CryptocurrencyScripts

Category: Opinion corner

Has the Artificial Intelligence wave really begun?

It took ChatGPT for artificial intelligence cryptocurrencies to really see the light of day. Not sure we can keep a good count of every hype coin with an Artificial intelligence (AI) tag that zoomed off in green candles. A new way to launch a successful project in the crypto space now is to attach Artificial intelligence somewhere in your whitepaper…or just your Twitter bio. That’s all it takes to rake in a few million dollars. If you add “ChatGPT competitor”, you might as well create a multi-million dollar cryptocurrency project without even writing a good line of code.

No jabs at the reputable AI projects that have shown how decentralized Artificial intelligence solutions can be created. In past articles, we have featured Singularity (AGIX) and some projects from its ecosystem (Singularity DAO) and have also tipped the project to climb to the top 20 positions, alongside FetchAI. That prediction is still a bit far from coming to life, but there’s a wave and anything can happen.

Talking about ‘wave’, the crypto space has welcomed some ridiculously overwhelming waves. Meme coins, privacy coins, DeFi projects. We’d add ‘bitcoin alternatives’ but that will give way for an almost everlasting wave, ‘Ethereum killers’. Now hats off to every other wave, apart from meme coins…we are yet to unravel why they really became so important. Maybe this article can help though.

The AI concept is another tech-oriented wave and the big question is, has it really begun, or is it fading away already? A private opinion, but the answer to both questions is NO. A little controversial, it is inevitable that some over-hyped Artificial Intelligence projects will see a decline and complete fade-off whenever the crypto space sees a sell-off. But for the blue-chip AI projects, the wave is still setting in.

Privacy coins took a big hit due to the regulatory hinges that the crypto space will continue to suffer for all of its existence, meme coins will keep rolling the green candles as long as Elon Musk continues his pro-DogeCoin tweets and teasing his new Twitter CEO — Floki. DeFi coins, well, it all depends on the APR offered in the liquidity farms and staking pools.

A high-level info-bot was all it took to remind the whole world that artificial intelligence is the next level of technological evolution. Super software, humanoids, and learned protocols. These are the future, the present could be in doubt, but as stated earlier, the wave is just kicking in.

A valuation for a good Artificial intelligence solution? If a meme coin could hit a billion in valuation, then a good AI solution should get to multiple times more. It is hard to pick a project that makes it to this point, it’s probably not even launched yet but a few veteran Artificial intelligence projects have what it takes to make it to this level. Feel free to shill your favorite AI project in the comment section. Shilling is one of the most productive marketing plans anyways.

While many empty projects will surely emerge in the coming days with talks about AI and machine intelligence, the crypto space will surely house a handful of super successful AI projects and they will be there in the long term.

Andre Cronje in a tweet shared his ideas about Artificial Intelligence and blockchain technology. Even though he opines that blockchain technology and AI aren’t really a good match, there are numerous ways to bring both together, and a few projects are already exploring that…or exploiting, rather.

What’s your favorite AI project? Definitely, one that has made you a 10X return, but no worries, that’s the best feature any cryptocurrency project could have. Let us know about it anyway; someone might have a few dollars to spare, or a few FUD to spread.

Meanwhile, nothing said here is financial advice, always do your own research; and Follow us!

03/03/2023
Meme and ‘Baby’ tokens showcase the power of hype marketing in cryptocurrency.

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It’s safe to say that Elon Musk facilitated two very interesting trends; electric cars and meme coins. To the moon! But before that, how much have you earned by simply holding ‘baby’ tokens? Only very few ‘blue chip’ projects are yet to get a ‘baby’ token which yields their holders some dividends in parent tokens for holding the spinoff tokens.

The crypto space offers a free market opportunity where concepts sell according to market demands. Regardless of intrinsic values, a project’s valuation could steam from numerous factors; ‘luck’ included. DogeCoin’s transition from a ‘joke’ fork of the bitcoin blockchain to a top ten token in a Two-trillion-dollar sector with tons of other relatively ‘more useful’ projects, goes a long way to portray the randomness of the crypto space.

Well, that’s not the first time this space has looked ridiculous; and not the last time either. If you bought some Safemoon and sold it off at its all-time high, then you’d probably be in a realistic moon currently, same if you invested in a number of meme coins.

Meme coins hold one thing in essence, ‘communalism’. Interesting, to be fair; group marketing creates enormous hype and could drive a huge buy pressure on the concerned project. Meme and moon coins utilize this idea a lot and make tangible price and community success thanks to the correct use of this strategy.

Hype marketing has played out well for a good number of cryptocurrency projects. Well-planned shills by a group of people could create thrills and lure potential investors into investing in a project despite having no clear information about the project. These projects sometimes involve prominent cryptocurrency influencers and mainstream celebrities creating these shills.

If done well, hype marketing could override utility and push a project to tangible price levels regardless of the proper utility it presents. This growth despite being organic is actually built on ‘unverified beliefs’ and bloated utility.

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Memes are cool, but are they worth over 40 billion dollars? Well, arguably. The doge army would present reasons why they think dogecoin should actually overthrow bitcoin at the apex, lol. Regardless of how convincing these reasons may be, meme coins owe a majority of their success to well-planned hype marketing…and Elon Musk.

