[Shiba crypto](/news/article/waves-crypto) has become a mainstay in the blockchain-based economy due to the hype its community members, collectively called the SHIB Army, have conferred on the project. 

Introduced into the saturated cryptocurrency market in August 2020, a period when the centralized and decentralized finance markets were recovering from the lows suffering during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic (March and April) by Ryoshi, the "Shiba Inu Ecosystem" is one of the most popular whitepapers in the industry. 

Almost three years after its introduction, the project has experienced several highs and lows in terms of making millionaires and also plunging the portfolios of millions of others into several losses.  

Below, we take an in-depth look at the pros and cons of Ryoshi's innovation that will serve as a thesis to measure whether Shiba crypto remains one of the most underrated projects in the sector. 

## Shiba crypto has surpassed its meme status 

Shiba crypto was introduced into a market of more than 10,000 cryptocurrencies in 2020 to poke fun at the meme-inspired digital currency Dogecoin (DOGE), a project Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer launched in 2013.  

Before 2020, many developers tried to question DOGE's status as the largest meme coin by market capitalization.  

Unfortunately, they all failed to pose a strong test to the dominance of a[ coin](/news/article/vra-coin-doubles) that created several millionaires along the way.  

Unlike the others, including Dogecoin, which was also created to poke fun at the idea of Satoshi Nakamoto introducing Bitcoin (BTC) to challenge centralized finance (CeFi), Shiba has a strong infrastructure to lead the innovation into the next phase of this emerging sector.  

While Dogecoin remains on an independent blockchain that relies on the layer one infrastructure of processing transactions, Shiba has moved on to other areas, such as decentralized finance (DeFi) and the Metaverse.  

This has been made possible in large part thanks to the project’s association with Ethereum, the most popular smart contracts-backed blockchain in the industry to date.  

Despite the significant reduction in total value locked ([TVL](https://defillama.com/chain/Ethereum)) across the sector, Ethereum remains the largest DeFi chain by TVL, with approximately $26 billion, as of 12 July 2023.  

Thousands of decentralized applications (DApps) in lending, yield aggregation, exchange, and insurance have been added to the market thanks to the possibilities of Ethereum. 

Among them is [ShibaSwap](https://www.shibatoken.com/), the native decentralized exchange (DEX) of the Shiba Inu Ecosystem that provides a great way for the swapping of SHIB tokens safely and securely.  

ShibaSwap joined a new area of cryptocurrency trading platforms dominated by Uniswap, the largest DEX by trading volume, and PancakeSwap, the second-largest DEX by trading volume. 

Having seen an opportunity to draw millions onto its platform, the developers added several features to help users earn diverse passive income. Among them are dig (liquidity), bury (staking), and Shiboshis (NFTs).  

While many DEXs such as Balancer, DODO, BiSwap, QuickSwap, Synthetix, ApeSwap, SpookySwap, Thena, Maverick, Clipper, and SushiSwap records awesome monthly trading volumes, the consistent innovation being thrown at ShibaSwap has propelled the DApp to see a minimum of [$50 million](https://dune.com/hagaetc/dex-metrics) in monthly trading volume.  

With millions of users' increasing demand for anonymity, consistent upgrades of ShibaSwap, which opens the DApp to trading many cryptocurrencies and more digital collections instead of the project's products, could propel the DEX to new milestones in the future. 

## Shiba crypto has made its way into the Metaverse 

The Metaverse has been described by many as the next iteration of the internet, where we transition to Web3 from our current Web2 status. 

This means that humans can experience life through single, shared, immersive, persistent, and three-dimensional (3D) spaces using AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality) technologies.  

The potential impact of this emerging space has seen Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the parent company that owns Facebook, Threads, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, Oculus Quest, Horizon Worlds, Workplace, and Mapillary, rebrand his firm's name to Meta Platforms Inc.  

Metaverse's impact has extended beyond the social media sector to many facets of our daily public lives.  

In June 2022, [Ajman Police](https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/2022/06/06/uae-police-set-up-metaverse-service-to-help-the-public/) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced that citizens could meet and interact with them via the Metaverse. Avatars of officers have been made active to answer the queries of residents. 

The buzz around the Metaverse deepened in April 2022 when Yuga Labs, the development team behind the popular NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), announced a new collection borne out of what it called the [Otherside Metaverse](https://watcher.guru/news/bayc-metaverse-otherside-launch-date-released).  

This Metaverse gave birth to NFTs called Otherdeeds, which have generated more than [$1 billion ](https://www.cryptoslam.io/otherdeed)in sales volume.  

SHIB has not left its community behind and also has Shib the Metaverse, a virtual representation of the project’s collective history aimed at helping the army collect in-game resources, generate rewards, and earn consistent passive income.  

Research and Markets forecast the global metaverse market to grow by more than [$175 billion](https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2023/01/25/2594933/28124/en/Global-Metaverse-Market-Report-2023-Market-Value-to-Grow-by-Over-175-Billion-from-2022-to-2027.html) by 2027. While projects like Illuvium, Roblox, Decentraland, and Axie Infinity were mentioned, Shib remains one of the dark horses that can contribute to reaching the forecasted valuation. 

## Shiba crypto launches Shibarium in August 

Many [crypto](/news/article/is-crypto-regulated-across-the-globe) projects, such as Binance and TRON, started on Ethereum but later branched out to individual chains to boost the functionality of their respective protocols. 

Ryoshi and his team have made plans to upgrade their protocol with the launch of Shibarium in August 2023.  

This is a layer two blockchain network built on Vitalik Buterin’s chain for the Shiba Inu project. With this, the project tagged as a Dogecoin Killer due to its meme status will become a complete ecosystem. 

Some of the advantages of [Shibarium](https://cointelegraph.com/explained/what-is-shibarium-and-what-does-it-mean-for-shiba-inu) include but are not limited to seamless DApp development, increased token utility, lower fees, and improved scalability (higher transaction speeds). 

## Will the new ecosystem be safe to use?  

Yes, the protocol will be safe to use, according to Certik, a security-focused platform that monitors and analyzes DeFi projects and blockchain protocols.  

Certik gave the project a security score of [90.72](https://skynet.certik.com/projects/shib), weighted on code security, fundamental health, operational resilience, governance strength, market stability, and community trust. 

With millions of SHIB wallet addresses holding onto their tokens and a thriving ecosystem, Shiba crypto is one of the most underrated projects. And so is its native asset SHIB. 

Is the Shiba crypto project underrated? 

Cryptocurrency crime has become a common theme in a world where billions of pounds are exchanged using the possibilities of the internet aided by the power of [blockchain](/news/article/blockchain-based-fireblocks-explained) technology.  

In its latest report,[ Chainalysis](https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/crypto-crime-midyear-2023-update-ransomware-scams/) revealed that illicit activities related to the use of [cryptocurrencies](/news/article/is-crypto-dead) amounted to $2.8 billion in the first half of 2023.  

While this was down 65% from the same period in 2022 (around $8 billion), crypto still playing a crucial role in child abuse material, fraud shops, scams, malware, ransomware attacks, and darknet markets is a cause of concern for all stakeholders of this sector.  

Although many analysts and industry experts have attributed the consistent rise of cryptocurrency crimes to its private nature, there is more to that assertion.  

In this article, we take an in-depth look at the essential factors that have led many people to use virtual currencies related to the decentralized finance ([DeFi](/news/article/what-is-a-defi-token)) economy. 

## Cryptocurrency crime: Why is it still present in 2023? 

The blockchain-powered economy shed 65% of its overall market capitalization in 2022 after opening the year on 1 January with a value of approximately $2.2 trillion and closing the year on 31 December with around $756 billion, data from [TradingView ](https://www.tradingview.com/markets/cryptocurrencies/global-charts/)showed.  

Within seven months, the market had rebounded, leading to a 54% rise in 2022’s close. As of 11:00 UTC on 13 July 2023, the total market capitalization of the industry was about $1.2 trillion.  

This rebound has been positively reflected in the price performance of mainstream coins such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), meme tokens like Pepe ([PEPE](/news/article/rare-pepes-collectible-memes)), and artificial intelligence (AI) and big data tokens such as SingularityNET (AGIX), Fetch.ai (FET), and the Graph (GRT) among others.  

Having seen the renewed interest in digital assets through the injection of liquidity (reflected in daily trading volume), cybercriminals have turned to crypto again due to the special features it continues to possess, in addition to other factors. 

Cryptocurrency crime is special for organized groups because of the following factors.  

- Pseudonymity and Anonymity – If you try to hold a bank account with any financial institution, there is a 100% chance that representatives of the organization will be asked for identification in the form of Know Your Client or Customer (KYC). With this, they verify the legal details of your full name, country, residential address, and source of funds. If you are supposed to receive funds through cross-border payments, transactions normally go through intermediaries (central banks, insurance companies, and clearinghouses) before they are credited to your account. This process is complex, slow, and does little for your privacy, although it is highly secure. Cryptocurrencies powered by cryptographic encryptions forgo all these processes and allow anyone, no matter where they are, to send and receive money over the internet at relatively lower fees. This is why it has gradually replaced cash as the go-to currency for illicit activities. 

- [Cryptocurrency On-Ramp and Off-Ramp](https://knowledgehub.transparency.org/helpdesk/cryptocurrencies-corruption-and-organised-crime-implications-of-the-growing-use-of-cryptocurrencies-in-enabling-illicit-finance-and-corruption) – When Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin (BTC), it was extremely difficult for asset holders to convert them back to cash. This was because the much-needed technology was not available, and those who had access to it were highly tech-savvy. As BTC and other coins gain mainstream attention, with thousands currently accepted as payment methods by traditional institutions, many financial technology (Fintech) firms have added on-ramp and off-ramp innovations to support the centralized and decentralized finance economies. On-ramp is where cash (fiat money) is converted to crypto. This is mostly done by purchasing digital coins via ATMs, bank transfers, or cards. On-ramp is mostly patronized by traders and investors. Off-ramp is where cryptocurrency is converted into fiat currency. This can be done through Peer-to-Peer (P2P) cryptocurrency marketplaces such as Binance and withdrawing funds through an exchange. In many parts of the world where most people are underbanked or unbanked or face severe sanctions, P2P has become the way for most people to sell off their crypto for cash. Many telecommunications companies have created wallets independent of mainstream financial institutions. These can be used to gradually cash crypto obtained through unscrupulous dealings. 

- Lack of comprehensive global regulatory framework: The Markets-In Crypto Asset ([MiCA](https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2023/05/16/digital-finance-council-adopts-new-rules-on-markets-in-crypto-assets-mica/#:~:text=This%20regulatory%20framework%20aims%20to,of%20the%20crypto-asset%20sector.)) regulation is scheduled to take effect in 2024. The European Union (EU) will introduce [MiCA](/news/article/mica-crypto-market) to preserve financial stability and protect investors while allowing for the positive sides of crypto in the form of innovation to thrive. While this will significantly limit cryptocurrency crimes, the laws would be exclusive to member countries. This means that VASPs (Virtual Asset Service Providers) would need to comply with certain rules and regulations that will go a long way to protect investor funds. Despite this, crypto transactions cannot be reversed, so once residents of the region are scammed, or a VASPs system is compromised through hacking, cybercriminals are still free to move some of the money around before enforcement sets in. Aside from the EU, agencies in the US and the UK have failed to come up with a real regulatory vehicle for stakeholders. Many crypto companies in the US have instead accused the SEC of operating on enforcement rather than compliance. With nobody taking responsibility, criminals continue to hack, scam, and launder billions of dollars annually.  
 
## Cryptocurrency crime mostly involves privacy coins  

[Bitcoin](/news/article/bitcoin-to-pounds), Monero ([XMR](/news/article/how-to-buy-monero)), and Zcash (ZEC) are mostly used to launder money globally. More than $40 billion has been laundered through ransomware and corrupt practices (bribes and embezzlement, among others) since 2017. 

