Tuesday, March 2, 2021

Cryptocurrencies purchased in U.S. dollars do not need to be reported to the IRS

According to the Cryptocurrency FAQ (Q5) updated by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service on March 2, 2021, cryptocurrency purchases made in fiat currencies are not subject to any type of U.S. Internal Revenue Service tax report.

Earlier news, on December 11, 2020, the US Internal Revenue Service issued a new 2020 tax year 1040 return, all US taxpayers are required to submit this return. The lack of clear guidance on the definition of "virtual currency" has made some cryptocurrency users confused.

Subsequently, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a revised draft of Directive 1040 on December 31, 2020, which clarified the content covered by the term virtual currency. The IRS uses the term virtualcurrency to describe various types of convertible virtual currencies used as a medium of exchange, such as digital currencies and encrypted currencies, and points out that no matter which version is used, if a particular asset has the characteristics of a virtual currency, it will be considered Virtual currency. The updated draft requires that if citizens purchase cryptocurrency during 2020, they must check "Yes" on the virtual currency issue on page 1, although this may not trigger any taxable events.

On January 4, 2021, DonFort, the former head of the Criminal Investigation Department of the US Internal Revenue Service, published an article that the US Internal Revenue Service may accelerate the pace of cryptocurrency taxation enforcement. The article said that although the agency has so far focused its resources on providing appropriate reporting guidelines to the public, it will now shift to stricter enforcement. According to the article, major trends such as the U.S. Internal Revenue Service moving the cryptocurrency tax issue to the top of the 1040 form indicate that it is working to eradicate the phenomenon of insufficient payment of cryptocurrency taxes.

Now, the new guidance from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) provides clearer instructions for taxpayers to answer this question. In addition, privacy-conscious crypto users will realize that they do not need to unnecessarily disclose their involvement in cryptocurrencies to the IRS.

However, FAQ-Q5 only applies to cryptocurrencies purchased with fiat currency. If you purchase a cryptocurrency using another cryptocurrency, you must check "Yes" on the 1040 form question. This may also trigger taxable events.

It is worth noting that as Bitcoin gets more and more attention, it may also be subject to further scrutiny by regulators. The Internal Revenue Service is also accelerating the pace of cryptocurrency taxation enforcement. As early as January 4, 2020, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) stated in its Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) that donors who donate more than $5,000 in cryptocurrency to charities must conduct tax assessments on their donations. This may affect the vigorous development of cryptocurrency in philanthropy. Alex Wilson, co-founder of the cryptocurrency charity TheGivingBlock, said that this new assessment requirement will make people hesitate to donate more than $5,000.

In November last year, Erika Nijenhuis, senior adviser to the Tax Policy Office of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, also stated that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is evaluating different approaches to cryptocurrency taxation regulations. Nijenhuis also pays attention to the burden that each method places on cryptocurrency related parties (such as exchanges), as well as a series of benefits that each method brings, such as improved compliance.

In addition, the trends of the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) also affect investors' adoption of encryption. ARKCEOCatherineWood stated in December last year that Bitcoin's extremebullish did not invest a large amount of money because of compliance considerations (more than 10% of the return will be confiscated by the IRS).

Bitcoin worth $4.5 billion transferred in historic event

https://www.cryptopolitan.com/bitcoin-worth-4-5-billion-transferred/

Asset staking on ledger - Tax trigger event

Does tax event apply for staking a crypto in a wallet or does a same rule as for holding crypto apply (no tax event unless you sell it)

I already know that you have to pay the taxes if you hold it on an exchange, just wanna make sure if cold wallets have any different rule, if it does trigger tax event then i see no reason to hold crypto besides a stable-coin to generate an income (unless it's right after bitcoin halving)

Thanks in advance.

All is kinda meh, seems every crypto equals out, no way to guess out the market (unless you are a contractor for whales)

I see the best way to avoid any unpredictability is to to just "HODL" btc till you can't no more (and maybe even after that)

and

if anything bad happens just blame it on the community (r/bitcoin)

correct me if I am wrong.

Any Coin Hunters in Winnipeg?

Looking for players of CHW to talk shop with, there must be a few cause a boosted vault was here last event.

If you don't know or are not in on it yet, Coin Hunt World is a geo location game that awards cryptocurrency (Bitcoin and Ethereum) by exploring and answering trivia questions. I average $150 (half BTC half eth) per month. It's available in USA and Canada. It's currently in beta. IOS users need to install test flight. Android users simply install and play. Message me with any questions.

Now is a great time to start playing! Check it out. If you want you can activate the game using my referral link as it grants free in game resources (keys) that will save you time and earn you more money faster.

https://coinhunt.gsc.im/4bNkV7mUm5

Cryptocurrency markets - A catalyst for a financially sound future

With the amount of new faces flooding in to the sub, and broader communities, I thought this post might be useful to those who are new to financial markets.

Some of you may have had your debut in to financial markets due to recent events. Whether that be, Elon Musks tweets regarding dogecoin and bitcoin. Or the latest GME stock short squeeze and robinhood scandal. However you were introduced to the markets it is paramount to invest - Not just in the cryptocurrency markets, but the broader financial markets too - infact I'd argue moreso.

Cryptocurrency markets can be very exciting, especially in an over exuberant bull market like we find outselves in now. Cryptocurrency tokens can move in a single day what the S&P 500 or FTSE 100 moves in a whole year.

To the ignorant, this can seem like a no-brainer. Why invest in stocks, when a single token can 10x in just one year?

If you find yourself asking this, I suggest you do your own research, and never just listen to one opinion, especially on the internet.

But as I'm sure you know by now, this space is extremely volatile and unregulated. Your favourite coin today, may just be a footnote in history in the next bull run. On the contrary, it may catapult your returns straight to the moon.

We're here because (Hopefully) we believe in the technology and the movement. Make no mistake, cryptocurrency is the future however, the stockmarket is still a time proven way to make your money work for you. Low cost index funds can be one of the best ways to take advantage of compounding interest.*

On the subject of taking advantage, make sure to also fully utilise government tax efficient schemes like your pension, 401k, ISA or whatever your country's equivalent may be.

