So, you want to learn about Crypto, great its here to stay and will change our digital world.

WARNING: SO MUCH OF CRYPTO IS A SCAM – DO YOU RESEARCH BEFORE DIVING IN!

As you know there are around 195 countries in the world and we all had our own currencies right, yes most of Europe went for the single currency, but  there’s still so many different currencies, right?

So, think the same of digital currencies, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ape, and Doge, the list is endless, today there are approximately 1900…yes, crazy. All of these want to become the top internet currency. Some will be top and others will be know as shit-coins, and die out.

Bitcoin is the leader and it’s become like Gold now, so people buy it like they would gold and store it away, why because it was the first one to do this and has value, the second one is Ethereum.

The rest are trying to make their coins useful, like to do things with, such as buy art, play games, and many other use cases.

How do they do this well, its all to do with a special database, called the blockchain, this is secure database that is shared on the internet, and you can’t change the transactions, and this is what makes it very special. Of this database Crypto coins are created, NFT art, games, and many other ways to exploit this database.

People will use or create blockchain database’s and sell their unique utility or features, and if it becomes popular, like Bitcoin or Ethereum, the price of this goes up.

So, think of the price of the coin as like shares, its more complicated, but think of it like Apple, IBM etc, they have a share price, it’s the same with Crypto’s.

More importantly, its the BLOCKCHAIN, remember this componenet, its a special database, which the coins and NFT’s run off, this is what these companies develop and look to becoming the best one which provides different uses case’s.

So now you know the basics, do more research, and get into Crypto, its fun, exciting, but as its still newish there’s lots of scams, so be careful, the more you learn the better position you will be in not getting scammed.

About My Blog

I’ll try to keep it small and to the point, but there’s so much JARGON!!! and the jargon means stuff, so as IT geek and artist, I have a good understanding of the technology, thus will provide some info in this area, to help you understand more about Cryptos. By the time you have completed this blog, consider you have completed a crash course on Crypto’s. Dont read all in one go, it’s too much info, work through it slowly, take small notes, this will help you talk the language and improve you Crypto Knowledge.

Please note this is not financial advice, but it’s what I’ve learnt, and I’m in the game for the long term, this is my analysis, so you can make an informed choice, but always do your own homework as well.

In The Begining

In the beginning… year 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto, most likely a software engineer, who remains anonymous to this day, used IT Cryptography technology to create a new way of making a transaction that cannot be edited, this uses a file that’s shared and can’t be changed or hacked, as its checks the all last transactions, block bly block in the file. It’s like a write once transaction and is checked by other peers on the network. So, from this he created Bitcoin and the first internet currency was born, and people started to place value on it. He stated it’s a way to send funds from two people without a bank or middleman. This sounds dodgy right!!!, well it’s not, we can cut out the banks, who take our money and lend it out, they then make money from our money, and they have all the control. How about we control our hard earnt money. Bitcoin Link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin

So, computers and their owners do the checking of the transactions, and they also create new Bitcoins, think of this like a game, when the computers check the transactions, the software rewards those computers and their owners a little bit more of the Bitcoin, they make internet money, which is going up in value. Today we use ledgers, that can be hacked, well his method can’t be hacked. So, this technology opens many use cases and it’s called the Blockchain, think of this as the underlying platform or a shared database.

Today (Year 2022) one bitcoin its worth ~$400000, I wish had bought some back in 2009!!! Today there’s thousands of new Cryptocurrencies out there, it’s crazy, and with so many scams, it’s the wild west.

So how do you get through all this, well, I’ll start by adding nuggets of info, and if this helps you get a better understand then I’ve done my job. As with any new technology come good people and the bad people, so we all must be careful in this area, I will highlight how you can safely get through this as Crypto and Blockchain the underlying technology is here to stay.

This is the article by Satoshi Nakamoto released in 2009, this lays the foundation of Bitcoin.

Security, Security and Security

So with new technology comes scammers, and these guys are very sophisticated, so trust no one unless they can proof, they are legitimate. If you get into the game, you will start with digital wallet, it contains and address that looks like this 0xD49D26cA1bfAbf91011bb42236764Aa3474f4a69 (Dont be scared, it’s just a long unique number, this is the ID where all the transactions made and this gets stored into the database (Blockchain) and it can’t be overwritten, so its highly secure, you give this address to the public who want to send you some crypto.

When you create or use a digital wallet, you will create a password and a seed password, this is like a 12-word password. THIS PASSWORD MUST NEVER BE GIVEN TO ANYONE, IF YOU LOOSE IT, YOU WILL LOSE YOUR MONEY, write it down on some paper, make two copies and store in safe places. not on the same computer.

When you login to your digital wallet and connect to a website, you only enter the log password not the 12″ word password. Metamask is a commonly used digital wallet https://metamask.io/

To begin getting some Crypto, its best to buy from a safe exchange, there are a number of crypto exchanges where you can safely buy, trade, exchange and sell your crypto currency, here’s two that I recommend, and are safe to use.

Here’s the two Cryptos exchanges that are safe to start with.

https://crypto.com
https://coinbase.com

You need to setup you bank account details with them, send some real money to the account, which is known a fiat money, and from this you can buy and trade. If the Crypto you bought goes up in price and you make profit, you can cash in or hold for long term like 5 years and that coin could make a lot of money for you, it can also go down, it’s like buying shares on the stock market.

You can use the web browser or an app thats availabe for Iphone’s or Google apps, depends on your phone.

If people reach out to you for deals, wanting to make you rich via NFT’s or join Crypto exchanges that are not audited, then block them, trust no one, do your homework, and never rush into any deals, check their background and if its looks too good to be true it is. Phone a friend and gather info, zero trust. Twitter, Instagram, and Discord Social platforms are great, BUT its rife with scammers!

