ALTCOIN Binance is topping Bitcoin and Ethereum, as Polygon fixes a bug and crypto staking is revealed.
This as a drop in the cryptocurrency market led to an almost $300 million loss in liquidations this week.
Bitcoin prices, in particular, dropped by as much as $3,000 early Tuesday, though it is slightly back up over the past 24 hours as of Thursday morning.
Plus, “futures on ether, the native currency of the Ethereum network, saw over $57 million in liquidations,” Coindesk reported.
Other major coins, such as Solana and Terra, also saw losses, the outlet reported. Shiba Inu and Dogecoin have also been down over the past week as of Thursday.
Meanwhile, Ethereum, Decentraland, and Basic Attention are all tokens that some experts think are poised for rebounds in 2022.
Contributors at Motley Fool think those three cryptocurrencies could see gains next year no matter what else happens with the highly volatile market.
“Ethereum stands out as a great crypto for 2022 and beyond,” the outlet noted, but the site thinks BAT and Decentraland are good bets, too.
Read our cryptocurrency live blog for the latest news and updates…
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What are Altcoins?
Altcoin stands for alternative coin, a type of virtual currency that uses the so-called blockchain to allow secure transactions.
Altcoin is a category of cryptocurrency rather than a currency itself, and there are more than 900 different altcoins available.
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What are red flags of scams?
Gizmodo shared that other red flags of the SQUID coin being illegitimate was that the website that the creators launched was filled with spelling and grammatical errors.
The crypto’s telegram channel also did not allow comments from outsiders, and its Twitter account did not allow users to reply to posts, which Gizmodo flagged as suspicious.
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R.I.P. Mr Goxx, the crypto-trading hamster
Sadly, Mr Goxx, the crypto-trading hamster, passed away on November 23.
The tragic news was shared on Mr Goxx’s official Twitter account.
“We feared this day like no other and are truly shocked for it to happen just now,” Mr Goxx’s Twitter account tweeted on Wednesday.
“In deep sorrow, we have to announce the loss of our beloved furry friend.”
The account continued: “Being with us as a pet for quite a while, he became famous out of nowhere. Mr. Goxx has brought joy to people all across the globe and reminded us not to take life too seriously.
“He shed light into dark moments of pandemic, inflation and many kinds of trouble.”
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‘Decision tunnels’
The amount to be traded is determined when Goxx runs through one of two “decision tunnels”.
Depending on which tunnel he runs through, the amount he will buy or sell the cryptocurrency changes in 20 euro increments.
All of the data is rigged to a computer that makes the transactions in real-time on Goxx’s behalf.
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Goxx’s creators
Speaking to the BBC, the two 30-something German men behind Mr Goxx the crypto-trading hamster explained that the idea started as a joke.
“We felt that everything keeps getting more expensive these days and building savings is super-hard to achieve with high rents to pay,” they said.
“It seems like most people from our generation see no other chance than throwing a lot of their savings on the crypto market, without having a clue what’s going on there.
“We were joking about whether my hamster would be able to make smarter investment decisions than we humans do.”
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Crypto-trading hamster, continued
The four-legged financial fiend was not completing transactions himself, of course.
Instead, Goxx’s trading decisions were made inside a camera-rigged “office” attached to his regular cage.
Every day, when he entered the office, a stream was started on Twitch and a tweet was sent out to his followers notifying them that trading had begun.
The hamster then ran on an “intention wheel” that chose one of 30 different cryptocurrencies to trade.
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A crypto-trading hamster outperformed market
A hamster in Germany previously traded in cryptocurrencies and consistently outperformed the S&P 500.
The furry animal, called Mr Goxx, was busy working since June, thanks to a specially adapted cage.
He determined which currencies to buy or sell by running on his wheel or walking through one of two tunnels.
Mr Goxx started trading on June 12 this year.
The site states that the page is just for fun and does not offer financial advice.
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Major meme coins, part 2
Another dog meme that has picked up traction this year has been Saitama inu, whose logo appears to feature a wolf surrounding a human face.
“Tokens like Shiba Inu, Dogecoin and newest gainer Saitama are all a part of the evolution of digital finance in their own unique way,” Chris Kline, chief operating officer and co-founder of Bitcoin IRA, recently told The Sun.
Separately, Tiger King is a meme coin that has picked up strong momentum off the past month, which is based on the popular Netflix series.
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The major meme coins
The surge of the meme coins this year all started with Dogecoin.
That was then followed by Shiba Inu, which both feature the same dog breed in their logos.
The image became a popular internet meme called doge, and it features the dog surrounded by text in the comic sans font with words like “much wow.”
Both Shiba and Dogecoin have been popular dog meme coins this year.
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What are meme coins?
A meme coin typically gains off a social media or an internet-based joke.
It all started with GameStop and AMC earlier this year, when a Reddit mob trolled short-sellers by driving up the prices of those stocks.
The memes then spread over to cryptocurrencies – and there are now a few major ones today.
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Can you trade crypto on Robinhood?
Unlike most of its discount rivals, Robinhood offers 24/7 crypto trading through its platform.
That means you’ll have access to trade major cryptocurrencies including, Dogecoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin.
Its crypto investors can buy or sell with a market order, which means it’s executed at the current market price.
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Risks of Robinhood, part three
In July, the platform was also ordered to pay nearly $70million in fines and compensation for misleading customers and outages.
If you are seeking a discount broker and are looking to open an IRA account, you can check out the following platforms: Vanguard, Fidelity, TD Ameritrade, Merrill Edge, among others.
