Author: Augustine Ojeh

Augustine is a writer, researcher and entrepreneur. He’s an enthusiast of AI, Blockchain, Data and Cloud technologies and have worked with startups in these spaces for a decade.

Crypto Santa Claus Rally This Christmas?

Posted on by Augustine Ojeh

Traders often predict these two catalysts will drive crypto prices up or down in December. Is this a ‘Santa Claus rally‘ and tax loss harvesting?

The two terms are older than cryptocurrency, commonly discussed by stock traders at the end of each financial year. Just how accurate are they for making stocks or crypto price predictions?

Pentoshi On Crypto Prices Narratives

One of the most popular crypto Twitter accounts, @Pentosh1 told his followers to expect those two ‘narratives‘ in December.

Furthermore, he added Wall Street bonuses, as did many in the replies. Also not excluding the Chinese New Year as a 2023 narrative for crypto prices. Many holders around since the 2018 bear market will recall these ideas.

While he didn’t expand on that tweet thread yet this November, Pentoshi has been critical. He has been critical of this type of fundamental analysis in previous years. He says ‘just trade the charts’ and ‘what matters is the trend’.

Crypto Santa Claus Rally

Last Christmas for example, Pentoshi tweeted the image below and his comments that bad traders rely on narratives.

Investopedia explains the justification for a Santa Claus rally. It explains it as ‘general feeling of optimism and seasonal happiness on Wall Street, and the investing of holiday bonuses’.

The theory dates back to Yale Hirsch’s Stock Trader’s Almanac written in 1972. However thats not all thats happening this season of yuletide.

There is Tax harvesting. Tax loss harvesting is defined as selling assets to ‘limit the amount of taxes due on short-term capital gains. Gains which are generally taxed at a higher rate than long-term capital gains’.

Meanwhile, last December Pentoshi noted one narrative was that institutions would sell until the last business day of the month. Afterwards, the crypto markets would rally. However the Bitcoin price action was bearish at the 2021 close, with the overall macro downtrend being the deciding factor.

In July 2022 Pentoshi made an interesting prediction that more funds ‘will blow up.‘ This is the kind that focus on these type of crypto price narratives. Russian Oligarchs, Tax harvesting, etc. Most of these narratives came from the same VCs, TradFi guys. And funds that blew up or will blow up in a few months.

Bitcoin Prediction Following FTX Collapse

Earlier this month it emerged Sam Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research were insolvent and lost $3.7 billion. The FTX exchange linked fund were previously imagined by many to be made up of expert traders and quants.

Heading into December, Bitcoin is trading sideways, stuck in a 2% range at the time of writing around $16,500.

Since hitting an all-time high of $69,000 on Binance, Bitcoin has crashed as low as $15,476. This is happening one year on. A 78% correction.

Well, here’s the  downside. Some analysts predict the $12-$14k level could be tested as support.

The 2019 high was $13,970. This was plotted on the Bitcoin price chart above, just above the 2018 yearly open of $13,715. Pentoshi is unsure if Bitcoin will see a capitulation event and crash that low.

He’s predicting more sideways accumulation, for an extended period of time – neither a Santa Claus rally nor tax loss selling. To the upside, some traders predict a bear market rally could take the Bitcoin price up. They predict that the coin will go as high as high as the 2021 lows for a bearish retest. The June 2021 monthly wick hit $28,805.

El Salvador To Place New Law To Pave Way For All Crypto 

Posted on by Augustine Ojeh

El Salvador is doubling down on its bet on cryptocurrencies even in the midst of a bear market. The first country to declare Bitcoin as legal tender is now working on a Digital Asset Issuance Law. One which would facilitate operations with any crypto asset.

What The El Salvador Law Would Mean 

According to a document available on the official website of the country, the law would regulate the transfer operations of any digital asset. Especially digital assets seeking to “promote the efficient development of the digital asset market and protect the interests of acquirers.”

