Category Archives: Cryptocurrency

OLBs SecurePay TM Payment Gateway to Enable Merchants to Seamlessly Offer Cryptocurrency Payments

The OLB Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: OLB), a provider of cloud-based omnicommerce and payment acceptance solutions for small and mid-size merchants, announced it has upgraded its SecurePay payment gateway system to support Cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDC and DAI across all merchant platforms. Merchants utilizing the OLB SecurePay gateway service or the OmniSoft cloud-based business management platform will immediately have the option to accept these alternative contactless payment methods without any equipment changes. Our systems will be wallet agnostic and, integrating them with third-party software, customers will be able to seamlessly pay with Cryptocurrency wallets such as MetaMask TM, Coinbase Wallet TM, Crypto.com and Trust Wallets TM.

Ronny Yakov, CEO of OLB, said, "Providing all the latest technologies and tools to merchants is our top priority. It is imperative to adjust to these times as the world becomes further integrated with digital currencies. By enabling our merchants the ability to accept digital payments, it will also help enhance the funds available for every merchant that opts in, as these forms of payments settle instantly, providing small businesses with more flexibility and agility. By 2027, the global payments industry is projected to be 8.94 Trillion USD and according to Statista there are 66 million users of Cryptocurrency wallets, according to Fortune Business Insights"

SercurePay is compatible with mobile, tablet-based and cloud infrastructure and will be integrated into the merchants current payment ecosystem, in order to enable the acceptance of Cryptocurrency payments. Merchants interested in implementing omnicommerce services or accepting crypto within their existing payment infrastructure can set up an account at https://cryptoaccept.com

For more information about The OLB Group, please visit http://www.olb.com or http://www.olb.com/investors-data .

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Interested investors or shareholders can be notified of future Press Releases and Industry Updates by e-mailing investorrelations@OLB.com .

Safe Harbor Statement

All statements from The OLB Group, Inc. in this news release that are not based on historical fact are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and the provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the impact of COVID-19 on our operations and financial condition, our ability to implement our proprietary merchant boarding and CRM system and to roll out our Omni Commerce and SecurePay applications, including payment methods, to our current merchants and the integration of our secure payment gateway with our crowdfunding platform. While the Companys management has based any forward-looking statements contained herein on its current expectations, the information on which such expectations were based may change. These forward-looking statements rely on a number of assumptions concerning future events and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are outside of our control, that could cause actual results to materially differ from such statements. Such risks, uncertainties, and other factors include statements regarding the expected revenue and income for operations to be generated by The OLB Group, Inc. For other factors that may cause our actual results to differ from those that are expected, see the information under the caption "Risk Factors" in the Companys most recent Form 10-K and 10-Q filings, and amendments thereto, as well as other public filings with the SEC since such date. The Company operates in a rapidly changing and competitive environment, and new risks may arise. Accordingly, investors should not place any reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. The Company disclaims any intention to, and undertakes no obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statement.

About The OLB Group, Inc.

The OLB Group, Inc. is a payment facilitator and commerce service provider that delivers cloud-based merchant services for web-based and brick-and-mortar organizations. OLB provides a seamless, end-to-end digital commerce solution that includes site creation, hosting, transaction processing and payment gateway, order fulfillment, customer service, outbound marketing, sales reporting, and fundraising. With services from private label shopping sites designed to maintain the unique look or feel of the merchant website, to order fulfillment and customer service, OLB remains invisible to the user and promotes the merchants brand with market-leading technology and solutions. For more information about solutions, services, or to find a reseller, please visit http://www.olb.com . Investor information is available at http://www.olb.com/investors-data .

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210210005034/en/

Contacts

The OLB Group - Investor RelationsInvestorRelations@olb.com (212) 278-0900 EXT: 333

RedChip Companies Inc.Dave Gentry407-491-4498Dave@redchip.com

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OLB Group Announces Plan to Offer Cryptocurrency Payment Options via Blockchain Technology on its OMNICOMMERCE Platform and SecurePay TM Gateway -...

Tribune News ServiceNew Delhi, February 9

Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Thakur on Tuesday told the Rajya Sabha that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) lack a legal framework to regulate cryptocurrencies which are neither currencies nor securities or commodities.

80 Chinese firms active in India: Anurag

Taking note of the inadequacy of the laws to deal with the subject, the government formed an inter-ministerial panel to enact legislation, Thakur said during Question Hour. He said the panel had submitted its report. The committee of secretaries formed for this purpose also had given its report. Thakur added that the proposed law was in the final stages of completion. We will be bringing the Bill soon, he said.

