Anyone buying crypto? If so, what alt coins? I’d love to hear predictions for the future, or any nugget of insight you may see coming. I’m very bullish on Cardano, and still have hope for Eth to grow. What say you?
i barely know anything, and understand less, but i've been using an app for almost a year, that offers gift cards, and you receive satoshis back on every card you buy. it's got an optional debit card that gives says back on every purchase, and bigger returns on those gift cards. i convert my sats into monero because privacy concerns, and i've heard from some folks who understand this **** better than i do, that a lot of btc whales are going to convert to monero at some point. i use cake wallet because newb... i'm thinking about rolling what's left of my 401k into a crypto-based ira, as well.
Read an article a while back that the US government may be working on a digital dollar. Makes some sense because they want the US to rely on US funds and not a third party or different country's currency. When the government controls the dollar it makes it easier to manipulate the economy. If everyone uses a different form of currency the government loses a lot of control. I am curious to see what the future brings...
Ive been following some of the Senate/IRS hearings and the legislative side of Crypto and the digital dollar. It seems most countries are really struggling to figure out how to handle decentralized currencies. Im guessing most countries are developing "digital" currency, although you can argue it already exists just not in crypto space. The US dollar is dying on the world stage and inflation is pushing people to decentralized currencies. The catch with most countries, including our own is that regulation legitimizes crypto. Hence the hesitation by most government's to create any laws regarding crypto. It could backfire and reduce centralized currencies value. The other problem is crypto is global, so regulation will only go so far. China has been leaning toward more regulation and of course Turkey. Im guessing that in the US, we eventually will be required to have wallets that are held by US banks for tax purposes and likely a higher tax rate. One thing im 99% certain of, is that decentralized currencies are here to stay. Which one(s) come out on top is a guess. The smart contract /problem solving altcoins will find their place regardless and seem to have the best future. Its a more complex starfish and the spider conundrum. With 9,000 cryptos in the world, it will be interesting to see it play out. JP Morgan, Fidelity, and many other institutional investors are setting up crypto funds. Bitcoin has pioneered a currency that we could have never dreamed of prior to its existence. Im not as bullish on Bitcoin as most, mainly due to lack of transaction speed, but I think it will be a store of value that will outlast most people alive on Earth today. El Salvador has adopted Bitcoin, but with a very low transaction rate, its likely to fail as a "national" currency. I think something like 7 per second, compared to Visa which is processing payments at 100,000's or more per second. globally (thats a guess).
I started buying Bitcoin and several other cryptos in 2017. Got back into it in late 2019 and have been DCAing (Dollar Cost Averaging) in since then. I'm helping some friends who just launched their own crypto coin recently. EDIT: Oh and to answer your question, yes I'm bullish on ADA and ETH also. I've got more ETH than BTC. I think PolkaDOT, MATIC, XRP and others including some of the NFT projects will do quite well too. DeFi projects will likely explode too. The traditional CeFi (Centralized Finance) market does about $3T USD per year and currently ETH, which around 85% of all Altcoins are built on, is less than 0.5% of the Market Cap of CeFi. To hit 0.5% one ETH would be worth about $4K USD. When it captures 1 or 2% of Market Cap (which I'm sure it will) I'll be a happy camper.
Can anyone very simply explain a crypto wallet to me? I have some money in crypto in Coinbase Pro but don’t really understand the wallet aspect.