Furthermore, the novelty of the law is that it separates crypto assets from all other assets and financial products. This creates a tailor-made regulatory framework for them. The law leaves no room for doubt. Consequently, for a digital asset to fall under this categorization, it must use a distributed ledger or a similar technology. The blockchain is perhaps the most popular distributed ledger technology to date.

The law’s framework excludes transactions with CBDCs assets not eligible for trading or exchange. Assets with restricted transactions such as securities, and sovereign assets are regulated by foreign laws.

In a Twitter thread, cryptocurrency lawyer Ana Ojeda Caracas pointed out some of the most interesting features of the law:

  • Creation of a registry of digital providers.
  • Legalization of cryptos.
  • Inclusion of a legal definition of stablecoins and tokens.
  • Regulation of public offerings of digital assets.
  • Tax exemption in some cases.

Short Comings Of The El Salvadoran Law

Criticisms of the new law were not long in coming. Mario Gomez, a Salvadoran hacktivist, claimed that the new law was created as a way to benefit troubled foreign companies. Companies seeking to increase the attractiveness of El Salvador as a haven for the crypto industry. 

“The reason why these companies focus on small countries is simple. It is easier to sit directly with a president being a big company and implement measures that benefit (them),. This he assured in a Twitter space, analyzing the issue.

President Bukele introduced the famous Bitcoin Law in Congress in June 2021. A few hours later, it had already been approved by the National Assembly with large majority of the pro-government party. If this is anything to go by, the new law will likely come into force in a similarly hasty manner.

Crypto Companies To Eradicate User Data Monopoly

CoinSwitch is preparing to become the solution for the recent liquidity issues in centralized crypto exchanges. They intend to do this  by launching the CoinSwitch Pro.

Twitter is to improve its future and its currently laying its groundwork. Musk told employees that the company would encrypt DMs and would add encrypted video and voice calling between accounts. There have been uncovering of personal DM. So, Elon is to eradicate all traditional problems of the platform. Besides, after firing thousands of employees, Elon is re-hiring to fill up the empty slots.

AI-enabled cars are overshadowing the potential of expert human drivers by navigating through dense traffic conditions. Meanwhile, In a recently held experiment, experts deployed artificial intelligence in cars. The result was stunning. These specially equipped cars were able to ease rush hour congestion. Additionally, it also reduced driver frustration, and besides, less stop-and-go driving would also save more fuel and less pollution.

India’s largest telecom operator Reliance Jio announced the launch of Jio True 5G services in Pune, Maharashtra. Reportedly, Jio users in Pune will be at Jio Welcome Offer to experience Unlimited Data without any additional cost.

Celsius Customers Have Till January To File For Claims

Posted on by Augustine Ojeh

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York has approved a request by bankrupt crypto lender Celsius. A request to set a deadline for its customers to submit proofs of claim in the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings.

Celsius Bankruptcy Proceedings And Deadline

“The bankruptcy court approved our motion to set the bar date, which is the deadline for all customers. A deadline for all customers to make a claim. The bar date has been set for January 3, 2023,” Celsius wrote in a Twitter post Sunday.

According to Celsius, the firm’s claims agent Stretto is going to notify customers regarding the bar date. This notification will contain their next steps via email or physical mail for those customers with an address on file.

Additionally, customers should expect to receive a notification in the Celsius app. The court ruling also listed several categories for which customers will not need to submit a proof of claim. These include customers whose claims are not scheduled as “disputed,” “contingent,” or “unliquidated.”  It also includes cases where the claimant does not disagree with the amount, nature, and priority of the claim.

The Celsius fallout

Celsius became one of the first major crypto lenders to freeze user withdrawals. This followed the crypto market crash in June this year. Furthermore, after weeks of silence, the firm eventually filed for bankruptcy. This revelation revealed a $1.2 billion dollar hole in its balance sheet.

Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky, who was allegedly responsible for a series of poor trades in early 2022, resigned in September. Mashinsky reportedly withdrew as much as $10 million from the company’s account in May. This happened several weeks before the firm halted withdrawals.

In September, the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation alleged that Celsius had been secretly insolvent since 2019. They also revealed that CEO Alex Mashinsky had made false and misleading statements to exaggerate the firm’s financial health.

Meanwhile, the firm is also facing allegations of running a Ponzi scheme. Judge Martin Glenn of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court is ordering the court-appointed examiner and the official committee of Celsius creditors to settle on who will lead a probe into the firm’s use of customer money. 

At the time, Greg Pesce, the creditors committee’s lawyer, gave a statement to the Wall Street Journal. The statement goes thus; “We don’t know if Celsius was a Ponzi scheme, but there are flags that came up.” He went further to add that the probe was “looking into whether it is.”

The broadened scope of the probe into Celsius’ operations now also includes the company’s marketing practices. It also includes representations it made to onboard new customers, as well as its handling of the platform’s native token. The next hearing in the Celsius case is scheduled for December 5.

Meanwhile, FTX Is Owing $3 Billion To A Few Of Its Biggest Creditors

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX said it owes $3.1 billion to its top 50 creditors. This information is according to documents filed Saturday in Delaware bankruptcy court.

Even though the filing did not disclose the names of the parties wrapped up in the swift demise of FTX, the document makes clear the scope of the potential losses its clients face. 

Consequently, FTX’s top ten creditors alone have more than $100 million each in unsecured claims, according to the filing. This figure equal to more than $1.45 billion combined. The filing explained that the debt does not involve anything owed to company insiders. It also explain that everything is subject to change as more information becomes available.

Coachella NFTs Now Stuck On FTX

Posted on by Augustine Ojeh

FTX customers around the world have assets frozen on the cryptocurrency exchange. This happened after its sudden collapse last week. Apparently, this freeze is to the tune of billions of dollars’ worth in total. And it’s not just cryptocurrency or DeFi tokens either—some users have NFTs stuck in FTX, too.

NFTs Stuck In The FTX Saga

Discord servers tied to projects that launched via the FTX NFTs platform over the last year are now filling up with complaints from users who cannot withdraw their Solana-based assets from the FTX account wallet.

In some cases, even those who transferred their NFTs to external, self-custody wallets now can’t see the NFT artwork. This, however, is due to apparent FTX server issues. Links to many of the projects launched through the FTX NFTs marketplace are likewise now broken. FTX announced on Friday that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Furthermore, the affected projects include major music and sports brands. This includes concert festivals Coachella and Tomorrowland, NBA star Steph Curry’s 2974 NFT collection, and Formula One-themed NFTs.

What Exactly Happened

Coachella announced its partnership with FTX US in February, and its plan to release 10 lifetime festival passe. This happened as NFTs was hailed by some as a step forward for mainstream Web3 adoption. And not to mention real-world utility for such digital assets.

The festival released various other NFT collectibles alongside the passes. Billboard, which first reported issues around the NFTs on Tuesday, made a statement. It said that the sale generated $1.5 million in total.

Now, however, users in Coachella’s Discord server are reporting that they cannot transfer their NFTs out from their FTX wallets. Others say that the Coachella NFTs held in their self-custody wallets aren’t displaying artwork. Discord moderators have said that it’s apparently due to FTX’s server being down.

“We do not currently have any lines of communication with the FTX team,” a Coachella server administrator wrote on Friday. “We have assembled an internal team to come up with solutions based on the tools we have access to. Our priority is getting Coachella NFTs off of FTX, which appears to be disabled at the moment.”

In a statement today, Coachella Innovation Lead Sam Schoonover affirmed that the festival is trying to respond for NFT holders. “We’re actively working on solutions and are confident we’ll be able to protect the interests of Coachella’s NFT holders,” he wrote.

Custodial Concerns Over FTX NFTs

Unlike many NFT marketplaces, FTX NFTs was a custodial platform which means that it held purchased NFTs for buyers. The only exception is if they opted to transfer it to an external wallet. 