The onus falls on regulatory bodies across the globe to draw up a unified regulatory document against cryptocurrency crime that can monitor large transactions moving from one wallet to the other.  

This way, cryptocurrency crime could be ameliorated and gradually eradicated from the blockchain-based economy. 

Why is Cryptocurrency Crime Still on the Rise?

[BlackRock Bitcoin](https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/blackrock-close-filing-bitcoin-etf-coindesk-2023-06-15/) exchange-traded fund (ETF) trended on all investment newswires in June after BlackRock, the biggest asset manager worldwide, filed for an [ETF](/news/article/chamber-of-digital-commerce) backed by BTC, the largest digital asset by market capitalization.  

The move for a Blackrock Bitcoin ETF was made by the investment firm to give clients exposure to the flagship coin. 

The company disclosed that [Coinbase Custody](https://www.coinbase.com/custody/assets), a New York-based business that provides cold-storage services for the digital assets of third parties, will serve as custodian for its iShares Bitcoin Trust, details of its filing with the US SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) showed.  

While this has been seen as a great move by a large investment company, the SEC has shown resistance when it comes to the approval of spot BTC ETFs.  

## BlackRock Bitcoin ETF: What is it? 

To understand this what the Blackrock Bitcoin ETF is, you should know what ETF means. According to [Investopedia](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/etf.asp), ETF is a kind of investment security pool that operates similarly to a mutual fund. It tracks commodities, particular sectors, indexes, and other assets like cryptocurrencies. 

It differs from mutual funds because it can be bought and sold on a stock exchange in the same way as the regular stocks of Mastercard, Visa Inc., and other major corporations with ticker symbols on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), and others.  

SPDR S&P 500 ETF is the first exchange-traded fund, and it continues to track the S&P 500 Index. 

With this in mind, what BlackRock has applied for is a spot BTC ETF. This would track the underlying market price of the first blockchain-backed digital currency.  

Analysts at [Forbes Advisor ](https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/cryptocurrency/best-bitcoin-etfs/)believe this product will expose investors to the coin without becoming crypto asset holders.   

## BlackRock Bitcoin ETF is not the first being considered by the SEC  

As of July 2023, the SEC has not approved any ETFs that directly own [BTC](/news/article/bitcoin-rally-sees-gain-this-week). Instead, existing Bitcoin ETFs only hold futures contracts or other ETFs and stocks of companies that have direct exposure to Satoshi Nakamoto’s innovation.  

In 2022, [Grayscale Investment LLC](https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/30/the-sec-rejected-bitcoin-spot-etfs-again-now-what/), the largest digital asset management firm, saw its request to convert its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into an ETF rejected by the SEC. 

Angered by the decision, [Grayscale sued](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/30/grayscale-sues-sec-after-rejected-bid-to-turn-bitcoin-fund-into-etf.html) because the regulatory body had already approved BTC futures ETFs, as earlier highlighted. 

Aside from Grayscale, CBOE Global Markets, New York Digital Investments Group (NYDIG), and Fidelity have also had their spot BTC ETFs rejected by the apex regulatory institution in the USA. 

## Impact of the filing on the coin  

In crypto, there are three major price drivers; the triggering of a staking feature that helps investors earn passive income, the listing of a virtual asset on a major exchange, and the acceptance of a coin as a transactional currency by a mainstream company.  

Ordinarily, due to the SEC's rejection of other companies’ attempts, a filing of an exchange-traded fund related to the most popular cryptocurrency should have been discarded by millions of traders across the globe.  

After trading below $30,000 for two months, the asset rebounded strongly from $25,576.28 on 16 June and tested a then-high of $31,460.05 on 6 July. 

As of 21:00 on 13 July 2023, it was exchanging hands for $31,484.21, a 23% rise in less than one month, data from crypto price tracker CoinMarketCap showed.  

Such bullishness is the reason why analyst [Richard Adrian ](https://www.fxleaders.com/forecasts/crypto/bitcoin-price-forecast/)at FX Leaders foresees a substantial rise in the price of the crypto.  

According to him, the digital currency could reach the maximum price of $85,000 due to positive market sentiment, hawkish central bank decisions, and mainstream adoption of the decentralized finance sector by the year's close. 

## The latest on spot Bitcoin ETFs globally 

On 13 July 2023, multiple news outlets reported that London-based multi-asset investment platform [Jacobi Asset Management ](https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-etf-europe-s-first-spot-bitcoin-etf-eyes-2023-debut-after-a-year-long-delay)would launch the first spot BTC ETF in Europe before the close of the year. 

This announcement comes exactly a year after it was scheduled to premiere on the Euronext exchange in Amsterdam in July 2022.  

The asset manager said it chose to launch its product in the fall due to improved demand for [crypto assets](/news/article/crypto-watch-guide).  

Since security has become an integral issue in this sector due to the billions of pounds worth of stolen digital assets, Jacobi has chosen Fidelity Digital Assets as the custodian.  

## Conclusion 

The SEC may not grant exchange-traded funds related to the spot market due to the agency's consistent consideration of many of the assets, including [BTC](/coins/btc), being securities in disguise. 

Whatever happens, [BlackRock](/news/article/blackrock-etf) has created an impressive base on which other potential applicants can thrive to see this hurdle through.  

That said, [Ripple](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/13/xrp-surges-after-judge-delivers-a-huge-win-to-ripple-in-its-case-against-the-sec.html) has won its two and half year case against the agency. This could be a turning point in the type of products it could approve for trading in the future. 

Blackrock Bitcoin ETFs: The Latest

[Shiba Inu](/news/article/could-shiba-inu-price-reach-10-by-2024) crypto has survived the bullish days and bearish seasons of the blockchain industry to remain one of the most popular and traded digital assets in the sector. 

Despite the introduction of competitor meme coins such as Pepe (PEPE), Floki Inu (FLOKI), [Akita Inu](/news/article/akita-inu-coin), Baby DogeCoin (BABYDOGE), Dogelon Mars (ELON), and Milady Meme Coin (LADYS), among others, SHIB, the novel token behind the [Shiba Inu](/news/article/shiba-inu-holders-value-of-bone) ecosystem remains a medium-cap digital asset by market capitalization. 

With more than [$4 billion](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/shiba-inu/) in market value, the crypto token continues to see millions of dollars in daily volume, and this has led to a revision of forecasts made by analysts involved in the space.  

While the project has struggled to create the millionaires it once did during the peak of the market in 2021, it has been trending recently due to upcoming upgrades, and other events, that could propel it to new price milestones in the not-too-distant future. 

Below, we take an extensive look at some of the positives and negatives that could explain whether this meme-inspired [crypto](/news/article/what-is-gmt-crypto) is an asset you can consider adding to your investment portfolio.  

## Pros of buying Shiba Inu crypto 

Created by a group of people named Ryoshi in August 2020, [Shiba Inu ](/news/article/shiba-inu-news-will-it-rise)is one of the most impactful projects in the space aside from Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC).  

While it was supposed to remain a joke project borne out of the meme-inspired digital currency frenzy, Ryoshi and his team have taken their innovation to the mainstream.  

Here are some pros you should consider before deciding investment-wise on the token. 

- Scarcity – Many meme coins rely on their community to lift the coin to new price milestones. Aside from that, most of them are inflationary as development teams add more coins to satisfy the needs of demanding fans without considering the effects on tokenomics. While meme projects such as Dogecoin (DOGE) remain inflationary, [Shiba Inu](/news/article/shiba-inu-price-gbp) is a deflationary token. While inflationary tokens are increased over time, deflationary tokens decrease periodically. Deflationary cryptocurrencies are subject to token burning, a process where a significant part of the virtual currency is removed from circulation. Once this happens, scarcity takes hold of the particular crypto asset. The latest [token burning](/news/article/shiba-inu-coin-burn) came on 11 July 2023, when [Shibburn](https://twitter.com/shibburn/status/1678615120648208384), an account dedicated to tracking SHIB tokens, shared with their followers that around 601 million SHIB have been burned. While many do not consider the token a store of value due to its total and maximum supply, it still possesses all the attributes of a currency. Aside from scarcity, it is non-counterfeitable, divisible, transportable, durable, and can be used to settle transactions (transactional currency). With consistent burns ahead of the token, many analysts, including [Daria Morgen](https://changelly.com/blog/shiba-inu-price-prediction/) at Changelly Blog, foresee the digital currency nearing its all-time high (ATH) of $0.00008845 in October 2021 on the back of scarcity. According to her, its value could increase to the best possible prices of $0.00002382 by the end of 2025, $0.00005009 (2027), and $0.00015853 by the year’s end of 2030.   

- Investor Confidence – You do not want a situation where you are only after a particular cryptocurrency. As of 21:00 UTC on 12 July 2023, the cryptocurrency has seen a minimum daily trading volume of around $71 million in the seventh month of the year. While trading volume is not discussed much, you should know that it plays an important role in technical and fundamental analysis. Aside from liquidity, the number of long-term holders is another area that makes SHIB a token worth considering. Data from [IntoTheBlock](https://app.intotheblock.com/coin/SHIB/deep-dive?group=ownership&chart=all) shows that the number of addresses holding the crypto for at least one year has reached a new milestone. The number of wallet addresses with SHIB for more than a year has surpassed 835,000, and they make up around 67% of all token holders. Holding onto digital currencies for a long period means anticipation of a potential rise in price in the future.   

- Ecosystem Expansion – According to multiple reports online, [Shibarium](https://blog.shib.io/) will be going live in August 2023 after its beta test went live in March. Shibarium is a layer two network, making the project a full ecosystem where all sectors of the blockchain-backed economy will be featured (Metaverse, NFTs, DApps, video games, and many more). This way, the project will not thrive on the price performance of Bitcoin (BTC) and other market movers such as DOGE to increase significantly. 

## Cons of buying Shiba Inu crypto 

The most important con of the Shiba Inu crypto project is the introduction of popular memes such as Pepe (PEPE), which has claimed a substantial part of the meme coin market over the past months. 

As the months roll over, if Ryoshi and the team do not introduce new products that compete with others in all the essential areas of the economy, the project may fail to cross the $1 milestone that’s been missing for most meme-inspired digital assets.  

Consider the above pros and cons and supplement the information here with further research. Also, weigh the risks against the rewards of buying the token. If they are in your favour, you can consider adding it to your investment portfolio. 

Shiba inu crypto coin with Shiba smiling 

Is Shiba Inu Crypto Still a Good Investment?

"Stablecoin depeg" has been gaining traction over the past year due to the extensive usage of the digital asset by millions across the globe. 

Despite the negative effects of what became known as [crypto ](/news/article/waves-crypto)winter due to the plunge in the worth of the decentralized finance market, [stablecoins](https://thedefiant.io/stablecoin-volume-hits-record-high-of-7-4t-in-2022) executed around $7 trillion worth of transactions in 2022. 

What's impressive is that last year's value was a 23% rise from 2021, when the stable assets executed approximately $6 trillion worth of transactions. 

Trailing only Visa, the stable asset class [outpaced](https://twitter.com/TheChicagoVC/status/1605596279295201280) other payment processing companies such as Discover, Mastercard, and American Express during one of the worst periods in the trading history of virtual currencies.  

With the world of work changing, which has forced the hands of many employers worldwide to offer some employees’ salaries in crypto due to its relatively lower fees, it has become an instrumental part of the lives of several remote workers.  

This is why stablecoin depeg has risen above many terms in the crypto sector and has become a subject you should not take lightly.  

## Stablecoin depeg: Where does it begin? 

To understand this, you should first know what a stablecoin is.  

Its meaning can be directly derived from its name, a coin that is stable. According to [Investopedia](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/stablecoin.asp), it is a part of the crypto family and values are tied or pegged to commodities, financial instruments, or fiat currencies like the US dollar (USD), Euro (EUR), or the Great British pound (GBP).  