A great place to check for audited Crytos and projects, is https://www.certik.com this site will provide some level of confidence on the Organsiation.

Crypto Basics

Not everyone has access to financial services. But all you need to access a Crypto and its lending, borrowing and savings products is an internet connection and digital wallet

No government or company has control over Crypto. This decentralization makes it nearly impossible for anyone to stop you from receiving payments or using services on Ethereum.

Crypto allows you to move money, or make agreements, directly with someone else. You don’t need to go through intermediary companies.

Crypt creates a more level playing field. Customers have a secure, built-in guarantee that funds will only change hands if you provide what was agreed. You don’t need large company clout to do business.

Crpto is a technology that lets you send cryptocurrency to anyone for a small fee. It also powers applications that everyone can use and no one can take down.

It’s the world’s programmable blockchain. (This is like a database thats on the internet and shared by specific computers that check it and makes it a secure transaction)

Getting Started

You wil need a crypto digital wallet for anything related to buying, selling or transfers, the digital wallet software creates a unique public address, example. 0xD49D26cA1bfAbf91011bb42236764Aa3474f4a69, think of this as a Bank Account Number, this can now be given out to anyone so they can send Crypto or NFT’s to this address.

You will end up with several of these, one from say Metamask, one from Coinbase etc, it depends on with whom you use. But you must know the different Blockchain Networks, and only send to the same network.

So Dee wants to send to Wendy some Ethereum Crypto, She must use the Ethereum Blockchain Network and NOT Bitcoin Blockchain network from her unique address as they are different. You will see the different networks in the wallet and you can add networks to it. (This is where people lose funds as they send to different blockchain networks)

The Wallet software uses digital keys pairs, private(secret) and public, this is the crypto technology. The public key is like a Bank Account Number and the secret is like a PIN number.

The private key is generated using random numbers, and this is used to generate the public key, so this becomes unique and a one-way crypto hash function and is a mathematical relationship.

This address has unique passwords associated (12 words) with it (this is used to generate the unique address) and this must never be shared, otherwise the hacker will take over all your Crypto assets sent to this unique address, write it down, never loose it. You will need it!.  

When buying or sending Crypt or NFT’s, the unique address 0xD49D26cA1bfAbf91011bb42236764Aa3474f4a69 is used to sign the transaction and shows the receivers address as well and this is a one-way transaction in the blockchain database and can’t be changed, its checked by multiple computers that have a copy of this database. This verifies the transactions and makes it a secure transaction, hence why everyone has gone Crypto Crazy as it has many use cases.

Jargon Cheat Sheet

Let’s being with the Crypto Jargon, you will see and hear these terms, you need to get familiar with them, they will do your head in at first, but stick with it!

There are many terms, you won’t get them all, learn them slowly as they will come up, do your homework, study them, and become familiar. Think of this as beginners list, there’s more, but it’s a good place to start with.

If you got through that lot then give yourself a pat on the back, have a cup of tea, as your journey has started in the Crypto world.

“Extra Extra Read All About It”

The below article’s show how it’s still the Wild Wild Crypto West, people are scamming and the technology can be a treasure trove for hackers, but they can be tracked, it’s just a waiting game. Google more on these articles.

Crypto is still in its early days, it’s still needs to become mature and a safer place to operate it, people find it hard to understand the technology and that’s ok, trying to explain public key pair to a person who is not trained in Computer science or technology is difficult. So currently its best to find good advice from someone you trust and know. Or only use places like Coinbase and Crypto.com for transactions.

Funds Lost In Wormhole Attack Replaced

The $320M that were lost in the recent Wormhole attack have been replaced by Wormhole’s parent company Jump Trading, a crypto venture capital. This means that if you want to trade funds between Ethereum and Solana you can do so once again. Provided they don’t get exploited again and lose all their assets.

Bridges are the ultimate risk of crypto. If a blockchain gets hacked, you can’t lose your crypto, you are only prevented from making future transactions. If a bridge gets hacked while you’re sending your funds over, you could lose your funds forever.

Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan

The U.S Department of Justice has seized 94,000 bitcoins (over $3.7 Billion) that were allegedly part of the Bitfinex hack (Hong Kong) of 2016 through 2,000 illegal transactions. They arrested a married couple that allegedly helped launder the money. Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan are now facing charges of laundering and attempting to defraud the U.S. Government. If convicted, they could end up in prison for 25 years. Although the seizure is not the full amount (119,754) of bitcoin taken in the hack, it is still a substantial amount of bitcoins seized.

How did they get tracked, well trying to launder the money!

Bitcoin Price (Date Feb 2022)

Bitcoin seems to be rallying and hits $40K after seeing its worst month in January. For a while, the price has been staying in the range between $35K to $37K and then rose 8.9% to finally hit the benchmark.

What Are NFT’s?

NFTs Non-Fungible Tokens have taken the world by storm attracting the masses outside the hardcore crypto enthusiasts.

What is all the fuss about anyway?

Investors, celebrities, artists, and collectors are flocking to this new marketplace. Despite its name, you’ll find tons of fun in the non-fungible token space. Don’t let the technicalities of cryptocurrency scare you off. Anyone with basic computer skills and a vivid imagination can mint an NFT.

Let’s first dissect what fungibility is in the first place. Fungibility means being able to interchange goods or assets of the same type.

A prime example of this is fiat (USD) currency. When you exchange a dollar for a dollar, there is no inherent difference between them, right? Bitcoin is also fungible as every Satoshi is the same as the last.

The traditional art space is about ownership and rarity. By proving you own a rare item, you…(get bragging rights?). With blockchain technology, owning and authenticating rare, digitized assets bridges the traditional art world seamlessly with the new.