There are multiple definitions of cryptocurrencies available globally, he said. The RBI had banned cryptocurrencies. All these factors have been taken into account while framing the proposed law, which will be tabled in Parliament soon, he said.

There have been reports suggesting that the Centre is planning to ban cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin by bringing a Bill in Parliament. It is also rumoured that the Centre may introduce its own digital currency through the RBI.

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Bill on cryptocurrency soon - The Tribune India

The government's draft bill on cryptocurrencies is likely to bar Indian companies and individuals from using digital currencies if cleared by parliament.

The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021 is expected to be introduced soon in the ongoing Budget session (of parliament).

People, traders, exchanges, and other financial systems' participants will not be permitted to deal in cryptocurrencies, with penalties proposed in the draft law for any violation by corporates as well as individuals, NDTV reported.

Also Read: Inter-ministerial group recommends ban on Bitcoin, private cryptocurrency in India: FM

The decision was taken after an inter-ministerial panel, including representatives from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), felt that private cryptocurrencies will pose a risk to the financial stability of the country.

The bill, which proposes a blanket ban on all private cryptocurrencies, will also lay the basis for an official digital currency with ties to the RBI, which can regulate it, the report added.

The Centre's draft bill comes days after car manufacturer Tesla, led by billionaire Elon Musk, announced a $1.5 billion investment in Bitcoin with plans to accept the cryptocurrency from customers purchasing its electric vehicles. This drove the digital money to an all-time high.

Also Read: Sell or hold - investors on edge as India mulls cryptocurrency ban

Both the Centre and the central bank have been cautioning against digital currencies and have advised all banks and financial institutions not to deal in them.

The RBI, through a circular in April 2018, had advised all entities regulated by it not to deal in virtual currencies or provide services for facilitating any person or entity in dealing with or settling them.

In mid-2019, a government committee had suggested banning all private cryptocurrencies, with a jail term of up to 10 years as well as heavy penalties for anyone dealing in digital currencies.

However, the Supreme Court in March 2020 overturned RBI's circular, permitting banks to handle cryptocurrency transactions from traders and exchanges.

As per the official estimates, around 7 million Indians hold cryptocurrencies worth more than $1 billion.

Also Read: Cryptocurrencies are neither currency nor commodity; will bring bill soon: Anurag Thakur

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Cryptocurrency bill: Individuals, corporates to be fined for using digital money - Business Today