Satoshi Nakamoto introduced blockchain technology-backed financial currencies to compete directly with centralized finance-backed currencies. Therefore, we would be focusing on crypto paired with fiat currencies as a measure for explaining depegging. 

Most stablecoins are pegged 1:1 with fiat currencies, so depegging occurs when their values deviate substantially from their pegged rate. 

This unfortunate situation normally occurs on the back of regulatory changes, liquidity issues, and market conditions depending on the type of stablecoin.  

## What are the types of stablecoins?  

They come in three types: coins backed by fiat currency as earlier explained, others backed by commodities such as gold and silver, and those backed algorithmically by smart contracts. 

Among others, the most popular are Tether Limited’s United States Dollar Tether (USDT), [Circle’s](/news/article/stablecoin-issuer-circle-apple-pay) United States Dollar Coin (USDC), Binance’s USD (BUSD), DAI, USDP, Euro Coin ([EUROC](/news/article/euro-coin)), and TerraUSD (UST).  

While stablecoin issued by Circle and Tether is directly supported by USD and EUR, UST was an algorithmic stablecoin by Terraform Labs, a project that collapsed in May 2022.  

UST de-pegged due to its linkage to LUNA, the native asset behind the Terra ecosystem – a project that once surpassed $20 billion in total value locked (TVL).  

Due to its reliance on LUNA, once traders lost interest in Terra’s flagship cryptocurrency, UST could not be redeemed against its parent virtual currency. This led to mass selling and plunged the coin into irrecoverable zones.  

In March 2023, USDC briefly depegged from the USD in large part due to [Silicon Valley Bank](https://www.investopedia.com/what-happened-to-silicon-valley-bank-7368676), a now-defunct financial institution in the US where around $3 billion of the stablecoin's reserves were held. 

In 2018, USDT, which remains the largest stablecoin by market capitalization with approximately [$83 billion](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/tether/) in value, briefly depegged. 

## Should you be concerned about another major stablecoin depeg?  

Yes, you should be extremely concerned, considering the collapse of UST began crypto winter that wiped more than $1 trillion off the crypto economy in 2022.  

Understand that the DeFi sector is highly volatile, and several agencies continue to plan to introduce some [regulation](/news/article/is-crypto-regulated-across-the-globe) to the market, which could impact the asset class negatively. 

Aside from that, issuers can fail holders of a particular coin, while large selling by traders who want to cash out their assets can also affect their stable value. 

What is stablecoin depeg and why does it matter? 

[Token vs Coin ](https://www.analyticsinsight.net/crypto-coin-vs-crypto-token-understanding-the-difference/)yields millions of results across search engines like Bing and Google due to a demand for answers on the real differences between two terms, mostly used interchangeably. 

Why are certain digital assets referred to as coins, and why do some have tokens attached to them on crypto-tracking websites such as [CoinMarketCap](/news/article/coin-marketcap-analysis) and others?  

Below, we examine what they are, their differences, and examples that will help you categorize numerous cryptocurrencies you have been coming across on crypto news portals and exchanges. 

## Token vs Coin: What does coin mean? 

To explain the terms, let us understand that the two exist and came into being through the power of blockchain technology.  

Coins are primarily cryptocurrencies that are native to a particular blockchain. They are exclusive to a particular chain and cannot be used on other blockchains due to a lack of interoperability.  

They have several use cases, including serving as a store of value, exchange medium, and unit of account. 

You may have come across a term called mining. This is the process by which coins are produced. Mining allows computers relying on application-specified integrated circuits (ASICs) to solve complex math puzzles, which helps validate transactions to create coins. 

Miners are rewarded with newly minted coins, and their contributions are highly invaluable to the decentralization and security of a network. 

On having a decentralized feature, no intermediaries (central banks, clearinghouses, or insurance companies) are in charge of the coin's circulation. Instead, they are governed by their protocol's rules and the project's community's consensus. 

With this, users enjoy privacy and freedom over their funds and transactions – something many, like Satoshi Nakamoto (creator of [BTC](/news/article/how-to-invest-in-bitcoin-uk)), felt centralized financial institutions have taken away from people. 

On security, to prevent cybercriminals from engaging in unscrupulous activities using virtual currencies in fraud, censorship, and hacking, cryptography and encryption are used to protect coins.  

This way, users do not need to entrust the safety and authenticity of their coins to third parties.  

The last and most recognizable feature of coins is scarcity. Digital coins were created to challenge the status quo (fiat currency system), so they must possess all the attributes of currency money. 

Predetermined by their respective algorithms, most coins have a total and maximum supply, which positively reflects their value over time. 

With this in mind, you should know that four types of coins categorize the assets you have been reading about or trading online. They are native, forked, wrapped, and stable.  

Native coins run on independent blockchains and oversee all the activities of that particular network. Great examples are Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin ([LTC](/news/article/litecoin-predictions)), Dash (DASH), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), and Dogecoin ([DOGE](/news/article/dogecoin-twitter-doge-payments)), among others. 

Stablecoins are pegged to the value of fiat currencies (USD, EUR, and GBP), commodities (gold, silver), and other cryptocurrencies. Examples are [USDC, USDT](/news/article/usdc-vs-usdt), BUSD, and DAI.  

Wrapped coins represent different assets on different blockchains. This was introduced to allow liquidity and cross-chain functionality for users. Wrapped Ether ([WETH](https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/cryptocurrency/wrapped-ethereum-weth/)) and Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) are examples.  

Ethereum Classic (ETC), Bitcoin Satoshi Version (BSV), Ethereum Proof-of-Work (ETHPoW), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) are examples of Forked Coins – they were derived from their originally existing chains.  

    
## Token vs Coin: What does token mean? 

Unlike coins, tokens are housed in existing blockchains and rely on the possibilities of the technology for their operations.  

While coins are mined, tokens are pre-mined, and this means that the development team behind a protocol employs smart contracts to issue and distribute new tokens to their users.  

With the explanation of tokens in mind, you should know that there are four types; utility, governance, security, and non-fungible. Non-fungible tokens ([NFTs](https://trading-education.com/what-are-nfts-non-fungible-tokens-explained)) represent indivisible, indestructible, verifiable, and non-interoperable digital items such as collectables and art. Many popular NFTs are issued through Ethereum, including the [Bored Ape Yacht Club](/news/article/bored-ape-whale-buys-69-degods-nft), Axie Infinity, Otherdeeds from the Otherside Metaverse, NBA Top Shots, and Azuki.  

Utility tokens help users access functions and services on a blockchain or decentralized application (DApp). Examples include Uniswap ([UNI](/news/article/uniswap-ledger-connect-guide)). Governance tokens confer something like voting rights to users where they have a say in the governance of a particular DApp or chain. Compound (COMP), Aave (AAVE), and Maker (MKR) are examples of governance tokens. 

The last are security tokens, representing a share of ownership or claim on an income stream or asset. Polymath (POLY) is part of security tokens and, unlike the others, is subject to third-party influence such as regulation and compliance. 


Token vs Coin: What is the Difference?

[Terra](https://www.terra.money/) crypto was the most talked about project in the digital currency space due to leading a downtrend that saw billions of dollars wiped off from the overall market capitalization of the blockchain-powered economy. 

When [Terra ](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/terra-luna-v2/)was taken to market in January 2018 by Do Kwon and Daniel Shin, it showed a lot of promise and was touted by many blockchain enthusiasts to rival [Solana](/news/article/solana-doodle-apes-explained), [Cardano](/news/article/latest-cardano-news-and-roadmap), and other smart contracts-backed chains as an Ethereum Killer.  

Much of the loss came from the crash of TerraUSD (UST), one of the most used stablecoins over the past two years, and this led to the delisting of the virtual currency by major cryptocurrency exchanges.  

Over the past year, numerous arrest warrants have been issued for former CEO and [founder Do Kwon](/news/article/terraform-ceo-do-kwon-arrested) while millions of customers continue to suffer from the irrecoverable losses incurred from crypto winter.  

The crypto market has been on a rebound in 2023. While coins and tokens under the artificial intelligence (AI), big data, meme-inspired, and Metaverse umbrellas have brought multiple percentage gains to traders and investors, many coins like Terra (LUNA) have not outshone many such crypto assets.  

Let us examine the latest news on the project, which could positively impact the price of LUNA and bring more developers to the once-thriving platform that showed loads of promise.  

## Terra crypto announces Alliance partnership 

On 20 April, 2023, Terra alerted stakeholders that its community which goes by the name of LUNAtic has merged the "[Alliance](https://medium.com/terra-money/alliance-harnessing-the-power-of-incentive-alignment-f66e849d2609)” Module into Terra mainnet.  

This will open a new range of possibilities for growth and collaboration cross-chain-wise. This announcement bodes well for a project that once commanded approximately $20 billion in total value locked (TVL) from decentralized applications (dApps) such as Terraswap, Astroport (exchanges), Spectrum and Aperture Finance (yield), and Lido (liquid staking), data from tracker [DeFiLlama](https://defillama.com/chain/Terra%20Classic?tvl=true) showed.  

But what is Alliance, and how does it work? Alliance is an open-source Cosmos Software Development Kit (SDK) that empowers blockchains to position themselves incentive-wise with users, developers, and adjacent chains to strengthen and expand their respective ecosystems.  

Alliance is positively skewed towards staking (one of the primary ways of getting consistent passive income under the current crypto climate) by serving as an instrument that is steering the monetary policy of the decentralized economy.  

Aside from diversifying and augmenting staking yield, some of Alliance's use cases include attracting users, liquidity, and developers, incentivizing application developers, and deepening liquidity for essential token pairs. 

## How do Terra crypto holders benefit from Alliance? 

By unlocking various opportunities for collaboration and growth for both Terra and Cosmos ecosystems, holders of Terra crypto can earn staking rewards across several chains.  

A great example can be attributed to the second Cosmos Implementation of Alliance, which went live on OxCarbon. 

Due to Alliance's association, “#ampLUNA and $stLUNA LSTs can now be staked as Alliance assets, to earn native staking rewards, on Carbon app chain”, per [a retweet](https://twitter.com/tfm_com/status/1664602223597477890) by Terra Powered by LUNA.  

Newbies to the crypto-powered economy should know that staking is growing rapidly.  

As of 20:00 UTC on 6 June, 2023, there were more than nine million stakers globally, the global staked value was around $89 billion, and Proof-of-Stake (POS) market cap was about $330 billion, data from the provider for staking and crypto-growth tools [Staking Rewards ](https://www.stakingrewards.com/)showed.  

## Does Terra crypto have a future? 

There are two digital currencies related to the Terra project on the market. They are [Terra Luna ](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/terra-luna-v2/historical-data/)(LUNA), a new cryptocurrency launched after the crash of the original project currently called [Terra Classic](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/terra-luna/historical-data/) (LUNC). Despite the positives, both cryptocurrencies have been on a downtrend this year. LUNC has declined by 31% in value after opening the year with a trading price of $0.0001451 and exchanging hands for $0.0001, data from crypto price tracker CoinMarketCap showed. 

LUNA has also fallen sharply in the first six months of the year with $0.8132 as its trading price, as of writing, after opening the year on 1 January with a value of $1.2591. LUNC has a market capitalization of roughly $585 million, while LUNA commands a market value of around $230 million. 

Despite the negatives, the two cryptocurrencies continue to see a daily trading volume of more than $10 million. With trading volume as the primary measure, both currencies have a future due to consistent liquidity.  

## Conclusion: Should you buy Terra crypto? 

Yes, LUNA and LUNC are digital assets you should consider adding to your investment portfolios.  

This is because they are trading below £1. As a result, forking out £100 could see you buy millions of either coin.  

That way, should the cryptocurrencies reach an impressive trading price within a short period, you can see double, triple, quadruple, quintuple, or more gains.  

While many articles remain bullish on the state of many digital tokens in the future, there are two sides to every investment. There are profits and losses.  

