Launched in 2015, Decentraland is the fastest-growing role-playing metaverse. You can create your scenes and applications, explore other users’ environments, and even trade some of your properties to earn huge profits.

Decentraland’s economy runs on the Ethereum blockchain with Fungible Tokens, called MANA, acting as the game’s currency. All you need is to invest these tokens wisely and grow your properties to make money in this metaverse.

If you think buying virtual land is crazy, then here’s a surprise for you: investors are shelling out millions of dollars for virtual parcels of land, and Decentraland is THE platform to be on.

## Community

It must be called a community just based on the fact that there are concerts on Decentraland! It’s an awesome way to discover and also support new and talented artists you may have never heard of had it not been for the power of Decentraland.

Concerts are one of an infinite amount of ways to even meet other players like yourself!

Some folks are even living their dreams. The ability to buy virtual land also allows for certain entrepreneurs who are following through on what might not have been possible in the physical.

People are opening art galleries, studios, karaoke bars, live comedy clubs, dog parks, and my personal favourite: casinos!

Owning land within a casino is a very interesting aspect of earning income via Decentraland. Imagine owning a few blocks of space, enough for a few table games. Maybe blackjack, maybe baccarat- but regardless of the game on your blocks, you earn income from the table rake (similar to a real casino) every time you have players on tables. The longer they stay the more you keep earning.

## MANA pricing

The live Decentraland price at the time of writing (Oct. 14, 2021) is $0.77 USD with a 24-hour trading volume of $63,348,346 USD.

The current CoinMarketCap ranking is #76, with a market cap of $1,403,337,839 USD. It has a circulating supply of 1,816,956,991 MANA coins and the max. supply is not available.

If you're intrigued and want to buy Decentraland, the top exchanges for trading in Decentraland are currently Binance, Huobi Global, Crypto.com, OKEx, and FTX.

## Is it worth your time?

If virtual worlds intrigue you and you have plenty of time, go for it and knock yourself out you’re gonna love it.

For most like me, you might not have the time to live out your digital dreams of a comic book store but you will have time to make money. Simply buying and holding MANA is a good start. It ensures that you at the very least are holding a currency for an ever-expanding virtual world. And if you ever want to play blackjack with that MANA, come on by there’s an open seat

What is Decentraland Crypto?

Harmony One is a well-kept secret that won’t be a secret much longer. The coin has seen a recent surge in price and no doubt a surge in attention.

When Ethereum launched on July 30, 2015, as another decentralised open-source blockchain cryptocurrency playing little brother to Bitcoin- they knew they had something different. Ethereum has the functionality of Smart Contracts. A way to further extend the utility of cryptocurrencies in ways that can potentially change the way the world works.

Just like Bitcoin has spawned many copycat coins, Ethereum has given birth to so many amazing projects that are built based on the Ethereum smart contract model. Harmony is most certainly one of the more efficient and affordable coins to transact with.

## About Harmony

[Harmony Mainnet](https://www.harmony.one/) was launched in June 2019. Harmony network has produced 30M+ blocks with 450k+ transactions in publicly traded, native ONE tokens. Harmony’s bridges can connect any Proof-of-Work and Proof-of-Stake chains. Their FlyClient architecture is fully trustless and highly gas-efficient. Currently, their bridges for Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain secure tens of millions of cross-chain assets.

Developers simply change Chain ID and enjoy faster EVM executions identical at the bytecode level. They can use their familiar and standard Web3 tooling to easily migrate to Harmony.

As far as users they can continue to use MetaMask or Ledger — but now pay minimal fees. Any Ethereum wallets or portals can work on Harmony without code changes or new installs — they are fully compatible for both transaction messages and execution environments.

## What is harmony one used for?

The One token is used as a stake in the consensus model used with Harmony. The holders can earn block rewards and are incentivised to keep the system healthy. The tokens are used to pay for various fees, including transaction fees, storage fees, and gas fees.

Speed kills, in a good way.

Harmony One is well known for its amazingly fast transaction times and very low fees.

Transaction times of 2 seconds at 1 block and fees of $0.000·001 USD are superb when compared to Ethereum at 6 minutes/25 blocks and fees that are continuously making holders very upset. 

## The Price is Right?

Just to place things in perspective: On Aug 31, 2015 [Bitcoin (BTC)](/coins/btc) was valued at $227.18 and [Ethereum (ETH)](/coins/eth) was $1.25.

On January 28 2020 Harmony was priced at $0.00502 with a market cap of $18.3 million. If you want to buy Harmony, at the time of writing (October 7th, 2021) its priced at $0.219 with a market cap of $2.43 billion, yes billion with a B. A significant increase in that span of time. 

Harmony One seems to have a very bright future and at this price, it’s still a great time to jump on the bandwagon- I certainly am.

Crypto Spotlight: Harmony ONE

It's time to talk crypto gaming.

Elon Musk once famously said, “Paper money is going away.”