Token standards are used by an NFT which establishes the uniqueness of a token (Unique Number). Two NFTs may appear to be the exact same, but when you look under the hood at their attributes, you’ll see they are indeed non-fungible.

This is an example of digital artwork, that can be a NFT, it will be assigned a token, makes it unique.

This is my own digital take on a famous painting called the Birth of Venus, this is a public domain image, so all usage is fine. I have added some Drones and pixelated Venus, hence the title is called The Birth of Pixel Venus and The Rise Of The Drones. Not sold any!!!!!!

This is another example of one of my NFT’s, again not sold any!!!, not even at cheap prices…whats going This is another example of one of my NFT’s, again not sold any!!!, not even at cheap prices…what’s going on!!!!!, as it has token, its unique, we can prove this on the blockchain, its rear, one off, and it could be worth millions one day, we have provenance, but it’s in the blockchain. Now imagine all the Art Galleries or auction houses, use the Blockchain technology, they can always track the art NFT digital object for ever, which can prove its authentic and not a fake.

I minted these, thinking they would sell like hot cakes….nada, nothing, what’s going on!!!, but I now know the psychology behind it.

1. You Need to be a brand like the Bored Ape Yatch Club or like Addidas, these are some examples, (Their NFT’s will sell and go up in price.
2. You need to be a well know artisit like Beepol or a famous one thats now doing NFT art.
3. A new artist that has a good art collection and is being promoted by the NFT market places, so people will buy it as its authentic and influnced by them.

I have tried several times to sell and not got a looking, so I thought well why would you buy from someone not famous or a well know artist, if you can’t sell it in the future, you have lost right, so this is partly to do with it, but you can buy if you like the art, nothing wrong with that, and you never know it could become a famous artwork in the future, that also sells for a lot of money, so its a gamble. But start with knowing the artist or brand, and if you like it, have the money for NFT as investments, nothing wrong with that, or just buy something you like, that’s ok too. You can of course contact the artist and request prints etc or work out a deal, it doesn’t have to be just JPEGS the digital file or the asset listed in the blockchain.

I’m trying to sell in a market that has so many great artists, collections that go into the thousands, so this is what makes it hard for the independent artist. So, in the end I decided to become a NFT collector as an investment, as they say if can’t beat them join them, I may get rich that way!

This is a link to the Board Ape NFT’s with Opensea, this is a genuine link, do not ever accept any other links, thay are fake. Look at the prices that are being traded for.

https://opensea.io/collection/boredapeyachtclub

Now, I can’t afford those prices, not many people can, but people whom bought those at $200 or so many years ago, have made great profits and enjoying the rewards today of buying an NFT at the right time and holding it for years.

Some safe places to buy NFT’s

https://opensea.io/
https://superrare.com
https://rarible.com

Blockchain Hype Cycle From Gartner

This will help you see how the underlying technology called Blockchain for Crypto Coins, NFT, Defi Applications, Games and may other uses cases.

Look in this chart, it shows so many different ways this Blockchain technology can be used in a decentralised way, It shows when the innovation starts and the cycles it goes through, to being adopted. Yes, it’s mind numbing, but it shows how powerful it is, and its here to stay, so its not a scam, yes there are scam’s but if you do your homework, you won’t get scammed. When you think Bitcoin or NFT think Blockchain which is the decentralised database where it’s all record and can never be changed, and we can make transactions by passing the middleman. Yes, it’s need’s more auditing, governance but this will come in time.

Cryptos, Bull and Bear Markets?

What is this?…..Bulls and Bears

Markets experiencing sustained and/or substantial growth are called bull markets. Markets experiencing sustained and/or substantial declines are called bear markets. Each presents its own set of opportunities and pitfalls.

So how does this relate to Crypto? Well Crypto is a digital currency provided by one of the company’s that created the Crypto, Like Ethereum (ETH), the price will go up and down, how well it depends supply and demand, how popular it is and do people want it, is the company doing well etc.

Whether you’re looking into cryptocurrency, stocks, other asset, you’ll often see these markets described in one of two ways:
Bull market
Bear market

A bull market is a rising market, while a bear market is a declining one. (A Bull fights with its head upwards, the Bear fights with with a downard strike, so this is used to describe upwards and downwards trend)

Because markets often experience day-to-day volatility, both terms describe and upward or downward trend (20% is the benchmark for each-way)

So How Do you Choose!

Well….with Crypto Blockchain technology comes many different uses cases, here’s a few. The rich and smart people (Venture Capitalists + Software Engineers) are developing companies that provide these different services, we pour money in, and if they become successful, its payday…..if you not you lose, it’s a gamble right and some of them are scams.

• Crypto Coins (Like Bitcoin Ethereum)
• Gaming (Games that give rewards to users in Crypto, advertisers using platfom)
• Interest Earning (Loan your Crypto out on exchange’s)
• Smart Contracts (Code is automated, many different useses like trading, buying, selling, etc)
• Defi (Financial services without relying on exchanges, or banks by using smart contracts on a blockchain)
• Web3 (The web on Blockchain technology)
• NFT Platforms (Art as a digital asset, on the blockchain)
• Stablecoins (Fixed Value, pegged to the dollar and becoming popular)

These are common uses cases, now you know that, you look the company and their plans, whitepaper, website, owners, backers such as the VC’s, market capitalisation and from this analysis you take a bet and hope they do well for payday.

Now, what’s the point on taking a bet on a company that’s is valuing its crypto at $2-$20.00 or more, per coin, if you’re rich you can invest lots of money, and that’s ok, but for the small investor, how much gain will you make, you want to make x10, x20 x30 or more gains, so it’s all about timing, get in early when the price is something like this $0.000345 or even 1 cent per coin.

