Many traders believe the narrative that Bitcoin price drops ahead of CME BTC futures expiries, but data shows the trend is all bark and no bite.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/data-shows-the-bitcoin-price-drops-ahead-of-cme-expiries-claim-is-a-myth

The world's largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) has been struggling under the $50,000 levels. After Tesla dropping BTC payments earlier this week, BTC registered more than a 15% price crash and is currently trading 3.64% down at $48,703 with a market cap of $911 billion.

https://coingape.com/amid-struggling-under-50000-bitcoin-btc-whale-transactions-over-1-million-hit-all-time-high/

Nexon Co. said it bought $100 million worth of Bitcoin, joining a list of tech companies embracing the digital currency.

The online game provider acquired 1,717 Bitcoins at an average price of about $58,226 each, including fees and expenses. The purchase represents less than 2% of Nexon’s total cash and cash equivalents on hand, and is the largest-ever purchase of digital currency made by a company traded in Tokyo, Nexon said.

“Our purchase of bitcoin reflects a disciplined strategy for protecting shareholder value and for maintaining the purchasing power of our cash assets,” Owen Mahoney, Nexon’s chief executive officer, said in a statement. “In the current economic environment, we believe Bitcoin offers long-term stability and liquidity while maintaining the value of our cash for future investments.”

A growing number of global firms including Tesla Inc. and Square Inc. have moved to purchase Bitcoin in recent months, with more starting to accept the cryptocurrency as a form of payment. Firms in Japan, which was an early leader in Bitcoin acceptance, have been slow to join this trend.

Nexon said it intended to guard itself against a potential drop in the value of non-digital currencies in case of inflation, with Mahoney seeing Bitcoin as a “form of cash likely to retain its value, even if it is not yet widely-recognized as such.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-28/nexon-joins-tesla-in-bitcoin-bet-with-100-million-purchase

“The charts.” I pointed along the craggy, upward graphs as we flipped through each cryptocurrency. “They look like wavetables that I’d use in my synthesizers.” This immediately felt like cosmic foreshadowing [...]“Maybe I could make that my first NFT?”

ill-esha tells us her journey about how her art and crypto world connect in a unique cosmic ride.

Follow ill-esha below for the full story:

https://medium.com/staxe/cryptowaves-pt-1-cfec3a814eda

A cyber yuan stands to give Beijing power to track spending in real time, plus money that isn’t linked to the dollar-dominated global financial system

A thousand years ago, when money meant coins, China invented paper currency. Now the Chinese government is minting cash digitally, in a re-imagination of money that could shake a pillar of American power.

It might seem money is already virtual, as credit cards and payment apps such as Apple Pay in the U.S. and WeChat in China eliminate the need for bills or coins. But those are just ways to move money electronically. China is turning legal tender itself into computer code.

Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin have foreshadowed a potential digital future for money, though they exist outside the traditional global financial system and aren’t legal tender like cash issued by governments.

China’s version of a digital currency is controlled by its central bank, which will issue the new electronic money. It is expected to give China’s government vast new tools to monitor both its economy and its people. By design, the digital yuan will negate one of bitcoin’s major draws: anonymity for the user.

...

https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-creates-its-own-digital-currency-a-first-for-major-economy-11617634118

2017 ICOs, 2018 Smart Contracts, 2019 Stablecoins, and 2020 DeFI. It’s Time to Pass On the Torch: Non-Fungible Tokens in 2021.

It’s no secret that people like collecting things. The types of items you collect depend on your particular interests and passions or whether those collectibles resonate with you on an emotional level. Think of how you might have collected Pokémon cards, stamps, video games, books, posters, maybe even marbles or bugs as a child. Your collection may look pretty different as an adult. Perhaps you now collect fashionable bags and shoes, tech gadgets, antiques or artwork. Or maybe you still collect the same things you did as a child.

But what if your physical collection can be expanded to a digital and virtual world? What if UFC fans can collect and own their favorite Conor McGregor (or other fighter) moments? For Nike fans, how about traversing virtual gaming worlds while donning your favorite kicks? What if you can now own that pet dragon you’ve always secretly wanted in a virtual home? For the art collectors out there, imagine having a virtual gallery of digital artwork that you can fit in your pocket and take around with you to show your friends and family. How about owning your favorite celebrity’s memorabilia and behind the scenes rarities? Well, you might not need to imagine for much longer because the rise of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in the crypto world are going to make your wildest imaginings and dreams real — virtually real. And here’s a heads-up to Star Trek fans, you may soon be able to own William Shatner’s tokenized memories in the form of trading cards, one of which will be a poignant image of Shatner hugging longtime friend Leonard Nimoy.

