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    Cryptocurrency Daily Discussion - July 10, 2021 (GMT+0)

    July 10, 2021

    Cryptocurrency Daily Discussion - July 10, 2021 (GMT+0)

    Daily Discussion - July 10, 2021 (GMT+0)

    Posted: 09 Jul 2021 05:00 PM PDT

    Welcome to the Daily Discussion. Please read the disclaimer, guidelines, and rules before participating.

    Disclaimer:

    Though karma rules still apply, moderation is less stringent on this thread than on the rest of the sub. Therefore, consider all information posted here with several liberal heaps of salt, and always cross check any information you may read on this thread with known sources. Any trade information posted in this open thread may be highly misleading, and could be an attempt to manipulate new readers by known "pump and dump (PnD) groups" for their own profit. BEWARE of such practices and exercise utmost caution before acting on any trade tip mentioned here.

    Please be careful about what information you share and the actions you take. Do not share the amounts of your portfolios (why not just share percentage?). Do not share your private keys or wallet seed. Use strong, non-SMS 2FA if possible. Beware of scammers and be smart. Do not invest more than you can afford to lose, and do not fall for pyramid schemes, promises of unrealistic returns (get-rich-quick schemes), and other common scams.

    Rules:

    • All sub rules apply in this thread. The prior exemption for karma and age requirements is no longer in effect.
    • Discussion topics must be related to cryptocurrency.
    • Behave with civility and politeness. Do not use offensive, racist or homophobic language.
    • Comments will be sorted by newest first.

    Useful Links:

    submitted by /u/AutoModerator
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    TikTok Influencers Banned from Promoting Cryptocurrencies

    Posted: 09 Jul 2021 07:41 AM PDT

    Wildly popular video-sharing app TikTok—which is partially responsible for the rise of meme cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin—has prohibited its users from promoting cryptocurrencies, The Daily Mail reports.

    Apart from crypto, a slew of other financial services and products, such as loans, credit cards and forex trading, are also banned under the app's recently updated branded content policy.

    Popular social media accounts usually receive a commission for endorsing certain products.

    There were concerns that some unscrupulous users were taking advantage of young people's credulity and lack of investing skills.

    submitted by /u/Ghoststoke
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    The Complete Security Guide to keep you, your computer, and your crypto safe

    Posted: 09 Jul 2021 03:44 PM PDT

    Recently the FBI released a warning about ongoing attacks regarding crypto to owners and exchanges alike and these attacks are only increasing. As does the use of ransomware and newly discovered 0 day exploits

    https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/fbi-warns-cryptocurrency-owners-exchanges-of-ongoing-attacks/

    With that I figured it would be a good time to repost my security guide to minimize the chances for everyone here to be the next victim :)

    Background: I currently work for a fortune 100 company's Computer Security Incident Response Team, I work specifically on detect and response which includes business email compromises, responding to phishing emails and malware within the organization, while documenting the process.

    Email:

    • Email Providers
      • Any reputable email provider with 2FA will do
      • If you want to get more into privacy and encrypting emails there is Protonmail or Preveil
      • You can alternatively also hook up your current email with the Thunderbird email client (use to be managed by Mozilla Firefox) it is overseen by a volunteer board of contributors.
    • 2FA - This is important, activating 2FA on your email is just as important as having it on exchanges. (Will cover more on 2FA further down)
    • Create an email specifically for Crypto, but also avoid using crypto keywords / personal information in the email, treat your email address like its public information.
    • Be on the lookout for Phishing emails, I made a post on how to identify phishing emails along with some useful tools here | How to spot a phishing email |
      • Quick tips for emails:
        • Don't trust email links
        • Double check the address bar of login pages
        • Know the levels of a domain
        • Check to see if your crypto sites allow a anti-phish banner that displays a code with their emails that you set.
    • Tracking pixels are also a thing, there not malicious in themselves, but they can potentially let attackers know if you have open an email / let them know the email exist and is active.
    • Furthermore You can check haveibeenpwned to see what data breaches your email has been apart of - If your email shows up and passwords are listed on the data that was compromised, ASSUME the worse and change the password and never use it again, along with any other accounts that use that password.

    Passwords / PINs:

    • Don't reuse them EVER
    • Use strong secure passwords, passwords managers make these easy to manage and generate passwords.
    • This includes your phone and 2FA app, if you have a weak pin (1234) for your phone and someone takes it, remember your 2FA app is then available (if same pin, or no pin/pass set), your email is automatically signed in (same for other accounts auto signed-in), and they can access your text messages.
    • Don't use words relating to crypto or personal information in your passwords (or email), if they are compromised in a breach, assume they will search for these terms to target crypto users and try the same combo against crypto sites or figure who you based on the information (email & password) and pivot to finding public information that could lead to them answering challenge questions for password resets. (Your first pet, is it posted on Facebook? How about your car? Your first girlfriend/boyfriend?)
    • Password Managers: These work wonders when managing passwords securely. They generate random strong passwords which can be adjusted, and its all kept in an encrypted database file, so even if a attacker gets access to it, they won't be able to access it without the password.
    • Don't save passwords in your browser
      • Does it require verification for you to use the password? Also I tend to find extensions being more buggy as they have to interact with more 'moving' parts and changing configurations, and generally more people try to target and exploit browsers.