Example

Current Coin price = $0.000345
Coins Bought By You = 20,0000 (Yes 20K coins)

If in the future you’re Coin goes to $1, that 200000 x $1 = $20,000 (Payday)
If in the future you’re Coin goes to $10, that 200000 x $10 = $2,000,000 (Millionaire)

Bitcoin is ~$400000, this is expected to go up, and yes its worth buying some, it will only a tiny part of the pie, but will you not make high gains, ..but its cool to have some, the rich can buy this in the millions.

Equally the company coin’s can go out of business, then you lose, gambling hey! But you just need one coin you betted on to come through, then it’s off to the Caribbean for a holiday!

This could happen, but there are thousands of Crypto coins out there, and yes some are scams, so be careful. You have to do your homework, or hire me as a Crypto consultant, and I will help you get through it.

Only buy with money you can afford to loose, don’t gamble your life savings!

If you go to cryptobubbles, web site https://cryptobubbles.net/ it’s a very good and quick way to seeing how the coins are doing. Look at the below chart, it’s over a day but many are down in price, it’s a very volatile market, but if you hold for long term many of these will go up, but some may vanish forever. And I’ve place bets on some of these.

Key Takeaway – You are investing in the Blockchain technology, which the Coin is based on.

High Risk!

Cryptocurrencies and NFT’s are a high risk investment or assets that can fluctuate widely in price and may even become worthless. They are not appropriate for all investors and you should consider whether they are suitable for you in light of your financial situation. You should only buy cryptocurrency if you are prepared to accept the risk of losing all your initial investment and only invest in NFT’s that are of high value such as the Bored Apes..There is a lot of speculation and its like a feeding frenzy, but this is how it works, you have to get in at the right time and the price is low or get lucky with a good project like the Bored Apes!

Headlines -Extra Extra Read All About It!

Well, the war is raging in Ukraine!!!! Crazy times, this is very sad. People are suffering for no reason, its one crazy man again that’s causing so many deaths. The world has rallied, and the fight back is on. I hope the Ukrainian people win.

This war has caused the price of Cryptos to go up and down, and it’s a good time to buy. As there are economic sanctions being applied to Russia, prices for oil and gas are also going up. Lots of uncertainty in the world.

CryptoPunk #5364 was just transferred to Ukraine’s donation wallet as its latest donation. What is the valuation of this NFT? Anywhere from $200,000 to $233,000

Warren Buffet has sold his Visa/Master card stocks and purchased Cryptos, looks like his seen the light.

The Cyrpto market capitalisation has reached nearly $2 Trillion, yes that’s how much money is being pumped into it. Grab some crypto…its here to stay.

Limewire is back with an NFT platform, looks like they will be adding digital collectables, music etc. The largest hack of ETH ever has remained a mystery since it took place in 2016. The DAO hack is responsible for what ultimately shut it down, since 31% of its supply, 3.64M ETH was siphoned from it. Since then, many people have investigated the hack and tried to figure out who did it, and with a new report released on Forbes, they claim that it was one Toby Hoenisch, a 36-year-old Austrian programmer. Though Hoenisch refutes the claims he has yet to provide any counterevidence.

Ape Coin!

ApeCoin (APE) is now listed in the Crypto.‌com App and will be available in the Crypto.‌com Exchange soon. Users can buy APE at true cost. They can also deposit Bored Ape and Mutant Ape NFTs into Crypto.‌com NFT, as it now supports NFTs that are minted and hosted on the Ethereum blockchain.

I just bought some!

The apes have become famous NFT’s these were created by Bored Ape Yacht Club, or simply Bored Ape, is a non-fungible token collection built on the Ethereum blockchain. The collection features profile pictures of cartoon apes that are procedurally generated by an algorithm. Yuga Labs is the parent company of Bored Ape Yacht Club

The NFTs were originally sold for 0.08 ether each, around $190 at the time of their April 2021 launch and today they sell for around approx $300K or even more!!!

The Merge

Ether is outperforming its better-known-rival Bitcoin once again as optimism over a long-sought update that promises to reduce the carbon footprint of the world’s most-used blockchain appears to be getting closer to fruition.

The latest bout of outperformance is happening as anticipation builds for the biggest software upgrade in Ethereum’s eight-year history. Called the Merge and expected within months, it will change how transactions on Ethereum are ordered, helping the network consume less electricity and run more efficiently.

“The ETH merge on ‘Kiln testnet’ caused ETH to outperform the market,

Not only will the new software likely make Ethereum more attractive for environmentally-conscious investors, but it could also reduce the supply of Ether in circulation.

After the merge, Ethereum’s network will stop using millions of powerful servers called miners to order transactions on the blockchain. Instead, people will be able to place their Ethers into special staking wallets, which will be used to order transactions — a system called Proof of Stake. The stakers won’t be able to take their coins out at least until another software upgrade, expected about six months after the Merge.

“Extra Extra Read All About It”

Yuga Labs has announced that they have raised $450 Million for the creation of an NFT-themed metaverse. Though the company is quite successful, bringing in a profit of $137 Million last year, they have built little else other than the BAYC. This announcement comes just after they announced that they have also acquired CryptoPunks and Meebits as well as working on a play-to-earn game, and the launch of their governance token, ApeCoin. Yuga Labs are making some big moves in the crypto space.

They gave away to Ape NFT holders free Ape tokens.

If you have 1 Ape NFT you got 10,094 tokens, as the price today is around ~£10.00, = £100940.00 – lucky people!!!!

Read more about their roadmap here (Alway check links before you click on them..there are so many fakes! https://apecoin.com/about

This is Apes Coin price ~$11.00, I wonder what it will be like in 5 years!

