)

Polkadot (DOT)- US$28.84 (down by 1.79% )

Binance USD (BUSD)- US$1.00 (up by 0.02%)

According to CoinMarketCap the current global cryptocurrency market capitalization is US$2.26 trillion, a 3.11 percent decline in the past 24 hours.

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Don't Know Which Cryptocurrency to Invest In? Scan Today's Cryptocurrency Prices - Analytics Insight

Cybercriminals are now taking advantage of the ongoing craze around cryptocurrencies to trick potential victims and steal their digital money. In fact, a report by Chainalysis revealed that hackers have exploited vulnerabilities within crypto platforms or used traditional scamming methods like rug pull, mooching off over $7.7 billion (Rs 58,698 crore approx.) worth of cryptocurrency from victims in 2021. Here we list all the major cryptocurrency scams that occurred this year.

In August 2021, hackers pulled off one of the biggest ever cryptocurrency heists stealing $613 million in digital coins from token-swapping platform Poly Network. However, the hackers returned $260 million worth of tokens in less than 24 hours.

For the uninitiated, Poly Network is a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform that facilitates peer-to-peer transactions enabling users to transfer or swap cryptocurrencies across multiple blockchains. For example, a customer could use Poly Network to transfer tokens such as Bitcoin from the Ethereum blockchain to the Binance Smart Chain, perhaps looking to access a specific application.

The attackers stole funds in more than 12 different cryptocurrencies, including Ether and a type of Bitcoin, according to Chainalysis.

Interestingly, in the beginning, the hacker refused to hand the stolen crypto assets over. That was until Poly Network requested for them to release it, coughed up $500,000 as a gesture for finding the system vulnerability, and even offered them a job. Poly Network later revealed that the so-called Mr. White Hat had given them the private key.

On May 19, the PancakeBunny hack took place, with the cybercriminals making off about $45 million in a flash loan exploit, and tanking the price of Bunny tokens by 96 per cent from $220 to around $10 within 24 hours.

A flash loan is an unsecured loan where no security is needed on the part of the borrower, it is collateral-free. We have to understand that it is automated so the lenders get their lent amount within a specific timeline automatically. However, fraudsters take advantage of such loans, by increasing the price of the coins and then withdrawing all their investments causing the crypto market to tumble.

The hacker borrowed more than $700 million in Binance Coin (BNB) from seven PancakeBunny lending pools. They used this to manipulate the price of BNB which caused the price of Bunny coins to crater. After repaying the flash loans, the hacker was left with 114,631 BNB worth about $45 million.

On July 16, the companys new Polygon blockchain fork, PolyBunny, was also hit, with a flash loan attack minting $2.1 million worth of Polybunny tanking its tokens from $10 to below $2.

Hackers stole $196 million from crypto trading platform Bitmart, the company called the attack a large-scale security breach. A mix of more than 20 tokens were stolen, including cryptocurrencies like BSC-USD, Binance Coin (BNB), BNBBPay (BPay), and Safemoon, while large amounts of Moonshot, Floki, and BabyDoge were also compromised.

Play-to-earn non fungible token (NFT) platform Vulcan Forged said it refunded over $140 million (Rs 1,062 crore approx.) worth of cryptocurrency to all investors, a day after its platform was compromised. The cybercriminals stole assets in Ether, Polygon as well as the native cryptocurrency of Vulcan Forged termed PYR.

Vulcan Forged offers over six blockchain games, and also has an active NFT marketplace, and its own decentralized exchange, where users can trade its token PYR. Jaime Thomson, the CEO of Vulcan Forged acknowledged the breach on Twitter and called December 13 the darkest day in Vulcan Forged history.

2021 was a bad year for Cream Finance, not only did hackers make off with $130 million in this October 2021 attack, but this was the third attack the company had suffered in the year. In February, hackers stole $37 million, and in August, $29 million.