Alright; you might not be a fan of jokes and memes, and communalism either, but passive income is an idea everybody fancies; well, most people. If that’s the case, then you’d fancy some of the ‘baby’ coins being filtered into the crypto space.

Baby tokens reward holders by selling contract taxes to buy parent tokens and distributing these tokens to holders according to the proportion of tokens they hold. Dividend tokens are usually allocated in a 1:1 ratio and enable automated distribution of the concerned parent token. These protocols are all embedded in the smart contract. Tweaks and ‘hacks’ are possible anyways. Well, I’d say ‘technological exploitations’

Actually, it doesn’t matter how the rest of the crypto space feels about these tokens, they skyrocket at launch. Only a few of them manage to maintain this speed for a while though, most others falter as the hype falls. Nevertheless, they make a bold statement about marketing in cryptocurrency and the world outside it.

A true businessman knows the value of marketing; however, the same cannot always be said about a nerd who prefers to push code bits to GitHub and deliver clever solutions. Disproportionality between marketing and technology has seen mediocre projects with good marketing climb the stairs in terms of market capitalization while plausible projects languish at the bottom and most times, die off.

You probably have your reservations about ‘marketing coins’ and hype marketing as a concept; but there is no denial about the fact that they shine a light on subject many projects ignore — marketing. Successful cryptocurrency projects are built by properly marketing good utility(ies). When done so well, one might offset the effect of the other.

Well-developed utility, successful hype marketing? A project might survive by having just one of these. The perfect strategy is a combination of the two, many projects with solid utility and tokenomics miss out on the latter.

A lesson to learn? I’m not sure if these other projects are willing to learn from memes and ‘baby’ tokens.

20/02/2023
How useful is Nigeria’s E-naira?

If you missed the news, the Nigerian government has announced the official launch of the tokenized and ‘cryptographic’ Nigerian Naira — the E-Naira. With the official wallet available in all application stores, Nigeria becomes the first African country to embrace blockchain technology on a nationwide scale.

China’s digital Yuan is yet to launch officially, Nigeria might as well be the first country to use a Central Bank Digital Currency.

Not bitcoin; actually, cryptocurrencies are still banned in Nigeria, but as far as the adoption goal is concerned, this is a huge breakthrough for blockchain technology. Nigeria’s over 200 million sparsely located citizens can now access some basic banking services without necessarily owning a bank account.

For a country struggling to cope with its growing population amidst pronounced corruption and spiking cost of living, the E-naira comes as a necessity. Regardless of the resources geared towards developing the E-naira technology and rolling it out, the Federal Republic of Nigeria has taken a bold step in the ‘right’ direction.

An excess of 206 million people dispersed over an area of over 900,000 square kilometers in an ‘oil-rich’ nation struggling to provide basic amenities for its citizen. The banking system in Nigeria is expectedly poor and easily accessible to only a few. Depending on presiding periodic conditions, this number is greatly reduced at times. For visitors, exposure to this difficulty might depend on the area being visited and of course, period of visitation.

Apart from its sparsely distributed population and limited resources, Nigeria faces an uphill battle with internal insecurity. Clouded by insurgency and separatist movements, the security situation in the most populated African country is not trustworthy. Financial management in a location like this is a herculean task.

Nigerians have since turned up against this development, citing banking applications as an efficient substitute for the E-naira. Well, this argument falls through in many instances.

Banking applications are developed and controlled by banking institutions to simplify intra and inter-bank operations by their customers. Using a banking application, customers can perform basic financial operations such as transfer and receipt of funds, bill payments, and a number of other operations. But this service is basically for citizens who are privileged enough to own a bank account.

For citizens leaving in very rural areas, financial management in an insecure region is a nightmare. Loss of funds due to misplacement and theft is a popular story in settings like this. But this is just one of the many unfortunate tales of the unbanked in the west African nation.

Carrying fiat papers around has never been a fun exercise. Due to the slow adoption of financial technologies in Nigeria, swift payment strategies are unavailable in most stores and traditional commercial setups. This is partly due to slow technological advancement and also due to the poor banking system. Using paper money is inevitable in cases like this.

Thanks to constraints involved in exchanging the Naira within and outside Nigeria, using the Naira isn’t so easy for foreigners visiting the nation. Sending and receiving Naira outside the country without having an account with a Nigerian banking institution is almost impossible too.

Nigeria’s CBDC solves these problems in a very classy way. Built on blockchain technology, managed by the government; the E-Naira will allow people within and outside Nigeria to perform basic financial transactions using the tokenized Naira. The E-Naira wallet allows citizens to bridge over their fiat to a more flexible platform and relatively more secure. Well, it’s impossible to say for certain if Nigeria’s ‘blockchain’ is truly decentralized.

E-Naira and its wallet share a number of principal blockchain and cryptocurrency features; generality and security respectively. In comparison with private-owned banks and banking applications, E-Naira being controlled by the Federal Government is arguably a more secure facility.

E-naira wallet is accessible to anyone who owns a smartphone anywhere in the world, holders will be able to send and receive Nigerian currency without even having an account with a Nigerian financial institution.