Here is a link which shows the transactions for Ape coin on etherscan

https://etherscan.io/token/0x4d224452801aced8b2f0aebe155379bb5d594381

BAYC Discord just got hacked!!!!!! – how crap is Discord at security!

HACKED!

Roughly $625 million worth of cryptocurrency has been stolen from Ronin, the blockchain underlying popular crypto game Axie Infinity. Ronin and Axie Infinity operator Sky Mavis revealed the breach on Tuesday and froze transactions on the Ronin bridge, which allows depositing and withdrawing funds from the company’s blockchain.

The attacker used hacked private security keys to compromise the network nodes that validate transfers to and from the Ronin blockchain and let the attacker stealthy withdraw large quantities of Ethereum and USDC.

The attacker exploited a security weakness in a so-called bridge — software that lets people convert tokens into ones that can be used on another network — to drain it of 173,600 Ether and 25.5 million USDC tokens in two transactions.

The breach happened on March 23 2022 according to Ronin, the blockchain that supports Axie Infinity.

We just need to watch his wallet address and when he transfers to the Exchanges (Binance/Coinbase/Crypto) to cash in to fiat currency, the authority’s can then catch him, if they are keeping any eye on it.

Its still the “Wild Wild Crypto” out there!

Ballies and Adidas – NFT’s

So I took another gamble on a NFT project, that looks like it could have a bright future…remember an NFT is is just a token that is listed as an item on the blockchain (Its a recored of the transaction and can never be altered).

Crypto.com are now in the NFT game and they provide an NFT platform.

https://crypto.com/nft

They call it a NFT drop, this is when the project will be listeded and you can join a queue and PRAY, you get a chance to buy one or two….well I waited 10 minutes and all of them were sold out in that time! There were thousands of poeple waiting, and many did not get to buy at the intial mint price $200. Ideally you want to buy it at this price as this will go up…if its a good project, dont buy crap.

So I failed to get one at the mint price, but the buyers were already re-listing their Ballie NFT’s and I manged to buy one at $290…which for is not bad as I plan to holdfor long term and see if the price can get high..so its an investment, yes it s gamble.

As the theme is basketball, I feel this NFT could be a good investment, they are looking to create a metaverse and it could take off…..I hope its like the BAYC…we will see. Yes its just a JPEG….but you have to understand the technology and NFT craze..its like pokemon cards, but only digitial and if you look at the price of the Bored Apes, they go for approximatley $350,000 each, why because its a brand now and a cool club to be in, Maddona juts bought one. Its an Investment not just a JPEG.

Here is my Ballie player..

I also bought this a while ago it’s Adidas Phase 1 NFT – it has the BAYC and PUNKS in Adidas originals..

The Addidas NFT here https://www.adidas.com/into_the_metaverse

Another HACK

The hacker managed to hack the BAYC Instagram account and messaged holders  

The hackers advertised a fake distribution of NFTs, known as an airdrop in the web3 world, which tricked users into clicking on a malicious link. Once people clicked on it, they gave control of their wallets to the hackers.

The holders then connected to the fake website and the assets were taken.

You can see the the NFT’s stolen via this link to etherscan https://etherscan.io/address/0x8c7934611b6ad70fbea13a1593de167a4689b9a9

Blockchain records show that the address received 134 NFTs within the space of a few hours on Monday morning (April 2022) . The stolen assets include numerous NFTs from Yuga Labs, the firm behind BAYC, including Bored Ape, Mutant Ape, and Kennel Club NFTs. The value of those NFTs before they were stolen was $2.7 million.

Dont ever buy into FOMO sales, only use offical links, double check links and check again if unsure check.

Crypto Is Down ‘May The 4th Be With You in 2022’

So this is what a Crypt looks like when its down…., this is due to sell offs, USA interest rates, Bitcoin down trend and many other factors…its a sea of RED. So this is good time to buy as prices are low, many people are concerend, but these assets are very volatile, only gamble with money you can afford to lose.

Some of the Cryptos are down by 24%, look at Ape, but this will go up and its a good time to buy if you have money. Lets see where these are in 5 years time!

“BEAR MARKET” its Offical!!!

Well, its May 10, 2022, and the market is still crashing, this means organisations and people are selling their crypto assets, why because people have made hugh profits and now want out, there’s high inflation, and the Crypto is now correlated with the stocks, which is a first and the USA fed bank is raising interests, so the institutions who have invested in cryptos are backing out to a degree, this creates fear and ordinary investors are also selling and pulling out. There’ many dynamic factors at play here but these are key ones, thats causing this to be a bear market.

If you put into Cryptos £1000, your assets would be worth around £600…and this is expected to go down further until the bull markets starts, which means people will start investing again

But if your position is to be in the for long haul, it’s a great time to buy look at the prices below 17% to 40% on some, the crypto’s are very cheap and this is where to take the gamble and make profits. These cryptos will be around, so best to buy now and pray they go up in the future, yes they can do down and the company seizes to exists, but these assets are high risk and very volatile. Your choice. I’m in it for the long haul and only play with money I can afford to lose.

Inflation + Interest Rates Hike + Stocks Down + War + Fear = Bear Market (Whch now means Cryptos / NFT’s will be down)

Bank of England, has said that the UK’s struggle with inflation could last “years rather than months” – potentially devastating news for UK households given the rapidly rising cost of living in the face of high inflation.

The past few days have been rough for major markets around the globe as fears of a global recession grow; triggered by poor economic data from the UK, USA, and Germany.

Monday was the biggest single-day drop in share prices globally since June 2020, with the FTSE 100 falling by 2.3% and the S&P 500 down 3.2%. Tuesday saw Asia-Pacific exchanges drop to two-year lows and Bitcoin dropped to its lowest value in 10 months, whilst Wednesday was the turn of US markets to slump, following worse than expected inflation data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

As the Stock Market is correlated with Crypto, we are seeing a bloodbath!

