Challenging The Crypto Winter’s Devastating Effects. Safeguard Your Portfolio and Hang In There

Bitcoin and Ethereum prices are down more than 50% this year as inflation and rising interest rates prompt investors to seek safe-haven assets. CNBC confirms that cryptocurrencies have lost more than $2 trillion since their 2021 highs, and not everyone thinks the bear market will end anytime soon. In 2017, the crypto industry witnessed exponential growth. Many crypto enthusiasts saw it as a way to save money and make transactions more secure. 

However, some investors were skeptical of the space when prices were skyrocketing. They believed prices would continue to rise and that many people would profit from cryptocurrency investments. Nonetheless, there were still areas of great concern about the asset. Many have struggled with crypto losses in recent months. Is the crypto winter here to stay?

Many investors became cautious when the crypto market began to decline earlier this year. Prices had dropped considerably from their all-time highs. Some people even believed the market was crashing, leading to mass sell-offs. This led to a massive reduction in the overall cryptocurrency market cap. Although the market has shown signs of recovery, prices are still lower than at the beginning of the year.

As many investors lost faith in cryptocurrencies, many companies suffered as well. Many businesses stopped accepting crypto as payment for goods and services. This left many companies unable to pay their bills and operate normally. Some small businesses even went bankrupt due to a lack of bill payments. Additionally, government agencies began reducing their services for crypto businesses; some even stopped accepting applications from local businesses. All those working in the crypto space saw a drastic drop in their income after January prices.

Fortunately, many people have turned to cryptocurrencies to save money. Typical banks give meager amounts of interest on savings accounts. However, several banks now offer accounts with 0% monthly fees. Some people have even turned to cryptocurrency as an alternative form of investment. Although the market is far from optimal, it's working for those in need of protection against loss of income.

The crypto winter is still prevalent worldwide. Prices remain lower than they were at the start of this year. Several companies have cut jobs and services due to decreased revenue. Chances are that things may become much more alarming than they are already.

What Caused the Crash?

The cryptocurrency market crash began earlier this year as rampant inflation prompted the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates and cool the economy. Despite being a hedge against inflation, cryptocurrencies are more closely correlated with tech stocks than gold prices. The rapid decline of the tech industry has accelerated the collapse of cryptocurrencies.

Algorithmic stablecoins are the next victim. Its sister coin, Luna, fell to zero as investors began dumping TerraUSD (UST), the stablecoin shedding the dollar. While Terra-based Defi protocols like Anchor and Astroport died instantly, leveraged hedge funds holding Luna were the most prominent victims.

For example, Three Arrows Capital (3AC) lost $600 million in the UST/Luna collapse. The hedge fund also had a $1.2 billion highly leveraged position in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, the value of which fell to $550 million. Unsurprisingly, it defaulted on Voyager Digital's $650 million loan and went bankrupt.

The bankruptcy of 3AC had a domino effect on the entire industry. The hedge fund's creditor list brought not only Voyager Digital out of business but also Genesis Trading, CoinList, DeFiance Capital, and FalconX. The companies are still solvent, but massive losses could force them to scale back their growth plans and ambitions.

The collapse of UST and the bankruptcy of 3AC caused many investors to withdraw their funds from the crypto ecosystem. Unfortunately, many Defi protocols rely on two-way liquidity to function and run into problems. Celsius' stETH, in particular, started trading at a discount, making it difficult for the group to raise funds for redemption.

Meanwhile, several high-profile hacks have accelerated those losses and dented consumer confidence. Crypto startup Nomad, for example, lost about $200 million and did not disclose whether customers would receive refunds if funds were not recovered. The robbery comes just a month after Harmon Horizon lost about $100 million to a similar bridge attack.

Potential Long-term Effects

What does crypto winter mean for mainstream crypto adoption? Will this accelerate or impede the efforts of the industry players to make digital assets a standard payment method? The industry has beheld new ways for consumers to pay with cryptocurrencies instead of fiat, suggesting the answer may be uncertain.

The crypto winter has led to a crisis of confidence among retail and institutional investors. For example, Coinbase saw a sharp drop in trading volume and had to cut 18% of its workforce to cut costs. At the same time, many crypto miners are experiencing profitability problems due to the low prices of many tokens.

The good news is that FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried has become a JPMorgan-like figure, bailing out cryptocurrency projects and helping the market stabilize in the short term. For example, he provided a $250 million loan to bail out crypto lender BlockFi and a $200 million line of credit to Voyager Digital through his Alameda research.

The bad news is that the crash negatively affected many people. For example, Morgan Stanley predicts that VC funding for cryptocurrency companies could drop by 50% due to the poor macroeconomic outlook and the crypto winter. A lack of new funding could force many unprofitable projects to scale back or shut down entirely.

Investors may also have lesser interest in crypto assets. Unsurprisingly, retail interest in crypto assets has fallen with prices, and it may take some time to recover. As a result, demand for cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds and other financial assets is likely to decline, while the diversification advantages of the asset class are questioned.

Finally, the crypto industry may also have to deal with structural changes. For example, algorithmic stablecoins may need to reconsider whether they need tangible reserves to back their value. Meanwhile, regulators may use the crypto winter to regulate banking-like decentralized finance (Defi) applications or monetary-like stablecoins.

Safeguard Your Portfolio

Crypto traders and investors have a variety of ways to hedge their portfolios through the crypto winter. While some have exited the market entirely, there is always a chance that they will miss out on an excellent opportunity to re-enter the market. Finally, a lot of market timing research shows that investors tend to sell after a dip and miss out on buying at the bottom.