The Nigerian Naira is boundless, thanks to the E-naira innovation.

A step forward? I totally think so. But the Nigerian government hasn’t always been the best when it comes to management; the e-Naira is still a prospect filled with uncertainty. Important things to note is that using the E-Naira is currently not cheaper than using existing options and KYC levels determine the extent of use. However, this is only for people who enjoy accessible banking services. The unbanked and people transacting outside the country using the Naira may find this very cheaper than the hassles they go through currently. This development is basically for this set of people.

20/02/2023
Chasing ‘hot shots’ is less likely to make you rich!

Off to the market! And what are we buying today? The most popular cryptocurrencies? Floki Inu; the meme coin based on Elon Musk’s dog has gained some steam. Funny how that sounds but the rocket man has cemented his reputation as the king of memes and everything that comes with it. Crypto investing is quite an interesting venture.

Doge, Shiba, Floki…each of these projects hit the ground running with the mouth-watering gains they post. They do this despite not having any tangible use case…well, memes and ‘charity’ are good use cases nowadays. Anyways, ‘numbers go up!’.

So, you are going to ditch your stable coins or some of your previous investments for the ‘next 100x’? It’s human nature to chase trends and the fear of missing out is a huge drive. Investors rush to these hot shots with hopes of reaping from the next possible gains.

This works, sometimes. It’s an uncertain market anyways and anything is possible, but being a successful investor hardly comes from jumping on trends. 50% gains, the rush kicks in. Speculators take the space and the project in question gets mentioned everywhere. The trend goes on, enthusiasts buy in with only a little idea of what the project is really about.

TA analyses, hypes from influencers, gains on trading pairs…these things are enough to sweep anyone off their feet. But regardless of how hot the hype blows, clever investors will certainly do their own research before buying in.

What’s your ‘hot shot’ story? Various tales will surround the rush. Successful or not, conditions differ. But…

Cryptocurrency trends are birthed by an idea or concept gaining relevance over time. Memes, DeFi, NFT…these ideas existed way before they caught the attention of the greater number of people in the space.

The real gainers in any case of these concepts breaking out are the pioneers who believed in these ideas and supported them with their time and their capital. Being amongst the pioneer investors in any concept could fetch you over a 1000x gain as the case may be. This, however, comes with its own challenges.

Chasing trends definitely keeps an investor ‘restless’. Traders are meant to do this normally, but investors who buy tokens with a plan to hold on to them until the gains start coming are meant to exercise patience. Patience is a joke word for an investor chasing trends.

2–5X gains (or some terrible to manageable losses) and the hype dies; then unto the next one. A patient and more enduring investor who makes enough research probably already made some crazy gains from the same project and is still holding on knowing the hype could return with even heavier waves.

Chasing trending projects puts an investor in the way of higher risks and lesser gains as the hype and trends are naturally meant to cool off at a point. Buy high, sell low…a common story amongst trend chasers.

Cryptocurrency investment gives room for countless opportunities, but reaping from them would require clever decisions and a lot of patience too. The more time you spend chasing trends, the more risks you’re exposed to and the more losses you may incur.

Depending on how far the project goes, a lucky investor might make tangible gains from chasing trends, but that only means that a patient investor who invested before the hyped kicked in already made way more. Well, it’s better to make little gains than to miss out entirely, but most times, things don’t work exactly as presumed.

05/02/2023
Will GameFi do better without Play-to-earn?

What’s your biggest attraction towards GameFi projects? if we are being honest, play-to-earn will form majority of the answers…probably 100% of the answers. Axie infinity’s success quickly influenced an outpour of decentralized gaming projects with earning opportunities for gamers and investors alike. Binance smart chain’s ‘Cryptoblades’ posted astonishing price gains as users flocked to the platform to play the game which rewards them with tradable tokens and Non-Fungible Tokens.

Success stories from players littered the crypto space as more people flocked to the platform. A ton of other similar platforms would quickly emerge, a new trend was birthed! A lotof users testified to earning more than their annual salary from simply playing ‘games’ on the blockchain.

Hypes, disappointments, and inefficiencies; many of the new and existing blockchain-based games failed to meet up with users’ expectations; financial and technological expectations. Technically, most of these games were far from properly developed. Users would describe them as ‘3D casinos’.

You’d expect these shortcomings for projects built on an impatient community of users with high hopes of turning their financial conditions around by simply playing games on blockchain platforms.

“It’s a scam!” says users whose expectations weren’t met by the new game released by developers after just three weeks of development. But technical issues are hardly the main disappointment. Lamentations steam mainly from users’ inability to earn as much as expected from the games. In some cases, users run into losses leading to more intense ‘scam’ allegations.

GameFi projects easily suffer huge price losses and endless backlash. Investors, disappointed with the low earning potentials continue to air their views in the sternest way, further confirming the fact that cryptocurrency enthusiasts are in fact more concerned about the earnings, and not the gameplay itself.

Well, it’s reasonable.

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The direct juxtaposition of gaming and earning in GameFi projects haven’t really worked best as normal human greed gets the better of these projects. little shortcomings result in heavy price drops and loss of interest. In a space where investors are quick to suspect ‘scams’ (and rightly so); emerging technologies like GameFi face a huge war between good and Bad…and the ugly.