*If you are yet to discover the wonder of compound interest I urge you to do your own research.

Tl;dr - Use cryptocurrency as an introduction and addition to a healthy and diversified portfolio. Invest in traditional markets like stocks, bonds and of course encompassing securities like low cost index funds. Make sure you have a sufficient pension and fill your tax efficient schemes as much as you reasonably can.

Caveat - This, as usual is not financial advice. Purely my (Hopefully grounded) opinion which is intended to make you think about other markets and investments.

Today's 'Halving' May Be Non-Event for Bitcoin Cash Prices

https://somuchinfo.com/2020/04/08/todays-halving-may-be-non-event-for-bitcoin-cash-prices/

Gemini Custody insurance coverage. What is actually insured, and what is it insured against? Will you really get your BTC back in the event of a hack or bankruptcy? Thanks :) (x-post from /r/Bitcoin)

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/lw2s8l/gemini_custody_insurance_coverage_what_is/

100% uptime

On January 3rd, 2009 the first bitcoin block was mined. 11 Years and 2 months Ago. Since then, the network has maintained 100% uptime. This makes bitcoin and other crypto the most stable computer system on earth. Not only for currency but for the transfer of anything that is digital that needs to be separated in units. The first message posted when bitcoin was mined ironically was that the banks were on the verge of being bailed out. Last week, the federal reserves intra-bank transfer system went down. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/24/the-feds-system-that-allows-banks-to-send-money-back-and-forth-is-down.html. Yet, bitcoin and other crypto currencies have never gone down(as a system, not price). This is huge. So what if a transaction takes a couple minutes? Knowing the system will never go down should bring people more peace knowing that they are using the most reliable currency system ever created(as long as you use it right). We have all gotten way too caught up in worrying about transfer speed or transfer fees. The market will sort those things out. What’s important to realize is we now all have the most reliable transfer system man has ever created, and we all have access to it. The federal reserve should be jealous.

Edit: I did realize after some comments there was one instance where a rewind happened. It was before I bought in though. Minus the one event, it would be 100% uptime.

Q&As from Casino Betting Coin (CBC) AMA [Feb 25]

https://preview.redd.it/ak0adb4aqlk61.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bf567c985d9c55547abfe560dfa0ece610541af3

Part 1 — introduction and questions from the Website

Q1: Ed, could you please introduce yourself and tell us more about Casino Betting Coin!

A1:

Hello again,

I’m Ed Brennan, President of Casino Betting Coin. I have over 25+ years combined experience spanning Internet, Software, Hardware, and Financial Services industries, supporting all operational functions at Fortune 500 companies including Merrill Lynch, Seagate, Adobe, Microsoft, and NexTag.

Q2: And what about Casino Betting Coin? Could you tell us how it started? And about its main concept

A2:

Sure, I’d love to.

Casino Betting Coin (CBC) is a crypto acquisition by Greentube, the interactive division of Novomatic.

Novomatic is one of the largest gaming technology companies in the world with more than 22,000 employees worldwide and a turnover of around 2.6 billion EUR in 2019.

To learn more about Novomatic and how mind-blowingly big it is, please visit: https://www.novomatic.com/en/explore-novomatic/about-novomatic

This is an industry GIANT going into crypto.

CBC represents industry adoption of crypto.

Very few crypto projects, even those in the Top 50, can claim to be backed by a multi-billion dollar enterprise that is among the leaders in its industry.

Q3: Thank you for the awesome intro u/EBrennanCBC! Are you ready to start the first part of our AMA?

A3:

Yes, I’m very excited to proceed.

Q4: Casino Betting Coin is quite an interesting project, and best of all, unlike many new DeFi projects, it really has quite a market. So, tell us about your expansion plans? What gaming companies are you planning to partner with? Tell us how the recent incorporation of CBC into GameTwist has influenced you. What other platforms are currently in the pipeline to incorporate CBC?

A4:

It’s true that one of the great things about casino tokens is that they have direct utility for use by a ready market.

After all, mankind has been known to engage in betting since the dawn of history.

Casino tokens having a ready market is especially true for Casino Betting Coin that is supported by one of the biggest companies in the industry, with all the casinos and platforms in its ecosystem.

There will be no lack of users.

Integration into the Novomatic ecosystem, starting with GameTwist.com, has been a game-changer for us.

We are now being approached by other casinos very keen to integrate CBC. We are picking the best options and moving forward.

We are also in discussions with another top-tier exchange regarding a listing and a potential investment in CBC.

We are building momentum, and truly believe CBC has a greater potential upside than Bitcoin right now.

Q5: As you are integrating with casinos which requirements for this they have? Do your users have to pass KYC for example?

A5:

CBC is open for everyone to hold and use subject only to the requirements or restrictions of each casino, which may differ by jurisdiction.

Q6: One million new users can now enjoy casino currency betting at Top Social Casino. What are the bonuses given to users who choose to shop with CBC? With MoonPay’s fiat to crypto on-ramp, even cryptocurrency newbies can enjoy the CBC bonus with a bank card? Which cards will initially be able to support CBC?

A6:

Yes, with MoonPay, players don’t need to know about crypto to buy CBC on GameTwist.com with any MasterCard or VISA bank card, or via bank transfer, and receive playing chips (on GameTwist, these are game credits called Twists).

People can now “use blockchain without knowing that they’re using blockchain” like this, which marks how mature the technology has become.

For those who do know crypto and hold CBC purchased from exchanges, an option is also available to send CBC manually for playing chips (i.e. Twists).

Buying CBC on GameTwist—either through a bank card gives players a 750% bonus to their received Twists. Check it out by going to GameTwist.com, logging in/registering an account, and going to Shop.

https://preview.redd.it/025jxpgqqlk61.jpg?width=593&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=671c47000f2aa1654b26da682b57f7a3de9a9240

Q7: Can we withdraw CBC from Game Twist? Or we get just Twists there?

A7:

CBC is bought to play games on GameTwist, but you can’t withdraw. It’s a social casino focused on providing entertainment.

You’ll still need to pay to continue playing, for example how you would pay to play a non-casino game online. Except here, of course, we’re talking about games that you’ll find at a casino.