Some strategies and best practices to consider are:

Dollar-Cost Averaging – Over time, investors may want to continue to buy small amounts of cryptocurrencies, thereby reducing their cost base when the price of cryptocurrencies falls. In the case of a recovery, they can make more profits.

Tax-Loss Harvesting – Investors can sell losing positions to realize the current tax period loss, offsetting their ordinary income and capital gains. Since cryptocurrencies are not subject to wash sale rules, investors can quickly buy back and maintain their asset allocation.

Diversification – Investors should consider holding a more comprehensive range of assets rather than a few risky projects to reduce the risk of a single project disrupting their entire portfolio.

Please note before implementing these strategies, it is best to consult with your financial and tax advisor to discuss how they may affect your overall portfolio. For example, the timing of certain sales may affect your marginal tax rate, or diversification into certain crypto assets may change the risk level of your overall portfolio.

The Bottom Line

The crypto winter has been emotionally and practically challenging for fans of cryptocurrencies. However, lower prices may help cryptos reach new users and create legal channels for investors to interact with projects appropriately. Thus, enthusiasts should be patient as regulators and consumers generally adopt cryptocurrency use.

Prominent cryptocurrencies have all traded sharply lower since the beginning of the year. As a result, retail investors have scaled back their trading activity, miners struggled to make a profit, and institutional investors were reluctant to back up new projects or add crypto assets to their portfolios.

The current crypto winter won’t end the industry, given its explicit goal to become a new monetary system and a much-needed one. With the macroeconomic factors at play, it may take a while for the market to recover and rebuild confidence. Therefore, some cryptocurrencies and projects may offer discounts on their current valuations. Ideally, search out transparent crypto projects with a purpose and utility behind them.

Crypto experts have repeatedly stated that crypto winters are good for Bitcoin. The who’s who of the industry express that bear markets are actually healthy for the crypto industry, as it removes speculators and scams while providing space to build real products and services that assist in creating a sustainable global economy. 

So, all these factors are contributing to a more robust, healthier cryptocurrency industry where genuine projects and communities will flourish. Therefore, all investors, particularly retail and those new to the industry, should look at the bigger picture and understand why crypto is poised to liberate us from a failing traditional financial system. Companies are working hard to make this a reality, and a Parallel Economy is starting to take shape that will eventually become mainstream by the Grace of God. 

The Rise Of A Parallel Economy: Entrepreneurialism In Full Swing Challenging The “Woke” Trend 

In the current political climate and apparent age of awareness around privilege and oppression, many of us are questioning and re-examining previously unchallenged ideas. The degree of polarity is exponential worldwide, and derision is rampant among societies. Many are experiencing their freedom, identity, and self-expression being stripped away by the disingenuous elite who want to crush entrepreneurialism and critical thinking. 

The wheels have been set in motion for the Great Reset and Stakeholder Capitalism plans involving ESG, global Digital ID, and a new monetary system by the BIS. NGOs, asset management firms, and the banking cartel working with governments are enforcing mandates of ridiculous restrictions on companies in the name of climate change, hurting businesses and citizens worldwide. 

As is with big tech, specifically social media with its cancel culture oppressing free speech and self-expression. Both sides of the spectrum are in lockstep, trying to kill the entrepreneurial spirit and stifle innovation, which is precisely what they want, all in the name of stakeholder capitalism, with an aim to have complete control, but they won’t win. 

As we are in the very throes of a new satanic age, it’s time to be more creative and more entrepreneurial because the reality is the perplexing big tech and big finance left-wing ideology has created an entire woke industrial complex. 

That complex doesn't like any form of dissonance: you either abide by their rules on everything from climate change to transgenderism and vaccines to abortion, or you're out. That reality has been slowly growing for 20 years but now moving at a very rapid pace.

A growing number of entrepreneurs are seeing this oppressive dictatorship take hold, and the once thought of as “healthy capitalism” has turned into a “woke crony capitalism.” These brave critical thinkers are standing up for their rights and the people's rights, and they are on the verge of breaking the system. 

Thanks to the internet, cryptocurrency, blockchain technology, and the introduction of independent cloud servers as an alternative to the centralized AWS and the like, entrepreneurs are actually developing a Parallel Economy where we don't have to rely on the system and its corrupt ideology.

The individuals and companies that are rising up have proved it can be done. When the system rejects your views and confiscates your liberties and livelihood, you can continue and thrive outside the system, which is terrifying to the media. In the last decade, big tech, especially the social media giants, has become the gatekeepers of speech. This is a real threat to anyone who disagrees with the government and its power and string puppets. 

Many who have dared to share their views have been canceled on social media, email accounts blocked, bank accounts confiscated, and payment provider boycotts. This is the new system the left-wing is creating. If this insane left-wing crusade continues at the current pace, half of the population will be locked out of the economy entirely. That's what Russia faced when it was sanctioned by various governments and the western banking system. In fact, they created a parallel economy by creating their own banking system. 

People just want to participate in regular normal economic activity without being flagged for not believing in and using pronouns or wishing to use energy that actually works. One of the gracious things about the apolitical environment is that it unites us, irrespective of race, gender, or politics. 

The role of capitalism and an apolitical marketplace in an otherwise divided polity is to provide social forces that result in cohesion across divisions. So as this parallel economy grows, everybody is welcome to participate, with the only requirement being that you have the common sense to see the actual value of freedom.