Hey Delkancott, now here's a name I remember from the early days! Hope all's well! A Crypto Wallet doesn't actually store your crypto, it stores your access "Keys" or "Seed Phrase" that you need to can access your crypto online (on the blockchain). It's crucial that you store these keys/seed phrases somewhere safe because if someone accesses them they can potentially access your crypto and steal it. It's also strongly recommended that you store your crypto in a wallet and NOT leave it on any exchange like Coinbase Pro, Binance, etc, because technically if you don't own the seed phrases for your crypto, you don't own your crypto! There are basically 3 types of Crypto Wallets - Hot (aka Soft) Wallets, Cold (aka Hard) Wallets and a 3rd category which includes things like paper (or other) mediums) where you can write down your Keys/Seed Phrase. Each wallet has its own features and unique set of Keys/Seed Phrase. Hot Wallets are web-based wallets like Metamask. Some are software-based like Exodus, Trust Wallet, and others. Cold Wallets are electronic hardware (HW) with a chip that stores your crypto "Keys" or Seed Phrase. Not all wallets are equal, or compatible with all cryptos so you'll likely need to set up/purchase several wallets to store all your crypto. As far as I know all software wallets are free, but all hardware wallets cost $$. Some of the more common HW wallets include Ledger, Trezoe, SafePal. Wallet Types: Digital Wallets: Protected by cryptography Accessible only via private key Difficult for others to access Cold Wallets: Offline storage Highly secure If access key is lost, wallet and contents may be permanently inaccessible. Web Service Wallets: Least Secure (make sure you have multi factor authentication enabled). Use for small amounts of crypto only. Mobile Wallets: Low security. Low privacy. You can lose your phone. SIM hack can occur. Desktop Wallets: Vulnerable to hard drive hacks. If you are using a desktop wallet that keeps your seed keys in an unencrypted form, then you too could be attacked. Unencrypted hot wallets are another threat. Hardware Wallets: Can have malware installed. Can be hacked. Ledger hack case. Binance survey (cited by Trezor) found that approximately 6% of crypto attacks involve physical access to a hardware ledger device. Once attackers are close, all bets are off. Seed Phrase (24 words) Issues: A seed phrase is a list of words needed to recover crypto funds on-chain. Wallet software generates the seed phrase, instructs users to write down. If the user's computer breaks/drive is corrupted, use the paper backup to get your crypto back. Lose your seed phrase = lose access to your money. If someone steals your seed phrase, they can gain access to your crypto. BIP39 is the most common standard used for seed phrases but it has flaws. It is not considered safe by core developers because it uses PBKDF2. Paper Wallets: Keeping paper private is hard. Paper is easily lost. Paper is easily copied. There are over 10,000 different cryptocurrencies, many built on Ethereum's network, and many of those would work with Metamask which is a browser extension wallet. Other wallets like Exodus are software you would install on your PC or phone. Every crypto has its own unique address (string of random alpha-numeric code) and when sending crypto to your wallet (or any wallet or exchange, etc) you need to make sure you are sending it to the correct address or you could risk losing it. For example, if you were to send Bitcoin to a non-Bitcoin address you could lose it. REMEMBER - There's no Customer Service or Support (at least not yet) in crypto so if you make a mistake it could be a costly one! If you choose to get more involved and invest more into crypto I'd recommend buying a hardware wallet like the above mentioned. If you do decide to buy one, buy it only from their website. Don't try to save a few bucks buying it on Amazon, Best Buy or anywhere else, get it from the source. The reason for this is that the manufacturer cannot guarantee the security of the wallet if purchased from any third party seller. For example, Joe the crypto thief buys a bunch of Ledger wallets, installs malicious code or backdoor access on them and then packages them back up, puts on new shrink wrap and returns them to BestBuy, Amazon or wherever. Those stores will likely just place them back in inventory and re-sell them. You come along and buy one of those, start using it and Joe can remotely access and steal your crypto without you even knowing. Here are a list of links to some of the more common Hot wallets: Atomic Wallet - https://atomicwallet.io Edge Wallet - https://edge.app/ Exodus Wallet - https://www.exodus.io/ Metamask (ETH and ERC 20 coins) - https://metamask.io/ Trust Wallet (backed by Binance) https://trustwallet.com Hard Wallets: Cobo: https://cobo.com/hardware-wallet ELLIPAL: https://www.ellipal.com/ $159.99 Ledger: https://www.ledger.com/ SafePal: https://www.safepal.io/ (Invested and backed by Binance). Paper Wallets: Stonebook: https://shieldfolio.com/ Stonebook Preview video by Digital Asset News - Hope this helps!!
anybody use fold? it's an app where you buy gift cards and get sats back on every purchase. they offer a debit card that allows you to get more sats back on the cards, but also on everyday purchases like gas or lunch. I've got a sign up link with some free satoshis for anybody who's interested.
