A noticeable [Bitcoin](/coins/btc) price crash happened during the weekend, pulling Ethereum, Ripple and other altcoins with it. 

There were two main causes for the Bitcoin price crash; one resides in the announcement of the Celsius Network about halting all of its client withdrawals, while the other is that investors are pretty scared of the Federal Reserves’ next move.

Falling below $24,000 on Monday, Bitcoin found itself at its lowest level since December 2020, as traders are dumping crypto amidst a wider sell-off in risk assets.

The top cryptocurrency went down by 13.72% in the last 24 hours to $23,751.61 at the time of writing. In the last seven days, the Bitcoin price has fallen by 24.44%.

The brutal market downturn seems to have started with fresh inflation concerns about Federal Reserve acting more aggressively to contain soaring inflation. 

## Altcoins Take a Stumble

According to [CoinDesk](https://www.coindesk.com/), during the last 24 hours, Ethereum went down by 18.16% to $1,198, while BNB fell by 14.97%, Cardano by 13.57 and XRP by 11.89%. 

Also, Celsius Network, one of the biggest crypto exchanges said that “due to extreme market conditions”, it is pausing all withdrawals, Swap, and transfers between accounts. 

Even though Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky tried to tweet away the fears of the Luna crisis impacting the exchange by promising Celsius had “minimal exposure” to Luna and UST, we suspect that last month’s crash of Do Kwan’s Terra empire shook investors’ confidence within the crypto market whose market cap fell below the $1 trillion mark to 977 billion.

Edul Patel Co-Founder and CEO of crypto investment platform Mudrex,  commented the cryptocurrency market “has been under pressure from the Federal Reserve, hiking the interest rates to combat inflation over the past few months. 

“Bitcoin, Ethereum, and most cryptocurrencies suffered losses over the weekend after a broad sell-off following the data showing US inflation hitting a 40-year high,” he said.


Bitcoin price crash amid ‘extreme market conditions’

Almost every particular business is obligated by contracts to collaborate with a lot of different organizations in order to deliver their goods and services, and a private blockchain is presented as something that can add more efficiency by automating these operations between different parties.

Back in 2008, the original [Bitcoin](/coins/btc) blockchain was created to act freely without intermediaries such as banks or central governments. However, this kind of technology can still work within the locked radius.

This means a private entity, usually the company, can implement its own blockchain and observe all the transactions added to the chain. This doesn’t mean the system isn’t secure, but it means that the project is based on the trust of decision-makers. 

There are numerous big suppliers of digital platforms based on the private type of block technologies, such as Ripple or R3’s Corda. These are called permissioned blockchains as they usually halt access to transaction data. 

Back in 2019, China started building a platform that seeks to boost the implementation of this kind of technology in companies. Dubbed the Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN), its product is focused on companies, especially their operating cloud computing infrastructure. 
However, outside of China, companies suddenly discovered that enterprise, or private chains were totally useless. In 2021 IBM decided to dismantle its blockchain team. Just few months later, Microsoft decided to ditch its service on its Azure cloud. 

Even though it was once seen as a great initiative in the health and medical sector, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration decided to not proceed with exploring blockchain use cases in its field.

According to technology market research company, Gartner “successful permissioned enterprise blockchain projects are scarce.”

Gartner commented that even though things such as DeFi, tokenization and digital payments can seem attractive, enterprise blockchain doesn’t work that way since its users “are stuck trying to align use cases to the technology.”

“The value of permissioned blockchain is hard to understand since it does not implement the most revolutionary aspect of public blockchains – i.e., trust minimization and elimination of central authority, achieved via decentralized consensus,” [Gartner wrote](https://blogs.gartner.com/avivah-litan/2021/05/24/microsoft-ends-azure-blockchain-service-where-is-enterprise-blockchain-heading/).

## What is a private permissioned blockchain?

Private permissioned blockchain means it operates within the closed framework — meaning it can be good for companies as it handles immense amounts of data and transactions that businesses normally process.

In a private permissioned blockchain, the whole network is shared by a consortium of companies. The network administrator is the one who configures roles and permissions for all nodes and users who act as participants within the consensus process.
 
## How does a private network work?

•	Not all network users have equal rights. The latter is the result of the position user has within the organization

•	Not every user has the granted permission and different data types are accessed only by those who have

•	Network participants set the rules for the access mechanism 

One of the most famous enterprise blockchains is Hyperledger Fabric. 

It provides strong reliability of the state itself and, at the same time, manages to do numerous transactions in only one second. 

## When should one consider private blockchain?

The main difference between private and public blockchain is that anyone can join the public one. Only authorized users can become members of a private one. 

Usually, startups like to accentuate the importance of the trustless concept within the public one that is fertile ground for innovations, and enterprises are more inclined to the usage of a private chain in order to create multi-party business applications that have high scalability and operate inside of a trusted environment.

## What is it more appropriate to use in a business enterprise environment?

For companies, private blockchains tend to be more efficient than public. Still, the problem is that these sometimes alternate speeds for decentralization. 

Still, private blockchain companies can earn profit by simply signing contract deals with other companies. They enter in arrangements with other firms in order to create this kind of infrastructure and, therefore, design and develop blockchain applications. They also provide services for some period of time by signing this contract.



How useful are private blockchains?

We have all heard about coins and tokens, but many are still unaware of the difference and whether it’s the coin or the token they’re buying. 

Both have different characteristics. 

## Crypto coins characteristics:

•	Operating on a native blockchain that tracks all of the transactions

For example, if you pay something with Ethereum, the receipt goes to the Ethereum blockchain. The invoice goes to the Bitcoin blockchain if the counterparty transfers you Bitcoin. Each transaction is encrypted and each member of the network can view the transaction.  

•	Acts as a currency and were actually created to replace fiat

Nowadays, it’s possible to buy almost anything using crypto coins. Some of the biggest companies, including Tesla, [Microsoft](https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/microsoft-msft-ethereum-blockchain-fight-piracy-digital-tech-public-ledger-2021-8#:~:text=Microsoft%20is%20looking%20to%20use%20the%20ethereum%20blockchain%20to%20combat,public%20anti%2Dpiracy%20system.%22) and Amazon enabled crypto coin payments. Not just that, but Bitcoin is the official currency of El Salvador alongside the USD.