Some innovators are fed up with woke left-wing intolerance and are the first to step out and take risks by building alternatives to counter an ever-increasing oppressed system. These alternatives cover the many aspects of our lives that the woke culture has infiltrated. 

We’ll review some of these inspiring entrepreneurs and their companies from various sectors pioneering the parallel economy, including financial, dating and relationships, entertainment, social media, and marketing, plus find out how we can participate in building a parallel economy.

Image source: Strive, Media Reel

Strive Asset Management 

The mission of  Strive Asset Management is to “restore the voices of everyday citizens in the American economy by leading companies to focus on excellence over politics.” They are in direct competition with the asset management giants like Blackrock. They have seen the need to restore capitalism for the people who want to move in the traditional direction of focusing on products and services for profit rather than social agendas or ideologies.  

What Strive finds is that many major companies are not in competition with each other. So they do not take advantage of an opportunity to fill the gap that may arise due to a company's decisions to push agendas that many customers are adverse to and put off from participating.  

Why is that? It’s because the top shareholders are the same for all these companies; they are the woke investors like Blackrock, State Street, and Vanguard. There's a concentration of capital of around $20 trillion that is handled by these three companies alone. They are essentially the puppet masters behind the scenes pulling the strings and effectively mandating through soft power, ensuring these companies adopt their one-sided political agendas. 

So is that the free market where companies are free to do what they want to be sustainable and grow in the interests of product and service excellence? In effect, they're being told by a small group of actors directly doing favors for the government behind the scenes who are in bed with unelected leaders of the WEF to direct corporate America's and corporations' behaviors worldwide.

Entrepreneur, Author, and Co-founder of  Strive Asset Management, Vivek Ramaswamy, says,

“The free market is not free to fix what it's not free to fix. Companies need to have the restraints lifted so that they are able to and be allowed to pursue their own self-interest.” 

Fascism Hurts The Free World

So how do agendas like climate change, ESG, and pushing for a great reset of the world hurt the entrepreneurial and creative spirit? 

As explained by Vivek, one example is Chevron Oil and Gas Company when in 2020, they were forced to adopt a Scope 3 Emissions Cap. The company and its board were against this change, but Blackrock, State Street, and Vanguard voted in favor of it, so the majority supported the proposal, and of course, it was set in motion. 

The Emissions Cap requires not just Chevron to reduce its own emissions but to reduce the emissions of anyone who uses their oil, all the way downstream, including their employees who commute to work and the Amazon truck delivering food to its customers. So that means Chevron as a company is required to take responsibility for everything and everybody that uses its oil. 

It's a problem because Chevron, as a company, cannot exist as it has done if it has to take responsibility for reducing customers using its own product. Why would it ever be in the interest of a business, whether it be a small entrepreneurial business or a legacy company like Chevron, to say, “it's in my interest to force my consumers to use less of the core product that I make?” 

Nefarious Double Standards

That is a fundamentally anti-growth measure. It's essentially a measure opposed to human flourishing delivered through American capitalism. Furthermore, it's not even good for the environment or the alleged effects of climate change because when Chevron drops these projects, some firms in China get to pick them up that have even worse and dirtier oil production. 

It's interesting to note Blackrock doesn't apply the ESG standards to Chinese companies but gets its license to be an asset management builder in China and make a lot of money. And they're doing it while applying these ESG standards to the United States that cripple American energy companies and affect the lives of everyday citizens. 

It’s important to note that these asset management firms use peoples’ retirement funds to invest in their agenda-driven interests that do not serve the people's interests. It’s becoming clear that most people do not want their asset managers advocating for the political agendas they are pushing. 

It's a geopolitical tool and a trojan horse. They’ve used capitalism as a trojan horse to undermine America from within, and China will be the biggest beneficiary at the end of the day. It's the merger of state and corporate power that neither of them could do independently. It's a hybrid of the two together, making it more powerful than either alone. The merger of state and corporate power is the classical definition of fascism.

Image source: Twitter 

The Right Stuff

The Right Stuff is a new dating app co-founded by Daniel Huff. Huff is a Republican who worked at the White House as an adviser for the Trump administration before becoming an entrepreneur. He saw an opportunity and a real need to counter the antagonism and discrimination from many of the dating apps out there today that either promote or enforce left-wing extremist ideology. 

He brings to light how the conservative individual who subscribes to a “live and let live” philosophy has difficulty finding traditional mediums to connect with people. Many dating apps have agendas and ideologies that don’t necessarily fit society's moral values or ethical standards.  

It’s not just antagonism from the users of an app but the platforms' discrimination. One example of platform bias is when joining the community on one of the largest dating apps; it is an absolute requirement that you affirm your support for Black Lives Matter before having access. 

Another is pressing people to add pronouns to their profiles, which has become a contentious issue for many. Also, adding stickers to profiles relaying your interests, even political interests, except all stickers relate to left-wing only. 

According to Huff, the Left has repeatedly stated that if you don’t like how we do things, build your own, so he did! He says the Republicans have been playing catch up for too long with Liberal technology, adding,

“We just don't want to catch up. We want to make a superior product. And we can do that by adding features that no one else has that distinctively set us apart and help to create a parallel economy.” 

 
Image source: Twitter, EricJuly.com 

Rippaverse Comics

Rippaverse Comics is about bringing the industry back to its essence. The unfortunate state of the comic industry with the likes of Marvel and Disney, now owned by mega-corporations, where timeless characters have been bastardized beyond recognition. They are distorted with a leftist message of political and social views incongruent with the age-old narrative or characters. 