Therefore, do your due diligence- extensively research coins by weighing the pros against the cons before investing your hard-earned money. 

Terra project logo on blue image ofcry[tocurrency coins stacked up

What's the latest news on Terra crypto in 2023? 

[Waves crypto](https://waves.tech/), like several projects that joined the blockchain-powered economy over the past five years, has contributed significantly to the decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible token (NFT) sectors of the industry.  

While the project has seen millions of dollars in total value locked in its decentralized applications (DApps) and sales from digital arts stored on its blockchain, should you spend time on [Waves crypto](/news/article/is-crypto-dead) at a time when the market looks like it is on a downtrend?  

## What is Waves crypto?              

Waves is the blockchain and WAVES is the native asset behind the blockchain project.  

Founded in 2016 by Ukrainian-born Sasha Ivanov, a technology entrepreneur who helped create platforms such as indexing site Cooleindex and defunct-instant exchange Coinomat, the purpose of the platform is to allow stakeholders of the virtual currency market to create and launch custom crypto tokens.  

The stakeholders are not necessarily computer scientists or blockchain developers but anyone interested in creating and trading cryptocurrencies. 

This is because Waves was designed in a way where there is little need for a user to have extensive knowledge about smart contract programming.  

WAVES is a crypto coin that maintains and operates the network. It also plays an integral role in the creation of custom tokens. 

Like, [ether ](/news/article/ethereum-price-in-uk)(ETH), [bitcoin](/news/article/bitcoin-liquidations-spark-price-spike) (BTC), and other crypto assets, it also serves a function as the primary cryptocurrency used to pay for transaction fees. With an insight into the project, what pros and cons should you consider before risking money on the cryptocurrency? 

## Pros of buying Waves crypto 

- Supported by DApps – In 2018, Waves Mainnet saw the addition of smart contract functionality, which enabled the building of DApps by third parties. This has led to the creation of [DApps](https://defillama.com/chain/Waves?tvl=true) such as Vires Finance (lending), Neutrino (Index), WX Network (exchange), Pluto (reserve currency), Pepe Team sWAVES (liquid staking), and Swop (exchange). According to the project’s official website, these DApps have contributed to more than $200 million in value locked with Waves processing at least 23,000 daily transactions, and all-time transactions above 260 million. With other areas in DeFi, such as insurance and yield aggregation, yet to be triggered by developers contributing to the development of the platform's ecosystem, the addition of more competitive applications with real-world use cases could impact the price of WAVES positively in the not-too-distant future. 

- Supported by a strong NFT community – The digital collectibles market remains the most profitable for most traders in 2023. As of 6 June, 2023, it ranks 20th on the biggest NFT blockchains by all-time sales volume with approximately $24 million, data from aggregator [CryptoSlam](https://www.cryptoslam.io/blockchains) showed. While this value is relatively lower than competing chains such as Ethereum, Ronin, Solana, Flow, and Avalanche, among others, the Waves Duck sale became the highest-selling NFT outside of Ethereum. In April 2021, the NFT sold for [$1 million ](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005612/en/Waves-Sells-Duck-NFT-%E2%80%9CPerfection%E2%80%9D-for-1000000-Launches-Duck-Hunters-Game-to-Incentivize-Participation-in-Waves-DeFi)and, at the time, beat sales from most digital art carved out of the NBA in Top Shots (housed on Flow). Many digital assets benefit from positive news about the NFTs housed in their respective ecosystems, and the native currency will be no different. 

- Supported by Enterprise – In 2019, [Waves Enterprise ](https://wavesenterprise.com/)was marketed by the development team. Unlike Waves which is tailored to the needs and interests of a decentralized world, Enterprise is primarily focused on institutions. Combining public and private networks, this platform ensures reliability, scalability, confidentiality, data immutability, and high throughput solutions. Enterprise provides deployment, consulting, and support services. Some of the use cases of Enterprise include employee motivation programs (human resource), digital lawyer of the year awards (e-voting), and cash pooling (liquidity, treasuring, and finance). Due to the numerous scam incidents that have mired the blockchain industry, having real-world use by institutions bodes well for the entire project. The effect is positive for traders associated with the currency who can see the possibilities of the chain reflected in the activities of real institutions. 

- Highly accessible – One of the primary factors to look out for is the accessibility of a cryptocurrency. Without it being available to millions of traders, liquidity (trading volume) needed to push the coin beyond the price you bought it to make gains will be lacking. As of 10:00 UTC on 6 June, 2023, the coin was supported by more than 40 exchanges and was available in over 90 markets. 

## Cons of buying Waves crypto 

- Infinite competition – There are around 25,500 cryptocurrencies on the market. There are several smart contracts-backed blockchain technologies in the market as well, thanks to the success of Ethereum. All these platforms are fighting for the same number of developers to add more DApps to their platforms and investors to pour liquidity into their tokens. 

## Conclusion

As a result, consider the risks against the rewards before buying the crypto. If the rewards of investing in Waves crypto outpace the potential risks of losing your hard-earned money, you can consider adding the coin to your investment portfolio.  

But beyond all things, do your own research before throwing money behind any digital currency due to its volatility. 

Blue image of a wave with wave crypto logo

Should you invest in Waves crypto in 2023? 

VRA coin is the novel token of [Verasity](https://www.verasity.io/), a company that looks forward to creating an entirely new experience in digital rights management, AdTech, and esports.  

On 22 May, 2023, Verasity was included in [Binance Research’s Report](https://www.binance.com/en/blog/ecosystem/binance-research-ai-in-crypto--exploring-use-cases-and-possibilities-5866212664985036946) on the progress of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Crypto. Aside from that, the token has been tagged as an AI token by [crypto](/news/article/is-crypto-dead) asset tracker CoinMarketCap.  

This means that VRA competes with other [AI-backed digital currencies](https://coinmarketcap.com/view/ai-big-data/), such as Fetch.ai (FET) and SingularityNET (AGIX).  

Despite this, the token has brought more than 100% gains to its holders year-to-date (YTD) after beginning the year with an opening price of $0.002204 on 1 January and exchanging hands for $0.004753 on 6 June.  

Before this, the virtual asset reached a yearly high price of $0.0112 on 8 February. Traders that locked in gains during the second month of the year walked away with more than 400% in gains in less than two months should they have purchased the token on the first day of 2023. 

![coinmarketcap screenshot](https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/prod-monitalks-media/coinmarketcap_screenshot_6d2eb5dd77.png)

While the relevance of AI technologies such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other chatbots have shed light on the emergence of new tools that aim to make our lives and work relatively easier, what are the real primary drivers behind the spike in VRA coin's spike?  

## VRA coin's parent company is completing all milestones in the roadmap 

In the first quarter of 2023, Verasity completed several projects under VeraEsports, VeraWallet, and [VeraViews](https://www.verasity.io/adtech) as part of its [roadmap](https://www.verasity.io/roadmap). 

Verasity was created to solve many problems using blockchain technology, including advertising fraud. 

Due to the millions of dollars in revenue that creators could obtain, many use computer-generated ad interactions to trick advertisers and publishers about the genuineness of several engagements. 

Millions of people have gotten away with the manipulation of analytics data, but this is where VeraViews come in with a solution transparent enough to invalidate all forms of ad fraud in real-time. 

According to the official website of Verasity, the project has set up a knowledge base for publishers that includes integration information. Aside from this, user management functionality created for publishers for multiple admins has also been created. 

More importantly, due to diversity, multilingual website support has also been integrated to help users get the best out of the technology.  

The market for ad fraud is projected to reach $100 billion in 2023, but Verasity looks forward to using VeraViews to thwart the efforts of cybercriminals. 

One of the most important products completed in Q1 2023 was VeraWallet. Crypto wallets play an integral role in the blockchain-powered economy. Without wallets, it would be extremely difficult for facets of the sector to work in unison.  

The crypto wallet market worldwide is projected to be worth approximately [$48 billion](https://www.researchandmarkets.com/report/cryptocurrency-wallet#:~:text=The%20global%20crypto%20wallet%20market,out%20any%20transactions%20in%20cryptocurrency.) by 2030, a 24.4% Compound Annual Growth Rate from around $8 billion in 2022.  

While Research and Markets mentioned companies such as Coinbase Global Inc., Crypto.com, Binance, Ledger SaS, BitPay, BitGo, and Zengo Limited to help attain the aforementioned valuation, Verasity is contributing to this market in its own way.  

VRA coin is held in VeraWallet. As a token, it possesses all six essential attributes of currency: transferability, durability, scarcity, divisibility, non-counterfeitability, and utility. 

As a utility token, it is used to exchange and transfer value in virtual gaming, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), esports, and video economies across the globe. 

Global NFT market sales have surpassed [$57 billion](https://www.cryptoslam.io/nftglobal), while the worldwide esports market has also been projected to reach $6.75 billion by 2030.  

As of 7 June, 2023, VeraWallet has more than 300,000 users, and the token is listed on more than 20 crypto exchanges (centralized and decentralized).  

Unlike other wallets, the project has taken a major leap above the rest with the launch of VeraCard, which has been made available to UK residents.  

With the digital currency playing an integral role across these booming industries, the resultant effect could be a significant price spike in the coming months.  

The last driver of the token's value over the past six months is [VeraEsports](https://www.verasity.io/esports). Under this product, the project has created unlimited possibilities for gaming and crypto economy stakeholders to help them earn rewards through their play activities. 

Watch & Earn helps users earn rewards by watching and playing their favourite tournaments. As a result, several partnerships have been formed with major brands in the industry, such as PUBG Mobile, Orange Esports, NIMO TV, Huya.com, thegamingco, MINESKI Global, and Esports Business Network.  

## Conclusion: Is VRA coin a good investment? 

Yes, the token is one of the cryptocurrencies you should consider including in your investment portfolio.  

This is because it remains relevant not only in the AI-token space but mainstream crypto space as well. 

On 2 June, VRA was named one of the top 10 crypto [projects by social activity](https://twitter.com/Crypto_Dep/status/1664570823267561472). It trailed mainstream assets such as Avalanche (AVAX), Dogecoin (DOGE), Polygon (MATIC), Binance Coin (BNB), Solana (SOL), Ethereum (ETH), and Bitcoin (BTC), among others. 

This means that millions of traders consider the token one of the go-to [coins](/news/article/rune-coin-and-thorchain). This explains why daily trading volume peaked at about $71 million on 8 February. 

About 9% of total assets are in circulation, so scarcity also lies ahead of the currency. 

VRA coin has not been listed by the largest crypto exchange by volume in the US (Coinbase) and across the globe (Binance). These potential listings could also lead to another surge in the token's value. 

green image of VRA coin logo on photo of a trading setup

VRA coin doubles in value in 2023 due to roadmap 

[Bittrex filed for insolvency ](https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/cr)on 8 May, 2023, after the exchange was charged by the US SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) in April 2023 for allegedly operating as an unregistered securities platform. 

All operations ceased in the US on the last day of April. The company disclosed that its worldwide arm, Bittrex Global, which provides services to customers exclusive of the US, would not be affected by bankruptcy protection. 

## Why did the SEC charge Bittrex?  

Over the past two years, as Bitcoin ([BTC](/news/article/marathon-digital-sustainable-mining)) and Ethereum (ETH) neared $70,000 and $5,000, respectively, which made the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector a trillion-dollar economy, the SEC set its sights on many digital assets, labelling several as securities. 

On 17 April, the SEC charged Bittrex Inc., Bittrex Global GmbH, and William Shihara, former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and co-founder, for operating what it called a clearing agency, brokerage, and securities exchange. 

The SEC called the Bittrex exchange out because it believes the platform has earned a minimum of $1.3 billion in revenue, including money from US investors. 

Gary Gensler, the chair of the SEC, disclosed that the action of the agency shows that the emerging market does not suffer from a lack of regulatory clarity but a lack of regulatory compliance.    