    2 Factor Authentications (2FA):

    • Enable on everything possible (Email, Exchanges, Banks, Robinhood, even Reddit to protect your moons)
    • Use 2FA Apps instead of SMS whenever possible, SIM Swap attacks are real, and more common than you think.
    • Hardware Keys
      • These are physical 2FA device (I chose this list as I think it does a good job explaining them with pros and cons, I did NOT vet the sellers that are listed on the amazon links. Always research and buy from a reliable source)
    • Backup codes:
      • When you activate 2FA on any account you should have the ability to generate backup codes, these are used incase you lose access to your authenticator, TREAT these like your seed phrases. Use them by logging in with your user and pass, and use these backup codes in place of the 2FA code you usually enter.
    • DO NOT take pictures of your QR codes, if you screenshot it, might end up syncing somewhere you don't want it to and if it ever gets compromised they have the ability to continually receive your 2FA code.
    • Also, DO NOT sign up for your 2FA app or any crypto service for that matter using your work or school email address. You lose access to that email, then consider all accounts gone as you won't be able to access the codes if you switch devices.

    Wallets

    • Learn the difference between the different wallets, I think this article is REALLY good at going in depth about the differences and pros vs cons of them at a beginner level.
    • Cold wallets will always be more secure than any hot wallets as they aren't connected to the internet
      • Top trusted hardware wallets from the community:
        • Ledger
        • Trezor
    • Verify the details you are confirming on your hardware wallet device. the wallet app interacting with your cold wallet device could be compromised, but you would still be safe using it, as long as you verify each action on the cold wallet device, and reject the transaction if anything seems off. (Thanks keeri)

    Seed Phrases: Treat these as they are the keys to the kingdom (Keep offline and out of your notes app)

    Less Secure:

    • Write down on paper and either break up the phrase and place in separate secure locations or hide them like the the FBI is going to come search your house
    • Secure on USB
    1. Get a file shredder (securely deletes data, and overwrites it)
    2. Download password manager (optional)
    3. Disconnect device from internet
    4. Enter seed phrase into password manager / create encrypted file
    5. Put on a freshly reformatted USB / datalocker (Worms like to spread by USB)
    6. Save to USB, and shred the original using the file shredder software
    7. Hide USB
    • Another device / old phone
    1. Factory reset
    2. Set Pin / Pass
    3. Download 2FA app and password manager / file encryption tool
    4. Disconnect from internet FOR GOOD (Treat this like a cold wallet)
    5. Back up 2FA and seed phrases
    6. Hide device

    More secure (more expensive):

    NOTE: Each method is going to its pros and cons: Getting robbed, fading ink, the elements, data retention (USB ~10 years), ever being on a digital machine. Pick which ones benefits you the most, and correlates with your budget and what your willing to risk.

    VPNs / TOR:

    • Privacy vs Anonymity

      • Privacy is the ability to keep your data and information about yourself exclusive to you (They know who you are, but not what you do).
      • Anonymity is about hiding and concealing your identity, but not your actions. (They know what you do, but not who you are)
      • Think about what your goal is, I commonly associate privacy with VPN and anonymity with TOR
        • Both encrypt your data before leaving your device, then routes it through proxy servers to mask your IP/Location. VPNs you have to trust the provider (ensure they state there is a no log policy) while TOR runs through servers ran by volunteers (don't think governments don't run their own) and lets you access the dark web. Here is a more in-depth comparison on VPN vs TOR.
        • Personally Its worth paying the few bucks a month for a paid tier of the VPN service.

    • VPN Providers - Zero log VPN services:

    • TOR

      • Brave offers TOR, but I would treat this more like a VPN
      • If being anonymous is your goal the only real way to achieve this is running Tails off a USB.

    NOTE: Some exchanges and websites blacklist IP ranges associated with VPN and most commonly TOR for security reasons. Some people on this community stated that this can lead to them freezing your account.

    Browsers (Excluding TOR):

    • Top 3 Browsers built for privacy
    • Search Engine for privacy: DuckDuckGo
    • Extensions
      • One of the most dangerous threats I think that aren't taken seriously are extensions. These can start out legitimate, then through an update turn malicious. These will then be removed from the webstore, but not your browser.
        • Some will be removed the store due to not being supported anymore which = no more updates, and no more updates = vulnerabilities that won't be fixed
        • If you have Google Sync activated, these extensions will also sync to all those devices
      • Remove any extensions you don't need, check to see there still available on the store, and even search them to see if some security article like this pops up about it.
      • Check the privacy practice tab of the extension to see what data it collects.

    Checking and verifying hashes of a download:

    Hashes are the fingerprint of a file, even if you change the name of the file the hash will be the same. This is similar to how wallets work, its a string of characters and numbers, yet represents data (aka your holdings)

    • How to get hash:
      • Go to the search bar in windows and enter 'cmd' this should bring up the command prompt (open terminal on Linux / MAC)
        • type "Certutil -hashfile Desktop\example.txt sha256" for windows
        • type "Sha256sum Desktop\example.txt" for Linux
        • type "shasum -a 256 Desktop\example.txt" for MAC
        • (Remove quotes, and replace 'Desktop\example.txt" with the path to the file you want to check)
    • this should give you the sha256 hash you can copy and paste into VirusTotal to check to see if its known as malicious by many security vendors. Here is the hash and VirusTotal link for the shredder download I previously mentioned in the seed back up step. 72714927de74b97c524c5fa8bc1a0dec83f038dbbed80b93b5e6280ca1317f41/detection

    NOTE: You can also just submit the file to VirusTotal, but if it potentially contains personal information, it will upload the file and allow other people to download it, searching the hash will not do this.

