BITCOIN could outpace stocks and reach $100,000 this year despite a recent crash, according to one expert.
Bloomberg’s Mike McGlone predicts Bitcoin will dominate the crypto market in 2022, and Etherium will hit $5,000.
“Expectations for Federal Reserve rate hikes in 2022 may support a win-win scenario for Bitcoin vs. the stock market,” said McGlone.
This analysis comes after several well-known cryptocurrencies nosedives this week.
Bitcoin was down almost 12 percent over the last seven days as of 9:30am Friday morning, according to CoinBase.
At the same time, Shiba Inu was down almost 15 percent over seven days, and Ethereum was down about 14 percent, both according to CoinBase.
It comes as one finance expert thinks Bitcoin’s worth could tank as low $10,000 (£7,400) per coin.
However, Goldman Sachs previously suggested that Bitcoin could reach a staggering value of $100,000 (£74,000) this year.
Read our cryptocurrency live blog for the latest news and updates…
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Man loses $1.6million in scam
A man says he lost his life savings in a scheme dubbed the “Pig Butchering Scam.”
The 52-year-old told Denver ABC affiliate KMGH-TV that he met a woman on a dating app who appeared to have similar interests to him.
The conversation turned to cryptocurrency, something he’d made about $70,000 on in a few years.
The man told the news outlet that the woman he fell for online convinced him to invest on a mobile and web app that seemed legitimate to the software engineer.
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Banks embrace crypto, continued
Executives at large banks are beginning to hop on the cryptocurrency train as some invest their time in learning about the new payment method.
Bank of America spokesman Mark Pipitone told the New York Times, “The bank sees potential in blockchain, and we’re currently a leading patent holder in the space with more than 160 patents.
“But we still haven’t found a use at scale to make the financial lives of customers and clients better.”
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Banks embrace crypto
Banks are paying for slowly catching on to the future of cryptocurrency as they struggle to benefit and profit.
As cryptocurrency start-ups explode, they are starting to offer credit cards and loans while banks are left in the dust.
According to the New York Times, “Bank of America’s chief executive, Brian Moynihan, barred the giant company’s wealth managers from putting any client money into cryptocurrency-related investments.”
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Russia considers crypto ban, part two
The proposed ban on cryptocurrency investments comes as Russia was said to be working on its own ruble-backed digital currency.
Roughly $5billion in crypto transactions take place in the country annually, and nearly 12 percent of the population may already own crypto, according to Fortune.
That was compared with a little more than 8 percent of the US population that owns crypto.
Russia also reportedly invested in crypto in 2019 to limit the impact of sanctions over meddling in the 2016 US Election, Fortune reported.
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Russia considers crypto investing ban
Russia’s central bank is reportedly looking to ban cryptocurrency investments amid its longtime skepticism of digital currency.
The ban by the country’s financial authority would prevent future transactions, Fortune reported, but it wouldn’t require current holders to divest their portfolios.
The central bank gave digital currencies legal status in 2020 but did not authorize their use as a means of payment, according to Fortune.
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DogeZilla: The next meme coin
A newly-launched cryptocurrency, DogeZilla, exploded out of the gate.
Within its first eight days of existence, DogeZilla was said to have grown into a super microcap of $500million from just $50,000.
Billionaire Elon Musk also got involved with DogeZilla by posting a tweet.
Replying to a tweet about an underwater mud volcano, he wrote: “Cover story for Godzilla obv.”
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What is Dogezilla?
Founded by someone with the alias of 9ZEROES, DogeZilla models itself as a community-based project.
DogeZilla claims it aims to make the crypto space safer for users.
According to DogeZilla’s whitepaper, it has a vault that verifies crypto launches.
It says: “Obviously, it is not a 100% fool-proof method because that simply doesn’t exist in this space, but reducing risk to the highest degree is the purpose of Vault.”
Moreover, users can gather DogeZilla tokens by holding.
Specifically, “5% Holder Rewards are dispersed to all token holders relative to their holding percentages,” DogeZilla claims.
For upcoming projects, DogeZilla is planning to launch an NFTs Invasion Series in early 2022.
Its logo features an amused dog in what appears to be a dinosaur costume.
