CRYPTO WEEKLY 29/11/21

CRYPTO BItcoin increases privacy

WEEKLY $2 cryptoweeklymag.com

Welcome explore the crypto island

Does the Metaverse Exist?

VIDEO OF THE WEEK safest way to trade

metaverse splinters society Teaching crypto in school dance with disco Burn

The Hottest New Metaverse!

$2.00US $2.00CAN

EDITOR’S LETTER

1

Crypto Weekly

Welcome to Crypto Weekly Another week has gone by and this is our third issue of Crypto Weekly. I am Rob the Editor and along with the guys at CMC hope to bring you another weekly read about significant happenings in the cryptosphere.

For me, the life I lead as an editor of a magazine oozes tranquility. Moments forged for personal consumption. I have become good at it. An empty home welcoming me with all the smatterings of comfort a person needs, yet simple and me. My time and my place to be formed however I arrange.

Sometimes in life, all I have had is the bag I carry with the simple things a person needs to care for oneself and be comfortable and dry. I did well for a season with only a tent and a tree in Alaska with my bedroll and U.S Army 4 season bag with a light tent. Along with some cooking gear and fishing equipment, it was easy to live off the bounty of nature. Still, even though so sparsely befitted of such comforts, I had a portable satellite antenna with my laptop and internet connection to the sky.

Add a solar charger, and I am set for life alone in the wilds, where I may retreat when desired.

As it has been another smashing week with crypto and a lot of stuff has happened in the last week because the music never stops in the crypto sphere and the time keeps rolling on.

The sky rains money for me if I just poke it here and there so I sometimes wonder what the future may bring. I do not need to recess into the wilderness for such simplicity but a cozy room someplace with a table and a fire with a window to let in the light and view will be bounty enough for this simple man who yearns for quiet and peaceful solitude. As it has been another smashing week with crypto and a lot of stuff has happened in the last week because the music never stops in the crypto sphere and the time keeps rolling on. I hope you all enjoy what we have brought together for you this week. Please let us know your thoughts, and if you would like to see something featured please do get in touch. editor@cryptoweeklymag.com

editor@cryptoweeklymag.com

cryptoweeklymag.com

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

Robert Stone Editor

2

NEWS Crypto Weekly

Muslims Cannot Trade Crypto Rules Indonesian Council

C

ryptocurrency has been banned

by Indonesia's National Ulema Council, which claims it violates Shariah principles. Under Islamic law, cryptocurrencies are not permitted by the nation's semi-official body of Islamic scholars. Funded by the Indonesian state, the group is not considered a government agency. Asrorun Niam Sholeh, head of the religious decrees, said cryptocurrency is haram under Islamic law since it involves uncertainty, wagering, and harm.

The Islamic scholar added that if a specific cryptocurrency can demonstrate a clear benefit as a commodity or digital asset, it will be subject to Shariah law. The council held an expert hearing before passing the decree.

In January 2018, Indonesia's central bank declared cryptocurrency to be an illegitimate payment instrument but did not outright ban trading.

Cryptocurrencies were declared an illegitimate payment instrument by Indonesia's central bank in January 2018, but trading was not outright banned. Its mandate is to determine compliance with Shariah law in Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population - an estimated 231 million out of the country's total of 270 million people.

Various provinces in Indonesia follow Shariah to different degrees.

For example, only Aceh province applies Shariah law to criminal law criminalizing premarital sex, breaking Islamic dress rules, and other strict interpretations, punishable by public caning. The decree is likely to discourage Muslims from joining the burgeoning cryptocurrency scene, whether or not punishments will be meted out for trading cryptocurrencies. During Friday prayers at the Istiqlal grand mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia, Muslims pray space apart to maintain physical distancing.

The decree could also keep Indonesiabased banks from offering crypto services. Bank Indonesia, for example, has been considering rolling out a central bank digital currency, a kind of crypto that would be tied to the country's traditional currency, the Indonesian rupiah.

According to Bloomberg, Indonesia's National Ulema Council has grown increasingly influential over the past couple of decades, with the country's finance ministry and central bank consulting the group when it comes to Islamic finance issues.

According to the East Asia Forum, the council's authority to regulate banking in the country was strengthened in 2008 with the passage of the Sharia Banking Law, which requires all Indonesian financial institutions to establish a financial division operating under Shariah law. 

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

NEWS

3

Crypto Weekly

Chicago Trading Firm Partners with Crypto Exchanges to Expose Manipulation

C

hicago-based Trading Technologies has announced a partnership with a group of cryptocurrency exchanges to prevent manipulation on their platforms.

Market fraud is being taken more seriously by a number of crypto exchanges. In the past, TT has partnered with Coinbase to provide professional clients with the ability to trade bitcoin futures and the underlying asset simultaneously on its trading platform. Now, Coinfloor, a UKbased crypto exchange operator, will use Score's technology to monitor its markets for manipulation and other unusual activities. According to TT, traders on its platform will be able to access the Coinfloor EX marketplace.

As well as squelching activities like spoofing, the machine learning technology built into TT's platform will

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

be able over time to tackle practices such as quote stuffing, which is a way of overwhelming a venue with orders to give the impression of a larger market.

Users of Score outside of crypto include prop traders, brokers, hedge funds, and other financial-services firms.

Crypto exchanges are becoming more aware of market manipulation as a result of the news. A Coinbase platform is being developed to improve its market monitoring, Business Insider reported previously.

Gemini currently uses Nasdaq's Smarts technology, a surveillance system used across Wall Street, to identify unusual and potentially criminal trading behavior on its platform. Much attention has been focused on crypto

market manipulation, and Bloomberg News found that more than 50,000 trades on Kraken's market raised red flags, and large tether trades failed to affect prices. In a blog post, Kraken mocked the claims in the report. A paper from the University of Texas alleges that Tether was used last year to manipulate bitcoin's price, causing it to spike to $20,000 in December.

Rick Lane, chief executive officer of Trading Technologies, said the partnership would help better attract professional traders. Lane said that the use of TT Score by Coinfloor to ensure market integrity in conjunction with CoinfloorEX's connection to the institutional market will drive increased participation by institutional and professional traders. 

4

FEATURE Crypto Weekly

WHY DOES THE

METAVERSE EXIST, AND WHO CONTROLS IT? A

virtual universe linked to reality, but beyond it. A place where you can communicate, do business, and play. It may seem like science fiction, but it is the plans of large technology companies related to social networks, video games, and virtual reality. To put it another way, Metaverses are realms where humans interact socially and economically as avatars in cyberspace, acting as a metaphor for the real world without physical or economic limitations.

The concept was coined in 1992 by the American writer Neal Stephenson in the novel Snow Crash (1992), where he describes a collective virtual space compatible and convergent with "real reality."

In the Metaverse reviewed, Stephenson unfolds as an urban environment, developed along a single one hundred meter wide road that runs around the entire circumference of a planet. Users access personal or public terminals through glasses, and users appear as avatars who travel the planet on foot or in a vehicle.

What is Driving the Metaverse?

Mark Zuckerberg confirmed in mid2021 that Facebook was working on a metaverse, but a series of initiatives developed over the past two decades has given this technology its impetus.

For linking both worlds, virtual reality glasses and cases have been crucial. A

few of the most notable technologies in this area are those promoted by Oculus (now owned by Facebook), Microsoft and its HoloLens glasses; HTC Vive systems; and PlayStation VR headsets.

The first such software initiative appeared in the first half of the 1990s. As part of its Illuminati Online newsletter, Steve Jackson Games introduced in 1993 a text-based online virtual reality system called MOO that enabled several users to communicate simultaneously.

There were no virtual reality glasses or internet access in those days, and few people had access to the internet.

As other projects came along, it wasn't until the mid-2010s that they took on a form closer to Stephenson's vision.

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

FEATURE

5

Crypto Weekly

Currently Underway 1

Microsoft In addition to its HoloLens 2 lenses -although it's compatible with other devices-, Microsoft Mesh, a mixed reality software that lets you connect virtually, was released in 2021.

Microsoft described this app as "the presence and shared experiences from anywhere, on any device". Microsoft purchased AltspaceVR, a social virtual reality platform, in 2017.

2

Epic Games: Some of the most popular video games of recent years allow you to create virtual worlds, such as Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox. Epic Games introduced a phenomenon called "Zero Point" in season 5 of Fortnite, which merged characters and stories from movies, shows, and games. In 2021, he announced that he will raise funds to develop the title's metaverse narrative.

3

Facebook: Zuckerberg's company acquired the virtual reality glasses company Oculus in 2014.

The company has since launched multiple initiatives aimed at creating a virtual world. The most advanced project is Facebook Horizon, an online video game that allows users to create their own avatars and interact with objects using virtual reality glasses.