The latest attack saw hackers exploiting what was thought to be a vulnerability in the DeFi platforms flash loan system. They were able to steal all of Cream Finances tokens and assets on the Ethereum blockchain, which amounted to $130 million.

Cybercriminals stole at least $120.3 million (roughly Rs 900 crore) in cryptocurrency by hacking into decentralised finance (DeFi) protocol Badger DAO. The attack was identified on November 1.

Badger DAO, often referred to as BADGER is an open-source, decentralised automated organisation that is focused on developing infrastructure and products in order to simplify the overall use of Bitcoin, across Ethereum along with many other blockchains.

The hack, first discovered by blockchain security firm PeckShield, tracked down the missing funds. According to the security firm, the company lost at least 2,100 Bitcoin and 151 Ethereum.

At least $31 million (Rs 226 crores approx) in cryptocurrency were stolen by hacking into multi-chain decentralised exchange MonoX. The attack was first identified on December 1.

MonoX Finance is a decentralied finance (DeFi) platform that is focused on developing infrastructure and products in order to simplify the overall use of Bitcoin, Ethereum along with many other blockchains.

Among the funds lost are $18.2 million in Ethereum and $10.5 million in Matic. There are also smaller quantities of several other tokens, including cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Chainlink, Unit Protocol, Aavegotchi, and Immutable X. It should be noted that Bitcoin is currently trading at $47,564 (roughly Rs 35 lakh) per coin, Ethereums present value is $3,974 (roughly Rs 2.90 lakh) per token.

Millions of dollars vanished in a matter of minutes after investors piled into a new cryptocurrency inspired by Squid Game, the popular Netflix survival series, only to watch its value plunge to nearly zero in a few short hours.

Popular crypto exchange Binance, initiated a probe into the Squid token and froze wallet addresses of the token developers, and called it a potential rug pull case. A rug pull is a malicious maneuver in the cryptocurrency industry where crypto developers abandon a project and run away with investors funds. In the case of Squid crypto, it is estimated that the creators have vanished with $3.3 million (roughly Rs 22 crore).

Calvin Becerra, the owner of three Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs was tricked by fraudsters under the guise of providing technical support.

For those who dont know, BAYC NFTs are a popular collection of 10,000 unique bored apes created by Yuga Labs. This collection has seen over half a billion dollars in sales to date, as per dappradar.com metrics. It is worth noting that the minimum price of a BAYC NFT starts at 52 Ethereum or approximately $210,000. Becerra claims the three Bored Ape NFTs he owned were over $1 million.

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Poly Network to Squid token scam: All the cryptocurrency heists of 2021 - The Indian Express

New Delhi: As the cryptocurrency market is booming and attracting new investors every day, have you ever wondered that what is Bitcoin or crypto mining? How to own coins without purchasing them from the crypto exchanges?

In laymans terms, there is no physical existence of any cryptocurrency but they have a value like any other legal tender of any nation and can be easily exchanged within groups or individuals. The Year 2021 made many new crypto fans and investors. This year also saw a fast rise of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ether, and Dogecoin but the best is yet to come.

The majority of the traders buy and sell crypto through exchanges but it is also possible to mine the coins by using powerful computer systems which solve complex mathematical equations.

Most of the cryptocurrencies are made using Blockchain which is also known as the public ledger. It is being secured by using complex encryption techniques and getting new tokens on the ledger involves solving many composite mathematical puzzles which help in verifying virtual currency transactions. It is then updated on the decentralised blockchain ledger and in return for this work the miners get paid with the cryptocurrency.

This complex process is called mining and miners are an essential part of this ecosystem.

How does it work?

Powerful computers solve some complex mathematical equations. The first person termed as coder cracks each code to authorize the transaction and in return for this service miner will earn a small amount of the token. Once the mathematical problem is solved and verified, the data will be added to the public ledger, called theblockchain.

How much can it cost to mine crypto coins?