NFTs have been the source of whispers across the globe over the past few months and are a strong contender to steal the spotlight in the 2021 crypto world. The relatively short history of the crypto world has been characterized by waves of trends: the 2017 ICO boom, 2017–18 smart contract platform era, 2018–19 stablecoin era, and 2020 DeFi craze. Although DeFi has been the focus for most of 2020, NFTs have steadily been gaining traction in recent months. Ilya Abugov, project manager at DappRadar, recently told Cointelegraph: “There is more hype around NFTs right now. To some extent it’s an extension of the DeFi excitement.”

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-2021-year-non-fungible-tokens-nfts-ruben/

Could Brave search become the new Google search? The privacy-focused browser is closer to making this a reality.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/brave-acquires-search-engine-in-bid-to-offer-alternative-to-google-search?fbclid=IwAR3La39e4bcgTDFG0XytGYqm7yIxxtpqn_x4FAgbtNaReNvK3bcHa-ARp4w

Buying MicroStrategy shares to play bitcoin can be a very, VERY expensive way to own crypto. CoinDesk's global capital markets managing editor Lawrence Lewitinn explains the MicroStrategy premium: https://trib.al/ki8mhLe

What is the message he is sending here?
https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2021/03/03/elon-musk-against-crypto-scams/

Soon we will be able to get new graphic cards only for mining.

- I'm decentralized.

Say goodbye to high nominal stock prices 👋 buying a fraction of your favorite equities is now available on Uphold http://bit.ly/UpholdEquities

Doge still going strong

https://www.coindesk.com/dogecoin-coinflip-atm-support?fbclid=IwAR309jSIJMDXc90r93opINzdLtAIuTg57ag_Tl4VqPB2afxz-N1vspn1MXY

Emerald Crypto | February 26, 2021

So what is Blockchain anyway? By now you've probably heard the term thrown around and you may have some vague awareness that blockchain is connected to the world of cryptocurrency. But what exactly is blockchain and how does it work?

The word itself is made up of two components – block and chain. The block component refers to data (information) and the chain component refers to how that data is stored.

So when we put the word back together we see that a blockchain is a certain way of storing data.

Said another way, it's a type of database.

And what is a database? It's a collection of electronic data or information that is organized so that it can be efficiently located and retrieved. More precisely, a blockchain is a specific type of database. While a blockchain can store many different types of information for our purposes we'll focus on blockchain as a transaction ledger. Think of a ledger in a checkbook that is used to balance your account. Or for younger readers think of the list of recent transactions that comes up after signing into online banking.

In a blockchain a 'block' is filled with data. When the block is full it is 'chained' to a new block which is then filled with additional data. The chains are compiled in chronological order using hashes that help identify each individual block.

Blockchain transactions are distributed or decentralized. This means that they don't take place on a single computer on a single server but on a shared network where all users retain control. The peer-to-peer (P2P) network has many computers (or nodes), often spread out throughout the world and owned by different people or entities, that work together to verify and complete the transaction. If one node makes an error the other nodes through a consensus process will eliminate the incorrect information. Said another way, all of the nodes work together to come to the same conclusion. Incorrect data do not get added to a ledger but once correct information is added it can never be changed.

Thus blockchain transactions are very difficult to falsify or alter. The blockchain ledger records every single transaction that has ever taken place on that blockchain in chronological order. Blockchain transactions also use encryption keys and hashing to secure and protect the data while network nodes complete transactions by solving algorithms. All these factors combined make blockchain nearly immutable (impossible to change) and very transparent (easily verifiable for all to see).

(Too many characters, click the link in my profile for the rest of the article...they won't let me link to it here.)

GPU's are great for mining. According to Nvidia (not us 😉) a huge part of the 1.5 billion GPUs already out there are ideal for mining.... plus they will be bringing out a CMP (a processor dedicated to mining), which will generate even more rewards with even less power consumption, and our gamers can all buy one with the rewards they get from their GPUs with our platform... This article is a total and absolute 100% validation of our business.

https://news.bitcoin.com/nvidia-limits-the-efficiency-of-mining-ether-using-its-gpus-by-50/?fbclid=IwAR3UykSZaspRvHH4x0Rys4OB3W6jJdRK5E7LYCoTcnysbh6mPIhkeaaiTaU