4

Sansar: A virtual reality platform developed by Linden Lab, the same company that developed Second Life. Users can share how to play, watch videos, and have conversations in virtual reality using its 3D spaces. Thanks to virtual reality headsets, each participant is represented by an avatar that recognizes gestures and movements.

5

Decentraland: It is a decentralized 3D virtual world, which is owned by the users, who are also responsible for its operation. The beginnings date back to 2015 when Argentines Ari Meilich and Esteban Ordano created a grid that assigned pixels to users through an algorithm. Today, his land is selling for more than $ 100,000.

6

Rival Peak: In a virtual environment, a reality show featuring artificial intelligence contestants takes place online. Viewers could take part in a contestant's progress by watching or interacting through Facebook Watch.

7

Sensorium Galaxy: A virtual reality concert platform for electronic music artists that is in closed beta. Virtual reality glasses and headsets are compatible with it.

8

South Korea: The South Korean government will create a national metaverse alliance to build a unified national platform for virtual reality and augmented reality.

What to do in a Metaverse The Metaverse will likely become a natural successor to the internet and a gateway to most digital experiences.

There may be separately unique Metaverses as well. A Metaverse could offer virtually entering a concert in 3D after initially viewing it on a 2D screen.

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

For example, in 2019, rapper Travis Scott starred in a show in Fortnite, gathering about 100,000 total users.

The Metaverse can also be a workspace, and Facebook is promoting the Infinite Office, which allows users to create their ideal workplace through virtual reality.

Another possibility is that a user who obtains a reward in a video game can

then display it outside the title, but in other instances of the same Metaverse, to show it to virtual friends.Metaverses will take a long time to arrive. There are also questions and debates about how a business model of this nature could be carried out through subscription, virtual purchases or advertising, and privacy and user data use. 

NEWS

7

Crypto Weekly

World Warned that the IRS Wants its Crypto Taxes

T

he Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the nation's central tax agency, says it expects to seize cryptocurrency worth billions of dollars again next year. Jim Lee, the IRS's Criminal Investigations chief, says: As we move into the fiscal year 2022, I expect a continuing trend of crypto seizures. As we move forward, we see

crypto used in more and more crimes."

Earlier this year, an IRS annual report revealed that the IRS had seized a whopping USD 3.5bn worth of tokens in FY2021, which accounted for 93% of all assets recovered by the agency.

According to the IRS, it has been training tax officials with blockchain and crypto-related analytical skills.Tax investigators have successfully closed

the net on USD 1bn stolen from the nowdefunct Silk Road exchange. A former Microsoft developer embezzled USD 10m and attempted to cover his tracks by converting the fiat into crypto.

A controversial infrastructure act recently enshrined in law included clauses that allow the IRS to step up its monitoring efforts. The crypto community was upset this month by politicians' inclusion of a clause in the bill that would force businesses and individuals that receive tokens worth over USD 10,000 to file 8300 forms with the IRS, reporting their full names, addresses, and social security numbers.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) and crypto users will have to disclose much of their activities to the IRS if they want to avoid penalties. According to the IRS, internet-related crimes have increased exponentially in the past year, affecting the American tax system and financial sector. 

South Korea's Ruling Party Reverses Crypto Policy The country's ruling Democratic Party leader has promised to make a dramatic U-turn on crypto policy, stating that "the time has come" for the government to stop regulating crypto and start "fostering" it.

As previously reported, the party hopes to cling to power in next year's general elections and is painfully aware of the unpopularity of the Moon Jae-in regime's hardline stance on regulation.

The candidate for the party's presidency, which will be contested on March 8, has already hinted that he may give all South Korean citizens tokens.

According to Yonhap, Democratic Party of Korea chairman Song Young-Gil said a blockchain department should be established in Busan, Korea's second

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

advances rather than working with already-popular, decentralized protocols like Ethereum.

city and only blockchain-free zone. The move, he said, will help the country become more competitive in the "digital currency" market.

Songs stated that "crypto-assets" and "blockchain technology" are "two sides of the same coin." Moon's ministers and chief regulators had previously advocated pursuing private blockchain

Song was almost hostile to Moon's ministers' policies and how they dealt with Busan's regulatory-free status during an event in Busan. He admitted that the government has shaped its view of virtual asset exchanges negatively and suppressed virtual assets while nurturing blockchain technology in Busan. Busan hoped to reverse the blanket ban on initial coin offerings, but the central government limited private blockchain solutions.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Korea (BOK) is set to unveil its digital won plans in full next year after completing a six-month-long pilot. 

8

FEATURE Crypto Weekly

A Conceptual Introduction to Cryptocurrency and the Metaverse choose the price at which they would like to trade crypto assets.

Other experts explain that the metaverse is more than AR/VR and cartoon avatars. According to Chris Fortier, Vice President of Product at Rally, a blockchain ecosystem that helps creators mint their own social tokens, a metaverse can be any form of online engagement, including a Zoom call or commenting on your favorite creators' social posts.

A

s a result of Facebook's Meta name change last month, the metaverse is rapidly growing in cultural awareness and financial terms. This concept is slowly becoming more mainstream as several big-name companies embrace it, and some analysts refer to it as "the next big investment theme."

Igor Tasic, the founder of Meta Ventures, says the metaverse goes beyond VR/ AR and technology itself. It creates an international plaza where people can become part of an authentic hybrid experience that integrates their physical and digital existences.

In the metaverse, even the way we refer to "it" is changing, Tasic told GOBankingRates. In the past, the Internet has been called the "web," "Infoway," and now "the cloud." When it comes to interactive experiences, it seems like the logical next step," he said. .

According to Bitcoin.com, Morgan Stanley recently said that the metaverse - a concept that allows individuals to model their image to whatever they want and perform real-life tasks like buying things and gaming with friends - "can fundamentally change the way we

socialize with others." How does crypto relate to the metaverse, and how does it play a role in it? GOBankingRates spoke with Sina Kian, VP of Strategy at Aleo, a blockchain platform for private applications. She said crypto is essential to the metaverse because it allows ownership of digital assets, and ownership will create incentives to invest. The most exciting aspect of crypto is that it offers an alternative to that world, in which ownership is more decentralized," Kian said.

Co-founder and CEO of XBTO Group Phillippe Bekhazi believe cryptocurrency will play a significant role in the metaverse. Bekhazi argued that new technologies, such as NFTs and social tokens, could be used for everything from gaming and earning money to offering incentives for influencers and their fans to hold virtual concerts.

According to the author, major cryptocurrencies can be used as a payment system in a metaverselike digital universe. In some future metaverse, even crypto traders might trade Bitcoin and other crypto-assets using a VR/AR-integrated system. Their digital avatars would allow them to

Crypto has a vital role to play in any metaverse, Fortier told GOBankingRates.

"Crypto enables people to own 'tokens,' but tokens are much more than money."

The rally, for instance, could allow creators and communities to tokenize their time and reward participation (both on the current web and web3.0.

That might include amplifying a tweet, fulfilling a T-shirt order, or introducing a member to crypto. 

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

10

FEATURE Crypto Weekly

A Facebook Metaverse Could Splinter Humanity with the Power of Strange New NFT Worlds D

uring a recent conference, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled his vision for the Metaverse. The vision would allow people to create their own virtual echo chambers and tailored realities, effectively denying people access to things they disagree with and further polarizing society and this is all done with Non-Fungible Fungible tokens (NFT's) that are owned by someone. Third-parties and advertisers could place-unique ads and overlays in someone's virtual world. It could result in a fractured reality where we all exist in different worlds with all the aspects of those worlds owned by third parties, whether government or private.

Two people can be walking down the same street in the future and see very different things due to the augmented reality glasses they're wearing. A conservative may "reality block" out aspects they've been conditioned to oppose, like a fertility clinic. Neither person would notice a gun store if it was right in front of them. Due to the data that Facebook, now Meta, has collected on its users, others could have paid for third-party apps that instantly let

them know identifying characteristics about people they see on the street. For example, a big block of virtual letters spelling out "Republican" hangs over the

The Metaverse is one big vat of private ownership through NFT's and little regulation or safeguards. As Facebook and other social apps have done before, social media could also create enormous difficulties for society and our ability to agree on what is real.

Like

Comment

Share

head of one passerby. This is all public data that companies and governments have their hands on and they own the data they push on us. This is the power of NFT's at work. As everyone seems to think, they are not solely original works of art but essentially data "real estate".

The so-called real estate can be anything and not exclusively art! Thus, different people perceive the same street, even though they are in diverging realities within this artificial overlay of the real world.

The Metaverse could break up the world as we know it, creating a personalized world for each person made up of data pulled in from private and government parties and potentially worsening political polarization and holding enormous persuasion power. We will be segmented into our own custom realities and driven by the ideas and motives of others instead of being in our own information bubbles.