•	Possibility to be earned/mined

One can gain crypto coins by mining using the [Proof of Work, Proof of Stake](/news/article/pos-vs-pow) or other consensus mechanisms. Proof of Work is specific to Bitcoin but, since BTC’s quantity is limited, it is becoming more complicated daily. On the other hand, PoS represents a more modern approach to earning coins since it doesn’t require much electricity.  

Tokens do not have their native blockchain but work on smart contracts. Smart tokens are basically an alghoritmically based codes that can accelerate all the transactions between users. Every blockchain has its own smart contract. Ethereum, for example, is using. ERC-20. 

Also, some of the most famous coins operate on Ethereum, such as BNT, Tether, and various stablecoins as the USDC. 

The point is that a blockchain can only have one native asset coin, and numerous tokens built on top of it. 

Coins are used for different use cases. Some of them include governance and/or transactional fees. Because they form the backbone of the blockchain, they have higher intrinsic value.

Token denotes what you own and coins represent what you could own.

## Tokens characteristics:

Tokens are much older than coins and have been used throughout history in the form of vouchers, car titles, etc. They represent countless real-world use cases, including non-fungible tokens (NFTs), different crypto-brokerage-related fees, stablecoins, gaming tokens, etc. 

That means, everything can be tokenized - real estate,  journalism, card games or even a movie script. NTFs are a good example, especially in gaming, where some collectible gaming items are offered as rewards for gamers. 

The development of digital coins is expensive and complicated process that needs experts, developers, machines, capital and management.  

On the other hand, anyone who has a computer and something to tokenize can create tokens. 

Many platforms have tokenizing software that can enable users to tokenize almost anything – from birthday cards to to-do lists.

## Bottom line

In order to differentiate coins from tokens it’s best to imagine coins as the money required to buy digital assets. On the flip side, tokens represent specific assets and are used to claim ownership or grant rights to the holder.


Crypto coin Vs. Token - What's the difference?

[DeCredit](https://www.decredit.io/#/) is pioneering the DeFi lending sector by laying the foundations of a decentralized credit-based lending model that enables users to secure loans without deposit capital as collateral.

We all agree that nowadays, decentralized lending can act as a powerful tool by giving ordinary people more control over their financial assets. 

Up to now, loans worth billions of dollars have been started and amortized by using smart contracts, enabling outstanding loan rates. Also, users were finally enabled to earn interest that was previously shared among intermediaries within the financial sector.

Some of the most favoured loaning platforms have been using over-collateralization as a way to secure a loan. All extra capital was raised in order for the platform to take out a smaller loan than the original deposit. This was, until recently, the only way to provide security to the lender in a decentralized manner. It basically meant that if the borrower does not meet all of his debts plus interest, the creditor can claim the original collateralized deposit. 

## DeCredit combines on-chain and off-chain credit assessments

DeCredit users are, therefore, enabled to receive off-chain credit ratings in order to secure loans. DeCredit uses so-called “credit authentication nodes” and “decentralized oracles” to offer various lending limits and interest rates to users. It utilizes the combination of on-chain and off-chain credit assessments that simplifies loan-securing since the client has control over his assets all the way. 

Through the original usage of the DeCredit scoring System (DSC), an encoded algorithm assesses the potential credit risk for a user and calculates an exact credit score that outlines the solvency of any individual user out there.

## Making Credit-Based Lending Global

A lot of people have already tried to secure a loan in a traditional way, such as banks and other creditors. The process itself is mundane, complicated and often extreme and makes securing a loan more and more challenging.  

Still, in spite of all the challenges, one going through it could find himself lucky as billions of people around the globe have no access to banking infrastructure whatsoever. 

DeCredit seems to be having the solution for the unbanked as well. By using the DeCredit platform, users don’t have to have a bank at all since securing the loan can be processed purely by being connected to the internet.

## What are Credit Oracles?

Dubbed decentralized credit oracles, they are customized to the needs of each client. Basically, these credit nodes enable blockchain users to perform credit analysis and transfer it to the smart contract, where the results can be accomplished. 

The main utility of Credit Oracles, is to enable blockchain platforms access to both on-chain and off-chain data sources.

## Over-collateralization issues

As already mentioned, most lending protocols use over-collateralization of loans, especially in cases where there is no effective credit rating scheme.

Here are some problems when it comes to over-collateralization:

• Disqualifies credible users from getting credit

If user cannot deliver collateral with a value that is above the borrowing amount, they can’t access a loan.

Usually, in TradeFi, clients who have high credit scores can easily get a loan because they have proven to be financially responsible, meaning they have a track record of paying their debts on time. 

By being implemented in the DeFi space, these innovations enlarge the system’s operations and increase adoption.

• Lacking liquidity

In TradeFi, liquidity is boosted through revenue-generating transactions. Users with good credit ratings get their loans, and in return, they pay back interest. However, when you deal with over-collateralized lending, this means the growth of liquidity is minimized.

## How DeCredit solve over-collateralization problems?

DeCredit basically feeds off-chain credit records to DeFi protocols and therefore minimizes the reliance on over-collateralization.

By using blockchain, DeCredit is bringing in a provable strategy.

Traditional institutions usually approve all off-chain credits given if they are approved and if the credit solvency of borrowers is verified.

Off-chain credit data comes here as an add-on to on-chain credit. This means that given the matching level of loan-to-lending ratio, and after credit scrutiny, the borrower gets encrypted funds, a low mortgage rate and all in the stable currency from the liquidity pool.



What is DeCredit?

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), said it plans to implement a few changes. One is about the caps on individual Bitcoin holdings, while the other regards the way of how risky assets can be marketed.