But, how far has GameFi gone exactly? I’ll say, ‘very far’. Unfortunately, this is hard to realize when players are more focused on earning and will gladly shove aside a good game if it doesn’t offer a good earning opportunity. Passion aside, GameFi platforms have attracted more users in a very short period of time than most popular games.

EA Sports’ FIFA21 recorded an astonishing 31 million players on both PC and consoles, an additional 6 million players from its previous record. Taking into consideration, the rate of adoption and resource availability, GameFi platform has outperformed even the most popular football game. Axie infinity has reportedly recorded an excess of a million daily players!

This impressive growth is, however, influenced by earning opportunities as human greed comes into play once again. Despite the enormous number of daily users, players on GameFi platform hardly complain about technological shortcomings if the earnings are good. To be fair, most people would do the same, why complain when the money is good? Rhetoric with a simple answer.

While most mainstream games don’t have direct earning opportunities, players develop a way to make external earnings by contributing to the games’ growth. Popular ‘Call of duty’ players make tangible income from showing their gameplay on streaming platforms. Game critics and analysts make good incomes as well. In plain words, players flock to these games for the real fun they drive from just playing the game.

In contrast, GameFi’s Play-to-earn gets rid of the fun and users care least about the gameplay and how fun they are…the money will bring the fun, lol.

Will GameFi do better without play-to-earn? Well, YES and NO.

Withdrawing earning opportunities from decentralized gaming platforms will allow faster technological growth, however, an opposite effect is expected on adoption as fewer people will play without earning; very few.

NO, for short term, and Yes, for long term. Taking off earning opportunities will inevitably reduce participation, but on the brighter side, the pressure to deliver in a short period will be taken off the shoulders of game developers. Project development will as well move more smoothly as price talks won’t impede development. In the long run, the release of well-developed games with really fun and interesting gameplay will drive even more users.

02/02/2023
United Fruit Company? El Salvador’s bitcoin bill might be more than just a financial move.

El Salvador holds well over 200 bitcoins, the Central American country is waxing stronger in its efforts to cement bitcoin’s position in the national economy. With about seven hundred bitcoin in the bag, Nayib Bukele and his team are working toward a historic financial revolution. El Salvador’s Chivo wallet could process the transfer of a penny and charge as little as ‘zero’ fees! Hitting at the very heart of global finance, these developments are growing more popular as the rest of the world watches.

Built on top of a ‘fragile’ economy, El Salvador’s bitcoin project would worry anyone who genuinely cares about the nation. Like a double-edged sword, adding bitcoin to the nation’s reserves could swing the nation towards any angle. Financial foul play aside, volatility of the bitcoin type is a very interesting event, one most countries dread. On the bad side, A 10% loss within an hour? Well, a solid economy is in a better position to deal with such, not one hanging on a thread with seven million citizens at stake.

Albeit the challenges and risks, El Salvador has remained obstinate and persistent. One would question the motivation for such dedication. Just a technological revolution? Well, that would be enough reason to be fair. The current financial system is technologically backward and needs a push. Nayib might as well be on a mission to liberate his country from financial captivity.

But, is that all? Well…

Not apples, bananas are arguably the most unique and iconic fruits. With a unique and familiar appearance, bananas boast a completely different taste and texture. Flexible, bananas can be eaten plainly, prepared in many forms, or mixed with almost anything…milk inclusive. Its flexibility also stretches to how plating and presentation; casually or formerly, bananas retain their prestige and hygiene regardless of how they are being served.

Clothed in a fine fleshy casing that can be easily removed (when ripe), bananas are one of the few fruits with a natural consideration for human health. The soft and smooth essence discovered after the peel could easily fit into your diet to give you a proper meal. Bananas are hard to hate; literally. You’d ‘go bananas’ when you consider how amazing this fruit really is.

Well, much praise for the iconic fruit, but its contribution to human nutrition is not the only reason for its prestige; at least not in the context of this article.

Our love for bananas dates back many decades ago, the fruit also grew in prominence around this time as people continued to explore its goodness. At the very onset of the banana boom, the 1899 merger between Boston Fruit Company and Banana Trading Concerns sparked what would become a rollercoaster in history.

United Fruit Company, the birth child of this merger would soon grow into a reckoning force in the banana trading business, generating millions of dollars via its fruit trade. Located in the central east United Fruit Company rapidly grew into a global force, gaining political and military support from countries far and near.

United Fruit Company’s activities in the central east would soon metamorphose into gruesome tales of political, military, and financial complications. With so many dollars at hand and the ability to make even more through the booming banana business which they majorly control; United Fruit Company gained the ‘alpha’ status. Maneuvering through a series of financial, political, and military foul play, they were simply untouchable.

Most of United Fruit Company’s shady financial activities were aided by the centralized and non-trackable dollar. The USA itself has gained much control of central American countries including Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Colombia. Their influence in Central America further simplified United Fruit’s dealings in this region.

Well, it’s hard to say for certain if Nayib’s dedication to cementing bitcoin’s place in his country’s economy is related in any way to these past events, but it looks very likely. Bitcoin’s technology not only distributes technological power but also decentralizes economic and political power. Its ability to create a unified and generalized economy makes it a potential ‘object of peace’.