In 2009, when Bitcoin and some other coins came into existence it was a profitable activity as the miners would easily get 50 BTC, which were worth almost $6,000, for solving each equation.

Although the reward to mine Bitcoin decreased over time as the value of each BTC increased significantly. As per reports, the reward to mine a Bitcoin is $3,33,000 (roughly Rs. 2.47 crores).

But the cost of Bitcoin mining has increased dramatically. This is because the competition for tokens is much higher, and high-performance computing is now required to successfully mine the tokens. As a result, the cost of the energy consumed in this process could be huge depending on the miners location and the type of hardware they use.

Can you start mining at home?

For mining any cryptocurrency, you will need a high-performance computer, a wallet for that crypto. After this, you can join a mining pool to maximise profitability. Pool group of miners can combine their resources to increase the overall mining power and the profit will be distributed evenly to all members in the pool.

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What is cryptocurrency mining? How does it work? - Newsroompost

Cryptocurrency is a popular phenomenon in the 21st century. Since its inception into the world as an established idea in 2009, it has become a household name in every segment of society. As we all know, the growth of Bitcoin, a type of cryptocurrency, and the rise of other competitive coins called Altcoin, have placed cryptocurrency on a pedestal where it commands more attraction.

The result of this attraction that it commands is that a troupe of people invest so much into cryptocurrency day in, day out.

Either as an investor or a trader, cryptocurrency keeps getting larger and bigger due to loads of investment each year. According to Investopedia, cryptocurrencies have become extremely popular due to the ideals of decentralization they convey, along with potentially outsized gains.

Still, their volatility remains high, and these assets carry a greater risk of losses than many traditional assets. For instance, in 2017, Bitcoin prices rose from $1000 to a high of more than $19,000 before dropping to around $3000. Then, Bitcoin again rose through the end of 2020, reaching new highs of around $60,000 before dropping again to $30,000 in the summer of 2021.

Cryptocurrencys structural decentralization is a major reason why many find it worthy of their investment, commitment, and time. What do we intend to say when we say the cryptocurrency has a decentralized structure?

We intend to say that an authority regulates it. For instance, the government does not serve as lord over transactions on the Blockchain network. In essence, cryptocurrency is a virtually established currency created to act as a means of exchange.

It uses cryptography to ensure the verification, authentication, and privacy of transactions. Because of cryptography, it is less cumbersome to encode something simple to find out with just a key. The cryptocurrency blockchain is a public ledger that has verifications from different nodes. Thus, it is uncomplicated to trace the origin of any transaction between two unknown individual accounts.

Specifically, in this article, we will be looking into the environmental impact that cryptocurrency may have or not. Undoubtedly, cryptocurrency commands a spiraling influence across diverse parts of the globe. It has hugely affected human societys technological, financial, and economic segments.

Early in the year 2011, Bitcoins value was $1. This year, it peaked at an all-time highest of an estimated $48,000. As long as this keeps on happening within the cryptocurrency orbit, there is huge potentiality that the number of investors, and traders would increase significantly in the next few years.

Nonetheless, the intimidating popularity of cryptocurrency has its boomerang or effect on climate change. Many are oblivious of the enormity of energy consumed by cryptocurrency. Advertently, it is right to say that only a few of the worlds populace know about the disastrous implication of this energy consumption on the worlds environment at large.

Cryptocurrencies are the end product of rigorous mining. What is cryptocurrency mining?

Arguably, crypto enthusiasts propose that a little above 50% of persons are aware that cryptocurrencies are generated from mining. But a good number know what crypto mining means. Nonetheless, these lots know what crypto mining means, but may not be aware that crypto mining is not just about creating new coins.

Cryptocurrency mining is the process where particularized nodes or computers verify blockchain proceedings for a peculiar cryptocoin. It also involves adjoining them to a ledger. One major functionality of crypto mining is that it helps to avoid double-spending of virtual currency on a distributed network.