According to the [official document](https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/fca-clamps-down-marketing-high-risk-investments-consumers), companies will be obliged to use more blatant warnings of cryptocurrencies being risky investment options. Also, all incentives to invest in crypto, such as referral bonuses, are becoming banned. New guidelines are, for now, limited to marketing of high-risk financial products such as some speculative illiquid assets, and peer‑to‑peer (P2P) platforms. However, even though guidelines don’t apply to cryptocurrency ‘per se’, the FCA warned they are also considered to be very risky.

The FCA asserted people are investing in digital assets without understanding how volatile and, therefore, risky this is – just because “a friend” referred it to them. Therefore, the FCA advised all potential investors, not to put more than 10% in risky assets. 

After the recent crash of the crypto market that washed out almost $2 trillion of the market, the regulator said that it is now, more than ever, be assured cryptocurrencies are a very speculative and high risk asset class.

“Consumers should only invest in crypto assets if they understand the risks involved and are prepared to lose all of their money. We expect to take a consistent approach to crypto assets that is taken for other high risk investments,” the report said.

## FCA says all directions must be clear and simple

The FCA’s executive director for markets, Sarah Pritchard, said it’s important for people to be able to “invest with confidence, understand the risks involved, and get the investments that are right for them which reflect their appetite for risk”.

Recently, however the United Kingdom said it would like to become a [global crypto-asset hub](https://news.monitalks.io/news/article/fca-crypto-regulation). It will be interesting to see how the development of the FCA’s regulation heightens or hinders the crypto industry in the United Kingdom.

The FCA added it “looks forward” to the direction given by the authorities of how crypto marketing should look and that the “qualifying of cryptoassets” rules would follow after the legislation is complete.

Pritchard added that all the risk warnings must be easy to follow and written in simple language so all can understand them.

 “Where we see products being marketed that don’t contain the right risk warnings or are unclear, unfair or misleading, we will act,” she added.



UK FCA: Crypto investments are risky

If you were looking at the Algo price and wondering whether to invest in this cryptocurrency during this bear market, it just might be one of the best choices for you.

Still, the coin has to perform up to expectations, so we looked and made some of Algorand’s price predictions from 2022 to 2030.

[Algorand](/news/category/altcoin-news) stood at $0.3122 with a 24-hour trading volume of $69,136,042. Algorand was rising by 2.62% at the time of writing. The current [CoinMarketCap](https://coinmarketcap.com/) ranking is #30, with a live market cap of $2,168,961,784. It has a circulating supply of 6,95 billion Algo coins.

We could say that Algo was growing steadily but at a slower pace during the last few months. Also, the current crypto winter and the overall bear market significantly impacted the token.

Back in March 2020, the token hit the ground with the $0.1024 record low. On the other side, back in June 2019, the price stood at its highest - $3.28.

The token picking some momentum, though; therefore, we think the price direction will look bullish during the next few years. 

## 2022 Estimate

We predict Algo coin in 2022 will be $0.32 at the end of the year. At the time of writing, however, ito was down by around 80% from its opening price in January 2022. Still, we believe the company’s acquisition of John Alan Woods, technical director of Cardano, who joined Algorand as CTO, will benefit the price rise.

## 2023 Estimate

In 2023, we predict the token price will hover around $0.45-$0.52. Algorand recently became an official Fifa blockchain, and we anticipate this will offer greater exposure to the broad public.

## 2024 Estimate

Our Algo prediction for 2024 is $1.02. Even though the token was called an Ethereum killer, Cardano still stands as a heavy competitor. However, since Wood’s transfer, we think it will manage to break a critical $1 psychological limit.

## 2025 Estimate

We predict that in 2025, the token will stand at $1.24. We predict that, with numerous developments within the blockchain space, including developer forums and Algorand IDE, Algorand will show up to the task.  

## 2026 Estimate

We predict that in 2026 Algo will be worth $1.56. his will probably show how the token competes against other cryptos regarding Web3, including Metaverse, gaming, and the NFT market. 

## 2027 Estimate

Our Algo price prediction for 2027 stands at $2.09. Algo may profit from its apps library; some trending ones such as Folk’s finance, Yieldly, and Humble Defi.



Algo price rising steadily in next five years

There are plenty of ways to make money from growing your crypto portfolio through crypto lending, HODLing, mining, etc. However, one can grow crypto through staking, airdrops, interest accounts and gaming as well. 

Here we’ll be explaining some basics of growing your crypto but don’t forget – before any new investment, be sure to DYOR (Do Your Own Research) as well.

## Crypto Lending

Crypto lending could enable you to generate an extra revenue stream without much effort. 

Basically, if you already have some cryptocurrencies stashed in your wallet, you can lend them to other crypto users or platforms. 

[DeFi](https://www.ledger.com/decentralized-finance-defi/) protocols have become massively popular nowadays. And why wouldn’t they? Via DeFi protocol, an average user can get an instant loan without having to wait in a queue, read small letters on 100-page agreements, sign tons of documents, or find three bondsmen and put the second mortgage on the house.

On DeFi platforms, so-called smart contracts replace third parties and enable users to lend and borrow digital assets from each other.

Smart contracts are smartly coded transaction protocols meant for automatically executing, documenting or controlling operational processes (i.e.borrowing or lending money) as per the signed terms of a contract or an agreement. No human intermediary is necessary as the whole is fully automated. 

To completely secure your investment, you can lend out stablecoins and generate around 1 to 11% APY. 
 
However, it’s important to understand what collateralized loans are. Basically, they’re making sure a borrower doesn’t just take your money and run.

Most crypto lending platforms are, therefore, dealing with over-collateralized loans. It means that a certain lending protocol needs you to collateralize your loan with some crypto minimum. (e.g. 150% of ETH). If a borrower takes $1,000, he automatically locks no less than $1,500 worth of ETH as collateral. 

This is to make sure the lent funds are safe even if the borrower cannot pay back the loan.
You can lend your crypto in multiple ways. 

Decentralized protocols will lend your cryptocurrencies for a set interest rate and it will generate interest for you. Because there are no intermediaries, you get bonds (usually tokens) through the smart contract and they act as proof of the amount you lent. 