It’s not for hardcore gamblers, but there are also lots of people who enjoy just playing, and are paying for that entertainment. GameTwist has millions of active users.

CBC will also be integrated into more casinos of different kinds.

Q8: Got it! But you really have great insensitive to use CBC

A8:

Indeed, buying CBC on GameTwist gives gamers a 750% bonus in playing chips, i.e. Twists, received.

https://preview.redd.it/je1luybsqlk61.jpg?width=705&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=49d5623cc2f4db49426bd1fd2dbeb3546b7cadf7

Q9: Ready for the next question or you want to add something?

A9:

GameTwist is fun and everyone should try to at least check it out and play a few games. Of course, if you want to continue playing, you might want to purchase some CBC to use there.

Ready!

Q10: One of the coins which I was holding also was affected by the KuCoin hack. And I know how hard it is to normalize the situation if a project is rejected to do a swap. Could you tell us why you reject the idea of swap? What percentage of coins is still locked on KuCoin? As I see they’re practically locked because of the current withdrawal fee and withdrawal limit. Do you have plans to delist from KuCoin and what is your vision of this situation?

A10:

Others have also asked a similar question—why not mint new tokens to replace those locked or lost on KuCoin? This is not possible since CBC is a truly decentralized cryptocurrency, with no unli-mint function in the token smart contract. No new tokens can just be created.

As for doing a token swap, that’s also impossible because of several reasons. I’ll just talk about the biggest ones. A swap can only go ahead with the cooperation of many parties and will affect many stakeholders. This will be troublesome to:

1.) To the token holders and users:

CBC is a utility token and is already live at a social casino with millions of users. Imagine holding it for use at a social casino, and then finding out you can’t, because you need to first do a token swap that would cost you gas, all this because of something unrelated to you having acquired the token for actual use.

2.) To other exchanges where CBC is also listed:

They would not want to go along with a swap just because another exchange got hacked. If this were to be the practice, then tokens will need to swap for every hack, and every exchange would need to work on supporting all these swaps. That would be a very bad practice and is also not the current practice. Users of DEXes would be unduly affected too with permissionless listings and liquidity allowing them to buy the old tokens even with a swap underway.

3.) To the casinos and other platforms and services we are integrated into:

A swap would pervasively affect CBC integrations with, not just casinos, but payment providers, etc.

4.) To Greentube Novomatic, which is an established corporate entity operating mostly outside of crypto and that needs to follow corporate laws, rules, and regulations in different jurisdictions.This is a big company that can’t just swap a significant balance sheet asset for another. Imagine if it’s any other asset—let us say, gold. Greentube can’t just switch assets because of an issue with the gold depository, for example. The depository is responsible for resolving its own issues. That’s how it is professionally done in the real world, and CBC is a real world asset with real world active utility.

Just to name some.

Kucoin has acknowledged responsibility for the hack and the losses incurred because of it. We are waiting for Kucoin to finish resolving this like it has done, and rightfully so, for other tokens.

For more context, please refer to our statement on the KuCoin hack: https://casinobettingcoin.com/a-statement-from-casino-betting-coin-on-the-kucoin-hack/

Q11: Do you know how many tokens now are locked on KuCoin? I mean CBC tokens?

A11:

Around 7M, if I’m not mistaken.

Q12: Initially, you were known as CashBet Coin but later changed the name from CashBet Coin to Casino Betting Coin after being acquired by Greentube NOVOMATIC, one of the world’s largest gaming companies. Is this acquisition a complete takeover of the CashBet Coin or it is only a mutual partnership that is designed to promote business benefits between the two companies? How has this event helped to revolutionize the gaming scope of Casino Betting Coin? What market attractions have this brought to your platform and how has it increased the utility of $CBC as well as increased its usage or exposure?

A12:

Greentube Novomatic’s acquisition of CBC birthed Casino Betting Coin, which is a different brand and project from before the acquisition. The token remains the same and there has been no token swap (to, for example, maybe signify that it’s a different brand and projects) because Greentube respects the sanctity of decentralization so central to crypto.

Casino Betting Coin represents industry adoption of crypto.

From the time of the acquisition, Greentube has been busy integrating CBC into casinos and platforms in the Novomatic ecosystem, starting with GameTwist.com where CBC is already live for its millions of active users.

CBC will also be integrated into other casinos in the future, both from within the Novomatic ecosystem as well as others outside of that ecosystem.

CBC, as an open crypto utility token, allows for widespread use across different platforms and ecosystems.

Q13: How many new users did you get recently? Or, let’s say, did the CBC holder’s number increase after these changes?

A13:

We can’t share commercially sensitive data from GameTwist, but let’s just say we have enjoyed a large increase in interest and users for CBC. GameTwist attracts over one million active users per month, which gives you an idea of the scale.

Q14: I read that users can qualify for “redemption benefits” if they meet certain requirements and the gaming operator offers these benefits. Can you explain more specifically what are the redemption benefits and what do they entail? Are these benefits some kind of advantages for selected players? And what would be the requirements to be able to get redemption benefits?

A14:

We are building out a couple of fantastic loyalty programs with casino operators which will return considerable benefits to those who hold CBC. For now, those who choose to make purchases with CBC at GameTwist.com can qualify for bonuses of up to 750%.

Beyond that, we can’t yet give you the details of future loyalty programs and reward schemes, but we are working hard to ensure CBC users receive the very best bonuses.

Q15: Where can we read more about this program? Do you have some articles about it?

A15:

For details on the Gametwist promotion, please visit: https://www.gametwist.com/en/promotions/16/

We will be sharing details on future promotions in due course.

Q16: Are people able to buy CBC on GameTwist.com via bank card from any country? Or are there some restrictions? like, some country can't do that?

A16:

There are some restrictions imposed by our fiat on-ramp in adherence to internationally accepted legal standards, but most of the world qualifies.

Q17: Thanks! A lot of info Can we go to the 6th and last question from part 1?

A17:

Sure, just sharing our Telegram group link here again for people to join and check us out: https://t.me/casinobettingcoin

Q18: Most crypto projects publish a roadmap to identify priority development goals. I did not find your roadmap, so I want to ask if everything turned out as planned at the start of the project and what will happen next?