As a result of the rigor of crypto mining, there is an amount of energy consumed by crypto mining. However, the high intake of energy has an awful effect on the human environment. Cryptocurrency mining requires intense energy. Most times, compared to mining for physical gold, the designed platform for cryptocurrency proof of work (PoW) requires a huge load of energy. It requires a huge amount of electricity to power hardware, which is equally expensive.

There is advocacy from cryptocurrency that showcases its advantage as a decentralized system over centralized currency systems. The blockchain web is functional regardless of the input or influence of any trusted intermediary such as the central bank. Thus, because of this decentralized systematic functionality, it utilizes a huge load of computational power to sustain and control the security of the cryptocurrency network.

According to Digiconomist, Bitcoin mining generates about 96 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year- equal to the amounts generated by some smaller countries. Mining for Ethereum produces more than 47 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

The excessive presence of carbon dioxide endangers the planet and other living creatures. Although it is a natural end product of life; also, it plays an important role in the growth cycle of vegetables and plants. Nonetheless, too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere traps the heat from the sun, leading to an increase in temperatures on Earth.

Scientists claim that if humanity does not find a way to reduce its carbon dioxide output, the plant will remain endangered, with a looming uncertainty hovering over its head. If there is a charge against the excess release of carbon dioxide, then cryptocurrency faces huge problems as it is one of the worlds biggest purveyors of carbon dioxide.

A University of Cambridge analysis estimated that bitcoin mining consumes 121.36 terawatt-hours a year. It is more than the cumulative consumption of the following companies: Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, and Google. And due to the computational process behind the smooth operation of the blockchain, this energy consumption is not nosediving any time soon.

According to Cambridge University, only 39 percent of this energy comes from renewable sources, mostly from hydropower, which can have harmful impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity.

The energy required to process the decentralized system of the blockchain network is much, however it is the most secure method of preventing and type of breach or hack. Its seeming disadvantage is that if it is over utilized, it has the possibility of pushing not only Costa Rica but the world towards the brink of extinction.

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What is the Environmental Impact of Cryptocurrency? : - The Tico Times

Cryptocurrency is all the buzz in 2021, and its adoption will continue to increase among young men and women, said a new report. However, women form only a small part of this growing group. In its latest findings, Indian crypto exchange Coinswitch Kuber said thatout of its user-base of 14 million Indians, only 15 per cent are women.

It should be noted that at the beginning of the year, CoinSwitch reported just over 1 million users. The findings came at a time when India is yet to table and discuss the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021, which aims to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India. However, it allows for certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses.

According to CoinSwitch Kuber, most of its users in India are youngsters. And on average, individuals spent 27 minutes on the CoinSwitch app engaging in either purchasing and selling crypto assets or learning about the crypto space from the platform. At the beginning of this year, the average time was 13 minutes per user.

At least 60 percent of the users fall under the age of 28 and majorly reside in Indian metro cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune, Lucknow, and Patna. Additionally, CoinSwitch claimed that they registered a 3500 per cent rise in transaction volumes. However, not every user made a transaction on the platform.

The most traded cryptocurrency assets that were traded on the platform included Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Ethereum, Polygon, and Cardano.

For WazirX, investments in cryptocurrency increased significantly in 2021, with the exchange witnessing a record trading volume of over $43 billion in 2021 accounting for over 1735 per cent growth from 2020. Bitcoin (BTC), Tether (USDT), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Dogecoin (DOGE), WazirX Token (WRX), and Matic (MATIC) were the most-traded cryptocurrency on the exchange.

According to WazirX, women traded more in Bitcoin, whereas men traded more in Shiba Inu.

Interestingly cryptocurrency was one topic that cut through the online chatter this year: cryptocurrency. People mentioned crypto 6.6 million times on Reddit in 2021, according to Reddit Recap 2021, which rounds up the most popular posts, topics, and conversations on its platform over the past year.