However, if this sounds too complicated, you can always choose to lend your crypto through centralized platforms. However, that would mean you’re not really the crypto owner and you could even pay a service fee. 

## Crypto Staking

One of the simplest ways to increase your crypto portfolio is crypto staking.

Staking offers an exciting opportunity to receive rewards for participating in blockchain validation. However, while it may seem simple and easy to get involved, staking is more complex behind the scenes and introduces unique risks.

One of the factors that differentiate cryptos from fiat money is that the people who use them are the ones operating them. Bitcoin, for example, completely depends on its numerous network participants (nodes) to work in balance via [consensus protocol](https://www.ledger.com/academy/consensus-protocols-how-are-blockchains-secure) called proof-of-work. 
 
## What is a Proof of Work?

Those who run fully operating Bitcoin nodes a.k.a. miners, put all recent transactions in the form of a block of data and repeat the process every ten minutes (so-called Poisson process). Each block has to refer to the previous block to become verified. After a block is mined, it is not visible right away, and until they find out about it, miners are competing against the new block instead of adding to it.

The [Bitcoin](/news/category/bitcoin-news) network uses a proof of work (PoW) mechanism to achieve the mentioned consensus.

Even though this can sound a bit complicated - the main concept is pretty simple.

We obviously cannot be sure of the exact identity of the miners to decide who will be the next block's creator so we can create a hard-to-solve puzzle that needs a lot of work to be answered but can be verified and checked very quickly.
To solve the puzzle, miners have to find the right hash (a unique code for a text or data file). They have to spend a decent amount of their resources on hardware components and electricity for that manner, but the award for each new block they find is – a Bitcoin.

## What is Proof of Stake?

Popularized back in 2011, the Proof of Stake (POS) consensus algorithm was presented as the solution for all the problems Proof of Work might have had.

The PoS consensus mechanism eliminates the high computational and energy requirements of the PoW. This upgrade in the consensus mechanism has been dubbed Ethereum 2.0 as it enables Ethereum network nodes to comply with the state of all previously recorded information on the Ethereum blockchain and avoid possible economic attacks.

Proof of stake demands that miners invest in and hold on to some store of value without the immediate need for spending energy in order to vote.

The PoS algorithm uses a pseudo-random selection process to choose a node that will validate the following block regarding various factors such as the staking age, randomization, and the node's wealth.


## Yield Farming

During the so-called Defi Summer of 2020, yield farming became pretty popular while crypto participants hurried to become “yield farmers.”  

Some DeFi protocols kept rewarding their early adopters with retrospective airdrops, giving users free tokens with a high Annual Percentage Yield (APY) as gratitude for using the protocol first. They were also urging the next phase of the platform’s growth with liquidity mining programs.  

Crypto APY is a  number high enough to attract yield farmers and liquidity providers to one platform over another.

## HODL

The word HODL (from the English HOLD, but misspelled refers to the decision to acquire an asset and keep it in the longer term). 

The whole strategy is based on buying cryptocurrencies at low prices so that you can earn gains when, in the future, the value of this cryptocurrency increases.

Analysis show that HODL came out to be one of the most profitable investment strategies, especially when it comes to Bitcoin HODL-ers. 


Guide to crypto lending, staking and HODLing

The Law Commission of England and Wales, an independent body created to review and recommend law reforms if needed, confirmed it wants to broaden property rules to the crypto space, including non-fungible tokens as well.

According to the official consultation paper, the government had been asking for a complete review of  the law regarding cryptocurrencies in order to enable their development.

“The Commission’s proposals aim to deliver wider recognition and legal protections for digital assets, allowing a more diverse range of people, groups and companies to interact online and benefit from them,” the [announcement](https://www.lawcom.gov.uk/law-commission-proposes-reforms-for-digital-assets-including-crypto-tokens-and-nfts/) said.

Beside characterizing cryptocurrencies as personal property, reform would include crypto investors  being protected by law in case of losses in hacks or scams.

## Plenty of NFT investors

Commercial and Common Law Commissioner Sarah Green commented there are plenty of [NFT](/news/category/nft-news) investors nowadays who never ask “what happens when things go wrong?”.
“It's not clear at all what happens if you hack into my wallet and take my bitcoin or if ... this system fails and I can't access my Bitcoin,” Green asserted.

The seemingly crypto-friendly proposal is aimed, in part, at helping the U.K. government’s goal of turning the country into a global crypto hub, the commission said in a statement. The commission's proposals, however, would not apply in Scotland or Northern Ireland, which have their own legal systems.

The paper claims the law must acknowledge all unique features of digital assets, including NFTs, that will create a stable legal basis for the crypto industry and its users. With this transformation, the legal system can help create a legally safe environment for cryptocurrencies and the overall market.

This comes in the light of recent announcements by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) that confirmed it has some severe intentions to strengthen cross-border crypto-asset regulation.

It is expected that the UK will become a crypto hub, meaning being more collaborative and innovative when it comes to the supervision of cryptocurrencies in the future.


UK to assess new law defining crypto as property

If you ask Nikhil Rathi, the new chief executive, FCA crypto regulation may become a new item on its agenda. According to him, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has some severe intentions to strengthen cross-border crypto-asset [regulation](/news/article/crypto-regulations). 

David Hamilton of Pinsent Masons commented on [Rathi’s recent speech](https://www.fca.org.uk/news/speeches/how-uk-will-regulate-future) on how the US and the UK had “agreed to deepen ties”, regarding financial development. He also added that both countries were “exchanging views on crypto-asset regulation and market developments”. 

“Intensive dialogue between our nations is essential to ensure we deliver consistent outcomes,” said Rathi. He added that since the UK had left the European Union, it got the rare opportunity to connect its regulation to today’s market challenges.

Rathi also confirmed FCA primarily invested in data and technology, and kept scanning 100,000 websites for fraud on a daily level.

“The US and UK will deepen ties on crypto-asset regulation and market developments – including relation to stablecoins and the exploration of central bank digital currencies,” Rathi concluded.