A18:

CBC is all about real adoption and being integrated into more and more casinos for use by more and more players. The utility is very direct and development is geared only onto that one focus. There is no building out experimental technology for untested use cases.

Having said that, our 3 priorities for 2021 are the following:

Proliferation of the use of CBC through the Novomatic ecosystem and beyond
Layer 2 solutions to improve gas fees and speed
Active thought leadership and awareness of our unique position within crypto & gaming

Q19: Do you already know which Layer 2 solution will use? We like secrets here, in Satoshi Club

A19:

We are looking at several scalability solutions and are keeping an eye out for options.

Part 2 — live questions from the Telegram community

Q1: Do you plan to collaborate with gaming platforms other than GameTwist?

A1:

Absolutely. We are in advanced discussions with a number of other casinos to integrate CBC. Gametwist.com is just the start!

Q2: Is the $ CBC supply limited? Do you have a mechanism that ensures inflation does not occur?

A2:

There are approximately 150M issued tokens (circulating) of a total of about 400M. The total is a hard cap and included as part of the token’s smart contract design.

Q3 How can I buy CBC tokens?

A3:

We are always looking to improve access and add more trading platforms. Currently, you can find CBC on:

Uniswap

https://info.uniswap.org/token/0x26db5439f651caf491a87d48799da81f191bdb6b,

Bittrex

USDT: https://bittrex.com/Market/Index?MarketName=USDT-CBC

BTC: https://global.bittrex.com/Market/Index?MarketName=BTC-CBC

ETH: https://global.bittrex.com/Market/Index?MarketName=ETH-CBC

HitBTC

USDT: https://hitbtc.com/CBC-to-USD

BTC: https://hitbtc.com/CBC-to-BTC

Q4 Currently, your token is on the erc20 network which has problems with gas causing high rates, so what plans do you have to solve this? Do you have plans to migrate to another Blockchain network?

A4:

Gas can be an issue at times. We are currently exploring a number of second-layer options which will increase the speed and efficiency at which we can transact CBC.

Q5: How do you like the satoshi community so far?

A5:

I’m having a blast chatting with the Satoshi Club community. It is great to see many of you joining us over in the Casino Betting Coin channel as well. I hope many of you take a closer look at CBC after this AMA, as I truly believe this coin is one of the highest potential, low-cap gems out there.

Q6: We know Greentube Novomatic is one of the leaders in the digital gaming industry, and with this acquisition it will expand into crypto. Will this also be followed by changes to the betting system at Greentube? We know that crypto betting now depends on blockchain technology. What significant changes are expected from this acquisition?

A6:

Greentube Novomatic is our biggest holder, and one of the biggest casino companies in the world, so we are excited to explore ways we can innovate in this sector. The gaming and gambling industry is moving quickly, and we are well placed to capitalize on this. More and more casino play is moving online, and we feel that CBC really does add something to this area.

Q7: Could you really explain to us fully what will be the role of CBC in IGamming games? Is it the only betting currency or is it the one that will give VIP access to more games?

A7:

We see more utility for CBC as a supporting token in the gaming industry, rather than a wagering currency. We won’t rule anything out, but we can bring real value for users when holding CBC qualifies them for big bonuses. We find that people generally prefer to wager cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, or standard fiat currencies. We want to ensure the whole experience is boosted for CBC holders.

Q8: What are the uses that CBC has on its platform and why would it be greater than BTC?

A8:

This question goes straight to the CBC token utility and economics, which should be explained in detail.

CBC is a crypto acquisition by Greentube Novomatic. Novomatic is one of the biggest (multi-billion dollar) casino companies in the world, so while other crypto are tokens waiting for users, that’s not a problem for CBC.

CBC is already being used on GameTwist.com, a leading social casino with more than a million monthly active users. It will also be integrated in more casinos in the future.

CBC tokens used in Novomatic-affiliated casinos go to Novomatic and don’t return back to the marketplace, effectively burning them. This decreases supply, while more adoption by more players in more casinos increases demand. This tokenomics is intended to increase the value of the token over time through actual utility.

As to why we think CBC is better than BTC for the casino crypto use case, I’ve written about that where I gave 15 reasons why: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-cbc-better-than-bitcoin-btc-edward-w-brennan/?trackingId=0l1df4VW1daRqOZQJBOb2A%3D%3D

Q9: In a casino, the house always wins…So how can I be the house? How many CBC should I own to be a house? And how can I apply this word? “Own a Piece of the Action” Can you explain it a little further?

A9:

The house always wins in the long run. A quick walk down the strip in Las Vegas will show you that. By owning CBC, you get to have a stake within a project which is creating innovative new use cases across the casino industry. Holding CBC is the easiest way to become the house!

Q10: What is the minimum amount of CBC I need to purchase to play in GameTwist.?

A10:

You’ll be given some “chips” (Twists) to play for a while, and then you can buy CBC to continue playing.

To qualify for the 750% CBC bonus at GameTwist right now, you need to purchase a Twists package worth more than 24.99 euros.

Q11: How long do I have to lock my CBC tokens inside the system to get NFT or token rewards?

A11:

NFTs are a really interesting area. We think there may be some great applications of them into the gaming sector. It is certainly something on our radar.

Q12: What are the differences from other casino projects and what new techs are you bringing to defi world?

A12:

Unlike other crypto casino coins, CBC is backed by one of the world’s leading gambling companies and is already being used at one of the world’s biggest social casinos. We also have grand plans for future expansion that will bring even more utility to the CBC token. Most other platforms are struggling to find players, but that’s not a problem for us.

We see huge potential at the intersection of casino and DeFi. Most traditional casinos do not have a foot in the crypto world. That’s what makes Greentube Novomatic such a progressive partner. This is a huge, traditional casino giant which has understood how crypto is going to revolutionize our industry. We are working alongside them to make this revolution a reality.

Q13: Casino betting coin platform to shine and grow, needs to obtain the attention of the users, more players means more adoption/ profits, so can we know what is your plan to incentivize the use of your platform?