## Bittrex Global GmbH CEO says the firm will contest SEC charges 

Oliver Linch, CEO of the Bittrex global arm, [told Coindesk](https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/04/26/bittrex-global-ceo-says-firm-will-fight-sec-charges-did-not-serve-us-customers/) during a phone interview on 26 April that they never served US customers and will do anything to defend their position. 

Like many others in the industry, Linch believes the agency is not showing signs of being interested in providing a clear[ regulatory](/news/article/is-crypto-regulated-across-the-globe) framework by which industry stakeholders would abide. 

Instead, many agree that it is more interested in regulation by enforcement. The latest act has made many US-based exchanges dissatisfied with the SEC consider quitting the country and moving headquarters to other countries working towards regulation. 

## Bittrex is not the only aggrieved US-based crypto exchange 

Many of the pioneer cryptocurrency companies are based in the US. Coinbase is the country's largest exchange by trading volume, while Ripple is the most recognizable cross-border [crypto](/news/article/is-crypto-dead)-backed technology globally. Ripple's native asset XRP is an integral On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) source that settles thousands of transactions daily. Ripple and Coinbase have felt the enforcing rather than the regulatory hand of the SEC. 

Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, has labelled the SEC as a lone crusader when it comes to its crypto policies, which he flagged as stringent. 

While he believes Gary Gensler has changed his position on the sector due to pressure from Wall Street and the US Government, which sees crypto as a threat to the stability of the centralized financial system, [Armstrong retweeted](https://twitter.com/EleanorTerrett/status/1661518275921018881) a message from pro-crypto Florida governor DeSantis who has launched a 2024 White House Presidential Bid. DeSantis believes policies could be made to disrupt the use of BTC in the next four years, but he would do everything to protect the numerous benefits of cryptocurrency. 

In March, Coinbase received a formal warning from the SEC about a possible enforcement action that could be made against the exchange.            

Ripple continues to be embroiled in a case with the SEC. In December 2020, the regulatory body charged representatives of the project for raising more than [$1.3 billion](https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2020-338) via an unregistered, ongoing digital asset securities offering. According to executive Bradley Garlinghouse, there is a huge chance that Ripple could spend around $200 million before its lawsuit with the regulatory agency comes to an end - money that could have been injected into the operational needs of the company looking at the damaging effects of crypto winter over the past year. 

## Crypto regulation 

While the US has failed to lead the world in regulations, the European Union's Markets-In Crypto Asset (MiCA) is scheduled to take effect in 2024. 

On 23 May, [IOSCO ](https://www.reuters.com/business/watchdog-proposes-first-set-global-rules-crypto-sector-2023-05-23/#:~:text=The%20watchdog%20aims%20to%20finalise,off%20regulators%20against%20each%20other.)(International Organization of Securities Commission), an organization that regulates the futures and securities market, unveiled what has been described by many news outlets, like Reuters, as the pioneer global approach to bringing some form of regulation to the digital currency and crypto asset market. 

IOSCO’s proposed standards cover custody of crypto assets, treatment of retail customers, market manipulation, operational risks, conflicts of interests, and cross-border regulatory cooperation. 

red iamge of dial indicating cash flow at 0

Bittrex insolvent after SEC charge 

The Matt Hancock NFT [dominated headlines](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/matt-hancock-nft-ukraine-refugees-b2287181.html) in the mainstream media during the second month of the year after the former top Tory, who appeared on I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! said he was using digital arts to raise funds for war-fleeing Ukrainian refugees. 

The non-fungible tokens ([NFT](/news/article/trump-nfts-fundraising-or-fad)) dubbed From Ukraine with Love comprises a 15-piece collection by artist Oleg Mischenko. 

Mischenko is a current resident of the UK and his family was housed by Matt Hancock until they left for their own home in Suffolk in February. 

According to the Independent UK, the digital collection was auctioned off during the last week of February, and about 10% of the funds went directly into the coffers of Mischenko's family's accounts. 

The same news article disclosed that the remaining 90% was allocated to the charity Care International Ukraine. 

The Russia/Ukraine crisis has affected many Ukrainians. Mischenko believes that after years of dedicating his life to painting, his art expressed as an NFT collection is a way of defending his country’s philosophy, European way of life, and cultural values.  

The former Health Secretary also made it known that he is highly honoured to be part of Ukraine's humanitarian effort. 

## Which marketplace was chosen for Matt Hancock NFT? 

[NFT marketplaces](/news/article/binance-nft-marketplace-explained) play an integral role in the sale of digital collections. During the announcement, the former government executive revealed that [Coinbase’s NFT marketplace](https://nft.coinbase.com/collection/ethereum/0xec46cf8e006e2118cebb3355b32e7a281c814550?saleType=buyNow) had been chosen for the Matt Hancock NFT collection auction. 

While details of the amount of money made from the collectibles have not been revealed, data from the marketplace shows that eight out of 386 items have been minted with around seven owners. 

Essential details needed for the thorough assessment of the digital arts, such as [floor price](https://www.binance.com/en/blog/ecosystem/what-is-an-nft-floor-price-421499824684903904) (the lowest-priced NFT within a project which is highly critical for measuring the intrinsic value of a virtual art) and all-time volume (an important metric for evaluating the amount of liquidity being poured into a collection) are missing. 

With that said, items such as Frosty Morning in Slavske, Ancient Wooden Church in Sedniv, Lviv Market Square, Lilac With A Boat, Crimea Sea, Genoese Fortress in Balaklava, and Meeting Near The Dnipper have been listed.  


## Matt Hancock NFTs not only project preserving Ukrainian culture  

During Consensus 2022, [Michael Chobanian](https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/06/11/ukraine-to-use-nfts-to-save-its-cultural-dna-amid-russian-invasion/), the Blockchain Association of Ukraine's President, told CoinDesk, a crypto news portal, that the country would be using the possibilities of blockchain technology and NFTs to digitize every single piece of history and art. 

This decision was made in unison with Alex Bornyakov, the Ministry of Digital Transformation’s Deputy Minister.  

His comments came in June 2022, four months after Russia attacked Ukraine. 

Before CoinDesk’s Consensus 2022, Ukraine launched a “[MetaHistory NFT Museum](https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2022/03/25/ukraine-launches-nft-museum-to-raise-funds-and-remember/)” project to raise funds and remember.  

One of the main features of NFTs is immutability, indivisibility, and verifiability. Artists were given a chance to contribute to the Digital Museum by submitting a portfolio of work that was reviewed by the country's Ministry of Digital Transformation. 

Ethereum, the biggest NFT blockchain by all-time sales volume, was chosen to house the digital art. 

MetaHistory NFT did not disappoint, as around $600,000 was raised from the sale of 1,282 artworks on the first day.  

## Are NFTs the way to go?  

Global NFT market sales have crossed [$50 billion](https://www.cryptoslam.io/nftglobal) in all-time volume from the activities of over 11 million buyers involved in more than 190 million transactions.  

While projects from Dapper Labs, Ava Labs, and Yuga Labs continue to dominate the market in terms of commercial sales, the impact of NFTs transcends the digital art community.  

Over the past two years, NFTs have played an instrumental role in giving freedom to artists in the music industry and have become one of the main marketing tools for fashion brands worldwide. 

Aside from that, event companies that struggled with the forging and duplication of tickets have saved huge sums of money due to the immutability and security blockchain-based NFT tickets provide. NFTs are also being used in supply chain management.  

[Bored Apes](/news/article/bored-ape-nft), Mutant Apes, and Top Shots continue to make billions for digital art enthusiasts, but humanitarian-backed digital collections like Matt Hancock NFTs are also helping to not only preserve culture but improve the lives of millions. 

What is the latest on the Matt Hancock NFT collection? 

How to make an [NFT](lhttps://www.investopedia.com/how-to-create-an-nft-6362495) continues to dominate the search trends due to the booming digital art market. Despite what has been described by the financial media as the extension of crypto winter into 2023, the non-fungible token market remains the only real profitable sector in the industry percentage gains-wise.  

As of 16:00 UTC on 2 June, NFTs led by Y[uga Labs’](/news/article/yuga-labs-taking-over-the-metaverse) the [Bored Ape Yacht Club](/news/article/bored-ape-nft) (BAYC) and Otherdeed from the Otherside Metaverse alongside others such as Nakamigos have brought approximately $4.6 billion in global market sales to collectors of digital art in 2023, data from NFT aggregator [CryptoSlam](https://www.cryptoslam.io/nftglobal) showed. 

Within the same period, the average sale value was $111. This means that newbies who have not created any form of unique art that can be sold digitally before can stand a chance of seeing a $100 profit within a short period. 

With the potential upside of this market visible, this guide for beginners will take you through the needed steps to make your first [NFT](/news/article/trump-nfts-fundraising-or-fad). It includes the selection of blockchain, uploading of your material, and choosing the right marketplace for the sale of your product. 

## How to make an NFT 

Before we zoom straight into the making of your first digital art, you should understand what an NFT is. 

Many articles across the internet define [NFTs ](/news/article/nft-tax-uk-rules-explored)as cryptographic assets housed in blockchain with unique metadata and identification codes. 

Simply put, they are pieces of digital art (songs, short video clips, or, the most popular, an image) that are stored using the possibilities of blockchain technology. 

To understand NFTs, consider fungible tokens. Fungible tokens have characteristics such as being divisible. A great example of fungible tokens or assets is currency money (fiat currencies such as the US dollar, the Euro, the GB pound, the Japanese yen, and the South African rand). 

While unique in their own ways, a $100, £100, ¥100, or €100 bill found anywhere would have the same features. 

This is not the case for non-fungibles. NFTs are indivisible, indestructible, non-interoperable, and verifiable (a trait they share with currency money, which serial codes or numbers can trace). 

While £100 can be exchanged for two £50 notes and hold the same purchasing value as the other denomination, NFTs are unique and cannot be directly interchanged for one another. 

Here is a step-by-step guide about how to make an NFT for someone with no knowledge. 

Firstly, Decide On What You Want to Make. After its buzz in 2021, NFTs currently play an instrumental role in many facets of the global economy, such as music, fashion, Metaverse, ticket sales, and supply chain management. So decide what you want to make. 

While the most popular forms are images, audio (songs), and short video clips (with Flow Network's NBA Top Shot as the highlight), you must make a unique piece of digital media that is sellable. Successful projects such as BAYC, Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), Moonbirds, and others attract new buyers daily because of their distinctiveness.  

Secondly, Select a Blockchain. As of June 2023, the biggest NFT blockchains by sales volume were Ethereum, Zilliqa, Loom, Waves, Algorand, Fantom, OKC, Panini, Cronos, Tezos, Palm, Arbitrum, Mythos, Binance Chain, Avalanche, Bitcoin, ImmutableX, Polygon, WAX, Cardano, Ronin, Flow, and Solana. Out of these, Ethereum leads the pack with more than [$40 billion](https://www.cryptoslam.io/blockchains/ethereum) in all-time sales, with nine of the top ten collections stored on the blockchain. 

While we would not recommend Ethereum, more than 80% of collections are stored on the blockchain. If you opt for another chain, you have more than ten from the aforementioned list to choose from. 

Thirdly, Create a Wallet for the NFTs. Paintings are held at galleries. Digital art, like physical, needs a place they can call home. 

Wallets facilitate access to [blockchains](https://www.cryptoslam.io/blockchains) and play a vital role in transferring, storing, and securing cryptocurrencies.  

There are several wallets out there, but the ones for NFTs are MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, Rainbow, TrustWallet, and Ledger Nano X, among others. To create a wallet, download the app from the relevant website or store. 

Once app installation is complete, you will be given passcodes or private keys. You have to write them down (they normally range from 12 to 24 characters). These are the direct keys to your wallets. As a result, the wallet companies do not control access to your accounts. 

So in most crypto circles, crypto/NFT wallets are called non-custodial, while wallets held under centralized platforms such as cryptocurrency exchanges are called custodial since you have a password but the company holds the private keys to those wallets. 