Augmented reality technology offered through this grand metaverse concept, promoted recently by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, has the potential

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

FEATURE

11

Crypto Weekly

and division. Imagine if a company like that controlled your entire field of view, like Facebook, for example? And even scarier, what about governments?

to transform our lives. The Metaverse is one big vat of private ownership through NFT's and little regulation or safeguards. As Facebook and other social apps have done before, social media could also create enormous difficulties for society and our ability to agree on what is real. It may be true that the risks associated with the Metaverse outweigh the benefits, but this new approach to the Internet is inevitable. The train is already in motion, and it will not stop.

Through targeted news feeds and targeted advertising, we already allow third parties to mediate our lives due to the massive amount of information that companies have gathered about us on social media.

Perhaps a human simulation engages you in conversation in line for coffee and you believe them to be real. Yet, they covertly discuss whatever an advertiser paid them to promote, whether it is potato chips While most people believe that they are seeing the same thing as everyone else, that may not be the case, since algorithms can target content to your echo chamber. That will be amplified in a virtual world, where third parties can dictate what you see at work, at home, and on the street. It'll be more challenging to identify misinformation

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

or political messages. Regulation is essential for a healthy Metaverse. In a borderless virtual world where private enterprise and governments own all the pieces and control the direction, we take, what entity would be responsible for governing and enforcing these rules?

We are in the process of finding that out.

Third-parties and advertisers could place-unique ads and overlays in someone's virtual world. It could result in a fractured reality where we all exist in different worlds with all the aspects of those worlds owned by third parties, whether government or private

Like

Comment

Share

There is only bending with the onslaught.

It will hit us like a shock wave and we will be consumed, so bend, please. Don't break. It's what is coming. It's already here. We are caught up in the tsunami as we are speaking and I just wash by from the current of its devastation flow shouting to those who may hear of its presence, to bend or we shall all be broken.

Seems all we can do is remain aware of what is happening and prepare ourselves. We are surrounded by immense forces of conditioning and expectations and the dark forces push, push, push and never stop pushing. The future is inevitable and some may see but too few to make a difference it seems.

I shout from my solidly constructed pedestals to a throng of knowing and hearing ears as we gather in recognition of a tsunami that is upon us and when you think about it the roots nourishing the future have been wreaking havoc for generations now. I have shouted of it, and whined about it and cried about it. All the while the monstrous shadow of the next big wave towers over our heads. 

12

FEATURE Crypto Weekly

Income Island Will

Blow You Away Welcome to the Metaverse!

This is a first for me. As Editor of this magazine, I have never really come out and endorsed a new project and it's not because I have not liked anything about what I write about here, but it's because this one is different than all the others I have reviewed thus far and it grabbed me.

Right off I want to give you the link for their website so you woǹ t miss it before I go in about how unique Income Island is.

incomeisland

I

incomeisland

incomeisland

ncome Island is truly a one-of-a-kind concept. It’s what people actually think of in their heads when they start trying to put together exactly what the "Metaverse" experience will feel like or look like. Does the Science Fiction epic "Westworld" Ring a bell?

OK this isn't Westworld yet, but you're starting to get the picture of where this technology is going.

having some fun at the same time. To add a bit more flavor you may buy and own, your own personal mining plot if you like, and even more than one to generate an income for yourself.

You may rent out your plots to other players and earn NFT's offering extra Island tokens every time someone sells, meaning you can earn an income while you sleep.

The Income Island token was developed to make anyone generous, stable profits daily and even long-term.

The integrated gaming system uses blockchain technology that will allow anyone to earn a passive income while

As Warren Buffet famously said "If you don't find a way to earn money while you sleep, you will work until you die!

Through the ongoing development, Income Island will strive to make sure that the ecosystem is a safe and friendly

environment to earn a passive income for the long term. Income Token is not just all about the great rewards, it also has a great, doxxed, and highly dedicated team that is supported by a steadfast and strong community.

The fundamentals for the ecosystem were created through Income Island's global team and consists of both volunteers and working professionals from all over the world with skillsets ranging from web development, marketing, Dapp creation, and many other entrepreneurs willing to deliver a stellar financial product to the Income Island community.

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

14

FEATURE Crypto Weekly

AVALANCHE the 10th Most Valuable Crypto with Tech that Challenges Ethereum's dominance www.cryptoweeklymag.com

FEATURE

15

Crypto Weekly

Among the top ten most valuable cryptocurrency coins with a market capitalization of $31.5 billion, Avalanche - which trades as $AVAX - reached an all-time high of $144.96 on Sunday. In the last month, the value of the cryptocurrency token has doubled and it has grown over 3,000% from one year ago.

Avalanche's price fell about 7% on Monday, but it remains the 10th most valuable crypto token just ahead of Dogecoin with a market cap of $29.8 billion, according to CoinGecko.

Deloitte's deal with Avalanche likely contributed to new interest in the coin and its underlying technology.

Ava Labs, the company that created Avalanche and launched the coin in September 2020, announced last week that Deloitte will use its blockchain to support its work with the U.S Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Last week, Deloitte and Avalanche announced that they would deploy a new platform to streamline FEMA's processes for aggregating and validating federal disaster claims.

As a result of Close As You Go's userfriendly interface, state and local governments can concentrate on recovery instead of lengthy claims processes, said John Wu, president of Ava Labs in a statement last week.

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

In contrast to competitors like Ethereum, Avalanche's coin is backed by a blockchain platform that offers faster speeds, lower fees, and less environmental waste. In September, Avalanche raised over $230 million from Polychain Ventures and Three Arrows Capital as part of its funding round. It launched a $220 million fund called Blizzard to support projects on the Avalanche platform.

In its own words, Avalanche describes itself as the "fastest smart contracts platform on the blockchain." Smart contracts, which operate using blockchain technology, allow buyers and sellers to input terms of agreements into self-executing contracts automatically.

Ethereum was the first smart contract platform. With a valuation of nearly $500 billion, its coin is currently the secondmost valuable token in the world behind Bitcoin. Avalanche's recent rise has some investors worried that Ethereum's dominance is under threat from more formidable competitors.

Three Arrows Capital CEO Zhu Su tweeted on Sunday that he had "abandoned" Ethereum after supporting the token for years.

The AVAX investor said Ethereum platform users have complained about high gas fees, which refer to the cost of transactions, and may seek out other platforms like Avalanche or Solana if Ethereum does not adapt quickly enough. Since Avalanche processes transactions at a faster pace than Ethereum, it claims to have less gas fees than its competitor.

The company claims its blockchain can process 4,500 transactions per second, compared to 15 on Ethereum.

Many users pointed out that Ethereum 2.0 is expected to be fully released by next year, which will enhance the user experience and make it difficult for smaller competitors to compete.

However, Ethereum may not be buried in an Avalanche yet. 

16

FEATURE Crypto Weekly

Bitcoin Upgrade Improves Privacy and Scale I

t might be possible for previously impossible projects to be realized if Schnorr/Taproot makes it into bitcoin (BTC). Bitcoin will benefit from this.

The Schnorr/Taproot project has made significant progress in the past few months, moving from a theoretical idea of privacy and scaling to actual code. Although the community is very excited about its future, the changes are confusing. What's going on? It combines several different technologies developed over the years, and each one is technically and conceptually unique.

In 2013, developers first discussed the concept of Merklized Abstract Syntax Trees (MASTs), a technology used in smart contracts. Pieter Wuille proposed Schnorr signatures in 2015, and Greg Maxwell proposed Taproot in 2018 to enforce privacy on top of both.

Privacy and scalability are lacking in Bitcoin. Even though these changes

are needed, they are complex and, as such, are rare in bitcoin. Choosing what should be upgraded is a thorny issue.

The biggest challenge in the process was coming up with the exact features to deploy simultaneously, Blockstream researcher Tim Ruffing told CoinDesk.

Here's a breakdown of what changes made the cut and what didn't.

Approximately how big is this update?

First of all, this update is beneficial, but it isn't a magic pill that instantly transforms bitcoin into a super-scalable, private currency, as experts recently discussed on Twitter. The improvements are the right thing to do, but they won't make bitcoin a private currency overnight, Ruffing said.

Improvements will be evident. Firstly, more complex transactions will be easier to use. One person "signs" a transaction,

proving that they own a bitcoin and can send it. A multi-signature transaction, on the other hand, requires more than one person to sign it. This update will make multi-signature transactions more convenient.

According to Blockstream researcher Jonas Nick, it is likely that more wallets will support multi-sig because it is cheaper and more private. Multisignature has many uses. First, a multisignature lightning network could potentially speed up and scale bitcoin payments. By making transactions smaller and cheaper to process, lightning could significantly impact bitcoin if it proves to be the future of bitcoin.

Multi-signature transactions using the new technology will also appear the same as regular transactions. Although the bitcoin blockchain is public and anyone can quickly lookup a particular transaction, viewers will not know

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

FEATURE

17

Crypto Weekly

that these transactions are lightning channels if they use this technology.