A13:

We have been building a strong community over the past few weeks, while also expanding our marketing efforts. As we go live with additional use cases, we will tap into the marketing machines of our partners to ensure CBC is put in front of a large, global audience.

Q14: Smart contracts are known to be susceptible to errors, bugs, or hacks. So how is the CBC security system composed? In addition, has an audit report been made by sources external to your project?

A14:

Yes, multiple audits were performed, Oyente Solgraph Mythril and Mainan tests were completed. Two audits were done by an outside auditing team including two prominent blockchain developers supported by co-founders of Ethereum and ConsenSys.

Q15: Are CBC use cases limited to betting games only, and are they not useful in other types of games?

A15:

Although our focus is on betting and casino, we don’t limit ourselves to this. We see some interesting opportunities across related sectors. Esports is one we are looking closely at, as well as the broader gaming ecosystem.

Mark Cuban wants to introduce ticketing on blockchain to NBA - GET protocol is already doing it

Mark Cuban Says Dallas Mavericks Are 'Talking About' Blockchain for NBA Ticketing - Decrypt

This is a great endorsemement for ticketing on blockchain. Prior to this Vitalik has endorsed ticketing on blockchain as being great:

https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin/status/1309139288240553986

Now when it comes to ticketing on blockchain, there's only one project to think of: GET protocol.

An introduction:

Website: https://get-protocol.io
Artists who use GET
GET explainer video
Tradeable on: https://uniswap.info/token/0x8a854288a5976036a725879164ca3e91d30c6a1b

In my humble opinion GET protocol is the a very undervalued project when it comes to fundamentals, adoption, tokenomics and potential. Let me explain why:

GET protocol solves an enormous problem: ticket scalping

I think we're all tired of the practices in the ticketing space: bots buy up tickets instantly and then resell them 2x, 5x, 10x or even more the original ticket price. Fans lose, artists lose, venues lose, ... while the money ends up in the pocket of scalpers who don't add any value to the process.

The secondary ticketing market is worth $15 billion. How long will fans have to pay?

GET protocol elminates ticket scalping by linking the ticket to your mobile phone. This means that at entry to a concert, sports game, ... you are only permitted entry with your mobile phone.

They have sold over 600k tickets and not one was "scalped"

An example is famous Dutch artist Jochem Myjer who uses GET protocol integrator GUTS tickets:

https://twitter.com/jochemmyjer/status/1118589335060848641

“Weird how some venues still don’t get how great GUTS is. And are afraid of change. It’s easier for the audience. For artists there is no more reselling. And maaaany other advantages. #GoWithTheTimes”

The ticketing space is one where no one trusts another in terms of how many tickets were issued, what the original price was, ... It has been proven that even Ticketmaster themselves are involved in the scalping business. That's why blockchain is vital in all of this. The tickets are all registered on the blockchain as a mean of transparency and accountability. This means that fans can check ticket authenticity whenever they want and make sure that they aren't being taken for a ride.

Besides scalping it offers many more advantages to integrators:

Interaction with the ticket holders
Extra marketing tools
Data collection
Dynamic price setting
Merging of the primary and secondary market
...

GET protocol has a lot of adoption

As stated above, GUTS has sold 600k tickets using GET protocol. In the meanwhile more ticketing companies have started using it:

GUTS

Runs fully on the GET protocol and has sold over 600.000 tickets. Has grown into the biggest ticketeer in the Netherlands.
https://guts.tickets

ITIX

Established in 2009 and sells 2 million tickets/year. Is fully integrated in the GET protocol and will start selling GET-fueled tickets soon.
https://www.itix.nl

getTicket

A new ticketing company in South Korea that will run fully on the GET protocol. They already have deals with kpop stars to sell tickets for.
http://getticket.kr

TecTix

A Germany based ticketing company that will sell GET fueled tickets with a focus on the sports industry.
https://tec-tix.com

Wicket

The last to join is an Italian ticketing company. Despite being new they have already ticketed the Milano Wine festival in 2020 and will do so in 2021 as well. In 2019 this festival atracted more than 300.000 visitors.
https://www.wicketevents.com

Integrating an existing ticketing company is a low investment move (only the GET token is needed) that offers traditional ticketing companies several benefits. With the whitelabel that has just been released, which makes it easy for any ticketing company to start using GET, I expect many ticketing companies to integrate and GET to scale quickly.

Here are the requests they had received by end of 2019:

https://miro.medium.com/max/700/1*qeaWLY0t8M_8PwFrpU1ojg.jpeg

GET tokenomics

The GET tokenomics are built so that for every ticket issued 0,28€ (or 0,34$) worth of GET is needed by the ticketeers. They buy most of this from exchanges and a minority they get subsidized from the User Grotwh Fund. In 2020 around 70% was bought directly from exchanges.

In 2020 ticketing volume in general was down like 90–99% due to corona. Yet GET managed to sell over 236k tickets. Or an increase of 27% compared to 2019.

This is a major indicator of their usecase being needed: despite covid19 they grew a lot and conquered a lot of marketshare from traditional ticketeers.

Tokenomics to push the price

If GUTS was able to sell 236k tickets in a year where ticketing volume is down at least 90% then I think it’s safe to assume that they’ll sell over 3 million tickets/year once everything is allowed again.

Add the new ticketing companies that integrated GET recently (getticket in Korea, Wicket Events in Italy and Tectix in Germany) and you’ll understand that we’ll be seeing millions of tickets processed by the GET protocol.

I’m willing to bet that we’ll see at least 5 million tickets in 2022:

5 million \ 0,28 * 0,7 = €980.000 in buybacks or around 1,2 million $*

You can imagine what buybacks of 100k $ each month will do to such a smallcap, especialy considering that all this bought GET is burned after usage.

If the price would remain stable we’d see 5 million GET burned, or 25% of the entire supply (SF of 13 million will be burned soon anyway as it isn’t used so I don’t consider that as supply).

Of course the price will not remain stable as with such an increase in buybacks & burns, GET will be recognised as truely deflationary through real world usage.