Fourthly, Select an NFT Platform. Physical art is sold at auction houses such as Christie's, Sotheby's, Bonhams, and Heritage Auctions. The same holds for NFTs, so you need to find a platform with a huge audience (reflected in periodical trading volume) to help you sell your art. 

[OpenSea](https://www.theblock.co/data/nft-non-fungible-tokens/marketplaces/nft-marketplace-monthly-volume) remains the [largest marketplace](/news/article/nft-art-marketplaces) by all-time sales volume. Blur is the biggest platform by sales volume in 2023.  

Others, such as X2Y2, Rarible, SuperRare, Known Origin, Foundation, and Magic Eden, are among the best places to buy NFT. 

If you are unsure of independent marketplaces, exchanges such as Crypto.com and Binance have marketplaces where you can sell your NFTs.  

Lastly, Create the NFT. On the marketplace of your choice, connect your "already created" wallet. Locate the "create" option. Under this, navigate to the "upload" section. 

Move on and upload the media file (audio, video, or image) you want to convert to an NFT. Input the necessary wording that describes your digital art, including the blockchain of your choice. 

Once this has been completed, you move on to the last and most important part, making the NFT. 

Simply navigate to “create”.  

## Conclusion: How to make an NFT 

This article has made how to make an NFT easy for you. However, the onus falls on you to operationalize the beginner's guide you have gone through. 

The market will only get better due to the transition from Web2 to Web3, artificial intelligence (AI), gaming, and the Metaverse.  

So do not let the unique digital art go to waste, make an NFT, and see whether your collection could rival already-existing projects.  



A beginner's guide on how to make an NFT in 2023 

[The Fear and Greed Index](/news/article/fear-and-greed-index-crypto) was developed by CNN Money, a business, financial, and personal finance news website which is part of CNN Business in 2012 to measure the stock market's performance. 

Originally, the index was measured using seven data points: safe-haven demand, market volatility, junk bond demand, put and call options, stock price breadth, stock price strength, and market momentum. 

From a [study](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4459684#:~:text=CNN%20Money%20developed%20the%20original,to%20measure%20stock%20market%20performance.) published in May 2023 titled The Relationship between CNN Money’s US Stock Market Fear and Greed Index and US Stock Indices, the authors concluded that five stock indices which included Dow Jones Composite, New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Composite, S&P 500, and NASDAQ showed a positive relationship at the Greed level.  

This means that many potential investors have the right technical indicators in their favour should they wish to add more stock to their investment portfolios.  

Since the financial market downturn in March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) led to a global lockdown that negatively impacted centralized and decentralized investment assets, the index has become more relevant in the crypto space. 

While many crypto traders continue to monitor the tool, few have an extensive understanding of what it represents and how it could influence their trading patterns positively.  

## The Fear and Greed Index and crypto 

The index uses market trends and social signals to determine the general sentiment of the entire decentralized finance market with Bitcoin (BTC) and other large-cap assets (those with more than $10 billion as market value) as the primary focus on measurement.  

Like the tool developed by CNN for the stock market, this is also an index because it sources data from multiple sources and analyzes them into a single figure.  

The [crypto fear and greed index](https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/082914/basics-buying-and-investing-bitcoin.asp) has been dissected into four categories: 

- EXTREME FEAR comes in orange and is rated from 0 to 24. 

- FEAR is represented by amber and yellow and rated from 25 to 49). 

- GREED is shown in light green and can be found from 50 to 74. 

- EXTREME GREED is graded from 75 to 100. 

FEAR normally shows signs of bearishness, while GREED indicates signs of bullishness. 

## Crypto Fear and Greed Index: How is it calculated? 

While the index for the stock market is derived from seven data points, crypto is weighed using five key signals: search engine trends, dominance, social media, volatility, and market momentum/volume. 

For simplicity and educational purposes, we are going to settle on the largest [digital asset ](/news/article/is-crypto-regulated-across-the-globe)by market capitalization [BTC ](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/)in explaining and understanding the five signals.  

Search Engine Trends: Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency across the globe. 

Data is sourced from search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, and others to use trends as an indicator for the index. 

A good example can be attributed to Google Trends, where the most searched terms are stored for a given period. 

With BTC, it is not uncommon to come across searches for terms such as Bitcoin Price Prediction, Is Bitcoin a Good Investment in 2023, How High Will BTC Go In 2023, Will Bitcoin Hit $100,000 in 2023, and Bitcoin Price Manipulation.  

While the first four are signs of bullishness, the search by millions on whether the value of BTC is being manipulated is a fearful signal, which is taken into account in deriving a single figure for the overall sentiment around the flagship digital currency. 

Market Momentum/Volume: As one of the vital factors in technical analysis, the volume shows the total liquidity being poured into a particular cryptocurrency. 

Take BTC, for instance, which was exchanging hands for around $27,000 in May 2023. The minimum daily volume was $7 billion, while the maximum daily volume hovered around $20 billion. 

Within the same period in 2022, BTC traded for about $30,000 and the lowest and biggest daily trading volumes were $17 and $70 billion, respectively. 

In May 2021, BTC was trading above $50,000 and within the fifth month of the greatest year in the trading history of cryptocurrencies, daily trading volume reached a peak of $126 billion.  

From the statistics presented, it is clear that volume has gone down in 2023, and this exhibits signs of fear on the part of many traders to risk their hard-earned money on the first blockchain-backed digital asset.  

Social Media: This has become a powerful tool for measuring greed and fear among investors. If the hashtag (Bitcoin, BTC, bitcoin, or btc) trends on social media platforms like Twitter, it means there is growing interest in buying the coin. 

If the same momentum is not felt across the platforms, sentiment for the crypto asset has diminished, reflecting in relatively lower trading volumes.  

Volatility: According to Oxford Dictionary, volatility is where something is liable to rapid and unpredictable changes, especially with adverse effects. Crypto is highly volatile, and the rapid fluctuations in the value of BTC and other cryptocurrencies are normally seen as FEAR (bearishness) for most market participants. 

Dominance: Bitcoin dominates the crypto market. As of 11:00 UTC on 2 June, 2023, it commanded [45.9% ](https://coinmarketcap.com/charts/)of the industry's total market cap and was followed in second place by ETH with 19.9%.  

Within the same period, the index was at 50 (Neutral) because BTC does not have a huge hand in the market (it has less than 50% of the overall market). 

Should things change for BTC to command more than half of the sector’s value, the index will fall into FEAR since many traders will be moving all their assets into what is deemed a safer asset.  

On the other hand, if BTC loses its dominance further and other assets rise, the index turns into GREED since traders are turning into speculative assets (more altcoins). 

Does the Fear and Greed Index improve crypto trading?  

The index has played an integral role in the trading patterns of many traders. This will continue, especially in times when numerous centralized financial bodies have started introducing regulations for the crypto economy. 

fear and greed indesx visual. One man looking scared and another looking greedy holding a bitcoin

Does the Fear and Greed Index improve crypto trading? 

[Argo block chain](https://argoblockchain.com/), a global data centre headquartered in London, UK, has created a powerful platform for efficient cryptocurrency mining operations. 

The company tags itself as providing a platform that powers some of the world’s blockchain technologies.  

Unlike other companies, Argo uses renewable energy sources to help blockchain technology's growth and development. 

Despite competition from other crypto mining companies such as [Marathon Digital Holding](/news/article/marathon-digital-sustainable-mining), Riot Blockchain, Hut 8 Mining Corporation, Bitmain, Canaan Inc., Bitfarms Limited, and Genesis Mining, among others, the company is responsible for about 1% of the global mining network hash rate of the largest digital asset by market capitalization [Bitcoin ](/news/article/bitcoin-rally-sees-gain-this-week)(BTC).

It also provides around 5% of the global hash power for the mining of privacy cryptocurrency ZCash (ZEC).   

## Argo block chain saw a 3% spike in revenue during April 

Revenue from mining BTC was [£3.35 million](https://consent.yahoo.com/v2/collectConsent?sessionId=3_cc-session_5c3fdee5-f6b9-4c46-a594-0ed55ee1215e) during the year's fourth month. This was a 3% rise in revenues from March, which was roughly £3.28 million. 

The increment came from BTC trading in the range of £21,743.58 and £24,904.02 during April while exchanging hands in the range of £15,765.91 and £23,421.52 throughout March.  

Overall, 144 BTC were mined, which was broken down to 4.8 BTC daily. While this was 8% below that of March (5.2 BTC daily), the aforementioned data explains why revenue went up despite a relatively lower number of mined BTC.  

The bearish mood engulfing the market has reduced the number of cryptocurrencies held by mining firms. Argo has not been exempted from the extension of crypto winter into 2023. As of the close of April 2023, 83 BTCs were held by the company. 

## What’s the latest on the mining company?  

According to the company’s operational update, there would be an increment in its hash rate. As of 30 April, the hash rate (this helps discover the mining difficulty and security) of a blockchain network) was 2.5 exahashes per second (EH/s).  

About 2,870 BlockMiner machines from Epic Blockchain Technologies are expected to be installed in the third quarter of the year. 

This will add 0.3 exahashes per second to the hash rate capacity of the company, increasing the overall hash rate capacity to 2.8 EH/s (2.5 + 0.3). 

argo blockchain logo on blue iamge of skyscrapers in the metaverse

What is Argo Block Chain and How Does It Work? 

[Quant crypto](https://quant.network/) has become a vital part of the decentralized finance ([DeFi](/news/article/defi-llama-decentralised-analytics-dashboard)) economy due to its unique feature of interoperability that enables several blockchain technologies to communicate with one another. 

Communication was seen as a major barrier to advancing blockchain tech. However, thanks to the development team behind this project, a foundation for the blockchain economy has been built, and it continues to unlock several benefits for the stakeholders involved. 

In this article, we will take an extensive look into what the Quant network entails, the purpose of the novel Quant crypto token QNT, the number of [cryptocurrency](/news/article/is-crypto-dead) exchanges that support the crypto asset as a tradable coin, and then end with a fundamental analysis of pros and cons of investing in QNT in 2023 and beyond.  

## What is Quant crypto? 

Quant crypto comprises a network and cryptocurrency. Founded in 2015 by Gilbert Verdian to enhance the efficiency of information communication globally, the network became a mainstream player in the blockchain-powered economy in 2018. 

As an open-source protocol with a primary interest in communication, Quant offers a network for developers and businesses to connect to and communicate simultaneously with the diverse distributed ledger technologies (DLTs). 

DLTs employ ledgers stored on connected, separate devices on a network to guarantee the privacy and security of data; a perfect example of this is blockchain. 

After seeing many distributed applications as non-interoperable and single-ledger-dependent in his time serving in the Australian and UK governments, Verdian and his team launched the '[Overledger DLT Gateway'](https://quant.network/news/quant-launches-overledger-network/), also known as Enterprise 5, on 13 September 2021. 

The Overledger Network supports several blockchains, including Binance (BNB) Chain, Ethereum, Bitcoin, R3 Corda, and Hyperledger Fabric. 

At its launch, Overledger made it easy for multi-DLT applications (mDApps) developers to use Quant's distributed network of Remote Connector Gateways (RCG) globally to facilitate transactions on Ripple, Bitcoin, and Ethereum.  

## Quant crypto can be tapped by several stakeholders 

While blockchain developers are the first group that comes to mind, financial institutions, enterprises, and partners are utilising the Overledger Network. 

According to the project's official website, vendors and consultants are partners in many businesses. Quant believes there is a great chance that each client in today's economy will be drawn to the benefits of blockchain technology due to its private and secure nature. Therefore, partners can tap into Quant's resources and employ its technology to their demands. 

While millions of people associate blockchain technology with cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), there is more to that than the eyes see. 

Several businesses use blockchain to build new business models, from small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) to multinationals. Quant can help enterprises capture a substantial part of every market they operate within a short period.  