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Risks of Robinhood, part two
For investing individual stocks, make sure you check company reports, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, broker notes, and press releases so you can make the best decisions for your money.
Another risk when choosing Robinhood along with other brokers is that they can restrict trading when there’s unusual activity.
In fact, Robinhood faced some outrage earlier this year when it restricted trading on meme stocks including GameStop and AMC.
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Risks of Robinhood
When it comes to risks, investing alone is one because you’re not guaranteed to generate a profit and the value of your assets could fall.
If you’re choosing Robinhood so you can trade stocks and cryptocurrencies – then the game gets even riskier.
Cryptocurrencies are not only difficult to understand but even tougher to predict when bearish trends in the market will take place.
For example, cryptocurrency was thriving this year up until Elon Musk said that Tesla was halting the acceptance of payments in Bitcoin.
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What is Robinhood? Continued
Unlike many discounted brokers, the company does not offer individual retirement accounts.
The bulk of Robinhood’s revenue comes from order flow.
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What is Robinhood?
The Robinhood platform operates as a discounted brokerage that offers commission-free trading.
Specifically, users can trade exchange-traded funds (ETFs), individual stocks (including American depositary shares), and options.
You can also trade Robinhood’s stock thanks to the company recently going public at a $1.2billion valuation.
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Play-to-earn gaming, part two
The new play-to-earn gaming model that rewards gamers with cryptocurrency for playing isn’t technically free.
Gamers could have to spend $1,000 or more in order to start earning in the Axie Infinity universe, according to Forbes.
The popular platform for play-to-earn gaming requires beginners to have three “Axies,” which are available for purchase on the game’s Marketplace Dashboard.
Participants can then earn cryptocurrency for selling potions, breeding rare Axies, and playing various games.
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What is play-to-earn gaming?
A unique model called play-to-earn gaming is driving non-fungible token (NFT) and cryptocurrency growth, Forbes reported.
Axie Infinity is the most popular platform for play-to-earn gaming at the moment.
It allows users to build a collection of “Axies” that players can use across its universe of games.
The company then uses Blockchain to reward players for gaming, according to Forbes.
Any digital assets earned by participants can be sold on the platform or traded outside Axie Infinity’s universe.
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How to create, buy and sell NFTs, part three
Buying an NFT, like any collectible, is a risky bet on the value going up.
If there is no demand for the NFT you buy, then you could end up paying a large amount for something that declines in value or that you cannot sell.
NFTs are still a new market so there is unlikely to be the same demand you will find for other physical items such as trading cards, art, or classic cars.
You could also create your own NFT but there is no guarantee of a buyer and you could end up wasting your time and money.
Like Bitcoin, you can buy and sell NFTs on specialized online marketplaces.
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How to create, buy and sell NFTs, part two
If you’ve chosen Ethereum as your blockchain, here’s what you’ll need to mint your NFT.
First sellers will need an Ethereum wallet, such as MetaMask, Trust Wallet or Coinbase Wallet.
Next you will need around $50-$100 in ether.
Once you have these, you can connect your wallet and upload the music, image, or file that you want to turn into an NFT.
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How to create, buy and sell NFTs
NFTs are tradable, unique items that have taken the internet by storm in recent months.
Some of the virtual assets have sold for millions of dollars, but most people still have no clue what they are – or where you can buy and sell them.
To create an NFT, you need to choose what to create — from artwork, music, collectibles, digital trading cards, movies, video footage, and more.
Then choose which blockchain you want to issue your NFT on and get ready to sell.
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Bitcoin milestone, part two
Bitcoin was created in 2009 by an unknown computer whizz using the alias Satoshi Nakamoto.
Data from Blockchain.com on Monday showed 18.9 million of the 20,999,999,9769 possible Bitcoins had been mined.
It’s a milestone that took 12 years to reach.
Experts believe the last Bitcoin will be mined in February 2140.
One Bitcoin is currently worth around $47,000.
Value could shoot up as the coins become more scarce, experts said.
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Less than 10 percent of Bitcoin left to mine
There is less than 10 percent of Bitcoin left to mine as the cryptocurrency passed a major milestone in December.
Data from Blockchain.com showed 18.9million out of a possible 21million of the virtual coins have been mined.
Bitcoin is the world’s first entirely virtual currency and new currency is created by mining, a complex online process that uses computer code.
It involves using a computer to solve a mathematical problem with a 64-digit solution to create new coins.
For each problem solved, one block of Bitcoin is processed. The miner that is first to solve the problem is rewarded with a new Bitcoin.
These new coins are then stored virtually through an online database called the blockchain.
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Man loses $1.6million, part three
The app demanded $1.5million from the victim and threatened to freeze his account if he didn’t pay.
“I go look on the FBI site and lo and behold, there’s this public alert about this type of scam,” he told the news outlet. “I’m 52, my entire life savings, gone in a matter of a month.”
The common scam, which involves meeting someone on a dating app, depositing money into a fake investment app (which is constantly changed, renamed or deleted) then losing it all, is called the “Pig Butchering Scam,” KMGH-TV detailed.
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Man loses $1.6million, part two
The man said he successfully deposited funds into the account, including money from his retirement accounts.
He was reportedly able to withdraw cryptocurrency too, until he attempted to take out more.
A “customer service agent” with the app told him “you need to repay the loan before you can withdraw cash from your account,” KMGH-TV reported.