Nick said Lightning channel openings and cooperatives are indistinguishable from regular payments on the blockchain. So, opening a lightning channel is the same as making a regular payment. In addition, the change would allow other improvements that weren't possible before. A potential next step is an addition of "cross-input aggregation," another method of scaling bitcoin by as much as 25 to 30 percent.

Signatures that are more efficient with Schnorr

A potential next step is an addition of "cross-input aggregation," another method of scaling bitcoin by as much as 25 to 30 percent.

It is essential to understand how bitcoin works to understand these upgrades.

Someone can only "sign" a transaction with the right "private key" (such as an access code). As a result of this process, a "signature" is attached to the transaction. Anyone in the world can verify this signature was created with the right key.

different signature for each party to such a transaction. However, this may not be necessary. Using Schnorr signatures, it is possible to compress all of this data into a single signature.

A more complicated version of this is multi-signature transactions, where more than one person must sign a transaction. ECDSA (Bitcoin's current signature algorithm) produces a

The biggest challenge in the process was coming up with the exact features to deploy simultaneously. It is estimated that the reduction in the size of this unique type of bitcoin transaction will

be between 30 and 75 percent, according to Bitcoin Optech. This organization helps bitcoin businesses adopt scaling technologies like Schnorr/Taproot.

Scaling technologies are essential because downloading the full bitcoin blockchain is the most secure and trustminimizing approach to using bitcoin.

However, it requires more than 300 gigabytes of storage. Schnorr signatures are also capable of batch validation, allowing multiple signatures to be verified concurrently, saving time.

Just as important is what is left out of this upgrade regarding Schnorr.

Several developers have proposed using "cross-input signature aggregation" to build Schnorr signatures into bitcoin transactions. Each transaction usually requires more than one signature, one for each "input," which is roughly equivalent to one bill passed to the cashier out of a handful.

What if we could combine all these signatures into one? Schnorr signatures theoretically allow that. But this feature will have to wait until another time, as developers are still working through some security issues with adding this

It is likely that more wallets will support multi-sig because it is cheaper and more private.

Multi-signature has many uses.

First, a multi-signature lightning network could potentially speed up and scale bitcoin payments. By making transactions smaller and cheaper to process, lightning could significantly impact bitcoin if it proves to be the future of bitcoin.

Jonas Nick Blockstream researcher

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

18

FEATURE Crypto Weekly

There's Tapescript, which could make it easier to make further improvements to the scripts we've talked about in the future. The BIP-tapescript changes are intended to make updating the script system easier in the future Jonas Nick Blockstream researcher

to bitcoin. This kind of functionality will be a step closer with Schnorr added as a signature option in bitcoin. "We could do this in a future upgrade," Ruffing said.

Better smart contracts with MASTs Merkelized Abstract Syntax Trees (MASTs) aren't included in the upcoming bitcoin upgrade, but it's a fantastic technology developers have been discussing for a long time. MASTs enhance smart contracts in bitcoin by making it easier for users to set more complicated conditions for a transaction.

Consider the multi-signature option we discussed earlier, where two people must sign a transaction instead of just one. Consider a scenario where you want to say a bitcoin can't be retrieved before a specific date. Users may wish to combine these conditions at once, and a MAST helps fulfill this need.

When a script is redeemed, its entire contents are thrown into a transaction, taking up a lot of space and showing the

world what conditions were used to lock up the bitcoin. MASTs organize these conditions into a tree-like structure.

For every branch of the tree, a user needs to meet a different requirement to spend bitcoin. Instead of all the script conditions, only a hash of the tip of the tree is included in the bitcoin blockchain.

Enhance your privacy with Taproot

aggregation Schnorr provides. But it does not work for every MAST contract, only for cooperative spends, where one branch of the Merkle tree is a multi-signature transaction. This privacy benefit disappears if any of the other branches are used. That said, developers expect the cooperative spending use case will be the most common use. There's Tapescript, which could make it easier to make further improvements to the scripts we've talked about in the future. The BIP-tapescript changes are intended to make updating the script system easier in the future, Nick said.

Using MASTs and Schnorr, Taproot creates smart contracts with better privacy. At the moment, transactions with complex scripts using MAST would really stand out on the blockchain. Despite MAST's more privacy-preserving nature, the format is a bit different for these transactions, so it's easy to tell whether someone is using a script. Taproot would make these transactions look like everyday transactions by using the signature

Developers are currently testing this bundle of new technologies. The project is making the best progress before a soft fork is made to add it to Bitcoin. "We have suggested a few minor changes to the Schnorr signing algorithm to make it more resistant to implementation errors and physical attacks," Nick explained.

As bitcoin's technology grows and expands, changes like these will make the platform more useful to developers and financial professionals alike. 

A script will only reach the blockchain if it is used; thus, it is more private.

With these more complicated rulesets, MASTs make it much easier and cheaper to lock up bitcoins.

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

20

FEATURE Crypto Weekly

Millennial Investors Believe Crypto Will Make them Millionaires A

ccording to a recent study by Engine Insights, most Gen Z investors believe crypto will make them millionaires. They feel everything financial is more challenging for them than previous generations, and they are more comfortable with all things digital.

As cryptocurrency explodes, it seems as though more and more people are becoming millionaires, especially those who venture into the risky world of altcoins. According to a recent study conducted by data analytics firm Engine Insights, investors are moving into this market with hopes of quick riches, especially Gen Z investors who believe crypto will make them millionaires.

The survey found that 59% of Gen Z respondents believe they can become wealthy by investing in cryptocurrencies.

Because this generation is more comfortable with all things digital, it isn't surprising that they would be more comfortable with crypto. There is a lot of concern about debt and finances among this generation.

Sheehan told Insider that a confluence of factors, from rising real estate prices to college tuition, has contributed to the problem. As fiat money weakens in the face of inflation reaching 30-year highs, crypto has gained in appeal. They feel everything financial is harder than it was for previous generations," Sheehan said.

Combining that attitude with a greater appetite for risk makes it not surprising that they want a quick fix or return.

In terms of race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, Gen Z, a group of about 72 million people born between 1997 and 2012, represents the most diverse generation in American history.

This generation is progressive, progovernment, and activist. On top of all that, they have grown up in culturally significant times such as #MeToo and post-George Floyd and have suffered a global pandemic.

It also found that Gen Z respondents were twice as likely to consider virtual currency to be a "legitimate currency" if offered $2,000 to invest. The results

were based on responses from 1,027 people in November.

Cryptocurrency prices have fluctuated wildly this year but have trended upward. Recently, the cryptocurrency market cap reached $3 trillion.

Since the start of the year, bitcoin has gained 100%, while ether is up 480%.

Dogecoin is up 4,835% year-to-date and Shiba Inu is up 63,490,000%. Government stimulus checks helped fuel the surge in both stocks and cryptocurrency seen during the pandemic, as retail investors poured money into both. 

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

21

of the

week

The Safest Way to Make Money Trading Crypto - by James Sides

James Sides is an experienced and well-respected trader who has been a friend of Crypto Weeklỳ s Editor for many years. He has a free-to-enter Facebook group if you would like to learn more from him called Crypto Common Sense. I highly recommend it. If you are interested in trading, anything that comes from James Sides is well thought out and will contain the nuances and richness that flow from a brilliant mind

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

22

NEWS Crypto Weekly

The CEO of MoonPay Says Simplifying Crypto Makes it More Accessible

I

n his ongoing partnership with Canadian rapper The Weeknd, hiphop artist Post Malone can be seen purchasing NFTs from Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) via the fintech company MoonPay. Malone bought two Bored Apes for a combined 160 Ether (ETH) ($682,000) in a TikTok video that has garnered more than five million views.

Coin Rivet spoke with Ivan Soto-Wright, the CEO of MoonPay, a fintech start-up focused on cryptocurrency payments.

MoonPay's main advantage over other platforms is that it's "helping the crypto economy rapidly develop". Our payment infrastructure allows organizations to compress months or years of regulatory and operational preparation to just a

crypto - but what sets MoonPay apart is how it enables emerging wallets, exchanges, decentralized platforms, and new payment methods to start giving value immediately, rather than worrying about infrastructure."

few days," he said. The technology is excellent on its own - users can go directly to our webpage to buy and sell

MoonPay's customers include crypto newbies as well as crypto neophytes, according to Soto-Wright. A MoonPay CEO also mentioned that NFTs are the future of crypto. "We're simplifying crypto so that everyone can be involved."

"They can disrupt everything from the wine industry to real estate," he said.

Currently, the focus is on digital art, and leveraging the excitement around it to attract people into the crypto economy." 

$13 million Bitcoin laundered by California Man Sentenced to Three Years Prison

H

ugo Mejia, 50, was jailed for three years after setting up an unlicensed cryptocurrency exchange business.