Unified economy, political and economic decentralization; might as well not be Nayib’s motive for making bitcoin a legal tender. Traceable and verifiable financial transaction? Every bitcoin transaction can be easily found and traced on the blockchain. Unlike fiat, every record of holders, emissions, and distributions can be found on the bitcoin blockchain. This makes for financial transparency, the opposite of which has aided countless financial foul plays.

El Salvador’s president’s tweet remains a mystery, a possible connection to the bitcoin bill is also uncertain despite looking very likely. Jack Dorsey hopes bitcoin ‘creates world peace’, Nayib Bukele might be on a mission to put this into play. United Fruit Company’s activities might have triggered a worldwide movement. Whichever way this goes, it’s exciting to find out!

02/02/2023
Can bitcoin fix the Global economy?

Remember the scenes from the 2014 movie; ‘A million ways to die in the west’? I’ve lost memories of most of them. However, I still remember the scene where a dollar bill was put up as a wager for a shooting challenge. ‘Take your hat off boy, that’s a dollar bill!’ The excitement, the respect, it was a whole dollar bill. Fast forward to our contemporary society, dollar notes and every other fiat note are nowhere close to commanding that level of value and respect.

Years of continuous use by an ever-growing population of people, years of continuous printing by an ever-running printing machine; the value of fiat currencies has suffered so much from inflation and poor economic practices.

Staying true to its initial value is a losing war that it is tired of fighting and has given way to a steep-speed fall in value. The United State dollar remains the most widely used medium of comparison to the other fiat currencies, but despite this wide use and good economic backup, its value has been on a free fall over the past couple of decades.

A rather logical stuff, considering the fact that a higher percentage of dollars in circulation today were printed over the past five years. Other currencies have seen similar irregular inflation as the global economy continues to show instability. You’d agree that the current global economic system is imperfect, I’d say it is almost ‘completely faulty’. Despite surviving for so long, the fiat system and centralized currency issuing scheme haven’t really been so efficient. The parabolic fall in value over the years is a result of these shortcomings.

While dogecoin is taunted as the currency of a new world out of earth, bitcoin has surfaced in arguments over a healthier medium of exchange on earth. Could both work? Elon Musk has a better answer for the former, I’ll share my opinion on the latter.

Bitcoin; it’s been one concept against tons of relatively older systems. The banks, the fiat system, the valuable metals, altcoins…dogecoin. For a concept that has seen such audacious growth in the past decade, it is not a surprise that bitcoin is constantly in many arguments. Thanks to the bitcoinners too; these maximalists find a way to throw bitcoin into every financial argument. To be fair, many of their argument over the superiority of bitcoin as an alternative to many contemporary financial systems is valid to a large extent; even though I don’t agree with bitcoin’s perfection.

Bitcoin’s technology flaunts generality and portability. If you’re not running a bitcoin core node, then you just need a lightweight application to manage your financial activities all by yourself. While this is convenient in the normal sense, it is not without certain shortcomings. Regardless, this shifts the power to the users in contrast to the current system where the ‘managers’ in the custody of your assets hold the upper hand.

Decentralization and ‘personalization’ put you in charge, a concept growing in acceptance in our contemporary world. In this case, bitcoin offers what the current generation longs for. Superior? In this case; bitcoin wins over traditional systems.

Bitcoin’s generalized value creates a global value system and a uniform currency. But how healthy is this? It is hard to say what a currency backed by a globalized financial system will look like, but if bitcoin succeeds at becoming one, then it will be an exciting experience. A financial system of this nature is largely unsustainable.

The segregation of national economies serves a good purpose itself. Placing different countries in charge of their financial success isn’t bad. Bitcoin’s generality contests this, an idea I don’t buy. Bitcoin doesn’t tick all the boxes for me; this is one of them.

‘There will ever be twenty-one million bitcoins’. Bitcoin’s fixed supply is regarded as a fix for inflation. For me, that works. Yes, it does. The global economy is riddled with unregulated inflation. Millions are printed from the tin air, just like the tether machines. Seriously, the tether system depicts the global economic system to a large extent.

Bitcoin cannot grow in total supply, circulating supply may vary as a couple of millions of bitcoins remain unmined and thousands of bitcoins are being lost to mismanagement and accidents. Instead of growing in supply; bitcoin can only grow in value, we have seen this play out very well.

Price stability? We all agree that bitcoin has a very huge work to do as regards this. Volatility is a huge turnoff if bitcoin or a similar technological solution will make it to the top of the global financial system. Despite an over 97% loss in value since its inception, the dollar has remained ‘relatively’ stable. Yes, compared to bitcoin the annual variation of the dollar’s valuation has remained constant. Exceptions to this are special periods like wars, pandemics, and related global or national situations. In contrast, bitcoin loses significantly when Elon Musk tweets, jokes apart!

Speed and cost-effectiveness? If the lightning network works the way it is proposed to, then bitcoin will have little to worry about as regards the speed of transaction confirmation. Lightning technology presents super-fast bitcoin transactions. However; if it fails to live up to the bidding, the bitcoin blockchain’s current speed isn’t fit for use on a large scale.