It has been argued by several centralized and decentralized finance figures that the traditional infrastructure for handling money is complicated and fragmented. This is why investment firms, banks, and other financial institutions embed programmable money, tokenized assets, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) into their operations. Blockchain technology plays an instrumental role in this. Since financial institutions need to be interoperable to communicate and serve clients easily, Quant network is helping empower an interconnected world. 

## Quant crypto (QNT) role in Overledger Network 

QNT is the novel token of Quant and possesses all the attributes of a digital currency. Aside from being transferable, divisible, scarce, non-counterfeitable, and durable, QNT has the utility attribute. 

Engaging in Ethereum-based DApps normally comes with Ether (ETH) being used as a base currency for transactions. In the same way, enterprises, partners, and financial institutions interested in employing Overledger are required to pay licensing fees in QNT. 

As a result, QNT must be bought from supported gateways to enable the successful use of the network, which will grant interoperability to all of a business' systems. 

Now that the technical side of this innovation has been explained, let us examine the investment side of the QNT. What are the pros and cons of buying Quant crypto? 

## Pros and cons of buying QNT  

As a trader or investor, if you have read the article to this point, you can tell that Quant crypto has the potential of becoming one of the leading alternate coins (altcoins) due to the possibilities of the network that supports it. 

Unfortunately, while many unsophisticated investors (those who do not conduct any fundamental or technical analysis) only look at the rewards, we would like you to always weigh the positives against the negatives before making an investment decision. 

### Pros  

Passive income: Aside from buying a cryptocurrency and seeing multiple percentage gains, one of the ways to earn passive income in the DeFi economy is staking. In crypto circles, staking is whereby a significant portion of a digital currency is locked to support the validation and verification of transactions on a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) network. Staking can be done on the exchange of a trader’s choice and comes with above-average annual percentage yields (APYs).  

Supported by many crypto wallets: Crypto wallets facilitate access to blockchains. They play an invaluable role in transferring and storing digital currencies such as [QNT](https://www.coincarp.com/currencies/quant/wallets/) securely. Top wallets that securely hold the tokens include MetaMask, TrustWallet, Ledger, imToken, Torus, Coinbase Wallet, TokenPocket, iToken Wallet, Freewallet, and SimpleHold Wallet, and others.  

Listed by several mainstream cryptocurrency exchanges: As of 18 April, the crypto token is supported by more than 40 centralized and [decentralized exchanges](https://coinranking.com/coin/bauj_21eYVwso+quant-qnt/exchanges). Among them are popular centralized exchanges [Binance](/news/article/binance-nft-marketplace-explained), Coinbase Pro, Kraken, Crypto.com, Gate.io, Gemini, MEXC Global, and HitBTC, as well as decentralized exchange Uniswap Vaults 2 and 3. This means that it is easy to locate the token. Being listed on well-known platforms also explains the millions of dollars in daily volume the virtual currency sees. 

Ease-of-use of Quant Network: Due to the complexity of blockchain, the team behind the technology has made it easy for people without specialized knowledge to be able to go around Overledger. With this, there could be a spike in the number of potential clients. Since QNT functions as a utility token, the increased usage of the crypto could lead to soaring demand for the coin as an investment instrument. This could lead the digital asset to new price milestones. 

Security: Founder Verdian’s experiences serving in governments have seen him amass a wealth of experience in cybersecurity. With the necessary security encryptions in place, several stakeholders can tap into the platform’s resources without worrying about cyber-attacks. Since blockchain and crypto hacks continue to soar, a secure protocol is one of the primary factors to be considered before settling on a cryptocurrency.  

### Cons 

Quant crypto is relatively expensive: The token exchanged hands for [$112.64](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/quant/) on 18 April. To see 100% gains or double in investment capital, the price must rise to $225.28. This will take consistent above-average daily trading volumes to see the token retest the $200 mark. While a $250 investment can buy two QNTs, the same amount can buy more of other cryptocurrencies, which are far cheaper and have a greater chance of bringing traders short-term returns. 

Faces infinite competition from other projects: Projects like [Polkadot ](/news/article/polkadot-price-uk)and [Chainlink](/news/article/can-chainlink-reach-$10,000) were created to solve the interoperability problems associated with using blockchain. While Quant network seems to have a bit of an external focus with an eye on bringing in many centralized financial institutions, Polkadot and Chainlink are purely on the DeFi market. The two blockchains are among the top projects when development activities are measured, as several developers are designing many innovative products that are interoperable, which will positively impact the development of Web3. 

Quant Crypto Network: A Beginner’s Guide

Wondering what Ankr is? Ankr has risen among the ranks to become one of the most sought-after protocols due to its extensive features, which are highly valuable in developing the Web3 ecosystem. 

Forecast to be worth around $45 billion by 2030, at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 41.50%, the crypto firm is expected to join blockchain-powered companies such as Polkadot, Helium Systems Inc., Ocean Protocol Foundation Limited, Decentraland, Binance, and Alchemy Insights Incorporated in ensuring that the prediction by [Vantage Market Research](https://www.vantagemarketresearch.com/industry-report/web-30-blockchain-market-1694#:~:text=The%20Global%20Web%203.0%20Blockchain,41.50%25%20over%20the%20forecast%20period.) comes to fruition at the said period.  

With a boom in the blockchain economy on the horizon, you will be coming across the protocol more and more. You may find yourself asking, 'What is Ankr?' 

As a result, this article takes an in-depth look into the project, the kind of partners that have chosen to ally with them, its native asset, its price performance so far in 2023, and the type of cryptocurrency exchanges that support the digital currency as a tradable asset. 

By the end, we hope you have an answer to the question, 'What is Ankr?'. 

## What is Ankr?  

It was created by the University of California, Berkeley, graduates Ryan Fang and Chandler Song in 2017. 

As a blockchain-based cross-chain infrastructure protocol that is smart contracts-compatible, it allows the development of decentralized applications (DApps) and staking services. It also houses several protocols connected to expanding the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector. 

Having recognized the centralization of power and the extensive reliance on intermediaries in many internet sectors, Ankr gives control and ownership of data to network participants and users. 

This is why it joined an industry with thousands of applications but decided to build a new internet that relies on the possibilities of distributed ledger technology (DLT).  

Many projects, such as Internet Computer, have disclosed that they want to decentralize everything on the internet, but have little to show for the past two years since launch. 

Ankr supports staking nodes, Web3, and, more importantly, achieves decentralization by employing DLT-powered computing power to gather data resources. 

These resources are then deployed to developers and stakers at low-cost data centres. Through this process, stakers can stake their balances while developers can create and deploy DApps. 

## What is ANKR, the cryptocurrency behind the project?  

Like all projects in the data technology section of the blockchain-powered economy, Ankr is supported by a cryptocurrency. It goes by the ticker symbol ANKR. 

It has a total and maximum of 10 billion tokens. Out of this, 97% (represented by 9.7 billion crypto assets) are in circulation, leaving just 3% to be injected into the market for scarcity to take hold of this crypto asset powering one of the most patronized networks in the space today. 

For crypto traders and investors interested in the numbers, ANKR is up more than 140% this year, rose by more than 120% in the first quarter of 2023, and reached a yearly [peak price](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ankr/) of $0.05474 in February (which is still four times below its all-time high price of $0.2252 attained on 28 March 2021).  

The virtual coin has value despite not being a currency backed by a centralized financial institution. This is because it has all the attributes of what constitutes currency money, like utility, transferability, durability, scarcity, non-counterfeitability, and, most important of all, divisibility. 

Due to its potential in a market where more than 2,000 cryptocurrencies compete for traders and investors, more than 40 centralized and decentralized exchanges support the token for trading. 

Some platforms where[ ANKR](https://coinranking.com/coin/drWC87t2Vozh+ankr-ankr/exchanges) can be accessed include, but are not limited to, Binance, Huobi Global, Coinbase Pro, Kraken, BitMart, Crypto.com, and Uniswap (Vault 1, 2, and 3). 

## Mainstream crypto companies among its partners 

As of 16:00 UTC on 18 April, ANKR completes more than eight billion application programming interface (API) requests daily, from over 40,000 unique developers across 30-plus jurisdictions. Additionally, it supports over 38 networks in the blockchain economy. This is the primary reason why it is trusted by the following firms. 

Polygon uses Ankr’s infrastructure to boost its ecosystem. As an integral part of Web3 development, Polygon plays a vital role in crypto through its native asset [MATIC](/news/article/polygon-announce-hard-fork) and the digital collectibles sector, where CryptoSlam ranks it among the biggest blockchains by all-time NFT sales volume. Before [Disney shut down](https://www.wsj.com/articles/disney-eliminates-its-metaverse-division-as-part-of-companys-layoffs-plan-94b03650) its Metaverse division in March, Polygon responded negatively through its digital currency MATIC because it was chosen by the company along with five other firms to be a part of its[ accelerator program](https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/07/13/polygon-joins-disneys-accelerator-program-to-develop-ar-nft-and-ai-experiences/), aimed at the development of artificial intelligence (AI), NFT, and augmented reality (AR) experiences. 

Gaining the support of Polygon certifies Ankr as one of the most credible protocols in a space where cybercriminals design projects to dupe people out of hard-earned money.  

[Binance](/news/article/binance-nft-marketplace-explained), the largest cryptocurrency exchange, has its hand in all segments of the crypto economy. Binance Chain is actively involved in DeFi and NFTs, and this alliance helps Chanpeng Zhao's innovation remain competitive in a saturated market. 

Certik is a smart contract, blockchain, and Web3 security firm. This company provides a tool that ranks projects based on risks related primarily to security. Due to rug pulls, pump-and-dump schemes, and other ways projects such as SafeMoon duped traders, many people analyze the health of projects by Certik aside from total value locked (TVL) and other crypto metrics. Ankr's Overall [Security Score](https://skynet.certik.com/projects/ankr) is 75.80, in the top 30%. This was arrived at after the security firm gave the project a code security score of 91.45, operational resilience score of 78.00, governance strength score of 92.37, and market stability and community trust scores of 96.54 and 98.00, respectively. 

The above statistics show a project that ticks all the right boxes for all stakeholders (developers, liquidity providers, and traders) searching for a go-to chain to meet their blockchain-related needs. 

[Avalanche](https://www.avax.network/) is also among the projects that trust Ankr. With [Avalanche,](/news/article/avalanche-crypto-metamask) governments, enterprises, and institutions can build many products under assets issuance and trading, document tracking, digital identity, debt financing, and [Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)](/news/article/nigeria-cbdc-adoption-soars). Aside from these, developers can build DApps, and NFT lovers can mint their own digital art using its blockchain. Tapping into Ryan Fang and Chandler Song’s innovation shows the extent to which Ava Labs believe in the Ankr project.  

Other projects that trust this blockchain-based cross-chain infrastructure protocol include Optimism, Aave, SpiritSwap, 1inch, Project Galaxy, Zapper, and SushiSwap.  

## Does ANKR have a future? 

Yes, ANKR has a future. The project has a fully diluted market capitalization of around $372 million and continues to see above-average daily trading volume for a low-cap digital asset (which has less than $2 billion in market value). 

Since the year's opening day, the token has seen a daily trading volume of around $9 million. With blockchain technology playing an instrumental role in the transition from Web2 to Web3 and Ankr's position as a cross-chain platform, an analyst has made positive forecasts about the future of the token. 

[David Cox](https://www.cryptonewsz.com/forecast/ankr-price-prediction/) at CryptoNewsZ believes the token will continue to benefit from the extensive usage of Ankr and soar to $0.095 by the end of 2023. He further estimates the token to reach the best possible prices of $0.26 in 2027 and $0.445 in 2030, respectively. 

Whether or not this article answered the question, 'What is Ankr?', you should remember that the crypto market is highly unpredictable. Always weigh risks against rewards. 

What is ANKR? The Web3-Powering Crypto

The latest [Cardano](/news/article/cardano-midnight-new-privacy-blockchain) news making headlines has primarily focused on developments in its ecosystem. 