## FCA crypto regulation to be more innovative 

Recently, the UK, US and Singapore launched the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) governance body on DeFi and crypto market integrity risks. 

Hamilton commented that Rathi’s speech was vital, especially if viewed in the context of the G20 Financial Stability Board’s (FSB) [announcement](https://www.fsb.org/2022/07/fsb-statement-on-international-regulation-and-supervision-of-crypto-asset-activities/) earlier this month on establishing a new regulatory framework for crypto supervision.

Hamilton also added that Rathi’s speech showed just how important it is for companies to have adequate policies and procedures to comply with the Money Laundering Regulations.
Rachael Preston of Pinsent Masons asserted the speech shows FCA’s intention to become an essential player of the regulatory game. 

“Expect to see a more collaborative, innovative and adaptive style of supervision in the future, with the FCA continuing to push the boundaries of the role of a financial regulator in modern society,” Preston said.

She also added that technology solutions will play a substantial leading role in the FCA’s transformation plans, and will be a key factor regarding its effectiveness. 
 
“The question is whether such an approach can deliver the right outcomes to what is an ever more complex, nuanced and user experience-led market,” Preston said.



FCA crypto regulation – new item in the UK-US financial co-lab

If you have been interested in crypto poker, roulette, slots, or gambling in general, you’ve probably come across many scam sites, one of which is the [FortuneJack scam.](https://www.trustpilot.com/review/fortunejack.com)

Still, we don’t want to allege that anyone was being illicit or fake so let’s try to explain what this ‘crypto casino’ is about. 

According to some (most probably paid) ads, this is one of the oldest crypto casinos on the web that is now facing numerous accusations of scam – especially when big money is involved.

The latest complaint against FortuneJack includes more than 800 Monero (XMR). And not just that, but the whole transaction history of one of the best winning clients was deleted.

According to a user known as PaperWallet, he accumulated a total of $120K on FortuneJack. Still, just a moment before the withdrawal, the whole betting history was deleted by the casino and over half the amount won was deducted.

This, of course, can be added as a ticket to technical support (or lack of) and perhaps the issue can be resolved for that matter. However, the company that calls itself the oldest crypto casino has to take care of its reputation and should not allow such things to happen.

Also, after the complaint, support didn’t answer over 28 hours. 

## Infamous year to start the business

Fortunejack started with its operations in 2014 – the same year hackers stole 740,000 [Bitcoin](/coins/btc) from Mt. Gox customers and 100,000 from the company itself. Not directly related – but shushes the general sentiment.

Also, when looking at the company’s Terms of Service (ToS), it’s viable that the company can, at any moment, change the rules for its customers and they can take effect immediately without previous notice of such actions.

According to the website, the company is encouraging users to regularly check for such updates because it can shrug off any liability for any loss resulting from the changes made.

If we look at regular casinos, which all have similar ToS’s, this could imply that winnings could also be cancelled.

When PaperWallet’s support ticket was finally answered, FortuneJack said its Terms of Service gives them the right to cancel bets when the player places more similar bets as, in such cases, only one of such bets is considered active.

The real question is – why does the company allow that kind of bet to be placed and why does it wait for the outcome before reacting, in this case - nullifying them? More precisely, what would it do if the player had lost?
To us, this seems like a cheating policy involving malicious interpretation of their terms. 

A good reputation is what it’s all about at the end and we believe that Fortunejack forgot that.
The rules should be more apparent and the warnings about this kind of situation should be publicly visible (not only in the fine print).

Finally, bets that are “same” or “similar” should not be approved in the first place, and players should be warned on all of these terms.


The FortuneJack Scam Explained

For the CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, base layer transactions of the Dogecoin (DOGE) chain are far more superior to Bitcoin and Ethereum’s.

Recently he commented on his support for Dogecoin, saying the token actually has “a much higher transaction volume capability than Bitcoin, and the cost of doing a transaction, the Dogecoin fee, is very low". 

"Right now, if you wanted to do a Bitcoin transaction, the price of doing that transaction is very high. So, you could not use it effectively for most things," he said.

In his latest pubic speech at the Qatar Economic Forum, Musk reiterated his support for DOGE although the meme-based cryptocurrency plunged from an all-time high of $0.76 in 2021 to a price of $0.068 at the time of writing.

Musk is currently facing a[ $258 billion lawsuit over allegations](https://news.monitalks.io/news/article/elon-musk-dogecoin) his companies SpaceX and Tesla are part of a racketeering scheme to back Dogecoin. He explained his love for the currency by saying he met many people who were not rich but who encouraged him to buy the token. “I am responding to those people,” he said.

He also clarified that while Bitcoin and Ethereum “are pursuing a multilayer transaction system”, their base layer transaction rate is slow and transaction cost is high. 

“There is merit to Doge maximizing base layer transaction rate and minimizing transaction cost with exchanges acting as the de facto secondary layer,” [he elaborated](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1413396249546563586).

## Dogecoin more scalable than Bitcoin according to Mr Musk

When talking about the differing monetary policies between Bitcoin and Dogecoin, Musk said that low issuance rate could result in hoarding and discourage spending. 

Bitcoin cuts the issuance rate in half roughly every four years, while Dogecoin has an unchangeable issuance rate.

“It won’t need to reach visa speed, as regulated exchanges will act as de facto second layer. But the perfect should not be the enemy of the good – it is still good to increase base layer transaction speed & lower base layer transaction cost,” Musk concluded.

The thing is straightforward, after all -  Dogecoin is more scalable because of its layer-one protocol that doesn’t need one more network. The term layer-one is used to define the primary blockchain architecture. Layer-2, on the other hand, is a network that appears at the top of the underlying blockchain.

Even though Bitcoin advocates have been slamming Musk's tweets, saying he's making a groundless admonishment of the widely-adopted cryptocurrencies, the cost and speed of the Bitcoin blockchains have actually been problematic in the past. However, recent upgrades have improved both.