According to the US Attorney's Office, the firm exchanged at least $13 million

in bitcoins and cash, often for drug traffickers.From May 2018 to September 2020, a number of crimes occurred.

Thursday, Mejia was sentenced to three years in prison for operating an unlicensed money transmission business and money laundering.

It appears that Mejia set up several fake companies, including "The HODL Group LLC," and did not register them with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

Leaked documents put the bureau's work in the spotlight last year.

A joint investigation was conducted by the FBI, IRS, and Department of Homeland Security in Mejia's case.

Attorney's Office stated in a press release that one of its clients worked with law enforcement and met Mejia multiple times between May 2019 and March 2020 to exchange bitcoin for cash. He met Mejia in a coffee shop on March 12, 2020, and exchanged $82,150 in cash for bitcoin.

During this exchange, the client made it clear that he worked with an Australian drug dealer. Mejia and the client who worked for law enforcement exchanged bitcoin and cash worth over $250,000.

In exchange for his plea, Mejia forfeited $233,987 in cash, silver coins, and bars, along with nearly $100,000 in various cryptocurrencies. 

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

NEWS

23

Crypto Weekly

PurrNFT Announces First Blockchain-Based Platform for Adult Content marketplaces operate. The blockchainbased decentralized NFT marketplace will be fully decentralized, which will attract firms, institutional investors, and local banks, unlike most existing adult NFT marketplaces.

The adult industry will experience anti-censorship, immutability, permanence, security, anti-hacking, and decentralization using our blockchain technology. We will create an independent world where content creators own, release, and earn independently from their content.

PurrNFT Upcoming Presale

A

ccording to a recent report, PurrNFT, a non-fungible token [NFT] marketplace, intends to launch the first blockchain-based decentralized adult content platform. PurrNFT seeks to be a leading player in the billion-dollar emerging 18+ market.

In the first quarter of 2021, the NFT market achieved $2 billion in sales due to the wide range of applications eliminating the pre-existing entry barrier. Due to the increasing number of adult websites, adult content has become more accessible than ever.

Non-fungible tokens could present a distinct advantage for the adult content industry by simply treating this content as valuable, worthwhile, and profitable.

PurrNFT leverages the existing NFT model to enable the transfer of digital content ownership to a unique identifier once it is uploaded. Thus, content creators will be able to hold onto the

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

revenue generated by their work while preventing others from stealing or sharing it.

Blockchain's potential to disrupt adult content With PurrNFT, content creators or producers can monetize their content without the need for intermediaries or third-party applications. By eliminating existing traditional bank bottlenecks, such as payment delays and outrageous transaction costs, PurrNFT is set to set the billion-dollar adult industry on a new course. In the face of traditional competitors like OnlyFans, PurrNFT, leveraging blockchain technology will give content producers simpler and more efficient options that put them back in control. While a few NFT marketplaces are focused on the adult industry, PurrNFT's immense potential to utilize blockchain technology will completely transform how these

In introducing cryptocurrencies, PurrNFT will act as a catalyst for the growth of the adult content industry, which has become a monopoly.

PurrNFT's primary goal is to attract investors, and per a recent press release, its upcoming presale on November 29, 2021, is one of its plans to raise money via early investors. Presales are expected to follow the launch of PurrNFT Token [PURRX] - which, according to the developer team, will fuel the PurrNFT marketplace. From November 29, 2021, until December 12, 2021, will be the first round. The public price of PURRX tokens will be $0.0010, and 400 million tokens will be made available for purchase. With Binance Smart Chain [BSC], the acceptable currencies are BNB and BUSD, with 1000 BUSD as the price threshold.

Presale and ICO for the platform are scheduled for January and March 2022, respectively. Platforms like OnlyFans have played a vital role in the growth of the adult content industry. Still, the caveat is that they are centralized platforms subject to the policies of traditional banks and world governments. PurrNFT will revolutionize the industry through the use of blockchain technology and the introduction of a native token. 

24

NEWS Crypto Weekly

Cryptocurrencies Should be Taught in Schools, says New York Mayor

E

lect Eric Adams believes cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology should be taught in schools, signaling his embrace of this rapidly growing sector. When I talked about blockchain and bitcoin, young people on the street stopped me and asked, 'What is it? 'Adams in a CNN interview laughed when asked if he could explain bitcoin, saying that's also a challenge for experts.

"We have to open our schools to teach technology and this new way of thinking," Adams said. "Bitcoin is a new way to pay for goods and services around the world." Adams did not specify whether he believes the technology should be taught at what level — college, high school or lower. Adams, pictured here in Oct. 2021, has previously stated he

would take his first three paychecks as mayor in bitcoin.When asked if he would encourage businesses in the Big Apple to accept bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, he responded, "We are going to look at it carefully. We are going to get it right." Adams has been vocal about embracing cryptocurrency since he won the mayoral election by a landslide and positioning New York City as a global center for the burgeoning sector.

Last week, the mayor-elect announced that he would take his first three paychecks as mayor in Bitcoin, oneupping Miami's mayor, who had announced earlier that he would take one paycheck in Bitcoin. It has been questioned, however, whether

this is a gamble that will pay off.

Harvard professor Jason Furman, who served as a member of the Council of Economic Advisors under the Obama Administration, criticized Adams' plan as a "bad economic strategy for NYC." "It also seems like a conflict of interest," Furman tweeted. As if a mayor announced, "I'm going to buy Amazon stock and then put in place policies to benefit Amazon."

Adam Adams told CNN Sunday that he respected Furman's opinion but that he is only using his personal money to support bitcoin. "He has his analysis," Adams said of Furman's tweet. "I have my analysis that I want to make sure that this city becomes the center of innovation no matter what that innovation is." 

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

FEATURE

25

Crypto Weekly

The Dance Floor Rages for the Unique and Inovative

I

`t s a big party in the Disco Burn Token community on Telegram.

There are only around 2500 members but the room is definitely as active as a Diso dance floor and it seems the music never stops. DBT is a hyperdeflationary token that was founded by a group of pyromaniacs that love to throw crypto-burn parties and burn other projects' tokens and what a party it is! The goal of DBT is to bring the infamous Disco Burn parties to the entire crypto space. Disco Burn Token raises the price floor of other crypto projects by buying and Tokens will continue burning that project’s token or coin. DBT also reflects and burns itself with every transaction. The token will have a total supply of 150 million tokens with 50 million tokens being burned at launch. Tokens will continue to burn until 50 million tokens remain in circulation.

The DBT website https:// discoburntoken.com/ is a good place to get a feel for what they are doing.

Twitter is always a go to place for

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

anyone who wants to see the latest news https://twitter.com/DBT_BSC The tokenomics of Disco Burn Token require 12% tax on all transactions including buys and sells. Here is the breakdown

Burn Party Wallet Re-distribution Marketing Developers Automated Liquidity Pool

- 4% - 3% - 3% - 1% - 1%

Community Voted Buy and Burns Occur Every third month, The buys and burns are first voted on by the DBT community. Every third month, DBT will hold a community vote to buy and burn off another project. Up to five projects will be listed on the ballot after the qualification and vetting process.

Once approved, the project will be added to the card and can compete to earn the community members’ votes.One representative from each project will have a chance to speak directly to DBT holders to win their vote in a debate-style ask me anything session. To be eligible to vote a community member must hold at least $5 USD of DBT. Seven days prior to the buy and burn, each holder will be airdropped one voting token.

Five empty wallets will be created and assigned to each project. After the seventh day of voting, the project wallet that holds the most vote tokens wins.By hosting community votes, DBT is being introduced to new holders and communities thus expanding its reach while also introducing other projects to the safe and vetted token communities of DYOR and SEEK.DBT will continue to burn until there are 50 million tokens left in circulation. Once the burn goal is reached, the burn wallet will become excluded from reflections and more tokens will be distributed to DBT holders 

26

FEATURE Crypto Weekly

The Case for Monero I

over Bitcoin

t is the 41st largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of 4.7 billion. For investors who have been following crypto or this space for some time now, Monero is a privacy coin that offers additional levels of security. It is well known to many investors, and the project has been very visible.

Bitcoin noobs thought they were buying Monero. I'm not sure if this is still about the narrative, but people used to think Bitcoin was anonymous, dangerous, and all these obscure actors, which certainly were there at the beginning.

Because it's not that like, Bitcoin is completely transparent, you can see every transaction on the network.

I'm checking your address after you buy a cup of coffee from me. I know where the money came from, and I know how much money you have at this address.

Everything you have done is known to me.

It could be something you want or something you don't want. In many cases, I believe you should argue that you don't want everyone looking into your wallet and knowing what's in your account on a day-to-day basis. Most people don't know it's you.