NFT tickets that will revolutionise ticketing

As of this month all tickets issued by the GET protocol will become NFT’s

Over 60.000 sold tickets (that haven’t ben scanned yet for the event) will be minted as NFT’s this month. This means that tickets, after scanning can become collectables. But so much more:

Here's my take on why GET protocol's smart and blockchain registered tickets becoming NFT's will revolutionize the ticketing industry.

After the DeFi hype we’ve witnessed last year, the next hype in crypto that seems to be developing are NFT’s. In this case it isn’t about riding the hype. Tickets being NFT’s on the blockchain really makes sense and it will change ticketing as we know it. Let me explain…

So what’s a NFT exactly? NFT stands for non fungible token. This is a token that’s unique on the blockchain and not mutually interchangeable. This in contrast to for example Bitcoin where it doesn’t matter which Bitcoin you have (1 BTC = 1 BTC). Every ticket issued by the GET protocol will become a getNFT.

Image explaining GET NFT's

getNFTs are indivisible, meaning that a getNFT can only be held by 1 address at the same time. This ensures that whoever owns a certain NFT will be the only one to decrypt the QR code.

Eventhough GET’s NFT’s will be the most used, bought & traded NFT’s in the crypto space the goal isn’t to ride the hype. Ticketing + NFT = a match made in heaven. And here’s why:

As every ticket on the blockchain will become a NFT and thus unqiue, it will allow non custodial ownership of the ticket asset. This gives many interesting advantages but 2 stand out for me personally: P2P ticket trading & DeFi event financing.

P2P ticket trading
NFT’s will allow P2P ticket trading and GET’s almost done building it! Peer to peer ticket trading means that everyone who owns a getNFT ticket will be able to trade it with another “peer”. This will happen in a closed and regulated ecosystem. This means that certain rules can be set by the event organizer. For example:

The ticket can be sold for only x% profit
x% of the trade profit goes to the event organizer
a certain trading fee goes to the event organizer
…

This will be the first and only ticketing system that will allow ticket trading while at the same time making scalping impossible. Regulators have been struggling for a long time to solve this problem and what seemed impossible to achieve will be made possible by smart contracts! The impact of this will be huge and will change the ticketing space for the better.Additionally and not unimportantly it will give the event organizer an extra revenue stream. The money that right now for a large part goes to scalpers (the secondary ticket market is worth $15B) will be tapped into by the event organizers.

Why this is important

The advantage for GET holders is twofold:

The P2P market will atract more users (artists, venues, ticketing companies) of the GET protocol (= more GET needed in the primary market)
every ticket exchanged in the secondary market is an additional statechange (= more GET needed)

Event financing
Without a doubt one of the most promising and exciting things to look forward to in 2021 is the introduction of decentralized event financing to GET Protocol.Event organizers often struggle to get financing for their events. This doesn’t only apply to starting artists, but even to famous stars. The artists need to have a lot of capital in advance as they have to pay for the venues, organisation, … upfront while only receiving the money after the show is over. Enter GET’s DeFi solution!

The pre-financing of events for event-organizers is not a solution looking for a problem; it’s a widely known and used tool that enables event organizers to make the investments needed to get their shows or festivals off the ground.In the past we have encountered Event Organizers who select their ticketing partner solely based on the amount of money and loan conditions that they are offered up front.

Thanks to getNFT tickets you’ll be able to pre-finance events of your choice. You can choose to finance new artists (more risk/more APY) or established kpop stars (less risk/less APY).

This is how it will work:

The technical side of event financing

If the concept seems complicated, here’s what you need to understand about GET’s decentralized financing solution:1.) Event organizers will be able to easily pre-finance their events. (Something they desperately crave.)2.) Investors will be able to invest in events of their choice, at a risk & reward level that they feel comfortable with.3.) The $GET token is an integral part of the financing process, as it is required for ‘skin in the game’ from

The advantage event financing for GET token holders will bring is again twofold:

As a GET holder you’ll be able to finance events and share in the profit of the ticket sales. This means that GET will allow you to profit without selling = passive income. An important note is that this is profit without inflation. While other DeFi projects give you returns by increasing the supply (and thus decreasing the value of the token) the returns here will not increase the GET supply, as the returns come from real profit(ticket sales).
As the GET token will be an integral part of this process, it will:- increase the buy pressure of the GET token (everyone who wants to participate will need GET)- decrease the supply (everyone who participates will have to locks his GET tokens).

For a deeper insight I recommend the blog below:

https://medium.com/get-protocol/decentralizing-event-financing-liquidity-x-defi-x-nfts-975f028135f5

GET protocol will be decentralised

The endgoal of the GET protocol is to become open source and decentralised. There will be a governance model where changes to the protocol will be determined by GET token holders. That’s why I expect ticketing companies to acquire a lot of GET in time as their revenue relies on the direction of the protocol.

Does news make the price, or only price make the news?: Case study.

Many people shill on the cryptocurrencies they support, often anticipating roadmaps and new features to reflect on the prices; ex. ETH 2.0, ICON 2.0. Hard-fork is a little different.

But do any news influence the price?

Really?

Let's look at the search interest based on keywords from Google Trend, 2019~2021:

https://preview.redd.it/8qz7e7a9fkk61.png?width=864&format=png&auto=webp&s=7c8f3f142c7c8ec5335d7b0feecf671c178d769b

As you can see, ICX interest follows the general cryptocurrency trend, which is basically just attention on bitcoin.

Icon as a keyword is inapplicable and has no correlation with ICX nor cryptocurrency. And I realized as I researched, Icon is a terrible name (I'll explain why in another post).

But only ICX had a big interest spike in February, 2021.

What happened?

https://preview.redd.it/jzs1q35ogkk61.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=1722648cea50b52dc80309ed1f2fb8125363264e

ICX exclusive bull run? MyID/DID? Is it finally climaxing to Alpha Centauri?

https://preview.redd.it/bytp5e70hkk61.png?width=1902&format=png&auto=webp&s=c9110b4d0fb6682d410a8877ba0df5e7cb07a43c

No.

Whatever news related to Icon were at the peak, not at the bottom.

BTC was breaking out into a bull run, thus lifting the entire altcoin fam in anticipation, not ICX alone.