    Other General Safety Tips:

    • Harden your PC (Guide is for Windows 10, but can translate to other OS)
      • Update OS and any software // turn on automatic updates - Everything you download is an attack vector
      • Set firewall rules - Default deny, open only p855orts you need, disable rules you don't need
      • disable remote access
      • Install AV // Malwarebytes for removing malware
      • Turn on encryption
      • Setup user accounts // privileges'
      • Strong password
    • Whitelist addresses if possible (Some exchanges allow you to designate a address as 'safe' any other transactions besides those won't go through)
    • If you use a encrypted messaging service, I highly recommend Signal, if you haven't seen their reply regarding a subpoena you should
    • Lock down your social media accounts (go to security settings, turn off being able to be found via search engine, ad related settings, change who can view your posts, etc)
    • Don't disclose your holdings and earnings
    • Don't access your crypto on your work computer
    • Don't answer PMs about winning some contest or some amazing opportunity

    Phone:

    Many users asked about security regarding people who mainly use their phones. Many of these tips can translate to phones as well, but here's a quick rundown.

    • Unique pin / password for the phone
    • download a password manager
    • email account purely for crypto
    • pin / password (different than getting into your phone) for your 2FA app.
    • Don't lend phone out
    • Avoid apps you don't need, read the 3 star reviews as they are the most honest)
    • Download VPN / be aware of the wifi your connecting to
    • Be aware of phishing
    • Call your service provider and see if they can lock your SIM card and prevent SIM swapping.

    NOTE: These are still just suggestions, these are methods that balance security and usability. One could use 2 password managers and split a password between both, but that would compromise usability / ease of use.

    submitted by /u/xCryptoPandax
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    Paraguay Will Legislate To Make Bitcoin Legal Tender Next Week

    Posted: 09 Jul 2021 10:26 PM PDT

    Create a dead man's switch so that if you kick the bucket tomorrow, your crypto wallets can be recovered by your family.

    Posted: 09 Jul 2021 10:00 PM PDT

    Whether your house catches fire and burns up the seed phrase you stored in a notebook, or you die tomorrow, you'll want to be sure you have a backup plan. Personally, I have two separate notebooks in two places that are guarded from weather and fire because I don't keep any of my recovery info stored digitally. I began doing it because I wondered what would happen if I died unexpectedly, and I realized nothing would. My wallets would just sit untouched for the rest of time. If I kick the bucket, I want to make sure my family is taken care of, and so I also created a dead man's switch.

    It sounds cooler than it is (it's still pretty cool and makes me feel like James Bond) but you can go to google inactive account management https://myaccount.google.com/inactive and make a plan for when your primary email account is inactive for X amount of time. If you don't log in for that period or show any sign of activity, an email can automatically be sent out to a predetermined list. Your wife, your parents, your best friend, etc. My automated email provides directions on how to recover my wallets and where to find my recovery information.

    I thought this was a pretty cool and easy to set up feature and could change the lives of your loved ones if something were to happen to you.

    submitted by /u/Trompdoy
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    Exposed Congressman Rep Brad Sherman Who is Trying to ‘Shut Down’ Crypto and Gets His Biggest Donations From Big Banks, Is Having a Town Hall on July 21st, 7pm. Might Be a Nice Time to Remind Him Who He's Working For (Spoiler Alert: Us, and Our Best Interests- Not The Banks and His Own Pockets)

    Posted: 09 Jul 2021 03:44 PM PDT

    Hackers steal $45,000 BTC from New Zealand police wallet

    Posted: 09 Jul 2021 01:03 PM PDT

    Coinbase pro

    Posted: 09 Jul 2021 08:27 PM PDT

    I'm just gonna toss this out there because I've been anti Coinbase for a very long time. Today I used Coinbase pro to make 4 different 5$ purchases to test out fees. For each transaction it cost me exactly 2 cents and I could transfer it to Coinbase instantly for free. If I want to sell, I can then transfer coins from Coinbase back to Coinbase pro instantly for free and the fees are generally exactly the same. I can then transfer the cash to my Coinbase account instantly and cash out instantly to my bank account with fast pay to my debit card, it literally loaded the money back in about 30 seconds. They list a majority of all the coins on Coinbase pro and it's super easy to use and understand once you mess around with it for a day. This is the cheapest fees by far I've ever seen across any exchanges including Binance. Coinbase pro doesn't get the glory that is deserves!!!

    submitted by /u/Deathbysnusnu42069
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    Crypto is a long game. People who bought the peak in 2017 had to wait 3 years to break even. Your timeframe to hold should be 5+ years.

    Posted: 09 Jul 2021 10:31 AM PDT

    Too many people treat this like a casino. Crypto is a long game. People that bought the peak in 2017 had to wait three years to break even, it doesn't happen overnight.

    Don't get me wrong, if you make the right crypto choices you will make a significant amount of money, you just have to hold long enough. 5+ years should be your timeframe.

    Big gains in crypto require years of holding.

    submitted by /u/roberthonker
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    Invest in fundamentals and you'll sleep well at night.

    Posted: 09 Jul 2021 09:35 PM PDT

    If you're buying meme coins with no real use or value just because other people are doing the same thing then of course you'll freak out when prices drop. You're gambling on a ponzi scheme.

    The analogy that Warren Buffett uses is that you own a productive farm. You understand farming and you have a general idea of what your farm is worth, and you also have a crazy alcoholic neighbor who keeps offering you a different price for your farm each day. Why would you sell your farm to your neighbor just because you think that he'll offer you a lower price tomorrow? Why would you buy your neighbor's farm just because you think that he'll ask for a higher price tomorrow? It's the wrong mindset.