Elon Musk's view on base layer functionality

According to Tesla's newest Q2 financial statement, Bitcoin was one of the essential items that impacted the operating income.

As per the official data, the operating income improved year-to-year to $2.5 billion in the second quarter, resulting in a 14.6% operating margin.

"As of the end of Q2, we have converted approximately 75% of our Bitcoin purchases into fiat currency," Tesla's statement said, adding: "Conversions in Q2 added $936M of cash to our balance sheet."

However, during the regular quarterly investor call, the company's CEO, Elon Musk, revealed that even though Tesla holds Dogecoin as well, it didn't convert any of that into fiat.

 "We still have it," Musk claimed.

Just a month before, speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha, Musk confirmed he supports Dogecoin, reiterating that Tesla accepts the currency as payment for its products. He also announced that his company SpaceX intends to do the same.

Musk says he intends to 'personally support' Dogecoin in response to the many people who are not wealthy and have encouraged him to buy and support DOGE.

## Tesla’s Musk – Bitcoin and Dogecoin advocate

Back before, Musk was [pretty vocal](/news/article/elon-musk-bitcoin) about owning Dogecoin. However, he never confirmed that Tesla or SpaceX have it in their portfolios. It is not known whether the assets left in crypto are remaining Bitcoin or, perhaps, Dogecoin.

If we try to calculate how much Bitcoin Tesla has left, we should look at the sheet where it says the company owned 42,000 Bitcoin heading into the second quarter.

After the company sold 75%, there should be 10,500 at the quarter's end. We can only presume that the snapshot was taken somewhere at the end of June when fiscal Q2 ended. At the time, 1 Bitcoin was worth somewhere between $18,750 and $20,300. This could mean that there are 10,500 coins, of which $197 to $213 million are Bitcoin.

Musk has been a crypto advocate for years and was pretty influential in market moves. In 2021 he helped Bitcoin jump after admitting Tesla bought some for its corporate vault.


Tesla Bitcoin Sale Confirmed by Elon Musk

It seems the crypto brokerage Genesis filed the claim against the bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) which allegedly owes it $1.2 billion. 

Genesis is not the only creditor who filed the claim. According to the sources familiar with the situation, co-founder of 3AC Zhu Su submitted $5 million claim, while Chen Kaili Kelly, the wife of another 3AC co-founder, Kyle Davies, filed a $66 million worth lawsuit.

Also, faltered crypto companies [Celsius Network](/news/article/celsius-bankruptcy-protection) and Voyager Digital are among others who lent money to Three Arrows. A crypto derivatives exchange Deribit also filed an $80 million claim.

Genesis Asia-Pacific earlier has confirmed its exposition to Three Arrows. On July 9 filing in Singapore, high court revealed there was a $2.36 billion loan to the fund. Genesis CEO, Michael Moro recently [tweeted](https://twitter.com/michaelmoro/status/1544733041045786626) about the whole situation admitting the loans to Three Arrows “had a weighted average margin requirement of over 80%." According to Moro, "once they were unable to meet the margin call requirements, we immediately sold collateral and hedged our downside”.

## Genesis reveals crypto Ponzi scheme

The company confirmed that since then, it has been collaborating with Digital Currency Group to find the optimal strategy for isolating the risk further. 

“DCG has assumed certain liabilities of Genesis related to this counterparty to ensure we have the capital to operate and scale our business for the long-term,” Moro said.

He added that both the DCG and Genesis balance sheets remain stable and that there is no remaining exposure to Three Arrows Capital.

There is still a legal question here of how a co-founder could at the same time be a creditor to his own company. It all adds up to the Ponzi scheme where old investors are funded with money from the newcomers.

When looking at the filings, it was reiterated that “3AC is insolvent and should be wound up” in different words. 

In an affidavit filed June 26, Charles McGarraugh, Blockchain.com’s Chief Strategy Officer, claimed that Kyle Davies wanted to borrow another 5,000 Bitcoin from Genesis, valued at approximately $125 million at the time. He said the reason for credit was “to pay a margin call to another lender.” 

Genesis crypto brokerage files $1.2B claim vs 3AC

Paraguay crypto bill that regulates cryptocurrency mining and trading within the country, has finally been approved by the country’s Senate.

The deputy chamber [approved the bill](http://www.diputados.gov.py/index.php/noticias/aprueban-con-modificaciones-proyecto-que-regula-la-industria-y-comercializacion-de-criptoactivos) but added some changes regarding electricity consumption in Paraguay. President Mario Abdo Benítez is now obliged to decide whether he will support, sanction or apply a veto to the bill.

Counting 7 million electricity users, Paraguay mostly depends on hydroelectric generation as the country also serves as a significant energy exporter. 

However, the electricity expenditure rose by over 100% in the last 12 years, while its generation is falling. The state power operator, Administración Nacional de Electricidad (ANDE), wants to urge a new consumption plan within the next few years. 

On the other hand, Paraguay’s central bank worries that the fact that cryptos are still not regulated as payment in the country could lead to halts in electricity consumption associated with crypto mining.

According to the bill, Paraguay’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce will be the governmental body that will regulate cryptocurrency-related services.

## Paraguay crypto bill tax excludes paying VAT

The bill, therefore, urges [crypto mining companies](/news/article/mining-company) to come up with a power consumption plan and present it to the national power body, which will be authorized to cut the electricity if the companies do not act according to these plans. Also, the bill defines that the payment for the power services is made in advance.

Furthermore, crypto miners won’t have to pay their VAT but are obliged to pay income taxes.
However, some lawmakers have shown their disapproval about the law's approval in its current form, with some calling for a presidential veto.

However, the bill was not approved easily. Senator Esperanza Martínez mentioned that the Guasu Front Bank did not comply with the project, adding that cryptocurrency is not an industry per se as it doesn’t process either raw material adding value, or employing people.

"Both versions are detrimental to the country," she said. 

Senator Enrique Bacchetta commented that he had voted for rejection at the time because this initiative did not produce jobs.