Alluding to cryptocurrency, Musk suggested that “Crypto is a far better way to transfer value than pieces of paper, that’s for sure.” Musk’s prediction seems to be coming true, as crypto is becoming a very popular currency form to not only invest in but also to use in a variety of things.

It’s known that includes a wide range from the famous bitcoin pizza all the way to purchased real estate... and fund a player’s online gaming wallet?

No, not video games. Gaming, as in casino games that offer various options to WAGER in.

Yes, Crypto has made its way into Gambling.

## Gambling and Crypto

In 2020, many businesses including land-based casinos saw a temporary halt to their operations due to COVID-19. During that time, online gaming and cryptocurrencies rose in popularity. The global online gaming revenue hit approximately $66 billion in 2020—an increase of $8 billion when compared to 2019. 

But this isn't a new thing- gambling and crypto have a history together.

Cloudbet Casino is a well-known crypto casino site, which has been running since 2013. They offer a nice crypto welcome promotion for new players that consists of a 100% match deposit of up to 5 BTC/BHC/ETH/PAXG, depending on the cryptocurrency in use.

MBit Casino is an online gambling venue that went live in 2014. It's a strictly crypto-only casino that supports [BTC](/coins/btc), BCH, ETH, DOGE, USDT, and LTC. So far, crypto gamers can enjoy over 900 bitcoin games, spread in multiple game categories.

## Keeping Up With Demand

Keeping up with new technology and consumer demands, cryptocurrencies offer a variety of benefits to players and operators.

It’s a lot cheaper for gaming operators to process cryptocurrency payments compared to processing payments made with fiat currencies, resulting in operators offering better bonuses and promotions on crypto gaming platforms which leads to player acquisition and retention.

Another important aspect of cryptocurrency is transparency. Eliminating fraud and ensuring fairness is a top priority for gaming operators. A safe and secure gaming platform is a very attractive component for players looking to join online casinos- and trust them.

Also, players using certain cryptocurrencies can benefit from a high level of anonymity. Cryptos such as Monero are highly preferred due to their private and anonymous nature. According to TKEY, “Crypto players using XMR \[Monero\] can be sure that no third party will get access to their personal data and know about their gains and losses.”

## Personal Data Issues

Recently the protection of personal data has become an extremely important part of many industries. So when gaming operators include cryptos such as Monero, it helps build trust between the player and operator—resulting in more business.

The crypto-gaming space still faces many hurdles such as transaction speeds, regulations, and value fluctuation. These obstacles will take time to tackle as crypto and blockchain are a new and evolving technology.

Many payment processing companies have started adding pay-in and payout support for cryptocurrencies—indicating a growing interest in digital currency in the retail, travel, and software space. Will cryptocurrencies stay pertinent for the online gaming industry?

Only time will tell. Please place your bets.

Place Your Crypto Bets!

So you’re into all things Crypto and you no doubt know about DeFi, but have you heard about GameFi?

Don’t feel left out if you don’t know what I’m talking about, this is all fairly new even to longtime HODL’ers. 

Crypto games (also called p2e games) are video games that run on a cryptocurrency network and include a completely or partially distributed ledger architecture, providing players verifiable ownership over the virtual products contained in the games.

## But where do the roots of this movement come from?

2003 is considered the year that in-app purchases entered online games in a really big way, from obscure role-playing games about medieval knights to virtual world Second Life, and even corporate-backed entries like Disney’s ToonTown Online.

Eventually, there had to be a huge moving force that would change the world forever- three letters that kickstart this story and lay the foundation for what we will likely be experiencing now and in the future in regards to virtual currency: WoW.

Released in 2004, World of Warcraft is arguably the most successful, massively multiplayer online role-playing game of all time, at its peak, it had upwards of ten million users in the game. The in-game currency of WoW, simply titled “Gold,” can be used for anything imaginable, from items to services with increasingly esoteric means, like food that makes your character spit fireballs.

A Side-effect of this? The line between digital and real currency begin to blur.

By the late 2000s, that line between virtual currency and fiat was one that individuals and enterprises alike were bouncing back and forth over for profit. Value could be digital. Value could be anything. And this was no longer just limited to nerdy kids. Farmville, popular with kids and parents alike, posted revenues of $235 million in the first quarter in 2010, most of which was from in-game purchases for digital goods and game assets.

Fast forward to 2021 and almost all mobile and console games including Roblox, Minecraft, and Fortnite have in-app purchases. Welcome to the age of GameFi.

This is no doubt moulding the youth into a generation that feels incredibly comfortable with digital currency transactions.

Axie Infinity is among the biggest—and most polarizing—of these new gamefi projects, which allow players to accumulate tradeable crypto coins. To investors like billionaire Mark Cuban and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, who were part of a $7.5 million funding round for Vietnamese game-maker Sky Mavis in May, it’s a gateway to crypto for people playing around the world.

Those players are banking on the success of Bitcoin and others in hopes of turning them into high-value tokens.

Other projects that include some of the most popular coins in the GameFi space: Uniswap, Chainlink, Dai, ZRX, Maker, Aave, and PancakeSwap.