    Do your research. Does your coin have a working product, a solid use-case, and a team you can trust? Is it at a price below what you believe its actual value to be, or to be in the future? That's how you know whether to buy or not, and then it doesn't really matter how the market shifts. You just wait until your coin is at or above what you think it is fundamentally worth and then you sell. Simple :)

    submitted by /u/DoItYrselfLiberation
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    Bank of America in Public has Spread FUD about Crypto but Internal Memo Says that They are Actually Bullish On it

    Posted: 09 Jul 2021 08:21 AM PDT

    TikTok Is Banning Influencers From Promoting Cryptocurrencies

    Posted: 09 Jul 2021 10:19 PM PDT

    Crypto Whales Accumulated $2,200,000,000 in Bitcoin This Week, Says On-Chain Analyst William Clemente

    Posted: 10 Jul 2021 12:42 AM PDT

    Barclays closed account due to transaction with Binance

    Posted: 09 Jul 2021 12:31 PM PDT

    Just had a Barclays account which has been open for over 15 years closed due to multiple transaction with Binance.

    They served a section 11 notice after blocking my card transaction and gave 2 months to sort out another account.

    I will take my business elsewhere, that probably noticed most my fiat going to crypto.

    F Barclays

    submitted by /u/patelbadboy2006
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    How does BTC price affect the activity in r/Cryptocurrency? I collected the data and took a look (This is a long one, so buckle up)

    Posted: 09 Jul 2021 05:06 PM PDT

    How does BTC price affect the activity in r/Cryptocurrency? I collected the data and took a look (This is a long one, so buckle up)

    I recently started trying to predict the Moon to Karma ratio, because how cool would that be?

    I figured out that the total karma per Moon round correlates with the activity in the daily discussion threads.

    Like this:

    https://preview.redd.it/y4tm13i1w4a71.png?width=899&format=png&auto=webp&s=189cf98d79906c94d9b7f24a0afdf70a1b7c8b7e

    I thought it would be close, but I didn't expect it to be that close.

    Then I wondered how the BTC price activity affects what goes on in the daily discussion.

    So I collected all the data. I went back to when Moons were introduced and organised it in Moon rounds, just so its easier for me to graph with other stuff.

    I got the BTC price from CMC and took the closing figure for each day, then I managed to get the comment count for each daily since 13th May 2020 (There are some gaps with the daily's as they were deleted or something like that, but its not many and it averages out alright on the whole I think)

    Then I made a fucking spreadsheet, didn't I.

    And some graphs

    Here's one:

    https://preview.redd.it/5gegpd9gw4a71.png?width=908&format=png&auto=webp&s=692a50d510c1e5aab0e728cbf6ce2d7debf54e7f

    Yeah of course the price going up will increase activity round here, so what you dork? So I took a closer look.

    I graphed each round.

    Rounds 1-7 look kind of boring, the same as the market was at the time. I played around with the axis scales and you can see a little bit of what's going on but we'll skip them for this post.

    Round 8 & 9 were when BTC started smashing ATH's and shit started kicking off around here.

    Round 8

    https://preview.redd.it/y34tevvuy4a71.png?width=919&format=png&auto=webp&s=6c0dbf9627c742c7cd639d57a013ff43c407c176

    Round 9

    https://preview.redd.it/wc85fmdwy4a71.png?width=919&format=png&auto=webp&s=21ca4f87e93bc53eab6adff2b7063f3eea19df54

    This is when we started getting easily into the multiple thousand comments per day in the daily.

    Round 10

    (This one is broken because I couldn't find all the comment counts, so I just averaged them)

    https://preview.redd.it/tt3ji3lmz4a71.png?width=919&format=png&auto=webp&s=5f9df09a60d58bde47c15769e64f8f497bfeb9bc

    (If anyone has got the numbers for the daily in round 10 then hook me up please)

    Round 11

    https://preview.redd.it/le0qsybb05a71.png?width=919&format=png&auto=webp&s=191a6b7022d271aafca0efa6819c18dffd2a29eb

    This is where the good stuff starts. (If you're weird like me)

    I always thought that the price going up would be the major driver in comment amounts. People posting "To the Moon" and all the other good hype and mania.

    But it looks like its quite the opposite.

    It looks like misery really does enjoy company

    We get the most activity and the highest peaks when the price freefalls.

    Rounds 12 - 15

    Almost every time the price dips a decent amount, the comment count spikes.

    https://preview.redd.it/4lxeju0v05a71.png?width=919&format=png&auto=webp&s=98874346a2b20098a6fe464e5161d4d46d4db16b

    ​

    https://preview.redd.it/y5mpv4yv05a71.png?width=919&format=png&auto=webp&s=6e0ea10b36a066131cc2b822b6c5e233172aac15

    ​

    https://preview.redd.it/y3l2lr1x05a71.png?width=908&format=png&auto=webp&s=f42a64382b920e0a87f6edba5c0dc5eee3167116

    Can anyone remember what happened on 19/05 other than the price dip? That spike is the highest daily I've recorded at 58,550 comments.

    ​

    https://preview.redd.it/bwr85i2y05a71.png?width=908&format=png&auto=webp&s=4cbe4e069aeb63165f59f27e5ae2309525df9d4d

    My original idea to predict the Moon ratio is still a work in progress, it uses the daily comment count so it looks like it might be easier for me to just build a BTC price prediction and work from there. For round 15 I predicted 0.292 when it was 0.304, so I was close.

    ​

    TL;DR Misery likes company and I fucking love spreadsheets

    submitted by /u/IHaventEvenGotADog
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    What is staking?

    Posted: 09 Jul 2021 06:31 PM PDT

    It's surprising how there are so many people in the crypto space that do not stake their cryptos. Some of them choose not to but most of them do not know about staking. So here I am, doing my best to explain what is staking. TLDR at the bottom.