Luna Coin Crash

So many people have lost money on the LUNA crypto coin, its gone down from Approx $98 per coin token to $0.69 – wow…why did this happen, well in short this coin was pegged with another so called stable coin called UST, which is a way of pegging it to the dollar. LUNA and UST work in conjunction with each other, and in the background software algorithms, adjust the price, via sells, buys, burns and new mints… As the UST did not really have any REAL backing of funds for the dollar and the coin did not provide utility, when the sell off started the algorithm added more LUNA back into the market and the price just went down, called a death spiral, its a lot more complicated than that, but this is the basics….so what do we leanr from this, well, Coins will crash, invest in mney you can only afford to lose, and find out about the coin, dont invest in shit coins.

Friday 13th Crazy Luna Day

People are still buying and selling Luna – Trading for LUNA and UST it got stopped from Binance but they then restarted it. Its Friday 13th 2022…crazy time..I just bought approx 350K @ $18, the current price is today is $0.00008249 per coin. The Supply is now 65 Trillion Luna and Max Supply is 69 Trillion, so this is become inflated and there’s too many coins on the market to make it valuable. If this coin ever starts to pump again and gets to 1 sent, then I have $350,000…Jackpot. It most likley will not, investor confidence, they need to burn coins, meaning get rid of them from the market and they need to decouple it from UST. But I took a punt.

Bitcoin Seventh Week Loss – Invest Now

Cryptocurrencies has had a big hit over the last few weeks, and Bitcoin is trading at $30K and was at $40K so its set for a losing streak. Terra Luna has had a crazy week. These are risky assets, but they give people like me a chance to make life changing gains. The institutions run the show, they have power and money and yes they are in the game as well. The general crash is related to high inflation and interests rates going up and we may be heading into into a recession soo.

So what can we do not let Dr Doom take over, Its a good time to invest with money you can afford to lose, I have just bought 2.8 Million LUNA, as it had a bad crash along side bad market condistions, now if this goes up to $1, its pay day, but how will it get to that, well the TERRA ogransation needs to do two things they need to de-pegg from UST, what is this, well, its called a stable coin which is pegged to the dollar, meaning it should be the same price as the dollar, and you can put your money into this stable coin and it should be safe, it will be a dollar and wont go up or down, and this is what investors do, they make money and place it into stable coins and TERRA UST was one of them. As the price of UST went down, which is should not have, there’s now 65 trillion LUNA coins, Terra need find ways of burining coins so the supply is less, which would make it more valuable. This was all automated by an algorithm that works with both coins, it would try and balance the number of coins on the market due to the buying and selling, but this went wrong and the UST went down and more LUNA coins were minted to such a high number, the price went from approx $100 to $0.00001 yes…so TERRA whom made LUNA and UST need to figure a recovery plan.

The Rise Of the Crypto Bots

So after six months of Crypto…I’ve found its hard, exciting but fun. I also learnt that you can lose money, get scammed and it’s such a volatile market. I have had some success, but not financially life changing  as yet. I have invested to Crypt’s, NFT and Defi protocols – These are now long term and I will hold.

What I have recently discovered is Crypto BOT  trading, I tried to manually trade but for this you have to be glued to charts and work out which cryptos to trade, this time consuming and hard, so my journey into Crypto BOTS has started. 

I have used Pionex, they are simple to use (You still need to understand the basics of Crypto, but the last six months  has done that and I’m now ready, it’s a new learning curve, but fun and I’m only playing with money I can afford to lose.

Pionex is an exchange designed for the trading bot. Great liquidity which aggregates from multiple other exchanges, 16 trading bots built-in, and very low trading fee – 0.05%. Join us today 👉 https://www.pionex.com/en-US/sign/ref/2CQdMnWT

Stocks (Basics)

As stocks which are linked to the economy with its ups and downs, this has an effect on the Crypto market, so this is some basics on stocks, once you understand this is very similar to how Cryptos work

The ‘stock market’ is a catch-all term that’s used when people talk about buying or selling stock in publicly listed companies like Google, Apple and Tesla. The stock market isn’t a physical place. Instead, it refers to a global network of investors who interact with each other to buy and sell stock in public

A stock is a slice of ownership in a company, and when you buy a stock you’ll be able to enjoy that company’s success, or share in its failure. You might sometimes hear the term ‘stock’ used interchangeably with ‘shares’ or ‘equities’, but they all mean the same thing.

The total amount of stock that a company has in circulation and the current stock price is how company valuations are calculated. This is known as the company’s market capitalisation (market cap), and to figure it out, you simply multiply the total number of shares that a company has by the current price per share. But, you don’t need to work this out for yourself. If you type a listed company’s name followed by ‘share price’ into a search engine, you’ll usually get a lot of information about the company – including its current market cap.

How does the stock market work?

The stock market works by letting people interact directly with publicly listed companies. If companies are doing well, more people might want to buy the company’s stock – which can push the share price up as demand increases and supply falls. Companies can use the money from the stock sales for different things including team growth, marketing and product development.

However, if a company is performing badly, people might choose to sell their shares, which can cause the share price to drop.

What is a stock exchange?

Stock exchanges are where stocks in public companies (and other financial assets) are listed for investors to buy and sell. They pair people who want to buy stock with people who want to sell the same stock. Some examples include the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in the US, or the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in the UK.