Imagine waiting for minutes to have your coffee after paying in bitcoin as transactions must be confirmed before your purchase is handed to you. A really tough situation. With fiat in your hands, you can pay for tangible commodities without having to pay a fee each time. This is different with bitcoin as well as many other cryptocurrencies. Paying a fee every time? There must be a better way to do it! Bitcoin doesn’t solve this.

Eco-friendly? Bitcoin is not any better than the current financial systems as regards this. While it is not necessarily worse, it is not better. Intensive use of fossil energy for bitcoin mining and intensive use of similar energy for running financial activities in today’s systems, both systems fail at this. However; if bitcoin is dubbed as a ‘perfect’ fix for global finance, it should address energy use and environmental compliance.

Bitcoin has made a bold statement. This statement is largely price-wise, apart from this it hasn’t progressed so much in technology and adjusting to fit the reputation of a better alternative to the global financial system and even a store of value. Relative to its competitors it is still in its early stage and has enough room to grow. With clever minds piloting its growth, it stands a chance of penetrating the global financial system; actually, it’s safe to say that it’s already done so. But this is just the beginning of a very long journey.

02/02/2023
Why you should consider investing in decentralized solution(s).

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A couple of disclaimers on cryptocurrency investment advice and endless warnings, ‘cryptocurrency investments are very risky ventures…and the earth is flat’. Well, one is a fact; the other is probably another way to look at facts. A little focus will tell you which is which…just a little teaser there, but that’s by the way.

Alright, fact is, the earth is a sphere, and cryptocurrency investments are very risky, but that’s just another way to look at facts. Risks and rewards are related, sometimes this relationship could get toxic. The crypto space has been buzzing for a while now, anyone who took the risk before this time must have reaped from that audacious move. Recent strives by cryptocurrency and blockchain technology have once again flared the hunger to invest in decentralized solutions, but many are still scared to join the bandwagon

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It’s human to get scared, but it’s mastery to stay in complete control of these fears and ride against the waves. While some investors are hardly overpowered by their fears, others would need tons of advice to make a choice.

But that’s by the way; Cryptocurrency just like most other investments is a very risky venture, there’s unarguably a more pronounced risk when it comes to cryptocurrency. The outrageous fluctuations and nerve-spinning volatility give it a good place amongst ‘a thousand ways to die in the west’…that wasn’t meant to scare you! For experienced investors and risk-loving individuals (like myself!), volatility is a very tasty stuff, but sometimes it might burn hands.

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Here’s why you should consider taking the risk

The Features

Before you bought your first stock, you probably made a couple of research and calculations, a very good number of investors do clever research before putting their money on the road; a very important step in investments. Venturing into the crypto space, the scenario is almost the same. But in general, blockchain technology that powers cryptocurrencies glitters with many enticing features which are just too good to be ignored. ‘All that glitters are not gold’, yeah, I’m sure you said that to yourself at some point, but if gold glitters, then you’re closer to hitting gold if the glitters get more enticing.

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For a technology, blockchains are one of the most interesting inventions of the past couple of decades, the ability it poses and its numerous applications are certainly one to look out for. Cryptocurrencies aside, blockchains are one of the most advanced computing protocols which are unsurprisingly gaining mainstream attention. An immutable store of data, a flexible network for building almost anything on the internet, the list is endless. Venturing into the crypto space is as good as swimming in the oceans of blockchain technology, getting used to what has been a tangible offset of traditional ways of data storage, internet, finance…to mention a few. Regardless of the risks, these features should make you give it a try.

The Future.

A very quick follow-up to the aforementioned point. The features of blockchain technology are currently under-utilized and for any attentive investors, this technology is just starting to gain global recognition, and the only way is ‘up’! the future of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology may be speculative, but that’s a common step for inventions poised to change the way things are done globally, taking a look at the bigger picture, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain are one for the future, the limits are beyond reach, better said, there are no limits and impossibilities are just weak words thrown around by people who find it hard to chase dreams. This is the same for cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.

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Cryptocurrency investments are risky, but it is even riskier not to take a close look at the future and your biggest regret might be not securing a part of the future. Stocks will still be a part of the future, same as digitized precious metals and fiat currencies, but cryptocurrencies are poised to be the newcomers and might be an important part of the future. Shaun the risk, secure a place in the future, try making your way into the crypto space.

The Fortune.

I seriously resent the idea of cryptocurrency investments as a “get rich-quick scheme”. But it is hard to ignore the fact that cryptocurrency investments make mouth-watering returns. For investments in the last decades, cryptocurrencies have made the biggest return on investments, posting up to 20X gains. The ‘fast money’ idea is surely an unhealthy one and an investor who really wishes to be successful in the crypto space must first get rid of this orientation and embrace the technology and avoid being over-expectant of their crypto bags. Regardless, there is an already proven fortune in cryptocurrency investment, but just like every good thing, this takes a lot of time and requires some good level of patience and persistence.

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Your Tesla stock might have made you some good gains over the past five years, but most cryptocurrencies have made way more during this same period of time, this is unarguable. With more risks come even more rewards, dive into the ocean, take the risks, give it some time, reap the fortunes.