    What is staking?

    In order to remain decentralized, operating without a central authority, cryptocurrency networks work by incorporating a consensus mechanism, which means all computers on that network can agree on what's going on at any given time without a central bank intermediary.

    This means everyone's computer can agree on which transactions have taken place, for example, instead of a bank keeping track of it.

    How does staking work?

    • When the minimum balance is met, a node deposits that amount of cryptocurrency into the network as a stake (similar to a security deposit).
    • The size of a stake is directly proportional to the chances of that node being chosen to forge the next block.
    • If the node successfully creates a block, the validator receives a reward, similar to how a miner is rewarded in proof-of-work chains.
    • Validators lose part of their stake if they double-sign or attempt to attack the network

    Why do only some cryptocurrencies have staking?

    This is where it starts to get more technical. Bitcoin, for instance, doesn't allow staking. To understand why you need a little bit of background.

    • Cryptocurrencies are typically decentralized, meaning there is no central authority running the show. So how do all the computers in a decentralized network arrive at the correct answer without having it fed to them by a central authority like a bank or a credit-card company? They use a "consensus mechanism."
    • Many cryptocurrencies — including Bitcoin and Ethereum 1.0 — use a consensus mechanism called Proof of Work. Via Proof of Work, the network throws a huge amount of processing power at solving problems like validating transactions between strangers on opposite sides of the planet and making sure nobody is trying to spend the same money twice. Part of the process involves "miners" all over the world competing to be the first to solve a cryptographic puzzle. The winner earns the right to add the latest "block" of verified transactions onto the blockchain — and receives some crypto in return.

    For a relatively simple blockchain like Bitcoin's (which functions a lot like a bank's ledger, tracking incoming and outgoing transactions) Proof of Work is a scalable solution. But for something more complex like Ethereum — which has a huge variety of applications including the whole world of DeFi running on top of the blockchain — Proof of Work can cause bottlenecks when there's too much activity. As a result transaction times can be longer and fees can be higher.

    What are the advantages of staking?

    Many long-term crypto holders look at staking as a way of making their assets work for them by generating rewards, rather than collecting dust in their crypto wallets.

    Staking has the added benefit of contributing to the security and efficiency of the blockchain projects you support. By staking some of your funds, you make the blockchain more resistant to attacks and strengthen its ability to process transactions. (Some projects also award "governance tokens" to staking participants, which give holders a say in future changes and upgrades to that protocol.)

    What are some staking risks?

    Staking often requires a lockup or "vesting" period, where your crypto can't be transferred for a certain period of time. This can be a drawback, as you won't be able to trade staked tokens during this period even if prices shift. Before staking, it is important to research the specific staking requirements and rules for each project you are looking to get involved with.

    How do I start staking?

    Staking is generally open to anyone who wants to participate. That said, becoming a full validator can require a substantial minimum investment (ETH2, for example, requires a minimum of 32 ETH), technical knowledge, and a dedicated computer that can perform validations day or night without downtime. Participating on this level comes with security considerations and is a serious obligation, as downtime can cause a validator's stake to become slashed.

    But for the vast majority of participants, there's a simpler way to participate. Via exchanges like Binance, Coinbase, Crypto.com and many more you can contribute an amount you can afford to a staking pool. This lowers the barrier to entry and allows investors to start earning rewards without having to operate their own validator hardware.

    Some exceptions:
    Validators lose part of their stake if they double-sign or attempt to attack the network - only if the slashing mechanism is used in your Proof of Stake design.

    Staking involves the locking up of assets to participate in the validation of transactions on proof-of-stake blockchains - again, not true for all Proof of Stake protocols. So that line should be changed to "Staking oftentimes involves the locking up of assets ... ..."

    TLDR: Staking involves the locking up of assets to participate in the validation of transactions on proof-of-stake blockchains, with a financial "reward" provided in exchange. This offers a digital asset alternative for yield generation in today's low or negative interest rate environment.

    I hope this was helpful

    submitted by /u/Accomplished-Design7
    [link] [comments]

    Man Who Dumped Hard Drive Containing $381M BTC Gets Hedge Fund Backing To Recover Hard Drive

    Posted: 09 Jul 2021 10:36 PM PDT

    I bought $1k of the Top 10 Cryptos on January 1st, 2018 (JUNE Update/Month 42)

    Posted: 09 Jul 2021 06:38 AM PDT

    I bought $1k of the Top 10 Cryptos on January 1st, 2018 (JUNE Update/Month 42)

    EXPERIMENT – Tracking 2018 Top Ten Cryptocurrencies – Month Forty-Two – Down -1%

    Find the full blog post with all the tables is here.

    Welcome to your monthly no-shill data dump: the Top Ten Cryptocurrency Index Fund Experiment Updates, a bit delayed, but here at last.

    So y'all have heard about the 20% bonus for doing nothing with Moons, right? What fun is that, here, take some Moons! 62 Moons to the first person to name the artist and title of the song hidden in this post. That's worth about $5 (62\.08) at the moment, my way of encouraging the winner to support* r/CryptoCurrency with a special membership!

    tl;dr

    • What's this all about? I purchased $100 of each of Top 10 Cryptos in Jan. 2018, haven't sold or traded, reporting monthly for 3.5 often very painful years. Did the same in 2019, 2020, and 2021. Learn more about the history and rules of the Experiments here.
    • June - Blood red, no cryptos in the green, BTC lost the least.
    • Overall since Jan. 2018 - only 3/10 of the 2018 Top Ten are in positive territory: BTC, ETH, and ADA. ETH leads the pack.
    • 2018+2019+2020+2021 Combined Top Ten Portfolios are returning 248%.