Also, given that FTX’s partners were major mainstream brands, it may have served more casual buyers. Buyers that didn’t bother to transfer the assets to self-custody wallets.

On top of assets initially sold through the FTX NFTs platform, there is a change. Now, anyone trying to sell another supported NFT through the marketplace would have to give FTX custody first. 

Currently, those NFTs are stuck on the platform as the firm begins bankruptcy proceedings.

Metaplex, the creator of Solana’s NFT protocol, worked with concert festival Tomorrowland. Their job was to develop its first NFT drop on FTX NFTs earlier this year. 

Furthermore, CEO Stephen Hess said that the situation illustrates the risks involved with centralized, custodial marketplaces. Especially as users currently have no way of accessing their purchased assets on the platform.

Hess said… “We hope this serves as a wake-up call to NFT collectors and creators that escrow-based marketplaces present significant risks.”

How North Korea Became Cryptocurrency Cybercrime Mastermind

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Created by a Vietnamese gaming studio, Axie Infinity offers players the chance to breed, trade and fight Pokémon-like cartoon monsters to earn cryptocurrency. 

It also includes the game’s own “Smooth Love Potion” digital token. At one stage, it had more than a million active players.

How Exactly North Korea Started To Dominate The Cryptocurrency Space?

But earlier this year, the network of blockchains that underpin the game’s virtual world was raided. It was by a North Korean hacking syndicate. One that made off with roughly $620m in the ether cryptocurrency.

The FBI confirmed the crypto heist, one of the largest of its kind in history. The FBI also vowed to “continue to expose and combat [North Korea’s] use of illicit activities. This includes cyber crime and cryptocurrency theft — to generate revenue for the regime”.

The successful crypto heists illustrate North Korea’s growing sophistication as a malign cyber actor. 

Furthermore, western security agencies and cyber security companies treat it seriously. They treat it as one of the world’s four principal nation state-based cyber threats. They put it alongside China, Russia, and Iran.

However, according to a UN panel of experts monitoring the implementation of international sanctions. This money raised by North Korea’s criminal cyber operations is helpful. They fund the country’s illicit ballistic missile and nuclear programmes.

Meanwhile, Anne Neuberger, US deputy national security adviser for cyber security, said in July that North Korea “uses cyber to gain, we estimate, up to a third of their funds for their missile programme”.

North Korea Link To FTX Crash

Crypto analysis firm Chainalysis estimates that North Korea stole approximately $1bn. This was stolen in the first nine months of 2022 from decentralized crypto exchanges alone.

The rapid collapse last week of FTX, has highlighted the opacity and erratic regulation. The kind that have been the central features of the market for digital assets. 

North Korea’s growing use of crypto heists have also served a purpose. One that demonstrates the absence of meaningful international regulation of the same markets.

Analysts say the scale and sophistication of the Axie Infinity hack exposed just how powerless the US and allied countries appear to be to prevent large-scale North Korean crypto theft.

Only about $30m of the crypto loot has since been reacquired. That was after an alliance of law enforcement agencies and crypto analysis companies traced some of the stolen funds. This they did through a series of decentralized exchanges and so-called “crypto mixers.” This is a software tool that can shuffle the crypto holdings of different users so as to obfuscate their origins.

How Law Enforcement Are Trying To Combat This Cryptocurrency Cybercrime

Furthermore, in one of the few law enforcement actions since the theft, in August the US sanctioned the Tornado Cash mixer. The US Treasury said the hackers used this to launder more than $450m.

The US has since designated the crypto mixer. This Crypto mixer is instrumental in the hands of hackers. Hackers who were in turn supporting the country’s weapons of mass destruction programme.

Furthermore, it also highlights the opportunities afforded by the unregulated world of crypto to many other rogue regimes and criminal actors around the world. This is with experts warning that the problem is likely only to get worse over the decade as crypto exchanges are increasingly decentralized and more goods and services — legal and illicit — are made available for purchase with cryptocurrency.