A bunch of activists masquerading as writers has infiltrated the industry. They use well-known characters as a medium or vehicle to push their leftist agendas and fundamentally ruin the industry for those who aren't interested in that. 

The corporate entities in control have no loyalty to the reader, the customer, or the legendary comic character that people know well and love. They don't protect or care about the sanctity or legacy of these characters. 

Commentator, content creator, and musician Eric July saw the opportunity and the hole in the market for a comic book company with ethics and standards that put customers first. The company vows to deliver content that doesn’t include current politics or narratives that many comic lovers are fed up with being force-fed. Also, the customers' ethnic backgrounds or genetic makeup are totally irrelevant to them. 

Founder and owner of Rippaverse Comics, Eric July, started this venture in the parallel economy with no external investors, and he has expressed it will remain that way, saying,

“We want to expand in many different avenues, including video games, animation, and maybe even live-action movies. But not if it means selling off our assets; we only answer to the customer.” 

In setting up the company, the project was completely organic. Eric bypassed all major organizations and regular channels when dealing with publishing and distribution and has been very successful in helping creatives and the people behind the scenes at Rippaverse Comics. 

This push to subvert the corrupted mega players has successfully gained tens of thousands of followers and subscribers. The company has surpassed its revenue expectations, so it’s clear there is a growing awareness in society of the evil game woke capitalism is playing. 

Image source: Markethive.com

Markethive Media – The Ecosystem For Entrepreneurs 

Markethive is a prominent contributor to the Parallel Economy in the social media, broadcasting, and inbound marketing spectrum. Thomas Prendergast, entrepreneur, author, artist, and engineer, pioneered the automated marketing concept and was ahead of the curve, initiating a social network in the ‘90s before Web 2.0 social media emerged. 

Thomas Prendergast, Founder, Architect, and CEO of Markethive, anticipated the tyrannous and evil direction of where the world was heading, hence the emergence of the first Blockchain-driven, decentralized social market network that circumvents the injustices forced upon us.  

Markethive is a Divine vision giving back the autonomy and freedom of expression desperately needed to communicate and conduct any business online. With a holistic approach, Markethive enables every individual to realize their potential regardless of what is happening out there.

Thomas expressly states,

“Amid this upheaval, Markethive’s primary objective is providing financial inclusion for all. We have blockchain technology and an integrated entrepreneurial ecosystem where people have privacy, autonomy, and sovereignty. 

They earn income with our native crypto coin (Hivecoin) in many different ways daily, including becoming a shareholder via the ILP, the added staking advantage of our crypto wallet with Markethive Credits, and profiting from the many cottage industries within the Markethive ecosystem. Essentially, it’s the community that owns Markethive and not the hierarchy".

Big venture capitalists or corporations do not fund Markethive. It is for the people, by the people, and of the people who stand for truth, liberty, and freedom. Furthermore, Markethive has removed itself from the centralized giant tech cloud services that have shown themselves as wicked despots and established sovereign cloud server systems, free from dictatorship and an internet shutdown due to censorship. 

These aspiring entrepreneurs and critical thinkers will not acquiesce to the insidious actions of big tech and are part of what is causing real frustration and risk for the woke culture and crony capitalists. Due to the fascism of governments and mega-corporations the world is experiencing, Markethive has its own merchant account and exchange to ensure complete privacy and anonymity. It also eliminates the threat of having your account closed or confiscated by authorities who feel the need to censor you and withdraw your liberties for whatever reason. 

The End Goal

The end goal of the projects is not to create a more polarized economy; through healthy competition and true diversity, the private sector that is depoliticized can bring divided communities together to cooperate in a transparent fashion.

There’s a resurgence of entrepreneurs and a rise of businesses being created to serve the hundreds of millions of customers and users who are tacitly ill-affected from their private sector or feel left behind by this woke trend. And they will do it in an elegant way rather than combative. The winners will be the new businesses that operate according to apolitical principles. 

Much to the chagrin of the authoritarian entities, we are entering a more decentralized age, where everybody wins. The free market is at its finest when we are doing what we love serving other people for the sake of all humanity. 

Entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of innovation, striving for a free and peaceful world. They are critical thinkers, creative and inspirational. They also ‘walk softly and carry a big stick’ and are not easily fooled by the trickery and lies of self-serving dictatorial agencies. 

With God’s help, we will withstand the technocracy that is trying to enslave humanity. There is something greater than the elite, tech giants, and mega-corporations that even they cannot control. Every thinking individual recognizes that something more prominent is taking place. You can be part of the Parallel Economy by joining and disseminating the good news and supporting the entrepreneurs and companies that will bring us into a new Golden Age. 

Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp: A Proven Breeding Ground for Cryptocurrency Scams

Cryptocurrency, or crypto, is a digital currency transferred directly between users without a central banking system. It was invented in 2008 as an open source project and is not governed by any bank or government authority, distinguishing it from traditional currencies such as dollars, pounds, and euros.

The first cryptocurrency to be created was bitcoin, which was released in 2009 and has since become the best-known example of cryptos. Bitcoin and altcoins are innovative technologies, but they have also been associated with some undesirable activity, including illicit activities like cybercrime and tax evasion, as well as scams and investment frauds. At the moment of writing, there are 20,942 cryptocurrencies with a market capitalization of $1.06T, according to coinmarketcap.