Yet even right now there are companies out there who are trying to match faces, that is to say real people to address,

such as Michael Saylor of MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR). Someone knows what kind of address they use, and in this case it might even be public. Anyone can find out how rich everyone is.

It might be detrimental to know how much money you have, since we don't want to see it. People asked what Bitcoin does and what can be done better to create a real cryptocurrency that can be used like cash as an equivalent to cash?

Then, they did something different from other projects. There have been privacy projects before. These older cryptos copied the Bitcoin code and modified it to add privacy features, but Monero

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

FEATURE

27

Crypto Weekly

As a business owner, if you want to do business entirely through blockchain and you have, for example, a coffee shop, and you want to sell coffee to someone, your other suppliers can see what you paid when you pay your supplier. You are opening up your price sheet to everyone, and they can see how price sensitive you are

didn't do that. It wrote the entire code base from scratch, so it's not derived from Bitcoin, and it's implemented all these features they thought were worthwhile.

The most important feature is privacy.

It's also not that the network has been completely obscured. There are many critics, but we will never know who did what and so on. A person wants to analyze something, understand where something came from, or understand a malicious act or crime.

You can also prove what you have done on the blockchain. It's up to you to do that, and you can make it visible to the outside world, but it's your choice, unlike Bitcoin, where it's standardized.

It's just there. Second, Monero is better than Bitcoin in that Bitcoin's mining rewards are halved every four years. The reward that miners receive for securing a Bitcoin network is halved every four years. It will eventually be cut down to zero, just like the miners who process Bitcoin transactions, and they will no longer receive revenue as a reward but only from transactions.

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

Therefore, if you made Bitcoin transactions, everyone who made Bitcoin transactions is responsible for paying the miners. This will continue in Monero. It is not the halvening cycle where you have this disruption from two years ago to now, where you get half of what you got before for the next four years. However, in Monero, this is diminishing and is capped at, I believe, 0.3 Monero delivered per minute.

Inflation in Monero will continue forever, but it will decline toward 0 percent annually. Therefore, miners will always be rewarded by the network itself rather than by transactions.

Additionally, Bitcoin control systems are faster, more secure, and do these things. I don't see Monero as a Bitcoin competitor because I see Bitcoin mainly as a store of value, but Monero could be the cash replacement for potential in a digital sense. They have implemented a great protocol there, let's be honest.

They thought they were buying Monero with Bitcoin, and they may have been right. People shouldn't see what's in your wallet in real life, I think. In the crypto

world, there is a basic level of privacy that people expect, and the fact that, for example, Bitcoin is so transparent, and you can see who transacts with whom, and that can be problematic.

One of the biggest problems I see with this, and when you think about it, getting my head around Monero was difficult because of the illicit nature of the dark web.

As a business owner, if you want to do business entirely through blockchain and you have, for example, a coffee shop, and you want to sell coffee to someone, your other suppliers can see what you paid when you pay your supplier. You are opening up your price sheet to everyone, and they can see how price sensitive you are.

Whenever you sell coffee, people will see what they paid for it, so it becomes more challenging to raise prices or negotiate. From a business standpoint, it just doesn't work. Monero helps to solve some of those problems, and I think, just at a high level, it's the next iteration of Bitcoin could potentially be. 

28

HIDDEN GEMS Crypto Weekly

PROJECT 1

vancattoken

Vancat Token (VANCAT)

vancattokencommunity

vancattoken

Van cats are a distinctive landrace of the domestic cat found in the Lake Van region of eastern Turkey. They are relatively large, have a chalky white coat, sometimes with ruddy coloration on the head and hindquarters, and have blue or amber eyes or have heterochromia (having one eye of each color). It's thought there are around 250,000 Van Cats in existence.

Station. This is done to ensure safety for users on the platform.

Users can mint their own NFTs or choose to purchase others.

NFT's, on the other hand or nonfungible tokens for short, are a particular type of cryptographic token representing something unique, and Nonfungible tokens are thus not mutually interchangeable. Van Cats was chosen for the platform name because they are unique as NFTs. In the v1 web application, Van Cats supports NFTs created using the VanCat NFT Minting

The main idea behind the VANCAT token supply is the Van cats, so the token has no decimals or subdividing. You can have 10 billion VANCAT or 330 million VANCAT, not 10,8326923 million VANCAT because cats cannot be divided. VANCAT platform allows users to deposit BEP20 tokens into an NFT easily, and VANCAT token is the governance token of the platform.

The initial DAapp is developed to be used in the growing crypto art market, with plans to rapidly expand with additional DApps covering more of the NFT space.

Shitcoin (STC)

PROJECT 2

shitcoin69

Shitcoin69

Shitcoin was developed to provide investors with a token based on flushing down the supply and awarding for holding. It's a fun way to get people into crypto, with the vision of one day helping those who are battling against a shitty time in life with incredible gains. The success of this coin is to push it to new heights, and its tokenomics makes it a deflationary asset. Unlike most other meme coins that simply buy back their coins and send them to a dead wallet, Shitcoin buys back and pairs them with liquidity.

This will increase the floor price of Shitcoin, keep the liquidity healthy, and generate more volume. Most other coins simply say they burn tokens by sending them to a dead address; Shitcoin flushes their tokens and awards NFT's and bonus coins to shit

Shitcoin69 holders that use frictionless staking! This constantly decreases availability, therefore, increases the individual price of each coin. STC expects this tokenomic to remove at least 20% of the supply from existence within 24 hours of launch. Nothing says a healthy token like having a ton of liquidity! Having a large amount of liquidity increases the stability of Shitcoin and reduces the impact of any sells on the chart. Reducing the impact of sells is vital to keeping a chart moving upwards. A 2% percentage of all transactions will be used to fund the development of Shitcoin.

The moment that Shitcoin's social presence is well known, we will update this tokenomic to a 2% frictionless stake bonus to Diamond Hand NFT Holders.

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

HIDDEN GEMS

29

Crypto Weekly

PROJECT 3

incomeisland

Income Island

incomeisland

Income Island Token is a one-of-a-kind concept, developed to make anyone generous stable profits on a daily basis. The integrated gaming system uses blockchain technology which will allow anyone to earn a passive income whilst having fun at the same time. In addition, you may buy and own a personal mining plot and even more than one to generate an income. You may rent out your plots to other players and earn NFT’s offering extra Island tokens every time someone sells, meaning you earn an income while you sleep.

As Warren Buffet famously said “If you don’t find a way to earn money while you sleep, you will work until you die! Through the ongoing development, Income Island will strive to make sure that the ecosystem is a safe and friendly environment to earn a passive income for the long term. Income Token is not just all about the

PROJECT 4

homelessshiba

great rewards, it also has a great, doxxed, and highly dedicated team that is supported by a steadfast and strong community.

The fundamentals for the ecosystem were created through Income Island`s global team and consists of both volunteers and working professionals from all over the world with skillsets ranging from web development, marketing, Dapp creation, and many other entrepreneurs willing to deliver a stellar financial product to the Income Island community.

The Income Island Token is a revolutionary coin, created to be a safe place in the blockchain market for high-volume trade investors. As a future currency, Income Island Token stands for honesty, transparency, and profit for the community.

Homeless Shiba

HomelessShibaofficial

Shiba Inu was created with the idea in trusting its community to define the future of its coin and prove that we can all hold for a better future. In that spirit, Homeless Shiba is all about trusting that same community and bringing to light humankind's love to help each other and grow together.

Crypto has benefited many people regardless of color, religion, and ideology but it has not yet reached the unfortunate people who cannot afford to be on the platform. Homeless Shiba is all about helping them by donating food, clothes, and opportunity all the while growing a brand based on helping each other. Using the power of Shiba to help those who are in need of it the most... That is the purpose of Homeless Shiba.

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

incomeisland

HomelessShiba

Why decentralization? Before decentralization, in order to give money to a charity, the trust of the mission was held on the shoulders of a non-profit organization. By decentralizing the movement we are able to give the powers back to the donors.

By having all the transactions available in a public ledger, accountability will longueur be a problem but the solution.

Accountability does not only discourage theft or acting in bad faith but also allows the holders to be a part of the direction.

Having an organization that engages its donors will only encourage trust and bring more holders. It does not take away from the investors who are looking to place their investment and not be active in the progression of the coin but nevertheless reap its reward.

30

BEGINNERS GUIDE Crypto Weekly

Understanding

What is a blockchain?

Blockchain technology is what powers cryptocurrency. At its core, a blockchain is a public list of verifiable transactions.

Each time a cryptocurrency gets sent or received, a transaction record gets stored on a blockchain. This process is what allows cryptocurrency transactions without needing a middle man like a bank.

These secured blockchain networks are what make Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others run. A robust network of computers constantly verifies transactions, enabling secure payments to be made between two parties anywhere in the world without the hassle of a thirdparty verifier like a bank.