“We are not anywhere near where we need to be when it comes to regulating the cryptocurrency industry.” The above statement was by Allison Owen, a research analyst at RUSI’s Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies.

OpenSea To Enforce NFT Royalties After Creators Backlash

Posted on by Augustine Ojeh

OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace by trading volume, announced today that it will continue to enforce creator royalties on NFTs following significant pushback from the community.

“We will continue to enforce creator fees on all existing collections,” the firm wrote in a tweet thread. “We’re awed by the passion we’ve seen from creators and collectors alike this week. We were looking for your feedback, and we heard it, loud and clear.”

OpenSea On NFT Policy

On Saturday, OpenSea said that it was reconsidering its policy towards enforcing creator royalty fees on NFTs. This was following a wave of rival marketplaces that had either rejected such fees or made them optional. Optional for traders to pay. A royalty fee is set by the NFT artist or creator. The fee typically falls between 5% and 10% of the secondary sale price.

OpenSea set a self-imposed December 8 deadline to take in community feedback and consider possible courses of action. One which it said included making creator fees optional for traders. This means that enforcing these fees will only be as regards to some types of NFT collections.

However, the potential for the market’s largest NFT platform to stop enforcing royalties did not sit well with many prominent creators. One of these creators include Bored-Ape-Yacht-Club creator, Yuga Labs who vocally pushed back against OpenSea and began organizing amongst themselves.

Furthermore, on Tuesday, noted streetwear brand The Hundreds stepped up its response by making an announcement. They announced that they had canceled a planned OpenSea NFT drop this week. “May it be a reminder to them, to you, and the world that the artists are always in control.” The above statement was given by the firm’s founders.

OpenSea Reacts

As its tweet suggests, OpenSea got the message “loud and clear” from the community. The $13.3 billion Web3 startup explained that it was “​​seeking guidance from our community,” however, that was not the case. The startups pointed to data showing that the share of market-wide creator royalty fees is tumbling. Especially in recent weeks as royalties-rejecting marketplaces gain steam.

“Unless something changes soon, this space is trending toward significantly fewer fees paid to creators,” OpenSea wrote. “No policy that we implement will reverse this trend if this behavior continues.”

OpenSea encouraged creators to create additional incentives for traders to honor royalties and point them towards marketplaces that honor them. It also pointed towards implementing additional enforcement methods.

Royalty Enforcement System

On Saturday, OpenSea announced a royalties enforcement system for newly-created NFT projects. One that is built around a blacklist that blocks listed marketplaces from handling those transactions. The method targets marketplaces that do not fully enforce royalty fees, which are among OpenSea’s biggest rivals.

Some of the NFT world’s most prominent creators are speaking out in defense of royalties this week. This started after OpenSea said it is considering changes to its enforcement including potentially making them optional for traders. Now one brand has taken things a step further by canceling an Ethereum NFT drop planned this week.

Finally, Bobby “Bobby Hundreds” Kim tweeted on Tuesday night. He said that his streetwear brand The Hundreds will not launch its Badam Bomb Squad on OpenSea this week. This is due to the company’s unclear communication around its creator royalties stance.

“We were waiting to see if OpenSea would take a stand to preserve creator royalties for existing collections. This is especially after they’d heard from the artists, founders, and NFT community.” The above statement was tweeted by the brand. “Unfortunately, that announcement has not arrived in time.”

TinyTap’s First NFTs Is Sold Out

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Animoca Brands is the company advancing digital property rights for gaming and the open metaverse. The company’s subsidiary, TinyTap is the leading platform for user-generated educational games. Today TinyTap announced that the first batch of six TinyTap Publisher NFTs sold at auction for a total of 138.926 ETH. This generated a total 67.7 ETH for the six teachers who authored the content linked to the Publisher NFTs.