The Freedom

Stocks are great, digital gold are good investments too, but what about an investment that gives you total control over what you own? Decentralization in cryptocurrency gets rid of third parties and middlemen in handling some core financial activities such as blockchain-level send and receive. The freedom of being able to send a store of value across to anyone anywhere and not worry about exchange rates and delays due to the banks not processing payment, or even decline of payment because of some blurry reasons is something you should really pay some attention to.

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Cryptocurrencies come with some enticing level of freedom and privacy in the management of your finance and performance of some core financial activities. Probably this doesn’t sound so clear to you, but here in the crypto space ‘you are your own bank’, guess that sounds better! You don’t need a stockbroker to help you invest in cryptocurrencies, the simplicity makes it possible for a total noob to invest in cryptocurrency and manage this investment. Decentralization in cryptocurrency cuts off the middleman in most core management procedures.

Still need to be convinced, you certainly have your reservations, but if anything can change your opinion, it’s one of these four…

31/01/2023
Cryptocurrency mass adoption: One big lie?

Three big cryptocurrency exchanges pumped literal millions into the super bowl to have their commercials aired during the prestigious event’s commercial breaks. Not so big when you consider the fact that two of these exchanges are buying up the naming rights for prestigious American sports centers. Tezos have partnered with the famous English premier league club — Manchester united; at least we are finally seeing that big ICO money come to life.

With arguably the greatest soccer player ever wearing those training kits with ‘Tezos’ written boldly on them and Lebron James getting buckets at the crypto.com arena, one thing comes to mind; “crypto is taking over the world”. From a small group of nerds working on ‘the future of money’ to millions of people holding cryptocurrencies…for mainly an odd reason, cryptocurrency and blockchain have walked a long path in just twelve (12) years.

Twelve years of struggle for relevance; like a stubborn attention seeker, cryptocurrency has snuck its head in every nuke and cranny. From social media to billboards and television commercials; cryptocurrency marketing strategies are almost as brilliant as the technology itself.

But there is one big lie along the line…

Cryptocurrencies’ are presented as a portable and more convenient means of exchanging value. The biggest perks over traditional alternatives are decentralization and privacy. Speed and transaction cost used to be on the list; not sure if they can be boldly enumerated anymore. It costs over $4 to move Ethereum and about three times more to move smart contract tokens, bitcoin transactions would require similar fees too…

Despite these issues, cryptocurrency’s popularity has been on the climb and isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Bitcoin particularly has seen huge political breakthroughs and has become one of the hottest economic and political topics in the past five years. This relevance isn’t really due to some technological advantages it possesses but mainly due to its tokenomics and mode of operation.

Bitcoin’s distinction over fiat as a store of value is its limited supply. Governments are however reluctant to acknowledge it as a legal tender due to presumed support for illegal financial activities, supply algorithms…and carbon footprint. These reasons are valid, the back and forth on legalization and ban continues. You could anger the Chinese president by simply screaming ‘bitcoin!’.

Bitcoin fits best as a store of value and a payment solution, even though it is currently not very efficient in the latter. Other cryptocurrencies and blockchain projects attempt to solve numerous other problems. Artificial intelligence, oracle solutions, decentralized internet, comedy (yes, comedy!); a number of altcoin projects fit into these categories and more as they attempt to solve more real-world problems and possibly replace existing options. Each of them has earned themselves tons of believers and investors…but again for an odd reason.

When news? “Huge or not”? Investors couldn’t care less about the relevance of any of these projects. Major updates, and (huge) partnerships; regardless of the relevance of these to the actual development of the project, investors fly in with different emotions. Buy the rumor, sell the news; you’ve surely heard that too many times in this space.

If you’re truly here “for the technology”, then you are actually one out of a very scarce few. For a space filled with thousands of very volatile assets and clever marketing strategies, speculators are sure to flock in and tap from the fast-flowing streams.

Getting rich quick is actually the most appealing ability of cryptocurrency.

These adoptions are rarely for the technological advantage cryptocurrencies have over fiat. Even El Salvador has competent plans to redeem their crypto profits in fiat and channel these profits to national development. It’s safe to say that the central American nation didn’t adopt bitcoin because it is a better option to fiat but because in contrast, it is in constant growth in value. This is the same with other institutions adopting blockchain products.

Mainstream celebrities jumping into the NFT trend rarely understand how the technology works and what NFTs really are. Simple process; mint the arts, sell to speculators, and take the loot…in stable coins or actual dollars, lol. How the blockchain actually works and why it is a better option? You can save those long lessons for anyone who cares!

Cryptocurrency adoption comes down to a need for inclusion and the need to be a part of an enriching ecosystem. Very different from the reason presented in our thoughts.

The big lie is, cryptocurrencies are not adopted for technological advantages, and neither is blockchain technology. NFTs are shiny and popular brands are seeing them as a major avenue to improve their financial conditions. Celebrities dishing out NFTs and chasing out in stablecoins and dollars is the most crypto thing you’d ever see.

Companies too are finding ways to include a two trillion dollar opportunity into their purchasing option. The inclusion of crypto payment options into commercial platforms comes as a result of this. Firms looking to expand their purchasing power include the crypto payment as a good marketing strategy. It will be interesting to see the percentage of these merchants that keep a majority of the cryptocurrency they realize in their reserves.