Meanwhile, cryptocurrencies including Dogecoin, Ethereum and Shiba Inu also topped Googles 2021 Year in Search. Dogecoin and Ethereum price were the top 10 most-Googled news stories of the past year, across the globe.

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Crypto exchange CoinSwitch Kuber says only 15 per cent of its investors are women - The Indian Express

In a bid to cease cryptocurrency scams, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is passing stringent rules for crypto scammers targeting investors in the country. Cryptocurrency scammers will entail prison time for up to five years in the UAE ,as well as face penalty up to AED 1 Million (roughly R. 2 crore), starting January 2, 2022.

Crypto scams aim to gain private information such as private keyor pass codes to trick unsuspecting individuals into sending cryptocurrency to a compromised digital wallet.

As per article 48, posting misleading ads or inaccurate data online about any product will be subject to legal repercussions. The same penalty applies to members of the public who promote cryptocurrencies unrecognised by authorities in the country, said Dr. Hassan Elhais of Al Rowaad Advocates, as quoted by The National.

While the previous UAE laws banned promoting cryptocurrencies but didnt penalise it. The amendments introduced punishments against the offence, which is a first for the country. It imposes a penalty of five years in prison and/or a fine between Dh250,000 and Dh1 million against those who promote electronic currencies or fake companies to raise money from the public without a licence from competent authorities, Elhais added.

Meanwhile, a recent report by Chainalysis revealed that hackers have exploited vulnerabilities within crypto platforms or used traditional scamming methods like rug pull, mooching off over $7.7 billion (Rs 58,698 crore approx.) worth of cryptocurrency from victims in 2021.

At least 36 per cent of the victims lost over $2.8 billion (Rs 280 crores approx.) to rug pull cases. A rug pull is a malicious maneuver in the cryptocurrency industry where crypto developers abandon a project and run away with investors funds. In total, crypto scams rose by 81 percent this year from 2020 led by rug pulls, the company said in a blog post.

In August alone, hackers pulled off one of the biggest ever cryptocurrency heists stealing $613 million in digital coins from token-swapping platform Poly Network. However, the hackers returned $260 million worth of tokens in less than 24 hours.

Earlier, in November, US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had issued a warning against cybercriminals that are using Bitcoin ATMs and QR codes to defraud unsuspecting individuals. The FBI in a recently released Public Service Announcement (PSA), said that it has witnessed an increase in scammers directing victims to use physical cryptocurrency ATMs and digital QR codes to complete payment transactions.

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Cryptocurrency scammers to face five years of jail, fine in UAE - The Indian Express

Polygon (MATIC) is a fast and highly scalable Layer 2 scaling solution for the Ethereum network. It also functions as a platform for building and connecting Ethereum compatible blockchains. Polygon reduces transaction fees on the. Ethereum network, whilst also increasing the speed of transactions drastically. The protocol enables instant transactions which cost a fraction of a penny ($0.002) Polygon's scalability focus is what makes it very attractive for decentralized applications that run on the Ethereum blockchain.Polygon has acquired Zero Knowledge startup Zero Knowledge, the company developed by Polygon, to build their new project - Polygon Zero-Rollup.

Cryptocurrency & Tech Writer.

Ethereum has a scalability problem; as we all know, gas fees can get very expensive, reaching into the hundreds of dollars once the network is overrun with transactions.

Here is where Polygon (MATIC) steps in, allowing users to access Ethereum DApps without having to deal with high gas fees and slow speeds.

This post will look at why Polygon (MATIC) is a promising cryptocurrency that should be considered by any serious investor.

Polygon (MATIC) is a Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum. It also functions as a platform for building and connecting Ethereum compatible blockchains networks.

Polygon started out in 2019 as "Matic Network," with its main aim being to scale Ethereum. In 2021 the protocol was rebranded to "Polygon," and its vision expanded to include building and connecting Ethereum compatible blockchains.

Polygon reduces transaction fees on the Ethereum network while also increasing the speed of transactions drastically. The protocol enables instant transactions which cost a fraction of a penny ($0.002).