    Month Forty-Two – Down -1%

    The 2018 Top Ten Portfolio - A very red month

    Well, it was an impressive streak while it lasted: after narrowly avoiding it last month, the 2018 Top Ten got hit with its first all-red month since September 2020.

    After four straight months in the green, the 20218 Top Ten Portfolio is basically back to break even point, down -1%.

    Since January 2018, Ethereum is still the best performing crypto overall and BTC and ADA are still in positive territory. XLM, after clawing its way back to break even point, slipped back into the red in June.

    June Movement Report, Ranking, and Dropouts

    Mostly downward movement this month:

    Downs:

    • Dash – down 11 places and now out of the Top Sixty (#51–>#62)
    • NEM – down 7 places also out of the Top Sixty (#58–>#65)
    • IOTA – down 7 places (#37–>#44)
    • XLM – down 5 places (#16–>#21)
    • ADA – down one place (#4–>#5)

    Up:

    • Bitcoin Cash – up one place (#13–>#12)

    2018 Top Ten Rank 3.5 years later

    Top Ten dropouts since January 2018: After forty-two months of the 2018 Top Ten Experiment, only 40% of the cryptos that started in the Top Ten have remained. NEM, Dash, Stellar, Bitcoin Cash, IOTA, and Litecoin have been replaced by Binance Coin, Tether, DOT, UNI, Doge, and most recently, USDC.

    June Winners and Losers

    June Winner – No crypto ended June in the green, but Bitcoin gets the W for dropping the least (-9%).

    June Losers – Stellar lost -37% of its value in June, snapping a three month losing streak for the often last place NEM. XRP had a tough month as well, dropping -35%.

    Tally of Monthly Winners and Losers

    After forty-two months, here's a tally of the monthly winners and losers over the life of the 2018 Top Ten Experiment.

    2018 Top Ten Ws and Ls

    With 11, Bitcoin has the most monthly wins by quite a bit. In the loss column, NEM has finished in last place 11 of 42 months, or 26% of the time.

    Bitcoin is still the only cryptocurrency that hasn't yet lost a month since January 2018 (although it has come very close a couple of times).

    Overall Update – Portfolio back to break even point, only 30% of cryptos in the green, ETH maintains healthy lead

    So, the thrill is gone: we're right back where we started in January 2018, minus about 11 bucks for our troubles. That four month streak of the 2018 Top Ten Portfolio being in the green? History.

    This is very familiar territory for the 2018 Top Ten Portfolio. Over the three and a half years of the Index Fund Experiment, thirty-eight months have been in the red, with only four months of green. And all of the green months came packed together in the first half of 2021.

    30% of the 2018 Top Ten are in positive territory: BTC, ETH, and ADA. ETH (+192%) is ahead of Bitcoin (+154%) by a good margin and is the best performing crypto of the 2018 Top Ten Portfolio. ADA is in third place, up a healthy +100% so far.

    The initial $100 invested in ETH forty-two months ago is worth $293 today.

    Still at the bottom is Dash, down -86% since the Experiment began. The initial $100 invested forty-two months ago is worth $13 today.

    Total Market Cap for the entire cryptocurrency sector:

    Monthly total market cap since Jan 2018

    After surpassing $2.2T just two months ago, the total crypto market cap has lost nearly $1T, down to $1.38T, the same level it was in February.

    As a sector, it's not nearly as bleak: overall crypto is up +139% since January 2018. If you were able to capture the entire crypto market since New Year's Day 2018, you'd be doing much, much better than both the Experiment's Top Ten approach (+-1%) and over double the return of the S&P (+62%) over the same period of time.

    Bitcoin dominance:

    Le BitDom

    After five straight months of downward movement, BitDom reversed course this month. Is this a sign that the crypto market has more or less bottomed out? Hard to tell, although it's clear that investors are diverting funds away from riskier altcoins back into the big daddy BTC.

    For context, we still have a bit to go before setting a record BitDom low: the last altcoin cycle saw BTC dominance go down to a low of 33% back in the first month of the 2018 Experiment.

    Overall return on $1,000 investment since January 1st, 2018:

    2018 Top Ten ROI - back to break even

    The 2018 Top Ten Portfolio lost about -$275 in June. Not quite as bad as last month's -$292 drop, but close. The 2018 Index Fund is basically back to break even point, down about -$11.

    If I decided to cash out the 2018 Top Ten Experiment today, the $1000 initial investment would return $989, down -1% from January 2018.

    Here's a look at the ROI over the life of the experiment, month by month:

    2018 Top Ten ROI, month by month

    Being down -1% after 3.5 years is definitely disappointing, but for context it is nowhere near the absolute bottom: in January 2019 the 2018 Top Ten Portfolio was down -88% followed closely by the -87% Zombie Apocalypse month (March 2020) just over a year ago.

    For those just entering crypto, this is a gut check: can you stomach being down -1%? What about down -88% on your investment after one year and -87% after two years? When crypto veterans stress that you shouldn't be investing what you can't afford to lose, they mean it.

    Combining the 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 Top Ten Crypto Portfolios

    Alright, that's that for the 2018 Top Ten Crypto Index Fund Experiment recap.

    But I didn't stop the party in 2018: I invested another $1000 in the 2019, 2020, and 2021 Top Ten Cryptos as well. How are the other Crypto Index Fund Experiments doing?