The world of cryptocurrency is rapidly expanding, but this doesn't mean everyone starting a cryptocurrency project is good or honest with investors' money. Scammers have found new ways to trick people into giving them money without repercussions. Unfortunately, victims of cryptocurrency scams have few options for restitution as perpetrators evade authorities and hide their identities behind fake online accounts.

Cryptocurrency has become an investment vehicle for many people. Naturally, some people take advantage of this new technology to scam innocent people out of their money. Most scammers use social media platforms to lure in victims, with Meta being the chief platform used to perpetrate these evil acts. They pretend to be investors or traders and spread false rumors about specific cryptocurrencies. Those who fall for these tactics end up giving out sensitive financial information to complete scams.

One particularly dangerous scam involves a hacker posing as a bank and requesting personal information from customers. This information is then used to create fake IDs that scammers can use to buy cryptocurrencies with stolen money. After that, the scammers sell the digital coins and get away with stolen funds. These scammers often run away with millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency. Many people lose money due to cryptocurrency scams and are left in serious debts that may take several years to pay off.

However, in most cases, it's difficult for investors to recognize a scam when it occurs. Because most fraudulent projects mimic successful ICOs with similar whitepapers and business plans. The creators often don't even use their names when planning their scams. They usually use fake social media accounts and web forums to communicate with potential victims. These fraudulent projects fail within a year due to shoddy programming and design choices.

An FTC Report released in June showed that since 2021, about 50% of people who have lost money to crypto scams claim to have originated from social media platforms. Meta's Instagram contributed 32% of reported scams, while Facebook and WhatsApp were cited in 26% and 9% of cases, respectively.

U.S. senators have asked Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to detail his company's policies to address rising crypto fraud cases on Facebook and Instagram. The Washington Post reported this on September 9. Lawmakers are calling for this after a recent Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report showed a significant increase in crypto scams on Meta's social media platform.

According to the publication by the Washington Post, Senator Robert Menendez said:

"Based on recent reports of scams on other media platforms and apps, we are concerned that Meta provides a breeding ground for cryptocurrency fraud that causes significant harm to consumers."

Lawmakers have instructed Meta CEO to provide a detailed report on how the company is crushing cryptocurrency scams and what it is doing to help scam victims. Mark Zuckerberg is directed to respond to the request by October 24, 2022.

For each of Meta's social media platforms, questions asked include how the company detects and removes crypto scammers, educates and warns users about crypto scams, and supports victims of fraudulent crypto schemes. The senators also questioned how Meta verifies that crypto ads are not scams and what regulatory clearances are required to advertise on its platform. Additionally, they asked how Meta works with law enforcement to track down scammers.

The U.S. authorities have warned that scammers are increasingly making use of social media to defraud investors. In August, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) warned investors against scams that exploit fear of missing out (FOMO) on social media.

According to another FTC Report, more than 95,000 users lost about $770 million to crypto scams on social media. Over 70% of reported scams are classified as investment, romance, or online shopping scams.

Image source: Federal Trade Commission 

A 2021 BBC study found that around 10,500 victims lost more than $18 million to scam giveaways in the first three months of 2021. Most gift-giving scams are carried out by impersonating an influential figure like Elon Musk.

One victim reportedly lost over $550,000 in February 2021 after sending 10 BTC to the Elon Musk giveaway scam.

While several government agencies are busy making plans to safeguard citizens from crypto scams, you have to ensure you make due findings about an investment before injecting your funds into it. Without doing adequate research on the subject matter in question, you may have yourself to blame for it. 

Also, considering that governments have not been effective in combating these crimes, it's clear you have to be more watchful of what you invest your money into. As they say, "you get what you pay for" with cryptocurrencies and ICOs in general, so you should go out there and conduct thorough research on the best possible projects on the market today that can provide you with a real return on your investments.

Study Shows More Than a Third of Africa’s 53 Million Cryptocurrency Holders Are Nigerians

Cryptocurrency and blockchain are hot topics in the news these days. Due to its growth and adoption, many people have become interested in digital money worldwide. However, Africa is making tremendous progress when it comes to cryptocurrency adoption. Cryptocurrency is transforming African economies through payments, international trade, and government functions. As countries look to embrace this new technology, Africa is poised to take advantage of its many benefits.

Several African countries have embraced cryptocurrency and blockchain technology by regulating crypto trading or creating state-backed crypto. For example, Kenya's Central Bank (CBK) classified crypto as a virtual currency and regulated its trade. South Africa also has plans to regulate crypto trading when it issued an amendment to its financial services regulatory framework this year. Uganda introduced a regulatory framework for blockchain development and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), which has led to increased investor interest in the country. Several other African countries are looking into similar strategies, further expanding the continent's cryptocurrency adoption rate.

Businesses in Africa typically use local bank accounts to conduct business with other nations. This allows African companies to make international payments using locally stored funds instead of transferring funds from abroad using foreign exchange dealers (FEDs). All thanks to the introduction of cryptocurrency. Many businesses across Africa now use cryptocurrency for international payments since it's cheaper than FEDs and doesn't require additional paperwork or conversions. This frees up time for other tasks while increasing profit margins simultaneously. The adoption of this technological development makes it perfect for casual businesses without extensive staff resources.

Image Source: https://mediciland.com/

African countries are also looking into blockchain technology to increase government transparency and accountability across the continent. Blockchain is secure and can transfer data quickly without any loss of accuracy like traditional computer systems do. This makes it ideal for keeping records such as land registries safe and easily accessible by all users on a decentralized platform like the Internet instead of an authoritative centralized system like governments have traditionally used.