InvestorPlace

Insider trading happens when people who have access to confidential information about a company use that to profit off its stock. These insiders include folks like the corporate officers and members of the board of directors. Historically, there have been countless cases of unscrupulous insiders benefitting at the expense of unsuspecting shareholders. For example, suppose an insider knows that some news is about to come out that will cause a companys stock price to fall. They could go into the market and sell their shares to someone who doesnt know about the news. Likewise, if theres news coming out that will drive the price higher, they could buy stock from an unsuspecting shareholder. In order to prevent this type of activity, the government has developed numerous regulations and laws. One requires that, when a company insider decides to buy or sell shares in their companys stock, they must publicly disclose it to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). That gives outside investors a chance to profit, too.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips Right now, the market is making all-time new highs. Some analysts believe that this recent insanity with GameStop (NYSE:GME) and the cryptocurrency markets are signs that we are in a bubble. Many companies have seen their stock prices soar for no apparent logical or fundamental reasons. 8 Cheap Stocks Under $20 That Could Double But within this wildness, there has also been insider trading in the following seven companies. The insiders have decided to take advantage of the rallies and sell some of their shares. That could mean they believe these stocks are over or fairly valued and will eventually trade lower. aTyr Pharma (NASDAQ:LIFE) ANGI Homeservices (NASDAQ:ANGI) Anaplan (NYSE:PLAN) Tradeweb Markets (NASDAQ:TW) SVMK (NASDAQ:SVMK) Smartsheet (NYSE:SMAR) Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) Insider Traded Stocks to Sell: aTyr Pharma (LIFE) Chart by TradingView A biotherapeutics company, aTyr Pharma was founded in 2005, is based in California and is the first name in this article on insider trading. As you can see in the chart above, shares of LIFE stock doubled in just three days. On Feb. 4, the stock opened at $3.90 per share. Then on Feb. 8 just two trading days later shares reached $8.33. There was no news, so the stock was probably taken up by the day traders. However, two company insiders decided to sell some of their shares. President and CEO Sanjay Shukla sold 778 shares at $7.66, while CFO Jill Broadfoot sold 390 shares at $7.66 as well. These were small sales and both insiders continue to hold larger positions. But this could also mean they believe the shares got ahead of themselves in the recent market frenzy. The three analysts on Wall Street that follow this company think aTyrs long-term prospects are great. According to Tipranks, they all have strong buy ratings on the stock, with an average price target of $13.33. That is about two times higher than where LIFE stock is now. ANGI Homeservices (ANGI) Chart by TradingView ANGI Homeservices operates a digital marketplace that you guessed it connects consumers with home service professionals. This is another stock that has ripped higher in the recent market chaos. As you can see on the above chart, the share price appreciated by more than 50% in less than a month. Between Jan. 15 and Feb. 8, ANGI stock rose from around $12 to a close of $18 per share. Allison Lowrie is the CMO of ANGI. She decided to raise some cash and take advantage of the recent move. Based on a SEC Form 4 (which reports insider trading), Lowrie sold 76,903 shares at $17.74 per share. Thats worth close to $1.4 million. 7 Must-Own Stocks in February Wall Street seems to agree with Lowrie that this is a fair valuation for the company. On Tipranks, nine analysts follow ANGI and have an average target price of $17.38. That is somewhat close to the current price of just under $16. Anaplan (PLAN) Chart by TradingView Anaplan is a company that provides a cloud-based planning platform to connect people and organizations. The company was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. On Jan. 28, shares of PLAN stock opened at around $62.50. By Feb. 8, they had reached a high of over $83. That represents a gain of more than 30%. Sandesh Kaveripatnam is a director for Anaplan. In terms of insider trading, Kaveripatnam decided to take advantage of the recent price appreciation and raise some cash. One Feb. 5, he sold 11,991 shares at prices between $78 and $81. That made for a sale amounting well over $900,000. Wall Street thinks that shares are fairly valued at current levels. Moreover, they probably think that Kaveripatnam has made a smart move. On Tipranks, five analysts follow Anaplan. The average target price is $79.59 relatively in-line with where PLAN stock is currently trading. Tradeweb Markets (TW) Chart by TradingView Next on this insider trading stocks list, Tradeweb Markets builds and operates electronic marketplaces. According to its website, the company offers institutional, wholesale and retail market participants unparalleled liquidity, advanced technology and a broad range of data solutions. Moreover, Tradeweb operates in both the United States and internationally. It was founded in 1996. As you can see on the above chart, TW stock is trading at a resistance level. Resistance means there is a large concentration of sellers gathered around the same price. When stocks reach resistance levels, they have a tendency to sell off. That has happened with Tradeweb. It hit resistance in both June and December. Now it has reached that level once more. Enrico Bruni is a managing director for the company. Probably believing shares would sell off again, Bruni reportedly sold 142,861 shares at a price of $67.66 on Feb 9. 7 Safe Stocks for Reddit's WSB Bull Gang Like ANGI and PLAN, the Street thinks TW stock is fairly valued, too. On Tipranks, the seven analysts following the company give this name an average share price of $69.83 close to current prices. SVMK (SVMK) Chart by TradingView Formerly known as SurveyMonkey, SVMK provides clients with survey software solutions. The companys products allow other companies to engage with their customers and employees. SVMK was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in San Mateo, California. At the beginning of December, shares of SVMK stock were trading around the $21 level. Since then, they have trended higher. Trading at a high of $28.12 on Feb. 11, the stock currently changes hands closer to $25. Like with other insider trading names on this list, CEO Alexander Lurie just made a significant sale on the stock. Between Feb. 5 and Feb. 8, Lurie sold a total of 16,595 shares at an average price of $28. This is about $460,000 worth of stock. Three analysts follow SVMK stock on Tipranks and they probably agree with Luries decision to sell. Each believes shares are trading at a fair price. The average target is $29. This is only slightly higher than the range that the stock traded at over the past several days and close to the price that the CEO sold at. Smartsheet (SMAR) Chart by TradingView Smartsheet provides a cloud-based platform for the efficient execution of work. The company was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Washington state. As you can see in the above chart, between late November and now, shares have rallied from $52 to todays levels of over $80. With SMAR stock trading at about $84 (and rising), this represents a gain of over 60% in less than three months. At least one insider is using this move to lighten up their position. In terms of insider trading, CMO Anna Griffin sold 5,500 shares between $75 and $76 on Feb. 5. That made for a gain of more than $400,000. Other insiders have reported selling shares as well. 7 F-Rated Growth Stocks to Sell Sooner Than Later This company is widely followed by Wall Street. Nine analysts cover the stock on Tipranks. They give it an average target price of $80.89. This is only a few dollars below where it trades today. Twitter (TWTR) Chart by TradingView Last on this list of insider trading stocks, Twitter is a social media company that operates as a platform for public self-expression and conversation in real time in both the United States and internationally. It was founded in 2006 and has headquarters in San Francisco, California. Like other companies in this article, Twitter has rallied and the insiders are selling. In just the past month, the price of TWTR stock has gone from $46 to $60 and above. The stock trades at around $72 today. On Tipranks, 32 analysts give a price target of $62.86 on Twitter. This is about $10 below the current price. Whats more, Robert Kaiden is the chief accounting officer of the company and sold shares recently. On Feb. 9, Kaiden reported selling 12,032 shares at prices between $55 and $57 a piece. At the time of this publication, Mark Putrino did not have any positions (either directly or indirectly) in any of the aforementioned securities. More From InvestorPlace Why Everyone Is Investing in 5G All WRONG Top Stock Picker Reveals His Next Potential Winner It doesnt matter if you have $500 in savings or $5 million. Do this now. #1 Play to Profit from Biden's Presidency The post 7 Stocks With Important Insider Trading Signals That Say Sell appeared first on InvestorPlace.