The majority of investing on stock exchanges is done through online investing providers. So, to get exposure to companies that are listed on the LSE, you just need to have an account with an online provider – like Moneybox. With us, you’ll be investing in tracker funds which have a range of unique benefits

Stock exchange examples

London Stock Exchange (LSE) – one of the oldest stock exchanges in the world and the largest in the UK.
Euronext – the pan-European stock exchange group, Euronext is based in Amsterdam but there are also exchanges in Brussels, Dublin, Lisbon, Milan, Oslo and Paris that are under the Euronext umbrella. Many of Europe’s largest companies are listed on Euronext exchanges.  
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) – the largest stock exchange in the world in terms of the market cap of its listed companies.
Nasdaq – another New York-based stock exchange. It’s the second largest in the world, and it’s most often associated with tech stocks, although other companies can list on it.
Tokyo Stock Exchange – the largest stock exchange in Asia by the total market cap of its listed companies.

What is a stock market index?

A stock market index measures the performance of a group of shares or other financial assets that are listed on a particular stock exchange. For example, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) is the main stock exchange in the UK, and the FTSE 100 is the stock market index that tracks the performance of the 100 largest companies that are listed on the LSE.

When people talk about stock market performance, they’re usually talking about the performance of a stock market index. So, if the FTSE 100 is going up, people might say that the UK stock market is “doing well”, or that “the economy is healthy”.

Stock market index examples

• FTSE 100 – tracks the performance of the 100 largest companies listed on the LSE.
• S&P 500 – tracks the 500 largest companies listed on US stock exchanges. This includes companies that are listed on both the NYSE and the Nasdaq.
• Nasdaq 100 – tracks the 100 largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq, which are often US tech stocks.
• Dow Jones Industrial Average – tracks the performance of 30 well-known companies that are listed on US stock exchanges – these companies are selected by a committee.
• Nikkei 225 – tracks the 225 largest companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Bitcoin – Gold –  Is Bitcoin the new Gold!

Investors are adding to crypto to beat inflation, as its going to hit 10% this year (2022), so they are looking for higher returns.

Bitcoin is a coin that has a record on the Blockchain and as an asset its gone from $190 Billion to 1.2 Trillion…Crazy right.

Now Bitcoin and gold are a store of value, if you invested $100 at the start of 2020 in gold, you would have around $120 today, and the same amount in Bitcoin you would have around $415.  

The prediction is that 1 Bitcoin today valued at $29K will become in 5 years $100K….

Since Bitcoin  value is linked to its popularity, the more people that use it as a store of value, the more it rises in prices, yes people say its a fools gold, but just look at where it is today, we live in a new era of the internet, things are chaning, we the small investor can make money. They say its fools gold, but the institutions like banks and rich run the show, they have beenusing us for ever, (they are also into Crypto), what’s wrong with making life changing financial rewards …are you in?

Deepfakes!

A deepfake video has been created of Elon Musk endorsing a questionable investment project. In the clip, which isn’t well made, Tesla’s CEO appears to promise that investors will make “30% dividends everyday for the rest of their life.” Thankfully — because Musk’s voice sounds artificial and is hard to understand — there’s little chance of too many people falling for this scam. The billionaire responded to the video by saying: “Yikes. Def not me.”

I put this out as Elon has his own Dogecoin Crypto and the attempt to inflate Teslas Shares is a bold move…so be on the lookout for this in the future.

Boom, Bust, Bull and Bear

We are in a bear market, 6th June 2022 Crypto markets have a 3–4-year cycle,
just look at its history. I joined at the height of a bull market, November
2021, and started to learn how it all works, I then started to invest. Now it’s
a bear market my investments are down by 60%!!!!. yes, due to macroeconomics
(interest rates, war, inflation) the normal retail users and companies have pulled
their money out of crypto as the coins have become inflated (more of them), so
price is low. I’m in the for long haul and if I can make profits along the way
I will, but I will need to wait now and see how it pans out.

I have learnt that you can’t time the market, you need to keep your eye on
your positions you have taken on the coins as they can pump, and you need to be
ready to see the price go up and then sell if you want to take a profit or hold
on for long term…

Recession is here = Crypto Winter is coming!

What Causes Recessions?

There is more than one way for a recession to get started, from a sudden economic shock to fallout from uncontrolled inflation. These phenomena are some of the main drivers of a recession:

A sudden economic shock: War / Pandemic

Excessive debt: When individuals or businesses take on too much debt

Asset bubbles: When investing decisions are driven by emotion, bad economic outcomes aren’t far behind. Investors can become too optimistic during a strong economy.

Too much deflation: While runaway inflation can create a recession, deflation can be even worse. Deflation is when prices decline over time, which causes wages to contract, which further depresses prices.

Technological change: New inventions increase productivity and help the economy over the long term, but there can be short-term periods of adjustment to technological breakthroughs.

Recessions and the Business Cycle

The business cycle describes the way an economy alternates between periods of expansion and recessions. As an economic expansion begins, the economy sees healthy, sustainable growth. Over time, lenders make it easier and less expensive to borrow money, encouraging consumers and businesses to load up on debt. Irrational exuberance starts to overtake asset prices.

Recessions and depressions have similar causes, but the overall impact of a depression is much, much worse. There are greater job losses, higher unemployment and steeper declines in GDP. Most of all, a depression lasts longer—years, not months—and it takes more time for the economy to recover.

The Covid-19 Recession. The most recent recession began in February 2020 and lasted only two months, making it the shortest U.S. recession in history.

The Great Recession (December 2007 to June 2009). As mentioned, the Great Recession was caused in part by a bubble in the real estate market. The Great Recession wasn’t as severe as the Great Depression, its long duration and severe effects earned it a similar moniker. Lasting 18 months, the Great Recession was almost double the length of recent U.S. recessions.

The Dot Com Recession (March 2001 to November 2001). At the turn of the millennium, the U.S. was facing several major economic problems, including fallout from the tech bubble crash and accounting scandals at companies like Enron, capped off by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Together these troubles drove a brief recession, from which the economy quickly bounced back.