The use cases go beyond simple financial transactions. Research and data sharing and the medical industry are all exploring ways to leverage the security of blockchains. The possibilities are endless!

What are some advantages of blockchains?

A significant advantage of blockchains is that they are global, meaning you can send cryptocurrencies anywhere in the world, both quickly and cheaply.

There are many potential applications for everyday life in developing countries or other places lacking financial infrastructure.

Many people worry about data privacy and security, but blockchain technology can help solve these problems. The underlying cryptography enables these networks to process transactions in a very secure manner, more secure than your standard credit card or banking institution. There is no need to provide sensitive information for a transaction to occur, thus keeping you safe from having your identity stolen or compromising your financial information.

Blockchains are open systems that anyone can view, scrutinize and

verify.

Transactional manipulation on the network is almost impossible because they are publically recorded on the blockchain for all to see (opensource)- making it impossible to adjust the rules mid-game without being detected by others. Unlike centralized currencies controlled by banks, which have vulnerabilities due to their lack of transparency (i.e., credit cards), blockchains provide security through decentralization, so there is no single point of failure.

Who developed the blockchain?

A white paper written by Satoshi Nakamoto (no one knows if it was a real person or group!) was published online in late 2008 and outlined the core principles behind Bitcoin.

The paper sparked a revolution that would eventually lead to the many cryptocurrencies you see today.

The idea was to enable online transactions between two strangers anywhere in the

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

BEGINNERS GUIDE

31

Crypto Weekly

contract. They contain all the information about an agreement and automatically execute when certain conditions are met. The benefit is that you don't need to trust your counterparty, as they cannot break their side of the deal without breaking the code. These tools also provide a more secure alternative to traditional contract law, as there is no room for interpretation or human error.

Identity Management

world without the hassle and headache of third parties (like PayPal or a credit card company). The aim was also to reduce fees and customer support costs while maintaining a high level of security.

While on the surface this sounds great, there was one major to be addressed double-spending. Double-spending is when something of value is transacted more than once. Ensuring that a certain sum of funds cannot be used repeatedly led to developing a network to track these transactions efficiently. That network is the blockchain.

How does blockchain work?

Enormous and decentralized (peerto-peer) networks of computers run by miners constantly verify and secure the blockchain. Miners earn rewards for lending their computing power to process these transactions by getting small reflections in a particular cryptocurrency. This ongoing system of

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

processing transactions is what creates or mints new cryptocurrency.

Each transaction gets written to a ledger, with new information periodically gathered together in a "block," which gets added to all the previous blocks. The minors' massive collective computing power ensures the accuracy of the evergrowing ledger.Everyone is assigned a unique address which consists of a private key (similar to a password that allows you to access your crypto and make transactions digitally) and a public key (which will enable people to send you crypto without needing personal info). Cryptocurrencies are often quickly and securely stored in a wallet, like an account for your digital assets.

What does the future hold for the blockchain?

Smart Contracts Smart contracts are computer programs used to automate the execution of a

The idea of blockchain technology is to bring the benefits of an unalterable ledger for verifying information. Identity verification on a blockchain network could help people maintain their digital identities without fear of hackers or thieves stealing sensitive information.

The use of blockchains in online identity management would aid individuals and organizations with keeping their privacy and private data. Leveraging blockchains for identity management may someday include voting systems, healthcare records, land ownership records, and more.

Supply Chain Uses Companies looking to make their supply chain more efficient might find blockchain technology as the perfect solution. Blockchains have already been used in multiple industries to keep tabs on supply chains and ensure their efficiency, eliminating human work and the potential for error from this complex process.

Companies that are dealing with large numbers of suppliers or products would benefit tremendously. By leveraging the blockchain, all parties involved could view information about product origins, shipping routes, etc., so there's no need for back-and-forth communication between each party involved to verify data accuracy. In conclusion, blockchain is a disruptive technology that will soon become an integral part of our everyday lives. Although blockchain was created to facilitate cryptocurrency trading and investing, other applications have come to fruition due in large part because of its efficiencies on an international scale while offering a high level of security and protection. 

32

FEATURE Crypto Weekly

I

n a new lawsuit, it is alleged that David Kleiman and Craig Wright created Bitcoin. Wright claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto, one of the most influential figures of the modern age and the 15th wealthiest person globally. Other sources believe Wright is a crafty Aussie trying to scam the estate of a dead man.

Perhaps both.

According to Ira Kleiman, the brother of the late computer-security specialist David Kleiman, Wright and his brother developed the original digital currency credited to the Nakamoto pseudonym in a case now unfolding in West Palm Beach, Fla. As a result, Ira claims he is entitled to half of Wright's crypto trove: about $64 billion worth of Bitcoin (by Friday's valuation). If he is Satoshi, Wright holds 1.1 million Bitcoin and is worth tens of billions of dollars, as he claims on his private Instagram page (which

contains just one post). According to Vel Freedman, the attorney representing Ira Kleiman formed a partnership to create and mine a significant amount of Bitcoin under the name Satoshi Nakamoto. "Emails show that Craig and Dave agreed to keep their partnership a secret, and nobody knew about it until Craig began telling the Kleiman family some details after Dave passed away [in 2013]. Craig decided to keep the fortune for himself."."

recovered in the unlikely event that he had a stash of Bitcoin, and the password was unknown.

"We believe the court will find there is no evidence that they were in a partnership," said Andrés Rivero, a lawyer for Wright.

A new form of digital currency, designed to be used without a central bank, was introduced by "Nakamoto" in an opensource paper published in 2008. In the beginning, it was worth less than a penny, and today it is worth nearly $58,000. The late David Kleiman was a digital security expert who left no trace of Bitcoins behind when he died - but was he one-half of the team behind the currency's pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto?

Klieman, a paraplegic, died under terrible circumstances. A loaded handgun with a bullet hole in its mattress was found next to the body, and alcohol bottles were scattered around. According to the complaint, his body had started to decompose, and it is not clear how he died. It was never

He came up with the idea of creating "coins" through increasingly complex calculations that would eventually require extremely powerful computers.

The number of Bitcoins in circulation will top out after a finite 21 million are mined — unlike traditional currency, which can be endlessly minted.

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

FEATURE Crypto Weekly

A new form of digital currency, designed to be used without a central bank, was introduced by "Nakamoto" in an opensource paper published in 2008. In the beginning, it was worth less than a penny, and today it is worth nearly $58,000.

33

The identity of Nakamoto has become one of the great mysteries of our time, with everyone from Elon Musk to Swedish video-game developer Vili Lehdonvirta to American computer scientist Nick Szabo being thrown around as the man behind the myth.

Wright, however, is the only person who has actually claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto. On the witness stand earlier this month, Wright claimed to have written the white paper laying out the inner workings of Bitcoin, which was credited to Satoshi Nakamoto. There are, however, vehement doubters who don't believe Wright is the real Nakamoto.

"He's lying, end of the story," asserted the respected security researcher Dan Kaminsky on Twitter. "Satoshi signed a transaction in 2009, and Wright copied it and passed it off as his own."

An Australian computer scientist, Craig Wright, has long claimed he is Nakamoto but has never provided definitive proof to support this claim.

Others believe Wright and Kleiman had nothing to do with the creation of cryptocurrency. Bitcoin expert Arthur van Pelt told The Post that neither of these guys is Satoshi. "[The real Nakamoto] didn't want to be the leader, and he wanted to hand it over to the community."

He graduated from Charles Stuart University in Australia with a Ph.D. in computer science. "Craig has Aspergers and is a little bit different from most people," Ayre says of Wright, an investor, and co-founder of nChain, where CrunchBase says he's chief scientist.

"He is a polymath who sleeps four hours a night and [during his sleep] listens to books four times faster."

While working for BDO, an accounting firm in Sydney, Australia, Wright was assigned to do a security audit for a different online gambling operation.

Stefan Matthews, the gambling site's chief technology officer, was there at the time. When he needs to unwind after a long day, he reads a f–king textbook. He is wired differently than anyone I know." 

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

34

FEATURE Crypto Weekly

I

n expanding, defi risks embracing the very ideology it initially sought to reject, as the primary beneficiaries of this new model are those who already own digital assets.

There is always a catch to financial products and solutions, extraordinary investment returns or low-interest rates.

Decentralized finance is no exception.

Defi became popular because it aimed to eliminate traditional finance's (tradfi's) shortcomings. However, defi has lowered access barriers to financial solutions.

Still, we can't ignore the uncomfortable truth that defi is becoming essentially the same as trade finance, just with a 'decentralized' tag on it.