Some African countries are already implementing this strategy, such as Zambia, which has created several pilot programs with international tech partners. These programs will bring government services online for the first time by allowing citizens access to their records online. Cryptocurrency has revolutionized African economies by making daily transactions cheaper, easier, and more secure than before, something any business would love!

Applying existing technology effectively can improve citizens' lives in developing areas far faster than simply throwing money at problems could ever achieve. Therefore, while developed countries wait to "catch up" with digital currency innovation, things appear to be changing in Africa, and Nigeria is leading the way and will be leaps ahead!

Nigeria Championing Crypto Adoption in Africa

According to the latest crypto-proprietary data from Triple-A, the African continent now has an estimated 53 million cryptocurrency holders. This is about 16.5% of the estimated global total of 320 million people. Interestingly, of all cryptocurrency holders in Africa, Nigerians account for more than a third of the total, or just over 22 million.

Image source: TripleA.io 

Nigeria has the fourth largest cryptocurrency holder globally, while the United States is the highest-ranked country with 46 million cryptocurrency holders. According to statistics, India and Pakistan are close behind, with 27 million and 26 million crypto owners, respectively.

While Nigeria ranks fourth in cryptocurrency ownership, the country is still considered the world leader in the number of people who Googled the keywords 'bitcoin' and 'cryptocurrency.' These findings are supported by the report of another study. The study shows that Nigeria is one of the most crypto-obsessed countries in the African continent.

Meanwhile, data from Triple-A shows that South Africa has the second largest cryptocurrency holder population in Africa at 7.7 million. This figure is equivalent to about 12.5% ​​of South Africa's population. Kenya has the third largest cryptocurrency owner in Africa, with 6.1 million or 11.6% of the country's population.

The top 5 countries in Africa with the most cryptocurrency owners are Egypt and Tanzania, with 2.37 million and 2.32 million holders, respectively. Seychelles is the lowest-ranked African country, with an estimated 1,257 cryptocurrency owners.

Bottom Line

The future belongs to those who will seize it today. No doubt, African countries like Nigeria are doing just that. By embracing cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology early on, the country has created an optimal environment for businesses and investors alike. Boosting their local economies significantly via increased investment and revenue generation opportunities through the adoption of innovative technologies such as these is something they have been doing at a rapid pace and with much success so far!

Does OFAC Really Know What They’re Doing? A War On Crypto And Privacy

This month, we witnessed one of the most significant attacks on crypto privacy in the form of the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioning Tornado Cash. This led to protocols blocking addresses, funds being seized, and one of the Tornado Cash developers being arrested. The action was unprecedented, given that it was the first time we have effectively had sanctions placed on a piece of open-source software – essentially, restrictions on lines of code. 

For those unfamiliar with Tornado Cash, it has long been one of the most well-known mixing protocols on Ethereum. What it would essentially do is obfuscate or camouflage transaction history. This means it would anonymize transactions and remove all traces of where funds originated. Thousands of people used this privacy tool in the Defi space.

Unfortunately, it was also used for laundering the proceeds of cybercrime, which is the use case the Treasury focused on, stating that Tornado was a favorite tool of North Korean hackers and had been used to launder more than $7 billion. 

The moment Tornado was sanctioned, its website was taken down, and the code disappeared from GitHub. Not only that, but one of the contributors had his GitHub account banned. Circle blacklisted any USDC in the affected wallets, and RPC providers such as Infuror and Alchemy started blocking requests to Tornado Cash Smart contracts. 

Additionally, some decentralized applications also began to restrict access to their front ends for wallets that had interacted with the Tornado Cash Smart contract. For example, both Aave and dYdx reported blocking access from wallets that had interacted with Tornado Cash and even those that had received funds from it. Regarding dYdx, users who had insignificant amounts but were associated with Tornado Cash in the past were also blocked.

Dusting Celebrity Wallets Gag

Things were further complicated because someone in the community started dusting several public ETH addresses of celebrities in the space. In other words, they sent many small transactions to hundreds of known wallets associated with ETH addresses and their .ens official addresses. 

The likes of Brian Armstrong, Jimmy Fallon, and Steve Aoki were potentially committing sanctions violations by appearing to be doing business with a sanctioned protocol. What's even crazier than that is that some of those users who were subjected to the dusting found that they could not interact with Aave’s front end. These included the likes of Anthony Cesano and Justin Sun. 

The gag effectively points out the absurdity of such sanctions for users receiving funds from blacklisted addresses that they have no power to decline. The open nature of crypto is designed to cut out intermediaries, unlike the traditional financial sector that would use banks and other financial institutions to act as gatekeepers against such transactions.

Image source: eff.org

Is Code Fundamentally Free Speech? 

Perhaps the most chilling development, at least so far, was the arrest by Dutch police of one of Tornado Cash’s developers. Alexey Pertsev was picked up by the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) two days after Tornado Cash was sanctioned. The Dutch police have yet to clarify which exact rules Pertsev broke, but if it's just because he wrote some code, this is a dangerous precedent for several reasons. Furthermore, he is still detained and forbidden from communicating with his wife.  

The first thing we need to ask ourselves, however, is whether these actions by the treasury were legal. It is the first time that the treasury has effectively sanctioned a tool, a piece of Open Source Code that exists on the Ethereum Blockchain and which can be used by anyone for any purpose, albeit good or bad. Given that it is open source, that means it is akin to the likes of a public good. 