Polygon's scalability focus is what makes it very attractive for decentralized applications that run on the Ethereum blockchain.

Uniswap, for example, announced that they had deployed Uniswap V3 on Polygon on December 22nd, 2021.

Polygon (MATIC) uses a variety of technologies to create a fast and highly scalable Layer 2 blockchain network:

Polygon's cryptocurrency MATIC is used for the following purposes:

Defi has emerged as a popular utility for the Polygon network due to its very low fees and instant finality. This can bring a lot of adoption to Polygon, as according to Bloomberg, Defi is now an industry worth over $100 Billion.

Combine this with Polygon's ease of use, speed, and affordability, and you have a potential market leader in the making.

To use Defi apps on Polygon, users need to bridge their Ethereum assets to the Polygon network. If you want details on how to do this, I recommend reading this Polygon (MATIC) investment analysis.

Popular DeFi apps on the Polygon network include:

As mentioned earlier in this post, Uniswap V3 has also been deployed on Polygon. This will bring a large number DeFi users to the Polygon ecosystem from Ethereum, where they can take advantage of the drastically lower fees.

Polygon announced on their official blog that they acquired the Zero-Knowledge startup Mir for $400m. The Mir team is joining Polygon and using their technology to build their new project - Polygon Zero, a highly scalable, Ethereum compatible ZK-Rollup.

In my last post about ZK-Rollup cryptocurrencies, we saw how powerful narratives can be for making profits as an investor.

ZK-Rollups are gearing up to be the next big narrative in the cryptocurrency space, and Polygon looks like a great choice for investors in this narrative, and here's why:

Polygon (MATIC) has already positioned itself as a viable scaling solution for Ethereum; adding ZK-Rollups to their arsenal will further increase scalability capacities.

This, in turn, will attract more users to the protocol and increase MATIC's value.

On December 17th, 2021, Polygon announced that they had partnered with Reddit co-founder, Alexis Ohanian to launch a $200 million dollar fund to invest in social media, gaming, and Web 3.0 projects.

Polygon will team with Alexis Ohanians venture firm, Seven Seven Six, to launch the fund. The venture firm's portfolio already includes Sky Mavis, the creators of Axie Infinity.

As well as being a co-founder of Reddit, Alexis Ohanian co-founded Initialized Capital in 2010 and was a seed investor in projects including Coinbase, Patreon, Instacart, and more.

Seven Seven Six will invest in gaming, social media, and Web 3.0 projects that are being built on Polygon.

Having these platforms built on Polygon will massively increase its adoption, especially if one of those projects goes on to become very successful.

If you decide to invest in Polygon (MATIC), I recommend using a cash-based exchange platform like CEX (Available wordwide and the USA) or Bitpanda (Only available in Europe) that allows you to easily buy and sell cryptocurrencies for cash.

If you plan to hold your MATIC for the long term, I recommend getting yourself a Ledger Hardware Wallet too.

Polygon (MATIC) is a good investment choice for any serious investor, the protocol has established itself as a leading Layer 2 scaling solution and is continuously innovating and making new acquisitions.

I hope you enjoyed this story; feel free to check out the useful resources below

CEX ExchangeGood exchange to buy Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polygon (MATIC), Polkadot (DOT), Binance Coin (BNB), and more from anywhere in the world with cash.Available worldwide, including the USA

BitPanda If you live in Europe, one of the best exchanges to buy cryptocurrencies with cash, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Polygon (MATIC), and many more. Only available in Europe

Ledger Wallets - Secure, buy and grow your crypto assets with the world's most popular hardware wallet. Buy a Ledger wallet here.

Kucoin - Great exchange where users can trade over 750 different cryptocurrencies, including new, low market cap cryptocurrencies. Available worldwide, INCLUDING the USA.

Binance - Exchange where users can trade over 500 different cryptocurrencies. Available worldwide apart from the US

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