How The Proceeds Are To Be Split Amongst The 6 TinyTap Teachers

Each participating teacher receives 50% of the net proceeds from the auction of the NFTs of their Courses. In addition, they also receive a 10% ongoing share of any revenue generated by such 

Courses. Furthermore, as a result of the co-publishing efforts, they also receive royalties generated by the secondary sales of the NFTs.

The successful auction marks another step toward the vision of Animoca Brands and TinyTap. One that intends  to build an alternative Web3 education system. A system that better values teachers by improving the earning opportunities available to them.

The NFT that sold for the highest amount was Learn English with Gabi , which generated 22.9 ETH for its creator. Its creator is Gabi Klaf. This amount earned is approximately 13.4x the average monthly elementary teacher’s salary in the public education system of Israel. A system where she is based.

Commenting on the sale, Gabi Klaf said: “I’ve been teaching ESL passionately for over 30 years. I thought that discovering TinyTap’s interactive game platform was my biggest teaching breakthrough. But now, I see that the Publisher NFT is my real breakthrough. I am overjoyed that my English courses will now reach thousands of children worldwide and I’m excited. Especially because I can teach a new generation of young kids! Financially, I foresee this endeavor to be highly beneficial to me.”

What Is The Goal Behind The App’s Creation

Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, commented: “We designed TinyTap’s Publisher NFTs to significantly increase teachers’ earning opportunities. Especially over the current TinyTap subscription model. We also intended to free teachers from the costs and time required to promote their work. Thanks to this innovative use of NFTs, TinyTap’s teachers can choose whether to continue business as usual, or make use of Web3. That way they get to focus on what they do best – produce great content – while gaining the backing of a co-publisher.“

Yogev Shelly , CEO of TinyTap, went on to make a statement. “We’re deeply thankful for the tremendous support we have received for our new and pioneering education model. This initiative has shown that it is possible to better reward educators for the critically important work that they do. Instead of waiting for salaries to rise and for education to become more relevant, we’re using Web3 to build an incentive system. One that “will to allow communities and educators to come together to create.”

The Obvious Impact Of TinyTap

Cici Lampe, the US-based creator of the Course Learn Colors with Super Heroes, made a comment. “Five years ago, I started creating interactive games on TinyTap for my grandson in order to teach him myself using a hands-on approach. I can hardly believe one of my courses is now the face of decentralized education with TinyTap and Animoca Brands. This now brings supporters worldwide so all kids can learn with me.”

Ellen Weber , the US-based creator of the Course Nursery Rhymes & Fairy Tales , made a comment. “TinyTap has been my second income for more than five years. I always believed in TinyTap’s mission and have been inviting the teacher community to join me and create revenue generating educational games on TinyTap.”

Meta Announces New Creator And NFT Options

Posted on by Augustine Ojeh

It’s Creator Week at Meta, and along with various showcase events and panels, Meta has also announced some new features. Some of these features include expanded monetization opportunities. It also involves new tools to facilitate creation and selling of NFTs.

Creators Will Have A Swell Time – Meta

First off, Instagram’s making fan subscriptions available to all eligible creators in the US. This will enable a lot more people to monetize their Instagram audience. They will do this via direct, ongoing support from their communities.

Instagram first launched fan subscriptions with selected creators back in January. This was done  as part of its expanding suite of creator monetization tools, which are designed to keep top talent aligned to its app.

With subscriptions, creators (with over 10k followers) are able to charge a monthly fee – between $0.99 and $99.99. This fee will then gives paying members access to subscribers-only live-streams. Not only that but also subscribers-only posts and Stories and badges in comment streams. All of this is in a bid to help creators identify their supporters.

Furthermore, Instagram takes no cut from subscriber revenue at this stage. However, any fees paid are subject to Google and Apple’s 30% in fees for in-app purchases. But outside of that, any money raised is yours. This provides another avenue for creators to make money from their IG content.

