Cryptocurrency price LIVE – Ethereum, Decentraland and Basic Attention Token are best crypto set for rebounds in 2022

What is Robinhood?

The Robinhood platform operates as a discounted brokerage that offers commission-free trading.

Specifically, users can trade exchange-traded funds (ETFs), individual stocks (including American depositary shares), and options.

You can also trade Robinhood’s stock thanks to the company recently going public at a $1.2billion valuation.

More than 50 countries place bans

51 countries have placed bans on cryptocurrencies, according to a report from the Global Legal Research Directorate of the Law Library of Congress.

To date, nine countries have a total ban, and 42 have an implicit ban. The implicit ban forbids financial institutions from using crypto.

The number of countries with bans has more than doubled since research first came out in 2018, according to Markets Insider.

Seven crypto ads banned, part two

The Advertising Standards Authority is looking to produce new guidance on cryptocurrency.

Monitoring crypto assets is a “red-alert priority” for the regulatory agency, BBC News reported.

The news outlet said companies with ads found to have broken the rules were:

• Coinburp: A Twitter page for the cryptocurrency trading platform
• eToro (UK): A paid ad for the stocks and cryptocurrency trading platform
• Payward: A digital poster for Kraken, an online cryptocurrency exchange
• Exmo Exchange: A YouTube video promoting the cryptocurrency exchange
• Luno Money: An in-app ad for the cryptocurrency exchange service Luno
• Coinbase Europe: A paid Facebook ad for the cryptocurrency exchange platform
• Papa John’s GB: A promotion on the Papa John’s pizza restaurant chain’s website and in a Twitter post

UK regulator bans seven crypto ads

The United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned seven cryptocurrency advertisements following concerns.

BBC News reported one banned ad included a promotion by a pizza chain while a second involved Facebook ads for a big cryptocurrency exchange.

All seven ads were “banned for irresponsibly taking advantage of consumers’ inexperience and for failing to illustrate the risk of the investment”, the news organization reported.

Banks embrace crypto, continued

Executives at large banks are beginning to hop on the cryptocurrency train as some invest their time in learning about the new payment method.

Bank of America spokesman Mark Pipitone told the New York Times, “The bank sees potential in blockchain, and we’re currently a leading patent holder in the space with more than 160 patents. But we still haven’t found a use at scale to make the financial lives of customers and clients better.”

Banks embrace crypto

Banks are paying for slowly catching on to the future of cryptocurrency as they struggle to benefit and profit.

As cryptocurrency start-ups explode, they are starting to offer credit cards and loans while banks are left in the dust.

According to the New York Times, “Bank of America’s chief executive, Brian Moynihan, barred the giant company’s wealth managers from putting any client money into cryptocurrency-related investments.”

Crypto investor death mystery, continued

Cotton took with him to the grave the keys that allowed access to a digital vault containing cash investors ploughed into Quadriga CX.

Jilted investors have demanded his corpse be exhumed and tests run to confirm it is his body.

Criminal probes continue by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the FBI as leading digital investing publication Coindesk branded his death as “crypto’s biggest mystery”.

Crypto investor death mystery

A new documentary on rogue crypto trader Gerald Cotton, who took up to $215million in Bitcoin and other digital currencies to his grave, has sparked rumors he may have faked his death.

Cotton’s sudden death from complications of Crohn’s disease at age 30 shocked the crypto world – but some believe it may have been part of an elaborate “exit scam”.

One source in the documentary goes as far as to claim Cotton may have used a substance known as “Haitian zombie powder” to fake his death.

Real estate brokers paid in crypto

A finance firm is offering brokers commission payments in the form of cryptocurrency.

RLTY Capital is the first to roll out crypto payments for real estate brokers, according to Yahoo Finance.

The CEO of the firm told the news outlet that crypto can help agents cut out intermediaries and avoid payment processing fees.

Crypto losses and tax benefits

Investors can claim deductions on cryptocurrency losses that can lessen tax liabilities or result in a refund, according to Coindesk.

Any losses can be used to offset capital gains, and if you have no gains, you can claim a deduction.

The Coindesk article explains the IRS code and other ways to put cryptocurrency losses to work.

Record crypto investments, part two

The crypto industry blew up in 2021 with crypto exchanges, start-ups dealing with NFTs, and play-to-earn gaming all highlighted as factors by Fortune.

Increasing interest in the Metaverse also led to multi-million dollar investments.

Crypto investments top $30billion

Investors contributed a record $30billion to the cryptocurrency industry in 2021, according to Fortune.

The news outlet cited data from Bloomberg News that reportedly showed $7.2billion came from investors based in the United States.

The $30billion is almost four times the $8billion that investors spent with companies in the crypto industry in 2018, Fortune reported.

DogeZilla: The next meme coin

A newly-launched cryptocurrency, DogeZilla, exploded out of the gate.

Within its first eight days of existence, DogeZilla was said to have grown into a super microcap of $500million from just $50,000. 

Billionaire Elon Musk also got involved with DogeZilla by posting a tweet.

Replying to a tweet about an underwater mud volcano, he wrote: “Cover story for Godzilla obv.”