But COVID-19 FUD led to a brief market crash. This is evident from the USDT dominance spike, which means cashflow is exiting the market from panic sell-off.

Further evident from BTC miner positions:

https://preview.redd.it/5pqq5ug3jkk61.png?width=465&format=png&auto=webp&s=b8cf07b2c9bcd17152ee7d11907c8ae07991c7cf

All those bullish Icon related media outlets and bloggers spoke nothing about the crash thereafter, nor the fact that ICX had been following BTC trend the entire time.

Because it is a classic example of a false positive correlation. Surely Icon updates and news (ex. MyID/DID) were being searched, but they weren't what led to the price uptrend as the authors correlated as the catalyst.

And the search interest spike was when ICX price action and gain % hit the cryptosphere news, not when Icon announced stuff.

This is just one case study from 2019~2021 timeframe, therefore there may be past events from Icon that had unnoticeably affected the price, or will in the future.

But for any cryptocurrencies, even the big daddy bitcoin, development news/updates do not make the price; the price make the news.

Elon Musk hype and dogecoin are not applicable since they weren't news related to project developments.

Traders are not investors, and investors are not traders. The entire cryptocurrency market moves around bitcoin, and trading activities move the price.

News and authors can write an entire movie script trying to reason the market movements.

But charts don't lie.

ICX sometimes make the news from huge price swings, but otherwise ignored. This is because ICX as a market is unattractive to traders, Icon's development is too detached from ICX as a cryptocurrency, and so all that is left is BTC dependency. 1~5% change in BTC results in 15~50% change in ICX, as from the high BTC dependency, resulting in high volatility.

These might be part of the reason why ICX is underperforming, but great risk-return ratio for idiots like me.

Hence I prioritize BTC analysis, but trade ICX. Hodl/DCA alone is not the effective strategy for ICX, rather short interim trades + smaller hodl stack safety-net is best profitable. This would change as we get a clear idea of ICX price trend cycle in the future. Hodling any top 100 cryptocurrency for few years is still very profitable regardless.

I think automotive, smartphone, then property market will all subsequently crash soon, also bringing the stock market down since it's all pegged to real asset liquidities if all forms of property lose their values. The only property with any real value left might be cryptocurrency in that scenario, funnily enough since it's an intangible digital information.

With all the above said, it's all speculative and no definite evidence to support anything.

tl;dr this is a complete bullshit.

Not an investment advice.

Mina Protocol-a deep-dive technical overview. (технический обзор с глубоким погружением)

https://youtu.be/VWpsxP6Ftpw

Friends, hello everyone! Today we'll talk with you about a very cool project called Mina-protocol. Mina Protocol is a blockchain that uses a zero knowledge proof cryptographic technology. Mina is a Layer 1 protocol that is designed to fulfill the original purpose of the blockchain, which is true decentralization, scalability, and security. In legacy blockchains such as ethereum, bitcoin, when a new participant joins it, he must check each transaction first on the network to make sure it is correct. And this currently amounts to hundreds of gigabytes of data. Specifically using bitcoin as an example, it is currently 330 gigabytes. Most people cannot afford that kind of computing power, so most people cannot connect to a peer-to-peer network, resulting in decentralization, power dynamics change, and the network becoming more vulnerable due to censorship. This problem is solved by the Mina protocol. Mina offers an elegant solution: replacing the blockchain with an easily verifiable cryptographic proof of constant 22kb size. Rather than validating the entire chain from the very beginning to the very end, participants fully validate the network and transactions using recursive zero knowledge proofs. Otherwise, they are also called zk-SNARKs. Then the nodes can only store that proof, not the whole chain. And because it is a constant size, Minu Protocol remains accessible and can be accessed trustlessly from any device, even if it scales to millions of users and accumulates transaction data over the years.

Website: https://minaprotocol.com/

Сhallenges: http://bit.ly/CommunityLeaderboardCha...

Discord: https://bit.ly/MinaDiscord

Telegram: http://bit.ly/MinaTelegram

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MinaProtocol

Medium: https://medium.com/MinaProtocol

Kripto Vesti – 2. mart

https://belgradecrypto.com/kripto-vesti-2-mart/

Ovo su Kripto Vesti – 2. mart preuzete sa našeg Telegram kanala:

Korisnici Google Finance usluga sada mogu da prate i cene nekih od poznatijih kripto valuta.

Dodata je “Crypto” sekcija koja se nalazi u “Compare Markets” kategoriji.

Trenutno je moguće pratiti cenu Bitcoin-a (BTC), Ether-a (ETH), Litecoin-a (LTC) i Bitcoin Cash-a (BCH).

(CoinTelegraph)

https://preview.redd.it/ccmibzbgxkk61.jpg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e1765405cbfbfe6a176e5bf4d95b7bdbf84f80e3

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Tether je navodno primio ucenu u vrednosti od 500 $BTC-a (oko $22M) kako u javnost ne bi isplivala dokumenta koja bi mogla da “naštete celom Bitcoin ekosistemu”.

Tether je na Twitteru objavio da su slučaj prijavili policiji.

Takođe proteklih dana internetom kruže i dokumenta koja navodno pokazuju prepisku jedne osobe zaposlene u Tetheru sa predstavnikom bahamske banke Deltec u kojima se tvrdi da ta banka drži $USDT rezerve, što opet pokreće pitanje o pokriću $USDT-a.

Tether je na svom Twitter nalogu negirao istinitost tih dokumenata.

Podsećamo vas i da se prošlog utorka Tether nagodio sa NYAG-om u vezi sa višegodišnjom istragom zbog zajma od $850M sestrinskoj berzi Bitfinex. Kao deo nagodbe platili su sudu $18.5M i takođe će morati naredne 2 godine da dostavljaju sudu kvartalne izveštaje.

(Coindesk)

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Citi Group kaže da Bitcoin pokazuje kako novim tehnologijama treba dosta manje vremena da budu masovno prihvaćene, nego npr u vreme telefona, kom je trebalo 50 godina da dostigne 50 miliona korisnika.