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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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Crypto losses and tax benefits
Investors can claim deductions on cryptocurrency losses that can lessen tax liabilities or result in a refund, according to Coindesk.
Any losses can be used to offset capital gains, and if you have no gains, you can claim a deduction.
The Coindesk article explains the IRS code and other ways to put cryptocurrency losses to work.
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Gifting NFTs and digital assets, part two
Some young investors looked forward to gifting friends their first digital assets last year.
A San Francisco-based 26-year-old told CNBC that she plans to gift close friends and family digital assets like Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domains and NFTs.
A domain for the Ethereum blockchain represents an investor’s cryptocurrency address, appearing like “YourName.eth”.
It’s personalized rather than the random string of letters and numbers that typically signifies a user’s wallet.
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Gifting NFTs and other digital assets
Young investors told CNBC that they planned to gift cryptocurrency, NFTs and other digital assets this past holiday season.
A 23-year-old from San Antonio, Texas, said she would get her sister and parents an NFT of a digital land lot to share in the metaverse.
She also planned to buy collectible NFTs from projects that aim to empower women, like World of Women and Crypto Coven.
The digital gifts could cost thousands of dollars depending on factors like metaverse game, demand, and size, CNBC reported.
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What is a digital wallet? Continued
As with other cryptocurrencies, people will be able to buy and sell libras on exchanges for traditional currencies.
Facebook said that its alternative currency paves the way for smoother transactions and payments online.
The project however faced regulatory resistance over concerns about security and reliability.
In December 2020, Libra changed its name to Diem and moved its operations from Switzerland to the US as part of a “strategic shift.”
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What is a digital wallet?
A digital wallet is a gadget or piece of software that securely stores users’ payment information and passwords for numerous payment methods.
It allows users to store cryptocurrencies, make online or in-store purchases, and track their finances.
In 2019 Facebook said it plans to introduce a cryptocurrency that at the time was called Libra.
The tech titan said it wanted to create a separate, private currency system to allow users to make cross-border payments more easily.
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Major meme coins, part two
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 recently. It 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 in the past 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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More than 50 countries place bans
51 countries have placed bans on cryptocurrencies, according to a report from the Global Legal Research Directorate of the Law Library of Congress.
To date, nine countries have a total ban, and 42 have an implicit ban. The implicit ban forbids financial institutions from using crypto.
The number of countries with bans has more than doubled since research first came out in 2018, according to Markets Insider.
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What is fiat?
If you’ve ever seen the word fiat used in the cryptocurrency world, know that it was not in relation to the car brand.
Fiat is a term used to refer to government-issued currency.
Cryptocurrency, or virtual money like Bitcoin, is not backed by governments or standards typically associated with fiat, which is why investors warn of crypto’s volatility.
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How to check for blockchain scams
Cryptocurrencies operate on blockchain networks.
Scammers often claim their blockchain is “in development” or “about to be released,” but all legitimate cryptos will have an accompanying website to verify the currency.
Users can type the name of the crypto into any search engine with the phrase “blockchain explorer” or “blockchain scan” to find the connected blockchain, if it even exists.
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What is a blockchain?
A blockchain is where encrypted data can be transferred securely, making it nearly impossible to duplicate or counterfeit.
This ledger is the foundation of any cryptocurrency transaction.
The cryptocurrency allows people to trade currency or assets digitally outside of any government or bank.
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Risks of investing in cryptos, part four
Another risk of investing are the charges and fees.
Consumers should consider the impact of fees and charges on their investment which may be more than those for regulated investment products.
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Risks of investing in cryptos, part three
A third risk of investing in cryptocurrencies is product complexity.
The complexity of some products and services relating to cryptoassets can make it hard for consumers to understand the risks.
There is no guarantee that cryptoassets can be converted back into cash.
Converting a cryptoasset back to cash depends on demand and supply existing in the market.
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Risks of investing in cryptos, part two
Another risk of investing is price volatility.
Significant price volatility in cryptoassets, combined with the inherent difficulties of valuing cryptoassets reliably, places consumers at a high risk of losses.
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Risks of investing in cryptocurrencies
Investing in cryptocurrencies means taking on a number of different risks.
The first is Consumer protection.
Some investments advertising high returns based on cryptoassets may not be subject to regulation beyond anti-money laundering requirements.