In addition, Meta’s also launching new gifts in Instagram Reels. This will enable viewers to send virtual Gifts to Reels creators, which then allocate the cost of that gift as donation.

So, it’s like Facebook Stars, but in a different form, considering these illustrative, animated gift types. One that will potentially drawing more attention and engagement.

Meta is testing gifts on Reels in the US to begin with, before considering broader expansion.

Speaking of Stars, over on Facebook, more creators will now also be able to access its fan donation feature. This will enable your supporters to allocate funds to you during videos and live-streams.

More On the Stars Project?

Meta is also testing automatic Stars onboarding for creators. This means that the ability to receive Stars will automatically appear on their content. However, it’s also making Stars available on photo and text posts, in addition to videos, live-streams and Reels.

“Stars Party is a celebratory moment that happens when a spike of Stars are sent from your fans on live or reels. When the spike occurs, an overlay with a countdown will appear on the screen with a progress toward a goal. This will encourage fans to send Stars and meet the Stars goal.”

Lastly, Meta’s looking to lean further into NFTs and digital art. They intend to do this via a new process which will enable users to create and sell NFTs within Instagram.

Meta says that creators will have ’an end-to-end toolkit’ to facilitate NFT trading, with fans. Furthermore, collectors will be able to purchase digital collectibles directly within Instagram.

Testing Of NFTs On Instagram By Meta

In addition, Meta’s also testing video digital collectibles on Instagram, and adding support for the Solana blockchain and Phantom wallet. NFTs will also now be enhanced with additional metadata from OpenSea to provide further context.

I’m still not sure that NFTs are going to be the transformative vehicle for artists that some had initially projected at the start of the boom period last year. However, there is a clear niche interest in these artworks as collectible pieces. Consequently, it makes sense for Instagram to lean into this, and facilitate engagement for the NFT community.

Is Ethereum Still A Good Investment?

Posted on by Augustine Ojeh

Ethereum is the largest smart contracts platform in the market. To understand how big Ethereum is, consider that most of the tokens in the market today are ERC-20 tokens.

If you have been looking to invest in Ethereum but are unsure whether it is a good investment, then you have come to the right place. Here, we will give you a detailed answer to the question, 

Ethereum Good For 2023?

To answer this question, we look at how Ethereum has performed over the years. We also give you a hint on the best cryptocurrency broker where to invest in Ethereum today.

When it comes to whether Ethereum is a good cryptocurrency investment, it is essential to consider several different factors. One of such factor is it’s performance over time, which can provide insight into how ETH may perform in the future.

However, it is also essential to look at the real-world uses of Ethereum. This will help better assess how its value may change over time. For example, the growing adoption of decentralized applications has made ETH an attractive option for various industries.

Overall, considering all of these factors together provides valuable insight. One we need to determine whether or not Ethereum is an excellent cryptocurrency to buy in 2023 or not. 

However, while there are no guarantees when it comes to investing, by doing your research and considering all potential risks and rewards, you can be better equipped to make smart investment decisions regarding ETH and other cryptocurrencies.

Also, while there are many different blockchain networks, ETH is widely regarded as one of the most advanced. It is also described as a very well-established option. Furthermore, not only does Ethereum allow for easy cryptocurrency payments, it is also perfect for developing smart contracts. That also includes distributed applications.

What About Ethereum And NFTs

The Blockchain is currently leading the way in developing smart contracts. This makes it the blockchain network of choice for top NFTs and some DeFi tokens in the market.

But with that said, is Ethereum a good cryptocurrency investment in 2023? The answer is yes. Ethereum is one of the most highly regarded and widely used blockchain platforms. Furthermore, not only is Ethereum widely adopted, but it can also adapt to the growing demand. This makes it a truly robust network that can stand the test of time.

The Merge Is A Good Thing

Meanwhile, Ethereum’s ability to adapt to growing demand is evident in the recent shift to Ethereum 2.0. This new version of the platform represents a major step forward in terms of scalability and speed. As a result, it allows more transactions per second than ever before while minimizing fees and latency.