What is Dogezilla?

Founded by someone with the alias of 9ZEROES, DogeZilla models itself as a community-based project. 

DogeZilla claims it aims to make the crypto space safer for users.

According to DogeZilla’s whitepaper, it has a vault that verifies crypto launches.

It says: “Obviously, it is not a 100% fool-proof method because that simply doesn’t exist in this space, but reducing risk to the highest degree is the purpose of Vault.”

Moreover, users can gather DogeZilla tokens by holding.

Specifically, “5% Holder Rewards are dispersed to all token holders relative to their holding percentages,” DogeZilla claims. 

For upcoming projects, DogeZilla is planning to launch an NFTs Invasion Series in early 2022. 

Its logo features an amused dog in what appears to be a dinosaur costume. 

Play-to-earn gaming, part two

The new play-to-earn gaming model that rewards gamers with cryptocurrency for playing isn’t technically free.

Gamers could have to spend $1,000 or more in order to start earning in the Axie Infinity universe, according to Forbes.

The popular platform for play-to-earn gaming requires beginners to have three “Axies,” which are available for purchase on the game’s Marketplace Dashboard.

Participants can then earn cryptocurrency for selling potions, breeding rare Axies, and playing various games.

What is play-to-earn gaming?

A unique model called play-to-earn gaming is driving non-fungible token (NFT) and cryptocurrency growth, Forbes reported.

Axie Infinity is the most popular platform for play-to-earn gaming at the moment.

It allows users to build a collection of “Axies” that players can use across its universe of games.

The company then uses Blockchain to reward players for gaming, according to Forbes.

Any digital assets earned by participants can be sold on the platform or traded outside Axie Infinity’s universe.

Dogecoin spikes after Tesla news

Dogecoin saw a more than 20 percent jump after Elon Musk announced Tesla would start accepting it as payment.

He said in a Tweet that Tesla would allow purchases of some merchandise with Dogecoin and “see how it goes.”

Dogecoin went from a fraction of a penny in worth at the start of 2021 to a record-high price above 74 cents in May, CNBC reported.

Elon Musk says Dogecoin is best for transactions

The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX says Dogecoin is the best cryptocurrency for transactions.

Elon Musk told Time Magazine that the meme coin is better suited to transact with over Bitcoin for two reasons.

He said the transaction volume of Bitcoin is low and the cost per transaction is high.

Musk said he believes Bitcoin is more suitable as a store of value while Dogecoin “encourages people to spend, rather than sort of hoard.”

Sending cryptocurrency on WhatsApp

WhatsApp, a popular messaging app, is testing a cryptocurrency payment feature for some users in the US.

Meta, formerly known as Facebook, owns WhatsApp and is letting some users send and receive Pax Dollars.

Pax currency is deemed a “stablecoin” because it’s connected to the US dollar.

The feature is powered by Novi, Meta’s digital wallet.

According to Novi, making payments will be easy, like sending other kinds of attachments in WhatsApp.

There’s no word on when the cryptocurrency payment feature might roll out to more users and countries.

Donating with cryptocurrency

Churches are starting to see more donations made using cryptocurrency, according to Christianity Today.

James Lawrence told the news organization that donations made on his platform Engiven using the virtual currency were slow in 2019 and 2020.

By fall of 2021, the platform had processed cryptocurrency donations for more than 700 nonprofits.

The list of recipients includes well-known organizations like The Salvation Army and Ronald McDonald House Charities.

Up to 400 recipients were churches, Lawrence said, as more congregations move to accept the digital currency.

What is fiat?

If you’ve ever seen the word fiat used in the cryptocurrency world, know that it was not in relation to the car brand.

Fiat is a term used to refer to government-issued currency.

Cryptocurrency, or virtual money like Bitcoin, is not backed by governments or standards typically associated with fiat, which is why investors warn of crypto’s volatility.

Gifting NFTs and digital assets, part two

Some young investors are looking forward to gifting friends their first digital asset this year.

A San Francisco-based 26-year-old told CNBC that she plans to gift close friends and family digital assets like Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domains and NFTs.

A domain for the Ethereum blockchain represents an investor’s cryptocurrency address, appearing like “YourName.eth”.

It’s personalized rather than the random string of letters and numbers that typically signifies a user’s wallet.

Gifting NFTs and other digital assets

Young investors told CNBC that they plan to gift cryptocurrency, NFTs and other digital assets this holiday season.

A 23-year-old from San Antonio, Texas, said she will get her sister and parents an NFT of a digital land lot to share in the metaverse.

She also plans to buy collectible NFTs from projects that aim to empower women, like World of Women and Crypto Coven.

The digital gifts could cost thousands of dollars depending on factors like metaverse game, demand, and size, CNBC reported.

Risks of investing in cryptos, part five

Finally, the truth in marketing materials is a risk in investing in cryptos.

Firms may overstate the returns of products or understate the risks involved.

Risks of investing in cryptos, part four

Another risk of investing are the charges and fees.

Consumers should consider the impact of fees and charges on their investment which may be more than those for regulated investment products.