This, along with the recent NFT craze will absolutely contribute to massive growth in cryptocurrency adoption.

Game on.

Crypto & Gaming: What is GameFi?

## Who is Celer?

Celer (CELR) token is part of the Celer Network which is a layer-2 scaling platform that brings fast, secure, and low-cost blockchain applications on Ethereum, Polkadot, and other blockchains to mass adoption.

Celer launched the world’s first Generalized State Channel Network and continues to push the frontier of layer2 scaling with advanced Rollup technology. Core applications and middlewares like cBridge, layer2.finance and more ecosystem applications built on Celer have attracted more large audiences in DeFi, blockchain interoperability, and gaming space.

## cBridge History

Celer rolled out the first version of its cross-chain network dubbed cBridge 1.0 on the mainnet in July 2021.

The bridge allows users to transfer assets between several blockchains including Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Polygon, and Arbitrum at a fraction of the cost, within minutes instead of having to wait for several days.

Other partnerships include Dfinity, Ankr, Chainlink and Maker among others.

New updates have brought attention to the project and it has been reflected in recent price action, and many are reaping the benefits.

### cBridge 2.0

Only two months after launching the first version, Celer released cBridge 2.0 as an “innovation-packed major upgrade” to introduce deep liquidity for users.

Announced on September 22, the blockchain project noted that the cBridge 2.0 features other improvements for all participants, including users, stakers, and developers.

Users will enjoy more simplicity, native gas token unwrapping, access to more tokens and chains, and an Insured bridge node Service Level. At the same time, Liquidity Providers are no longer required to run a cBridge node and will enjoy simpler experiences, high liquidity efficiency, incentivized liquidity rebalance, and high quality-of-service node scheduling.

Stakers and validators, on the other hand, will directly capture the value of the cBridge through rewards and will also be able to participate in governance while developers will access white-label frontend SDK, cross-chain messaging for NFT, and more.

Very promising news for the future of Celer with more improvements surely to come.

## Celer Updates

As of the time of this writing (October 2, 2021), the price of Celer Network has fallen by 15.87% in the past 7 days. The price increased by 5.32% in the last 24 hours.

The current price is $0.149014 per CELR. Celer Network is 25.49% below the all-time high of $0.20.

The current circulating supply is 5,981,936,992.598 CELR.

Crypto Spotlight: Celer (CELR)

Crypto and the Environment. It’s been a hot topic as of late and many don’t understand why. Today I’ll shed some light on what exactly is causing the concern and what some are trying to do to help.

To understand what the big deal is about crypto and the environment, first one must understand what [Bitcoin](/coins/btc) mining is to begin with.

## Mining all the livelong day

Have you ever wondered how Bitcoin is created?

It’s through ‘mining’. Crypto mining is the process by which new cryptocurrencies are ‘mined’ and added into circulation. This also serves as a critical component of the maintenance and development of the network.

As we know, one of Bitcoin’s most significant features is that it is decentralized. So as there is no central authority controlling the blockchain/network, individuals have to do the work ourselves, through mining.

Miners are rewarded for completing ‘blocks’ of verified transactions, which are added to the blockchain. If you are mining BTC, you are rewarded in BTC. If you are mining ETH, you are rewarded in ETH, etc.

All this mining takes computing power- and lots of it- Although that wasn’t always the case. Back in 2009, you can mine bitcoin with a simple desktop PC.  Fast forward to 2021 and you’re gonna need a substantial amount of computing power. Like a room full of computing power, type of substantial.

## Volcanic solution?

Recently El Salvador has turned to volcanos. Yes, volcanos.

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele recently posted a short video of workers installing a shipping container full of cryptocurrency mining rigs at a geothermal power plant surrounded by thick jungle. “First steps … #Bitcoin,” the president tweeted.

The implications, not just for crypto but for geopolitics, could be huge. El Salvador sits on the edge of the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and has 20 “potentially active” volcanoes, according to VolcanoDiscovery.com. They run the length of the entire country and have been harnessed to generate 21.7% of the country’s energy, according to the U.S. International Trade Association. (For comparison, all renewable energy sources together comprise only 12% of U.S. energy.)
## Nuclear Solution??

Recently Miami, Florida (USA) Mayor Francis Suarez has been approaching cryptocurrency miners about the prospects of setting up operations near South Florida’s Turkey Point nuclear-power plant.

While many are concerned about its use, it may offer a “cleaner” solution for the increasing need in energy consumption that crypto mining will no doubt continue to require.

## Crypto and the Environment - Not All Bad News...

Each year, investment bank Lazard releases a breakdown of energy costs by source. Its 2020 report shows that many of the most common renewable energy sources are either equal to or less expensive than conventional energy sources like coal and gas. And the cost of renewable power keeps going down.

With that and other options such as solar and wind energy, the future isn’t as bleak as some put it.

Regardless of what is done to solve this issue, one thing is clear:

The world doesn’t stop for anyone -not even [Bitcoin](/coins/btc).

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