So that could be comparable to a road or a park; it would be as if OFAC were to sanction the use of an interstate highway because drug dealers drive on it. Or a more relevant example would be the treasury sanctioning the TCP IP protocol because hackers use the internet for hacking: It's impractical.

Moreover, just because a tool is sanctioned does not mean that the criminals will not use it. That's because criminals, by definition, have zero consideration for the law; they're likely to continue using the Smart contract as they see fit. Then there is the fundamental question of whether sanctioning a piece of code violates the First Amendment. 

To put it in perspective, thanks to a 1996 case Bernstein versus the DOJ, it's been established that code should be considered as speech, and if it is indeed speech, then it should be protected by the First Amendment. By sanctioning this tool, the treasury effectively says that speech itself is illegal. 

Now there is a real possibility that should someone want to challenge these sanctions, they could have a strong case in court. The Coin Center lobbying group is doing just that and believes the Treasury has overstepped its legal authority. The group wants to engage with OFAC to share their thoughts and will be exploring with counsel a court challenge. Additionally, they have had inquiries from members of Congress about the situation and are keeping the interested parties briefed on the matter. 

Furthermore, if, indeed, the only thing the developer did was write code, then that could also be seen as a violation of free speech. But if any legal challenges are mounted, they will take a long time to settle. Until then, the sanctions will have to be enforced, which means that specific Defi projects and protocols will continue blacklisting the Smart contract for fear of arrest. 

What Are The Practical Issues? 

Apart from the legal aspect, there is a practical consideration for how this will be enforced.  Remember, criminals will be criminals, and they will continue to use it. The code is open source and free to fork. Should that happen, the treasury will ultimately be playing whack-a-mole with a bunch of newly deployed Smart contracts. 

Not only that but those other crypto projects and protocols will also have to monitor not only the funds coming from the original Tornado Cash Smart contract but also from all the forked ones. This could quickly become a logistical impossibility, and projects will always have to worry whether any ETH they handle has gone through a forked version of the original Tornado Cash.

And speaking of which, there's also the broader question around who could technically find themselves violating OFAC rules due to these sanctions. 

If someone sends ETH from the Tornado contract to you, does that mean you are in violation? I mean, it's not like you can refuse to receive it. As we saw with those dusting attacks, protocols themselves have started blocking some of these dusted addresses. Could the Feds start going after any of those wallets that have received Tornado-tainted ETH? Could we soon see Jimmy Fallon dragged away in handcuffs? 

It's not even about addresses that have received funds. What about liquidity providers on a DEX? What happens if they unknowingly convert ETH that has been through Tornado Cash into some other cryptocurrency? Are they thus engaging with sanctioned entities? 

What about Ethereum miners? What liability did they have if they were to propagate a block that included a Tornado Cash transaction? Does that mean that they could also be flirting with illegality? Or how about that ETH that is sent to the ETH2.0 staking contract? What would that mean for Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake? 

What happens once the transition to proof of stake is complete? Will validators have to decide to censor certain transactions that their jurisdiction deems illegal? Could they get censored? So you can see how quickly this grows out of control. The crypto space has just seen a massive can of worms open up right in front of it. 

Now, of course, there will be some who claim that these actions are justified. Swiped funds from some of the most high-profile crypto hacks of the past two years have gone through Tornado. This was seen in the wake of the $100 million Harmony hack a few weeks ago. 

Why Do We Want Privacy?

Many people have been asking whether there are any legitimate use cases for Tornado Cash, a tool designed specifically for privacy. Essentially this all comes down to the broader question of why someone would want to have financial privacy in the first place. As the old saying goes, “why do you worry if you have nothing to hide?” 

Well, for plenty of reasons; firstly, because blockchains are public and transparent, everyone can see exactly what your wallets are doing and what you could be buying or investing. This is not the case with traditional finance, where your bank account balances and spending habits aren't public. The moment they are public, and someone can attach them to your IRL identity, it opens you up to potential physical harm if criminals ever want access to your crypto. 

Or perhaps you wanted to donate crypto to a cause that may get you into serious trouble in your country. For example, what happens if you were a citizen of Iran or Venezuela who wanted to donate to a journalist or newspaper that the government didn't like? Blockchain is immutable; you’d live in constant fear of being placed on a list of some kind. 

Or how about if you were a Russian who wanted to donate to Ukraine, not something you would like the FSB to know about? On the flip side, you could be a Ukrainian refugee wishing to hide where you are getting your donations from. This is something that Vitalik Buterin himself highlighted earlier this year when he donated to the country. 

Beyond such high stakes implications, it could also just be a situation where you don't want people you interact with on-chain to know what you do with your money. For example, let's assume that you get paid in crypto. That means your employer can see exactly what you do with that money and what you're buying. 

Or perhaps you're buying something from an online Merchant, and you don't want them to know what else you've been spending the money on or how much you have; just imagine the targeted advertising coming your way. Ironically this would be much easier to achieve when paying with a wholly open and permissionless form of money. 

These are reasons why someone would want to anonymize their transaction history. Some might say you could just use a centralized exchange; however, the whole point of the decentralized and censorship-resistant currency is that you don't have to rely on a centralized gatekeeper. Moreover, some people are just not comfortable having others holding their private keys, and can you blame them? 

OFAC’s False Press Release

In its press release, it was also pretty disingenuous for the Treasury to claim that $7 billion was laundered through Tornado Cash. That was the total volume of transactions, many of which would have been for such perfectly legitimate reasons. 