Senate approves Paraguay crypto mining bill

[Linear Finance (LINA)](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/linear/) is an [Ethereum](/coins/eth) protocol developed from the concept of combining traditional finance with the cryptocurrency sector.
 
Dubbed “Liquids”, Linear Synthetic asset tokens indicate a scope of different assets, including commodities, cryptocurrencies and indices.

According to the official website, the focus is on providing a “superior user experience with better scalability and greater speed”. 

This is enabled via Linear Finance’s cross-chain capabilities, which utilise Ethereum and partner chain networks.
Founded by Drey Ng and Kevin Tai, the protocol is constructed from multiple products. The base is represented by the Buildr DApp component that holds the whole protocol in line. Investors stake the native LINA token to mint the stablecoin dubbed LUSD, completely utilized via the platform.

Users are then allowed to push their LUSD through the protocol’s exchange, allowing them to trade the Liquids. At the time of writing, users could trade 20 assets on the exchange, including tokenised gold and silver.

Traders then can change their Liquids or tokens to another blockchain type with the so-called Swap DApp. This is pretty convenient when it comes to “composability” with other DeFi platforms.

Also, there are even more benefits native tokens have. Instead of trading, investors can put their LUSD into the vault and earn interest in LUSD, BUSD and LINA.

## LINA’s past performance

By launching the public sale of its token in September 2020, LINA had quickly gained popularity among traders, especially after it reached $1.8 million in seed funding.

The finance token pumped to its record of $0.03 on 19 September, after the release of a pre-staking program. According to the company, stakers on the first day earned the retaliation of a more than 1,500% annual percentage yield.

## 5 years LINA Price Prediction  

If we have the newest geopolitical situation in mind, where traders are not willing to risk and are seeking more stable and quicker profits, LINA may seem as a ‘bad’ long-term investment. 

 If the investors’ sentiment does not change and goes toward more stable assets, the coin’s average price could decline to $0.0028 by the end of 2022 and $0.0014 by the end of 2025. 

In five years, LINA could plunge to $0.0012. 

On the other hand, if we take a more bullish approach, Ethereum stays stable and investors diminish their fears, the Linear Finance could grow to $0.012 at the end of this year and grow to $0.020 in 2023. 

In 2025, the LINA crypto price could hop to $0.033 in 2025 and hit $0.08 in 2030. 



Lina crypto price prediction: Rebound or regress?

A few years ago, everyone started to buzz about the blockchain – it wasn’t really clear what is it and what are the possible applications of blockchain.

Be it as it may, this technology has undergone significant development in terms of how many industries are able to trial and adopt blockchain use cases. 

Already there are numerous examples of companies utilizing blockchain in industries going from financial services to energy distribution and supply chain management.

Still, we have to make a basic distinction between public and private blockchains and their cons and pros for businesses.

## Not all blockchains are created equal – Public Blockchains

The name says it all - [public blockchains ](https://101blockchains.com/public-vs-private-blockchain/#:~:text=Public%20Vs%20Private%20Blockchain%3A%20The%20Comparison%20Table%20,%20%20Permissioned%20%204%20more%20rows%20) can be used by anyone. 

What’s important though, is that the two most popular cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum, both use public blockchains.

Public blockchains are permissionless, meaning anyone can just hop in and join the consensus used to keep the network safe. 

However, this also signifies, that anyone is enabled to check the stored data and shows the whole thing has a high level of transparency. 

Still, even though it can be seen, data cannot be changed by anyone on the network since public blockchains are also immutable. That means once the data is on the distributable ledger, it cannot be changed or removed.

Public blockchains are completely decentralized, meaning there is no single entity that’s controlling the network.  

However, this also means that any hacker can join the network with malicious plans. Dubbed a 51% attack, it’s a situation where 51% of hashing power on a network is taken over by cyber hackers who then can interrupt the recording of new blocks by preventing other miners from completing blocks. 

## PoW Vs. PoS

There are public blockchains, that are powered by [Proof-of-Work (PoW)](/wiki#character-p), and then we have those who use Proof-of-Stake solutions.

## What is a Proof of Work?

It is practically impossible to spend the same physical cash (fiat) amount more than once. However,  when talking about digital money; so-called ‘double-spend’ can occur since digital money is only existing data.

A double-spend problem means that there is a risk of spending a unit of digital currency in two places at the same time and having one of them bounce like a sort of an invalid check.

Usually, when paying for some service online, a double-spend problem is fixed by clearing all transactions through the central database of an intermediary such as a bank or credit card company. In some situations, solving these contracts takes hours, days, and sometimes, even weeks.

To solve the double-spend problem without the need for the intermediary, in 2008, Bitcoin White Paper alleged creator Satoshi Nakamoto introduced a consensus mechanism by leveraging cryptography with an existing distributed P2P network.

On the Bitcoin blockchain, the network eliminates a double-spend by checking the exact time of the first transaction of a particular token and vetoing consequent spending on the same token.

Those who run fully operating Bitcoin nodes a.k.a. miners, put all recent transactions in the form of a block of data and repeat the process every ten minutes (so-called Poisson process). Each block must refer to the previous block to become legit. After a block is mined, it is not visible right away, and until they find out about it, miners are competing against the new block instead of adding to it.

The Bitcoin network uses a proof of work (PoW) mechanism to achieve the mentioned consensus.

## What is Proof of Stake?

Popularized back in 2011, the Proof of Stake consensus algorithm was presented as the solution for all the problems Proof of Work might have had.

The PoS consensus mechanism eliminates the high computational and energy requirements of the PoW. This upgrade in the consensus mechanism has been dubbed Ethereum 2.0 as it enables Ethereum network nodes to comply with the state of all previously recorded information on the Ethereum blockchain and avoid possible economic attacks.

Proof of stake demands that miners invest in and hold on to some store of value without the immediate need for spending energy in order to vote.

The PoS algorithm uses a pseudo-random selection process to choose a node that will validate the following block regarding various factors such as the staking age, randomization, and the node's wealth.

While most cryptocurrency is created as rewards for miners in Proof of Work-based systems, the Proof-of-Stake system tends to use transaction fees as a reward.