Unfortunately, while many blockchain enthusiasts continue to lambast Charles Hoskinson, the project's founder, over a lack of strong decentralized applications (DApps) to challenge Ethereum's status as the most powerful decentralized finance (DeFi) network, many outlets have largely ignored the project's growing total value locked. 

## Latest Cardano news: Value locked in DApps explodes in 2023 

Cardano has been one of the most discussed projects in the smart contracts-backed blockchain technology sector for a long time. 

Hoskinson's ability to identify the problems associated with using blockchain, such as decentralization, security, and scalability, made it one of the most considered networks for several up-and-coming developers. 

After years of trailing [Ethereum](/news/article/eth-shanghai-upgrade-postponed) and later the likes of Internet Computer, [Solana](/news/article/a-look-into-solana-faucets), and Algorand, [Cardano](/news/article/cardano-analysis-and-explanation) finally triggered "[Alonzo](https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/cardano-ada-alonzo-upgrade-defi-smart-contracts-charles-hoskinson-2021-9)", a network upgrade that had been in development for years and remains an integral part of the expansion of its ecosystem. 

In September 2021, Alonzo made the blockchain smart contracts-compatible, and Hoskinson told Business Insider that he considered the move the most significant change in the history of his protocol. This made it possible for DApps to be created on the platform. 

According to data from [DeFiLlama](https://defillama.com/chain/Cardano), Cardano TVL on 1 January was approximately $48.9 million. In fewer than 120 days, about $122 million was added to this statistic due to increased interest in DApps deployed on the network. As of 11:00 UTC on 18 April, the total value locked was around $171 million. 

Much of the spike came from DApps such as decentralized exchanges Minswap, WingRiders, MuesliSwap, SundaeSwap, ADAX Pro, MeowSwapFi, and Genius Yield; decentralized lending platforms Meld, FluidTokens, Lending Pond, Aada, Optim Finance, and Liqwid; staking platform VyFinance; decentralized services applications World Mobile Token, Revuto; and collateralized debt positioning (CDP) applications Indigo and Djed Stablecoin. 

Since total value locked is one of the major indicators of the success of a blockchain protocol, a rise in the overall value of assets quantified in the US dollar (USD) bodes well for the smart contract protocol that processes thousands of transactions per second. 

Many analysts believe a significant rise in the demand for DeFi products will further impact the TVL of Cardano positively.  

Latest Cardano news: Development activity continues to soar 

In the blockchain technology and cryptocurrency space, development activity shows a particular protocol's health and growth. 

Cardano has always been in the top rankings when development activity is measured.  

As of 18 April, development activity stood at [424.73](https://app.santiment.net/watchlist/projects/all-assets-5496?charts=%7B%22isPriceChartActive%22%3Afalse%2C%22isPriceTreeMap%22%3Afalse%2C%22isVolumeTreeMap%22%3Afalse%2C%22isMovement%22%3Atrue%2C%22priceBarChart%22%3A%7B%22interval%22%3A%2224h%22%7D%2C%22socialVolumeTreeMap%22%3A%7B%22interval%22%3A%2224h%22%7D%2C%22priceTreeMap%22%3A%7B%22interval%22%3A%2224h%22%7D%7D). This placed Cardano third in the ranks behind Polkadot and Kusama's 601.33. This puts Cardano ahead of other protocols such as Flow (popular technology behind NFT projects such as NBA Top Shot and NFL ALL DAY), Chainlink, Cosmos, Internet Computer, Hedera Hashgraph, Status, Ethereum, Optimism, Solana, and Avalanche.  

Since development activity is correlated with total value locked through decentralized applications, the amount of liquidity locked in the project, coupled with the forging of many partnerships across Africa, could explode further to the $500 million milestone as the latest Cardano news unfolds. 

Wrong technology and ambitious roadmap have contributed to slow development  

On 6 April, the protocol's founder discussed the latest Cardano news with an analyst at CoinTelegraph, a popular crypto news portal. 

On a podcast dubbed [Hashing It Out,](https://cointelegraph.com/news/charles-hoskinson-cardano-delays-due-to-betting-on-wrong-tech-ambitious-roadmap) Hoskinson touched on many areas, particularly the future of crypto and his vision for the growing sector. 

He revealed that the crypto industry had seen impressive gains in the non-fungible token (NFT) sector while acknowledging that an ambitious roadmap and wrong technology have been significant setbacks in Cardano's quest to becoming what many industry experts deem as an Ethereum Killer, the main rival to Vitalik Buterin's blockchain technology. 

Despite the negatives, he admitted to seeing many positives in the adoption of crypto in Africa (primarily east and west) and disclosed that he plans on dealing with more individuals and companies rather than governments in the region due to political instability.   

## ADA is up more than 80% year-to-date (YTD)  

ADA is the native asset of Cardano. As one of the most demanded cryptocurrencies, the coin fell sharply in 2022 due to the collapse of TerraUSD (UST) in May and [Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX](/news/article/sam-bankman-fried-bail-co-signers-revealed) later in November. 

Thriving on positive market sentiment that has seen Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) surpass $30,000 and $2,000, respectively, for the first time in months, ADA has also been on an uptrend of its own. 

After opening the year on 1 January with a trading price of[ $0.2464](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/cardano/historical-data/), it reached a then-yearly peak of $0.4192 in February on the back of a partnership with AI-powered technology [SingularityNET](link). It closed the first quarter of the year at $0.3989. 

Traders who added ADA to their investment portfolios during the year's opening day saw 60% returns during Q1 2023. 

Bitcoin leads the more than 20,000 cryptocurrencies on the market during bullish days and bearish seasons, while Ethereum leads changes in smart contracts-backed digital currencies. 

With the two coins seeing above-average daily volumes that have rekindled investor interest in searching for the next golden goose, ADA is back on the radar of many crypto lovers.  

As a result, the crypto asset rose to a new yearly peak price of $0.4606 on 15 April. This took its market capitalization to around $16 billion. 

## Will ADA retest $1?  

ADA reached an all-time high (ATH) price of $3.0992 on 2 September 2021. Since then, the coin has been on a downward spiral and continues to trade below $1.  

Its growing ecosystem (development activity), increasing daily trading volume, and a spike in total value locked have led to the trending of the question, can ADA retest the $1 mark across several crypto forums?  

Analyst [Elena R](https://coinpedia.org/price-prediction/cardano-price-prediction/). at crypto news and forecasting portal CoinPedia believes ADA could cross $1 again in the medium term.  

According to her, the slow process in the implementation and completion of the project's roadmap could see the coin reach the highest maximum price of $1.267 by the close of 2025. 

Latest Cardano News: TVL Soars More than $120M

Dogecoin [Twitter](/news/article/twitter-elon-musk-acquisition) yields millions of results across all search engine platforms. While the [Shiba Inu-inspired](/news/article/akita-inu-coin) digital asset is a cryptocurrency and Twitter remains one of the most patronized social media networks, the paths of technologies continue to cross largely due to their association with [Tesla Mogul](/news/article/bill-gates-elon-musk-warning) and SpaceX Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Elon Musk. 

The billionaire businessman dumped Bitcoin (BTC) in 2021 and accepted [DOGE ](https://www.tesla.com/support/dogecoin#:~:text=To%20purchase%20using%20Dogecoin%20on,software%20that%20supports%20Dogecoin%20transfers.)for payments on the Tesla Shop.  

Having supported the cryptocurrency over the past three years, leading to more than 10,000% returns in the portfolios of DOGE holders, many analysts are asking whether the memecoin started by Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus could become the primary transactional currency for activities on Twitter. Is Dogecoin Twitter on the way? 

## Dogecoin Twitter: DOGE processes more transactions than most POW coins  

Dogecoin was forked out of Charlie Lee's Litecoin (LTC) – the second cryptocurrency to hit the decentralized finance (DeFi) economy in 2011. Instead of relying on Bitcoin's algorithm, which saw the first blockchain process less than [30 transactions per second](https://cointelegraph.com/learn/dogecoin-vs-bitcoin-key-differences#:~:text=The%20Dogecoin%20confirmation%20times%20lead,less%20volatile%20than%20Bitcoin's%20price.), DOGE tapped into the SCRYPT algorithm, which confirms transactions quickly. 

Additionally, SCRYPT also helps generate several DOGE, handles many transactions, and takes a short period in mining blocks in the network.  

This is why its blockchain processes more than 30 transactions per second and thousands of transactions daily. 

As of 10:00 UTC on 18 April, DOGE was involved in approximately 21,000 transactions in the previous 24 hours. Its ability to process more transactions corresponded with a relatively lesser transaction fee of $0.3131 (below $1), data from [CoinDesk](https://www.coindesk.com/price/dogecoin/) showed.  

Around 300,000 individuals and business organizations had a blue tick on Twitter before the announcement of the subscriptions came through after Elon Musk's takeover. 

While businesses are being given gold tickers instead of blue, with the latter reserved for individuals, certain organizations such as [New York Times](https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/new-york-times-says-it-wont-pay-twitter-verified-check-marks-2023-04-02/#:~:text=April%202%20(Reuters)%20-%20The,on%20the%20social%20media%20platform.) and [the Washington Post ](https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/30/media/news-organizations-elon-musk-twitter-checkmark/index.html#:~:text=The%20Washington%20Post%20said%20it,longer%20represent%20authority%20and%20expertise.%E2%80%9D)have disclosed that they would not be forking out money for the subscription service.  

Despite this, many organizations have subscribed to the service, and so have certain individuals.  

Should the 300,000 ticker holders stand, or if the number increases, by being able to process around 20,000 transactions daily, if DOGE was to be adopted by Twitter as its primary payment method, it could settle all transactions within 15 days. That's one reason why Dogecoin Twitter could happen. 

## Dogecoin Twitter: Will DOGE be adopted?  

Dogecoin was initially unknown as a mainstream cryptocurrency because it was seen as a joke digital asset that poked fun at Satoshi Nakamoto, an unknown individual who tried to challenge the centralized finance status quo. 

Despite its joke beginning, the influence of Elon Musk continues to reflect positively on the fortunes of the digital currency. The current owner of Twitter continues to tease the idea of a possible adoption due to certain activities on the platform in April. 

To the surprise of many users and crypto lovers, Twitter [changed its logo ](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/03/dogecoin-jumps-over-30percent-after-twitter-changes-logo-to-doges-symbol.html)to Dogecoin for a brief period on 3 April. DOGE [opened the day at $0.07909](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/dogecoin/historical-data/) and, on the back of the feature upgrade, soared by 30% to a yearly high price of $0.1026. While DOGE fell to an intraday low price of $0.07663 and eventually closed the day at a much-improved price of $0.09608, many market enthusiasts felt the enormous influence of Twitter’s decision on the market value of the meme-inspired coin.  

In the process, investor interest also reached a yearly peak of roughly $3.5 billion. This took the project's market capitalization to around $13.3 billion, data from crypto price tracker CoinMarketCap showed.  

Before becoming the owner of Twitter, Elon Musk [tweeted](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1485953263040188416?lang=en) in January 2022 that he would consume a meal on television if the American multinational fast food chain McDonald's accepted Dogecoin as a payment method. 

Although the whispers of adoption continue to be on the horizon, this is not the first time Elon has supported a cryptocurrency.  

Many Dogecoin holders think the cryptocurrency they continue to hold could see mainstream adoption soon. [An Elon Musk-owned company](/news/article/spend-elon-musk-money) once adopted Bitcoin (BTC) as a payment method in March 2021. This sent the largest digital asset by market capitalization to a then all-time high. Three months later, in May 2021, Tesla announced a discontinuation of the service. This began a five-month bearish cycle that crippled the blockchain-powered economy.  

## Conclusion 

Dogecoin Twitter could happen in the future, but DOGE holders should consider other price drivers as the crypto market is not one way but bullish and bearish. 

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