    • 2018 Top Ten Experiment: down -1% (total value $989)
    • 2019 Top Ten Experiment: up +341% (total value $4,414)
    • 2020 Top Ten Experiment: up +469% (total value $5,688)
    • 2021 Top Ten Experiment: up +184% (total value $2,840)

    So overall? Taking the four portfolios together, here's the bottom bottom bottom bottom line:

    After a $4,000 investment in the 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 Top Ten Cryptocurrencies, the combined portfolios are worth $13,931 ($989 + $4,414 + $5,688 + $2,840).

    That's up +248% on the combined portfolio. Another massive drop from last month, but with a bit of perspective we can see that the combined portfolios are back to where they were a few months ago in February.

    Combined ROI of all four Top Ten Crypto Portfolios - back to February levels

    That's a +248% gain by investing $1k on whichever cryptos happened to be in the Top Ten on January 1st for four straight years.

    Comparison to S&P 500:

    I'm also tracking the S&P 500 as part of the Experiment to have a comparison point with other popular investments options. Another solid month for the S&P in June and yet another all time high.

    Another month, another ATH for the S&P

    The S&P 500 is up +62% since January 2018, so the initial $1k investment into crypto on January 1st, 2018 would be worth $1620 had it been redirected to the S&P.

    Compared to the -1% return of the 2018 Experiment, the S&P is well ahead of the Top Ten Crypto Portfolio.

    But it's not a very fair fight when I combine the four portfolios: taking the same invest-$1,000-on-January-1st-of-each-year approach with the S&P 500 that I've been documenting through the Top Ten Crypto Experiments yields the following:

    • $1000 investment in S&P 500 on January 1st, 2018 = $1620 today
    • $1000 investment in S&P 500 on January 1st, 2019 = $1720 today
    • $1000 investment in S&P 500 on January 1st, 2020 = $1340 today
    • $1000 investment in S&P 500 on January 1st, 2021 = $1150 today

    Taken together, here's the bottom bottom bottom bottom line for a similar approach with the S&P:

    After four $1,000 investments into an S&P 500 index fund in January 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, my portfolio would be worth $5,830 ($1,620 + $1,720 + $1,340 + $1,150)

    That is up +46% since January 2018 compared to a +248% gain of the combined Top Ten Crypto Experiment Portfolios, a difference of over 200 percentage points in favor of crypto.

    Here's a table summarizing the four year ROI comparison between a Top Ten Crypto approach and the S&P as per the rules of the Top Ten Experiments.

    Crypto still in the driver's seat

    Despite the less than stellar performance of crypto over the last couple of months, it is still far, far ahead of the S&P over the same time period.

    Conclusion:

    Two straight down months for crypto, something we haven't seen lately. The crypto crystal ball gazers seem divided on whether we have already hit the top of the bull cycle or only hitting some kind of mid bull cycle bumps. Technical analysis in crypto is like reading tea leaves or entrails to divine the future: the guesses of the experts are as good as yours or mine.

    To the long-time Experiment followers: thanks so much for reading and for supporting the project over the years.

    For those just getting into crypto, welcome! I hope these reports can somehow help you see what you may be in for as you begin your crypto adventures. Buckle up, think long term, don't invest what you can't afford to lose, and enjoy the ride!

    Feel free to reach out with any questions and stay tuned for monthly progress reports. Keep an eye out for my parallel projects where I repeat the experiment, purchasing another $1000 ($100 each) of new sets of Top Ten cryptos as of January 1st, 2019, January 1st, 2020, and most recently, January 1st, 2021.

    submitted by /u/Joe-M-4
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    Cryptocurrency Miners Caught With 3,800 PlayStation 4 Consoles After Ukrainian Police Uncover The Mining Operation

    Posted: 09 Jul 2021 11:51 PM PDT

    Let's play a game: tell me the future of crypto in 5 years

    Posted: 10 Jul 2021 01:41 AM PDT

    Tell me one single thing that you think will happen in the next 5 years and write a "RemindMe! 5 years" in your comment to be notified by a bot when the time comes. Then on 10th of July 2026 we will all meet again in this comment section and see how stupid or smart each one of us was.

    I'll go first: I think that Bitcoin will flip Gold's market cap in the next 5 years.

    submitted by /u/Simple_Yam
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    A MAN lost £278,000 in a crypto scam after he handed over his digital wallet to a hacker on a fake app. Brandon Larsen, from Utah, was left devastated after ruthless hackers wiped more than half of his £506,000 (USD$700,000) crypto fortune in minutes.

    Posted: 09 Jul 2021 06:42 AM PDT

    "If your government is fearful of individual control of money and financial privacy, you should really take a closer look at your government and its priorities." Andreas Antonopoulos

    Posted: 09 Jul 2021 06:22 AM PDT

    It looks like the article about governments moving to make private crypto wallets illegal was just a case of good old FUD. But in the wake of China recently banning crypto for the 173rd time and general crypto FUD news stories circulating in mainstream media (CRYPTOCURRENCY USED TO FUND TERRORISM) it's natural that perhaps some people are worried about the possibility of increasing governmental regulations/crackdowns on cryptocurrencies in the future (i.e. "Will privacy coins be made illegal?"; people feeling apprehensive over the fact that an increasing number of banks in the UK are not allowing deposits to certain crypto exchanges "in order to protect you"- god bless the bankers and their hearts of gold!)

    With that in mind, I'd like to share this quote from Andreas Antonopoulos about how thanks to crypto, an individual can now have control over their own money and financial privacy if they choose to, and what it implies if your government has a problem with that:

    Some societies will be more comfortable with the idea that individuals have ultimate control over their money and more accepting of self-determination, freedom of association, and freedom of expression. Some societies will not.