In fact, according to stats from Chain Analysis, only about 17% of the funds that flow through the protocol were tied to sanctioned activity. The vast majority, 50%, was related to DefI activities. That means that these users were thrown into the laundering bucket by the Treasury when all they were really doing was trying to anonymize their funds. 

Image Source: Chain Analysis

First Crypto War Had Net Positive Result

So this raises the question of what all this means for crypto privacy and also privacy in general. It's pretty clear that privacy is under attack, albeit this move by the treasury was prompted by concerns around the North Korean hacking. Still, this radical approach by the Treasury is so nonspecific for what it's trying to achieve that you have to wonder whether the folks at OFAC gave any thought to collateral damage. 

Many have drawn parallels with the early Crypto Wars, for example. For unfamiliar people, this was when the US government arrested Phil Zimmerman, a developer who distributed PGP cryptography online. They accused him of “munitions export, without a license.” 

They contended that his PGP encryption system was a weapon that adversaries could use. Really? It would seem they don’t consider that any citizen wants and has a right to privacy. Only criminals and enemy governments would want to encrypt their communications. 

Well, it turned out that there were many practical uses for encryption online, and various encryption standards have helped power the multibillion-dollar e-commerce revolution we've experienced over the last 20 years. What was initially considered a way to hide state secrets has allowed legal commerce to thrive. 

Many have also wondered why Tornado Cash got hit and not other well-known crypto projects, like Monero. Virtual mixers seem to be viewed with much more suspicion than privacy-by-default currencies. People could see on-chain how the Lazarus group was laundering its funds through the tool. This isn't something that you can easily observe with Monero. 

Moreover, the sheer volume of funds running through Tornado Cash made it a prime target, but this doesn't mean Monero isn't being studied and tracked. There may well be a robust state-backed effort to crack the ring signature technology for which Monero is famous. This is perhaps one of the reasons why the Monero developers pushed through some new upgrades to the protocol only recently. 

Crypto And Congress Take A Stand

There has been a genuine outcry from the crypto industry arguing that the Treasury Department’s actions to shut the Tornado Cash could be “unconstitutional” as people have a right to privacy. 

Abraham Piha, co-founder, and CEO of Web3-focused firm Tomi, told Cointelegraph, 

“Tornado existed only because most blockchains were not private enough. If successive updates of Ethereum or Bitcoin include protocol integrations like Mimblewimble, will the next step be to block them as well? This act is yet another reason to push for Web3, a free web, controlled by users and not by some big brother governments.”

Kenny Li, co-founder and core developer for Manta Network, a privacy-preservation protocol, said that the Treasury’s decision to sanction Tornado Cash is far-fetched and extreme, even though, in the past, specific individual crypto wallet addresses have been subject to the same treatment. But in most cases, he said, there was a clear case of fraud, hacks, or a Ponzi scheme:

“In this case, smart contract addresses are being blacklisted. Smart contracts aren’t people. Not only that, but people forget that Tornado Cash is a protocol, not a person or an entity, which means it will continue to run regardless of the sanctions. It is time that we realize privacy and anonymity aren’t the same, and Web3 is all about privacy.”

Additionally, some Congress members are standing up, demanding an explanation from OFAC. Specifically, United States Congressman Tom Emmer sent a four-page letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen regarding the unprecedented sanctioning of Tornado Cash. 

He posed a series of questions that sought to clarify the position of the Treasury Department’s OFAC. They were practical questions noting that Tornado Cash is a collection of several Ethereum Smart contract addresses that are not controlled by an individual or entity. 

Emmer asked what persons could be associated with those addresses and:

“Given that the Tornado Cash back-end will operate unchanged […] as long as the Ethereum network continues to operate, who or what entity did OFAC believe was reasonably responsible for imposing controls on the Tornado Cash blockchain contracts?”

Emmer posted the full letter on Twitter, stating that the growing adoption of decentralized technology would certainly raise new challenges for OFAC. Nonetheless, technology is neutral, and the expectation of privacy is normal.

Closing Thoughts

Firstly, I dare say we can all agree that those who engage in criminality should be brought down. The laundering of ill-gotten gains, be it through a bank account or a Defi protocol, should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. 

Those wallets linked to criminal activity should also be sanctioned and flagged. This is precisely what the treasury did before the Tornado Cash sanctions were imposed. And it's not as though this approach wasn't enjoying some success. Thanks to some pretty advanced tools and tracking services, law enforcement can catch such miscreants more effectively than they could in the past. 

They also have the power of subpoenas and search warrants. They simply didn't need to take this action against Tornado Cash. The collateral damage resulted in a loss of privacy for some and a massive disruption for all in the Defi space. 

As for those North Korean hackers, they'll switch to one of the other 100 or so laundering techniques they were using long before Tornado started operating. Moreover, given that tornado cash is nothing but code, it'll be hard to outlaw permanently; it'll be a game of whack-a-mole. It won't have the desired effect. And the collateral damage is already permeating the crypto industry. 

These actions also raise legal questions. Is this a breach of the First Amendment, and what happens to any citizens who have used it in the past? Or anyone that interacts with it? It's a legal quandary, to say the least. 

With legal challenges brewing, this could turn into a new crypto war. One, with a positive long-term impact, as we saw with the first crypto war. Or maybe the large centralized institutions will conform, and we’ll have a more amenable but less free crypto space. It does demonstrate how some developers will continue to embrace decentralization, and many of us as individuals will fight for our right to freedom and privacy. 

Reference:
Coin Bureau
Cointelegraph

Also published @ BeforeIt’sNews.com; Steemit.com