With these enhancements, Ethereum will certainly provide an unparalleled level of utility for users worldwide well into the future. So, whether you’re trading ETH on exchanges or building blockchain applications, This blockchain network is a solid choice. Especially for anyone looking for long-term value and flexibility in their cryptocurrency portfolio.

However, before you buy a cryptocurrency, it is essential to look at its past price action. This will give you an idea of how its price moves. Consequently, you get an idea of whether it is a good investment going into the future. On this front, Ethereum is a pretty good cryptocurrency to invest in in 2023.

The current second largest cryptocurrency entered the market in July 2015, trading at $0.75. After multiple highs and lows after launch, the digital currency hit an all-time high of $1360 in January 2018. However, it collapsed in the bear market that followed. Eventually, by the end of 2018, it was trading at under $100.

Aptos – The New Move-based Layer 1 Chain

Posted on by Augustine Ojeh

Meta’s failure to launch its blockchain-based stablecoin project Diem has caused a rift. It has led several of its employees to leave and develop their own Layer 1 blockchains. The first of these to launch – and do so with a bang – is Aptos.

Aptos Unpacked

Aptos is a Proof-of-Stake-based Layer 1 blockchain that combines parallel transaction processing with a new smart contract language called Move. With this, they achieve a theoretical transaction throughput of over 100,000 transactions per second. The project is the brainchild of two former Meta engineers, Mo Shaikh and Avery Ching.

Aptos first made waves in the crypto industry in March this year. The buzz was about it emerging to have raised $200 million in a seed round. One led by the renowned venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. 

In July, the startup raised another $150 million at a $1.9 billion pre-money valuation in a Series A funding round. This was led by FTX Ventures and Jump Crypto, before its valuation hit $4 billion two months later.

It is worth highlighting that Aptos did all this before launching its blockchain. The blockchain only went live on mainnet on October 17. 

To reward the early users of its testnet and fairly distribute the initial token allocation, Aptos airdropped 150 APT tokens to 110,235 eligible addresses. 

According to CoinGecko data, Aptos currently has a fully diluted market capitalization of around $9.2 billion. This figure is despite launching only a few days ago with little activity happening on the network. Beyond its provenance and links to Meta, the project’s valuation has raised questions. 

What Makes Aptos Special?

Furthermore, from a technical perspective, the driving force behind Aptos can be boiled down to two things. One is Move, the Rust-based programming language independently developed by Meta. And the network’s unique parallel transaction processing abilities.

Move is a new smart contract programming language that emphasizes safety and flexibility. Its ecosystem contains a compiler and a virtual machine. Furthermore, it also has many other developer tools that effectively serve as the backbone of the Aptos network. 

Although Meta originally wanted Move to power the Diem blockchain, the language was designed to be platform-agnostic. Furthermore, there are also  ambitions to evolve into the “JavaScript of Web3” in terms of usage. In other words, Meta intended for Move to become the developers’ language of choice. One for writing safe code involving digital assets quickly.

Using Move, Aptos was built to theoretically achieve high transaction throughput and scalability without sacrificing security. It leverages a pipelined and modular approach for the critical stages of transaction processing.

A Faster Approach

For context, most blockchains, especially the top ones like Bitcoin and Ethereum, execute transactions and smart contracts sequentially. In simple terms, this means that all transactions in the mempool—where all submitted transactions await confirmation by the network’s validators—must be verified individually and in a specific order. 

Consequently, the growth of the network’s computing power doesn’t translate into faster transaction processing. This is because the entire network is effectively doing the same thing and acting as a single node.  

Aptos differs from other blockchains in its parallelized approach to transaction processing and execution. This means that its network leverages all available physical resources to process many transactions simultaneously. 

Other Layer 1 networks and sidechains making similar claims, including Solana and Polygon, have suffered numerous network outages since their inception.