AAVE's staking and liquidity pools consist of Avalanche, Ethereum, and Polygon, with a combined value of almost $20.96 billion TVL. Maker DAO is at $17.06 billion and growing, Compound is at $11.33 billion, and Instadapp is at $12.17 billion, showing how quickly defi has grown

Defi and Tradfi Lending Blurred To obtain funding from a bank or private lender, one must have a good credit score. A fair rate is offered if the credit score meets the requirements. With a low credit score, borrowers may have to compromise on interest rates. Some lenders may also require collateral.

As defi replaces central authorities with peer-to-peer systems, it requires borrowers to post substantial collateral,

often higher than the amount they wish to borrow, known as over-collateralization.

In addition, entering the defi market and using its financial products requires knowledge of blockchain technology and cryptography - knowledge that only a fraction of the world's population possesses.

Initial plans for Defi lending were to facilitate "truly decentralized lending," in which anyone in need of capital could obtain a loan without the help of a middleman. Today's defi lending doesn't resemble that at all. With it, existing digital asset holders can now generate yields by putting what they already own to work. Defi today does not empower the global unbanked.

Therefore, it appears that defi is more lender-oriented and not as inclusive as advertised. For instance, consider the growth of the defi lending ecosystem in recent months. Defined lending platforms and protocols have amassed more than $60 billion in total value locked (TVL).

AAVE's staking and liquidity pools consist of Avalanche, Ethereum, and Polygon, with a combined value of almost $20.96 billion TVL. Maker DAO is at $17.06 billion and growing, Compound is at $11.33 billion, and Instadapp is at $12.17 billion, showing how quickly defi has grown.

A frightening amount of blurring is occurring between traditional finance and digital finance. I'll give

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

FEATURE

35

Crypto Weekly

Defi lending platforms need collateral to protect lenders' investments, which is understandable.

However, does the need for overcollateralized loans justify it? Defi is not currently bringing unbanked people into the system but rather rewards privileged crypto holders with the yield on their existing assets

you an example. Small businesses in developing countries often need financing. However, they do not have access to traditional financial services.

A person stumbles upon defi lending and creates an account on one of the platforms. Collateral requirements are higher than they wish to borrow, and they do not have any. The defi lending platform's perspective must also be considered. Defi lending platforms need collateral to protect lenders' investments, which is understandable.

However, does the need for overcollateralized loans justify it? Defi is not currently bringing unbanked people into the system but rather rewards privileged crypto holders with the yield on their existing assets.

Refinance lending without collateral: A great idea, but there are drawbacks Except for Gluwa, a non-bank alternative financial system, there are no noncollateralized Defi lending platforms (that I could find). Gluwa has partnered with international companies such as Aella, Multis, Creditcoin, Jenfi, Wyre, Gopax, and Consensys in emerging markets. Aella's consumer credit app was integrated into the app and reached more than two million users in Africa. Together, Aella and Gluwa have facilitated more than a million transactions, creating more than 28 million blocks.

Gluwa does not require users to provide collateral. However, there is a catch.

Compared to collateralized Defi loans offered by AAVE, Compound, and similar platforms, these non-collateralized loans have much higher interest rates.

The Gluwa solution, although a defi solution, shares many similarities with traditional lending-borrowing models, such as private non-collateralized loans, where lenders take on high-risk borrowers and pass on this risk in the form of higher interest rates.

How to Move Forward There's a lot to consider between over-collateralized defi loans and high-interest, non-collateralized ones.

Platforms may require collateral, but they make it easy for anyone to access capital at the click of a button. But only if they already own digital assets.

In essence, it negates inclusivity and equal opportunity for all - two of the core values of defi. In addition, noncollateralized loans charge higher interest rates to balance risk, which again runs counter to Defi's vision of fair and justified earnings for all.

It is difficult to achieve a genuinely decentralized lending and borrowing process that balances risk and return equally for lenders and borrowers.

Consequently, we may see a better form of decentralized borrowing in the future, or we may end up with decentralized lending that is as traditional as the financial market, thus coming full circle and becoming what it was intended to be. 

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

FEATURE

37

Crypto Weekly

Someone Stole all of the NFT's A

n online website appeared just a couple of days ago with the explicit purpose of hosting a nearly 20TB torrent containing every NFT that can be found on the Ethereum and Solana blockchains. An Australian software and dev ops engineer, Geoffrey Huntley, designed the NFT Bay, a riff on The Pirate Bay's iconic torrent database. Huntley wrote up a frequently asked questions document for annoying reporters like me to explain what The NFT Bay is, in hopes that fewer people get swindled by the technology's innumerable swindlers.

"Fundamentally, I hope people learn that when they purchase NFT art, what they are really getting are instructions on how to access or download an image," Huntley said. "The image is not stored on the blockchain, and the majority of images I've seen are hosted on web 2.0 storage, which is likely to end up as 404,

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

so the NFT has even less value."For The NFT Bay, Huntley drew inspiration from Pauline Pantsdown, the drag persona of Australian satirist Simon Hunt. The latter in the past parodied controversial politician Pauline Hanson due to Hanson's right-wing policies. The only way to cut right through to the core is with art," Huntley added on Twitter along with a link to a short documentary

by Pauline Pantsdown.

with NFTs or cryptocurrency, prompting 26 developers to write Valve what my colleague Luke Plunkett described as "a sorrowful letter" complaining about the company's decision. In an interview with Axios, Xbox boss Phil Spencer called NFTs "exploitative.". Sadly, for every Valve, Xbox, and independent developer rejecting NFTs, there are also Ubisoft, Sega, and Square Enix happily participating.

Over the past year, NFTs have been all the rage, gaining followers even as their reputation plummeted. However, in addition to social media jokes about stealing NFTs by right-clicking and saving the (usually awful) artwork associated with the blockchain-minted (and thus incredibly harmful to the environment) tokens, major figures in the gaming industry have also taken notice. As a result, Steam banned games that dealt

"NFTs are only useful for money laundering, tax fraud, and better fool investment fraud," wrote computer scientist Antsstyle in a scathing critique of the technology, including perhaps the most comprehensive breakdown of the ills posed by crypto, NFTs, and blockchain. "There is no actual value in NFTs, and their sole purpose is to increase an artwork's value by creating artificial scarcity allegedly." 

38

NEWS Crypto Weekly

Cryptoverse says the U.S. Infrastructure Act fight is Not Over

E

ven though U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta signed the controversial Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law on Monday, leaving the much-maligned "digital asset broker" status clauses intact, cryptocurrency advocates have promised to continue their fight. In both the Senate and Congress, the American crypto community fought to amend the bill's definition of "broker."

Still, these efforts now appear to have been in vain - meaning that miners and node operators might now be forced to make complex crypto tax calculations.

That is unless the Treasury decides to tweak the legislation. There is already movement in the Senate, with Senators Cynthia Lummis and Ron Wyden cosponsoring a draft amendment.

The amendment would explicitly exclude crypto miners, staking participants, blockchain software developers, and wallet developers from broker status if the amendment is adopted. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) would be able to avoid filing detailed data. As Lummis stated on Twitter, "If at first, you don't succeed," she and other cryptosupporting lawmakers will keep trying,

trying, and trying again to change the law. The Senator stated: "It is crucial to protect innovation in the digital asset space. Our bill clarifies that the new reporting requirements do not apply to individuals developing blockchain technology and wallets.

"This will protect American innovation while ensuring those who buy and sell cryptocurrency pay their taxes." Reuters reported that Biden had earlier called the bill a "blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America" during a signing ceremony at the White House.

Bill Tulloh, an economist with Agoric, a smart contract platform, said the act is a "wake-up call" to the crypto industry, saying that it needs to mobilize to undo the damage caused by this bill and prevent further damage.

The bill was called "ill-conceived and hastily conceived" by Tulloh, who said, "short-term tax revenues shouldn't stifle the pace of innovation and discovery necessary for a young industry to grow." The economist added that Randall Quarles' decision to step down from the Federal Board of Governors

allows President Biden to nominate a candidate who will take a longer view of the promise of blockchain technology.

Amber Ghaddar, the co-founder of AllianceBlock, says the act's broker clauses are "partly" the crypto community's fault for not "centralizing" our efforts to lobby and explain, to key stakeholders, how our protocols work. She noted, however, that "the passage" of the new act could "be very messy for small investors." According to her, "working with governments and regulators worldwide is a necessity. We are not here to evade taxes or launder money, as some critics have claimed.

The exchange can fail to know how much the user initially paid for the tokens.

Consequently, they might receive an overstated 1099-B [tax form], requiring them to hire an accountant or reconcile manually.

Several billions of dollars have been pumped into the state- and local government-funded projects involving repairing roads and expanding broadband internet access to create jobs across the country. 

www.cryptoweeklymag.com

The new Cryptocurrency based in London, UK Avaliable on BSC

Super car giveaway - 3 cars over one year, just HOLD KODA

First draw live in Dubai T&C’s apply

https://koda.finance

https://linktr.ee/KodaCryptocurrency