Cryptocurrency is reaching out to people, and speculators. Investors are more dedicated participants. A majority of people putting their money on cryptocurrencies are speculators who envision short-term gains and are keen to leverage the enrichment possibilities of the most volatile assets ever.

Shill me the next altcoin to go 10X! worry less about what they are actually building. It is the normal sequence. Institutional and individual adopters are mainly speculators who consider the technological superiority of cryptocurrency and blockchain. The big lie? It continues.

14/01/2023
Is Metaverse the End game?

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You think the metaverse is like a ‘new world’? you might not be wrong anyways. You’d wonder why Elon Musk isn’t exploring the space as he does with Mars and these other planets…just like you, I wonder too. The rocket man spends a lot of resources surfing the next destination for humans but seems to ignore the closest planet to earth — the Metaverse.

Coined by Neal Stephenson in his 1992 novel, “Snow Crash,” and popularized by cryptocurrency and blockchain projects; the metaverse is an attempt to (re)create a world outside our world that exists in our world. That must have been tough to read. Well, it’s probably the most straightforward description of the metaverse.

Using a combination of virtual reality and decentralized digital art technologies, tech companies and startups are working to create a world where we exist in simulation and perform certain interactive activities. The only difference is, we are not doing this in ‘real’. Remember those games where you’ll have to select an avatar that represents you? this is something similar but once again it’s not just a game.

In the metaverse, you exist in form of your avatar; probably an NFT, operate in a virtual world, and interact with other avatars controlled by real humans. You’ll be able to attend (virtual) meetings, games, probably concerts, and as well make purchases on the metaverse. If you own land, you can as well build. It is a collaborative effort to create a world outside ours and hopefully reduce real human-to-human interaction…now I added that myself.

With pollution and corruption taking over our world, I guess it’s time to try and exist somewhere else. Somewhere not too far. If you haven’t bought land in decentraland, then you are missing out on the biggest real estate opportunity. Jeff Greene needs to do something real quick.

Anyways, who even cares? You’re probably more concerned about the next metaverse-themed project to do a 100x than you are concerned about what the metaverse really is. I wouldn’t blame you! To be fair, with so much abstraction surrounding the concept at this point, only the hype can be utilized. When it comes to utilizing hypes, the crypto space leads. Projects with ‘meta’ tags and little or no tangible products have been recording multiple gains since the concept took its first leap in the last quarter of 2021.

From the crypto point of view, it looks like just another bubble that will soon settle down; but outside this space, it is a more serious topic for big tech companies who are throwing weights around the concept as the struggle for who delivers best for this sector continues to toughen.

Facebook has re-branded to Meta in an attempt to reflect its latest and biggest diversification. Just like its social media platforms, Meta will leverage virtual reality and NFT technologies to bring people together; this time in a different and rather bizarre way. Sequel to this re-brand and even before it, they have invested so many resources in what they believe will be the next big thing in human existence. Well, they are not alone in this belief…

Microsoft recently acquired American video game company; Activision Blizzard for over 68 billion dollars, citing plans to dive into the metaverse concept. The new acquisition with form a vital part of the company’s efforts to diversify into the ravaging concept. Over the years, other tech giants including Sony, Apple, and search engine platform; Google have continued to work on technologies related to the new (virtual) world.

Outside your ‘pump and dump’ metaverse cryptocurrency world exists a real effort to use technology to transform the world. But is it really worth the effort?

Is Metaverse the end game?

In a time where the need to avoid group activities is being stressed, an avenue to interact in an alternative form as real as possible comes in handy. Working from home has never seemed more professional. The pandemic has steered our attention to an odd way of living — alone. Confined, separated, and existing in privacy; these odd ways of life are becoming the new norm. If we learned anything from the pandemic, it is that humans can survive without being in direct contact, probably.

At the peak of the pandemic, other forms of human communication saw a steep rise in use. Social media platforms and video call services dominated other means of human communication as people were forced to work and communicate from home. Social media platform — Clubhouse grew from obscurity to full-blown popularity and multi-million dollar investments from big tech companies. Metaverse technology would have come in handy in situations like this.

This probably intensified the effort to develop this technology as humans are actually adapting to this way of life. For probably the first time in human history, ‘staying away’ from public activities is medically justified, generally. Companies whose staff comfortably worked from home are exploring this option as an alternative to reporting to the office and working in a group.

Maybe there’s no need for offices? Well, funny, but some people and firms are really considering going completely virtual. If they are completely or even partly successful in doing this, then a Meta world might be looming…the end game.

When the lockdown rules in most countries were reduced and proper social life began to return to normal, there was a resulting sharp decline in the rate at which most social platforms were used. Despite generating millions of dollars for development, Clubhouse again went into relative obscurity. While clubhouse didn’t fail at its technology, the nosedive in the frequency of use was purely due to humans returning to normal life. This event hints at the superiority of the original way of life. People quickly dumped their pandemic-influenced lifestyle.

The metaverse could suffer a similar fate and even with impressive technology, it might only form a minor part of human communication instead of the level of influence we are currently expecting. This however is a speculative opinion.

What do you think about the Metaverse?

09/01/2023