## Private Blockchains Needs Authorization

Private blockchains are used for safely storing data making sure, at the same time that these can be accessed only by authorized entities. 

The access itself has to be approved before accessing any data or taking part in the consensus process. 

Network administrator is the one who grants all accesses and asks for validation. 

Rarely you can see private blockchain being used within crypto sector. More of it is angled towards some internal companies’ networks such as IBM, who has humongous blockchain network for its clients.

Still, private blockchains are not totally centralized, since there is an entity which controls the ledger and integrates with the blockchain. The ledger isn't completely immutable, and private blockchains do not need a native token.

Even though public blockchain are more popular, private blockchains are more efficient, the amount of data that needs authentication is lower, they don’t need a lot of computational power to work and are, therefore, more eco-friendly.

A slightly ‘negative’ characteristics of private blockchains show up when it comes to anonymity. The real nodes’ identity on a private blockchain is always known by the central authority since it’s needed in order to get access to the network. 

Also, when talking about security, one should be aware that private blockchains are not completely decentralized. That means that the creator can change the block data and somehow “bend” the whole system to work in their favour.

## Blockchain Use Cases

Blockchain technology is important for companies since its implementation insures revenue expansion, decreased costs and better efficiency. For example, the fashion consortium LVMH chose to combat fake products by tracking them [through a blockchain](https://www.lvmh.com/news-documents/news/lvmh-partners-with-other-major-luxury-companies-on-aura-the-first-global-luxury-blockchain/). 

In the medical industry, blockchain network is used to search for and exchange patients’ data, track pharmaceuticals or even disclose the pharma black market.
In the law sector, blockchain technology can be used to create smart contracts for legal processes. It also can be used to approve and validate some courtroom evidence and improve efficiency in the criminal justice system. 

When talking about the food supply, blockchain can accelerate food recall and enhance the efficiency of food supply chain management.

In the real-estate sector, blockchain technology can authorize the tracking and buying of real estate through digital real estate tokens. 

Blockchain can also be used within the governmental sector. One of the most important features of blockchain-based solutions is providing transparency of voting processes and public decision-making. 


Applications of blockchain in practice show promise

OpenSea, the biggest [NFT](/news/category/nft-news) market in the world, announced it is slashing around 20% of its employees.

This is the latest in a series of layoffs that turmoiled the already shaken, crypto community as the cryptocurrency prices plunged.

OpenSea’s Chief Executive Devin Finzer [confirmed the layoffs](https://twitter.com/dfinzer/status/1547648521607659522) in a tweet and asserted that the crypto winter might be longer than expected. However, he added that things are not so gloomy and said he has immense conviction in the NFT space and  OpenSea’s role in it. 

Finzer explained that, during this winter, we might see “an explosion in innovation across the ecosystem. And with the changes we’ve made, we’re in a strong position to continue.”
He also said that in uncertain times, the company’s mission to build a foundational layer for new, peer-to-peer economies feels more urgent and essential than ever.

According to the firm’s representative, Allie Mack, around 230 employees will stay with OpenSea, which was, by the way, valued at over $13.3 billion in the year’s beginning.

Other exchanges that also decided to fire their people are Gemini, Coinbase, Crypto.com and BlockFi.

It all started with the Terra Luna collapse in May this year that entailed all other companies halting withdrawals, firing employees or even filing for bankruptcy. 
 
Demand for NFTs has also plummeted, that cut the sales of OpenSea in half during just one month. The average price of an NFT on its marketplace fell by approximately 40%.
This includes even the most famous NFT collections such as Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks, who, even though are still selling, have felt the winter breeze.

According to Finzer, this whole situation can be seen as an opportunity. He said that during this winter he expects an explosion in innovation and utility across NFTs.
“With the hard (but important) changes we made today, we’re in an even better position to capture what will soon become the largest market on the planet. Winter is our time to build”, Finzer concluded.

The company added it will provide health coverage next year for all fired employees. 



OpenSea NFT Platform lays off 20% of employees

Even though we recently wrote about [Celsius’ possibility of getting back on track](/news/article/celsius-news-new-lawyers), the company has decided to file for bankruptcy protection.

According to the [official announcement](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005911/en/Celsius-Network-Initiates-Financial-Restructuring-to-Stabilize-Business-and-Maximize-Value-for-All-Stakeholders), the faltered company filed voluntary petitions for Chapter 11 protection and announced the initiation of a financial restructuring.

Previously Celsius asserted it would focus on stabilisation of its business by restructuring in a way “that maximizes value for all stakeholders.” It then confirmed having $167 million in cash in order to support operations until everything is finished

The firm stated that the filing follows “the difficult but necessary decision by Celsius last month to pause withdrawals, swaps, and transfers on its platform to stabilise its business and protect its customers”. 

“Without a pause, the acceleration of withdrawals would have allowed certain customers—those who were first to act—to be paid in full while leaving others behind to wait for Celsius to harvest value from illiquid or longer-term asset deployment activities before they receive a recovery”.

Celsius hiring new directors

Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky added that he believes this was the right decision for the clients and the company itself. 

“We have a strong and experienced team in place to lead Celsius through this process. I am confident that when we look back at the history of Celsius, we will see this as a defining moment, where acting with resolve and confidence served the community and strengthened the future of the company,” he concluded.

Last week, the firm replaced its legal advisers Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP with newly appointed Kirkland & Ellis LLP. The company still hasn’t filed for bankruptcy and hopes that pairing up with Kirkland & Ellis LLP could represent a shift in the overall strategy.

Analysts mostly agree the move was expected. The firm also hired new directors: David Barse, the Chief Executive Officer of XOUT Capital, and Alan Carr, founder and managing member of Drivetrain, LLC, a professional fiduciary services firm.

With more than 100,000 creditors and the largest unsecured claim of $81 million from Caymans Island-based Pharos Fund, the filing also mentions FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s trading firm, Alameda Research, as a creditor with a $12 million unsecured loan.



Celsius filing for bankruptcy is imminent

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