    Since the 1970's money has become more and more digital. For many governments, this holds the promise of enabling greater levels of control and surveillance over the financial activities of the entire world; however, that dream ended with the introduction of bitcoin, as it offers an escape hatch from the surveilled and controlled straight-jacket of modern banking. Bitcoin thus becomes a litmus test.

    If your government is fearful of individual control of money and financial privacy, you should really take a closer look at your government and its priorities.

    -Andreas Antonopoulos

    (This was taken from an interview back in 2016. Here is the full interview for anyone interested.)

    submitted by /u/crypto_grandma
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    How much profit have you all made in your most successful trade long term or short term? Also, what's your biggest loss you've incurred in a single trade? For all who have invested in crypto, know that you are not alone. We are all in this together

    Posted: 10 Jul 2021 02:02 AM PDT

    I've read stories on how people lost their money in rugpulls and scams and just awful trades. I've known people who had invested money that they could not afford to lose and still lost it. It would be good to know stories of how much people lost and be careful with your money and at the same time stay motivated enough by the good stories to stay in the game!

    submitted by /u/prajwalwillrule
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    An Act of Generosity

    Posted: 10 Jul 2021 03:24 AM PDT

    This post is dedicated to thanking and praising this great man u/anotherjohnishere

    Here's the story: i had a health issue and in a matter of months my life turned upside down and my family and I ended up in a sticky situation with debts that could ruin everything (I won't go into details but if anyone is interested just send me a DM).

    I looked for some people here who could help, but they didn't want to or could. Until I found this legend, giving moons, helping people and sharing love. So got in touch with him and shared my story and what i was dealing with, he sympathized and decided to help. We made a zoom call and met, he is an amazing, empathic and cool man with good ideas and perspectives on life (also has a nice beard lol).

    Then he sent me 0.145 ETH. I'm from Brazil and it's an expressive amount. Without this help things could have gotten bad, and for now, we are fine. It was like taking a load off my shoulders. This act of generosity is positively and directly impacting 3 lives (me, my mom and little sister) and i'm extremely grateful for that.

    As kindness begets kindness, I will pass on this act, using a portion to buy 6 meals for people in need.

    That's it! I hope this story can inspire others! Thank you so much my friend!

    Much love to everyone

    Moon monks unite!

    submitted by /u/nicolaspb96
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    Update: If you own 1 bitcoin then you are in the top 2% of HODLers

    Posted: 10 Jul 2021 01:01 AM PDT

    Update: If you own 1 bitcoin then you are in the top 2% of HODLers

    Last week I posted about holding percentages for BTC: https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/odpja0/if_you_own_1_bitcoin_then_you_are_in_the_top_2_of/ (I also learnt that you can create tables on Reddit, thanks u/_martinshkreli!

    This is a more accurate update (rather, more honest) based on feedback. Thanks to all that commented asking for clarification.

    ​

    This is an updated table of HODLers:

    https://bitinfocharts.com/top-100-richest-bitcoin-addresses.html

    ​

    Based on this data, there are 797247 addresses that have at least 1 BTC (17,777,011 coins in total), which is 2.08% of all addresses out there.

    ​

    However, as many people pointed out, one address doesn't necessarily equal one person, so we'll have to dig deeper in order to obtain a realistic range. We already have the first scenario, in which one person has a single wallet with no less than one Bitcoin. That's the best-case scenario – it's the most convenient one to calculate.

    ​

    But the situation gets trickier in the second scenario, in which one person can possess a total amount of 1+ Bitcoin but in several different addresses. For example, one might hold 0.8 BTC in one wallet and 0.2 in another one, or keep 0.1 BTC each in 10 different wallets. In these cases, the addresses would have less than one coin, so they should be displayed in other rows of the distribution table – the ones that we initially ignored. Counting those who hold at least 1BTC in the second scenario would be much more difficult, as they possess any of the 98% of addresses that contain less than 1 BTC.

    ​

    In the image below, this idea is illustrated.

    https://preview.redd.it/f4t92d1cbca71.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=28f223b459eb8b422ef8f69a295d20effd54decf

    On the left is a ball representing all 460 million bitcoin addresses to ever have a balance greater than 0.0 BTC. Of those, ~288 million hold no bitcoin in them at all today.

    The remaining 172 million represent the bitcoin addresses that make regular BTC transactions. Of those, 147 million belong to exchanges, bitcoin services, merchants, or other kinds of market actors.

    Only the remaining 25 million addresses are believed to be economically active wallets that belong to private people on the network.

    ​

    There are three main issues with this method:

    • One person can have many addresses and wallets. For example, I might have 1 BTC on my iPhone wallet and .5 BTC on my laptop. If we treated each address as a person, this would count as two people when it's really one. Many people own hundreds of addresses and 3-10 different wallets.
    • Services can hold bitcoins in one address that belong to many people. Bitfinex, for example, holds 100,000+ bitcoins in one address. Bitfinex is a Bitcoin exchange with millions of customers. If we treat each address as a person, this would be considered one person but might really represent thousands of peoples' bitcoins. Below is one of Bitfinex's wallets - it holds over 6,000 BTC right at any given time.

    ​

    https://preview.redd.it/7av7c9dqbca71.png?width=1206&format=png&auto=webp&s=01d562f46f957ac3010de3214d006b551a9ad3c2

    • Many people don't move bitcoins off the exchange. Many people use centralized services and never create a Bitcoin wallet.

    ​

    TLDR; you might be in the top 2%, you might be higher - unfortunately, it's almost impossible to calculate.

    submitted by /u/joepurd
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