Televiziji je trebalo 22 godine, Internetu 7 godina, a PokemonGo samo 19 dana.

Zanimljivo kod Bitcoina je i brzina kojom je zainteresovao institucionalne igrače, koji su ga prihvatili kao “digitalno zlato”.

Kripto inovacije i stabilni tokeni su napravili “pritisak na centralne banke” da razmotre svoje digitalne opcije.

Citi smatra da Bitcoin može postati “valuta izbora za internacionalnu trgovinu”.

(izveštaj od 108 strana na citivelocity sajtu)

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FD7 Ventures, inače globalni investicioni fond iz Dubaija sa milijardu dolara pod upravljanjem, pokreće novi fond od $250M u Bangaloru (Indija) kojim će ulagati u timove programera koji grade na Polkadot-u ($DOT) i Cardan-u ($ADA).

Takođe žele i da iskoriste dva blokčejna za izgradnju tržišta za NFT tokene u Indiji, čiji će deo biti poznate ličnosti iz Bolivuda kao i igrači kriketa.

(u.today)

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Polkadot vesti:

Rokoko sad ima 10 paralanaca.

Kusamine naknade za transakcije su smanjene za 50x.

Izašao je Substrate 3.0.

Centrifuge je pokrenuo ChaChaCha, mrežu baziranu na Rokoku, za one koji žele da povežu svoj paralanac.

Ako ste slučajno poslali Kusamu na Polkadot adresu na Ledger-u, sad postoje instrukcije da ga povratite (guglajte How to recover KSM sent to the wrong network (Polkadot)).

Moonbeam vebsajt je lajv i postoje radionice kako da se koriste Solidity ugovori i Chainlink orakli na Moonbeam-u, što je dobar korak ka interoperabilnosti Eterijum i Polkadot ekosistema.

Acala je pokrenula Acala EVM.

WEB3 fondacija zapošljava programere, tehničkog edukatora, community menadžera (mora native english).

(Dot Leap email, koji uredjuje Bruno Skvorc)

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Preko vikenda je održana aukcija u Decentral Games-u gde je portret Elona Muska, na kome je predstavljen kao Marvelov Thanos, prodat za 10.5 $ETH (oko $20k).

(CoinGecko Newsletter)

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Vlada kineskog regiona Unutrašnja Mongolija je predložila zatvaranje svih rudarskih farmi do aprila.

Javna diskusija će trajati do 3. marta, dakle još uvek postoji šansa da se promeni. U pitanju je širi regulatorni predlog koji se tiče uštede energije u okviru petogodišnjeg ekonomskog plana. Predlog bi uticao na sve industrije koje troše mnogo struje.

Sichuan provincija je izgleda najprijateljskiji raspoložena prema rudarima jer ima specijalne industrijske parkove gde farme mogu legalno da rudare pomoću viškova hidro-energije.

(Deluje da kineske provincije imaju različit odnos prema rudarima u zavisnosti od dominantne vrste energije i viškova struje. Unutrašnja Mongolija ima previše fosilnih goriva i tzv prljave struje.)

Dve “prljave kineske provincije” su Unutrašnja Mongolija i Xinjiang (ugalj), a Sichuan i Yunan su “čiste” (hidro), kaže Nik Karter na svom tviteru.

(The Block)

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Neki od sledećih TGE dogadjaja.

TGE (Token Generation Event) je prihvatljiviji naziv za ono što smo pre zvali ICO.

TGE se sada često odvijaju preko IDO (Initial Dex Offering) platformi.

(ICO Analytics)

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Poznati kanadski investitor promenio stav o Bitcoinu

Kevin O’Leary je sa “Bitcoin je djubre” prešao na “Bitcoin je ovde da ostane” i uložio je 3% svog portfolija u njega i ETH.

(Newsbitcoincom)

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BSC projekti i Phala najviše skaču jer su najviše i padali.

(Binance)

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Radiće se revizija koda za Alpha stejkovanje.

Reviziju stejkovanja će raditi ReviewsDAO.

Inače, Alpha trenutno čeka i na završetak revizije celog koda od strane ozbiljnijeg Pekšilda.

(Alpha Finance lab tviter)

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Centrifuge ne planira da bude konkurencija Kusami već je pokrenuo alternativu Rokoko testnetu da bi više paralanaca testiralo spajanje.

(Pojašnjenje Bruno Skvorca)

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Cardano hard fork večeras

Mary hard fork će nastupiti večeras a nod i stejk pul operateri treba pre toga da se ažuriraju. Treba ažurirati i poslednje verzije novčanika.

ADA transakcije će nvr biti neko vreme u prekidu.

Ovaj hard fork ne donosi pametne ugovore. Goguen faza će zahtevati bar još jedan veliki upgrade u nastupajućim mesecima.

(Messari Pro)

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$53M Cake tokena je spaljeno (4M komada), kaže Pancakeswap na tviteru.

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Zapratite Telegram grupu Belgrade Crypto Community i kanal Kripto Vesti.

I have tried to defeat the New York Bitlicence; I failed and I am running for Public Advocate and on 3/2/2021 I am debating the Current NYC Public Advocate. We are going to debate one on one and the topic of Bitcoin will come over.

I have tried to use the Judicial System to destroy the bitlicense. I use to have a small business called Chino Ltd and I failed (there is a link on my old business to all the details on that failed lawsuit but that is not the point of this post.)

I have called the current politicians over the corruption and I will bring out the Bitlicense and if that what they plan to do with the Decriminalization of Marijuana.

The link to the link to the link to Facebook is here: https://fb.me/e/3vF0q2t3O

Would be wonderful if you could get the Facebook viewership up the roof. As a bitcoiner going against a clueless politician will be interesting.

I run the website, https://abolishthebitlicense.com #BitcoinersAreNotCrooks.

https://preview.redd.it/ni2gawe1ikk61.png?width=564&format=png&auto=webp&s=09a6136ebf55734dce8dfc180677809deae2b61b

https://preview.redd.it/919rg8xgekk61.png?width=750&format=png&auto=webp&s=564e19f5793925a913a7146dcdfbf7d6f344ad64

https://www.facebook.com/events/2856249794649199