The Gulf War Recession (July 1990 to March 1991). At the start of the 1990s, the U.S. went through a short, eight-month recession, partly caused by spiking oil prices during the First Gulf War.

Can You Predict a Recession?

Given that economic forecasting is uncertain, predicting future recessions is far from easy. For example, COVID-19 appeared seemingly out of nowhere in early 2020, and within a few months the U.S. economy had been all but closed down and millions of workers had lost their jobs. The NBER has officially declared a U.S. recession due to coronavirus, noting that the U.S. economy fell into contraction starting in February 2020.

That being said, there are indicators of looming trouble. The following warning signs can give you more time to figure out how to prepare for a recession before it happens:

Declines in consumer confidence: Consumer spending is the main driver of the U.S. economy. If surveys show a sustained drop in consumer confidence, it could be a sign of impending trouble for the economy. When consumer confidence declines, that means people are telling survey takers they don’t feel confident spending money; if they follow through on their fears, lower spending slows down the economy.

Sudden stock market declines: A large, sudden decline in stock markets could be a sign of a recession coming on, since investors sell off parts and sometimes all of their holdings in anticipation of an economic slowdown.

Rising unemployment: It goes without saying that if people are losing their jobs, it’s a bad sign for the economy. Just a few months of steep job losses is a big warning of an imminent recession

How Does a Recession Affect Me?

You may lose your job during a recession, as unemployment levels rise. Not only are you more likely to lose your current job, it becomes much harder to find a job replacement since more people are out of work. People who keep their jobs may see cuts to pay and benefits, and struggle to negotiate future pay raises.

Investments in stocks, bonds, real estate and other assets can lose money in a recession, reducing your savings and upsetting your plans for retirement. Even worse, if you can’t pay your bills due to job loss, you may face the prospect of losing your home and other property.

Business owners make fewer sales during a recession, and may even be forced into bankruptcy. The government tries to support businesses during these tough times, like with the PPP during the coronavirus crisis, but it’s hard to keep everyone afloat during a severe downturn.

With more people unable to pay their bills during a recession, lenders tighten standards for mortgages, car loans and other types of financing. You need a better credit score or a larger down payment to qualify for a loan that would be the case during more normal economic times.

Even if you plan ahead to prepare for a recession, it can be a frightening experience. If there’s any silver lining, it’s that recessions do not last forever. Even the Great Depression eventually ended, and when it did, it was followed by the arguably the strongest period of economic growth in U.S. history.

So this is a reboot, correction, which is positive, if you can get through this and still be alive, then Crypto will bounce back, and if you have made some good investments, then you will make some good money in the longer run.

Crypto Down 13/06/2022

These are some of the top coins post crash

Bitcoin -65.8% ($23K)
Ethereum -74.9% ($1.2K)
BNB -67.8% ($220.00)
Cardano -85.4% ($0.46)
XRP -90.9% ($0.26)
Solana -89.8% ($27.00)
Polkadot -87.9% ($6.8)
Dogecoin -92.6% ($0.05)
Tron -72.8% ($0.06)
ShibaInu -91% ($0.000007)
Avax -89.6% ($15.00)
CRO -87.7% ($0.11))
Polygon -85.9% ($0.41)

NFT Crash

The price of major non-fungible tokens has dropped substantially as the crypto winter gets worse. This illustrates how much the cheapest NFT in a collection currently costs. Data from NFT Floor price shows the least expensive Bored Ape now costs 78.5 ETH. At current rates, that’s worth just $88,000 . Bored Ape holders have suffered, not only has their value in ETH plunged as the bear market set in, but ETH itself has been freefalling against the U.S. dollar. This especially brutal for those who snapped up their Bored Ape in late April 2022, when the floor price for this NFT collection hit an all-time high of 152 ETH (Approx $390,000).

Bad Week For Markets

The Fed have increased rates once more, this time opting for an aggressive 0.75% rise, for a range of 1.5% – 1.75%. The BoE went for a much more cautious 0.25% rise today to 1.25%, despite forecasting inflation to hit 11% by October. The UK economy is already contracting based on current figures and could be on track for a recession by the end of the year, prompting the Bank’s more cautious approach.

Markets have been pessimistic all week however on fears that the global economy is entering another dark period. Stock markets have slumped, with the S&P 500 entering an official bear market, and the FTSE dropping 3% today on the BoE rate decision. Cryptos have also crashed, with mainstays like Bitcoin and Ethereum falling 46% and 56% respectively in the past three months, and much of the drop coming this week alone.

The increase in interest rates will see mortgage payments rise, and on top of soaring bills for food, petrol and much more, could prove too much for many potential buyers. After a period of record growth homeowners could be faced with a fall in buyers and property value. The UK’s potential recession, renewed Brexit disputes, and a new Scottish referendum campaign have all also hit investor confidence in Sterling for the year ahead.

Good time to by Crypto, low prices, ETH is around £900 it was £800.00 back in 2018

Bloobath Continues

BTC =Approx £15,000 ($18,000)

ETH = Approx £788 ($959)

Why is this happening?

Inflation / Interest Rates / Scarcity / War (We can’t just print more money into the the system, we have had a crypto bubble, and now its correcting it self)

People have lost money…but its best to remain if you have invested, as after this cycle your investments will go back if the coin has value, if not then it will go down.

This bear market could will last for another two or three years.

WELL I HAVE DECIDED TO GIVE CRYPTO A PAUSE – ECONOMY – WAR – COST OF LIVING ITS ALL SHIT!!! I MAY PERHAPS PICK THIS WHEN IT GETS BACK IN GEAR.