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5 Things To Consider When Choosing A Cryptocurrency Exchange - Yahoo Finance

Bitcoin is creating new records as valley maverick Elon Musk and traditional mega financial institutions like Mastercard and Bank of New York have joined the list of adopters.

According to Morgan Stanley's Chief Global Strategist, Ruchir Sharma, Bitcoin was not only the hottest investment of 2020, but it was also the hottest investment of the decade ending in 2020, up more than 200 percent a year on average.

Even as the crypto market grows, central banks globally are looking at the possibility of introducing a digital currency. According to a BIS survey of global central banks, all central banks have begun studying the prospects and viability, with many central banks in both advanced economies and emerging markets attempting to replicate wholesale payment systems using distributed ledger technology.

Cryptocurrency bill: Heres what you need to know

In India, the government is gearing up to table a bill to ban private cryptocurrencies while creating a framework for a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) backed Indian digital currency in the parliament during the ongoing budget session.

People in the know say that the bill will specify the modalities for transactions and payments using the Indian digital currency, through specified financial institutions and banks. It is also likely to allow individuals to use this currency and hold accounts. The bill is also expected to have the framework for the derivation of the value of this currency by the RBI.

ALSO READ: Bitcoin hits all-time high, nears $49,000-mark amid adoption from BNY Mellon

On the other hand, the proposed law may put a blanket ban on private cryptocurrencies. However, CNBC-TV18 has also learnt that those who currently hold these cryptocurrencies will be given some time to exit. The bill will also spell out penalties for those who do not adhere to the new rules.

CNBC-TV18 caught up with SC Garg, Former Finance Secretary, Vikram Subburaj, Co-Founder & CEO of Giottus, Vaibhav Gaggar, Managing Partner at Gaggar & Partners and Sumit Gupta, CEO & Co-Founder of CoinDCX to understand the situation better.

Garg, who headed the panel which has proposed that a law be enacted to ban all private cryptocurrencies in India, said, The problem is that the cryptocurrencies, starting with bitcoin, initially evolved or came up as currencies. They were meant to facilitate international payments, they were meant to take care of the transfers of money from one place to another. At the point in time, the asset part of it was very low and that is why it is called a coin, it is called currency. But over the years, its role as a currency has diminished has become smaller, and this has become more of an investment into an asset kind of thing. So, if this community ends this confusion and evolves this purely as an asset and not as currency to be part of the payment or transfer system the bill only targets cryptocurrencies as currencies, it does not deal with cryptocurrencies as assets.

Vaibhav Gaggar, however, countered this. He said, What one has been reading about since we have not seen the bill yet, there seems to be a total prohibition coming and I dont see a distinction between it being a currency versus an asset. From what one has seen or has been hearing, it appears they are going to say that even an investment into it is not going to be permitted, you cannot use let alone from India and Indian currency, but even if you have funds lying overseas, you are not going to be permitted to trade in the currencies. So, I am not too sure whether the government is going to follow through with the nuanced distinction that SC Garg pointed out.

Bitcoin as legal tender: Countries which say aye or nay to the cryptocurrency

Vikram Subburaj said that the government cannot have a law to wipe out these investments.

Even if the government is looking at banning, we hope that they give some timeline so that the consumer investment is safeguarded. We are talking about consumer protection and we cannot wipe away that investment; one fine day we wake up and it is all gone. So keeping the consumer in the center of all this, if the decision is taken, that would be something that could be welcome. If the government is going to say that let us not use it as a payment method, not as currency, if it is asset class and the trading continues, then the investments are safeguarded. So, that is a good move forward. Any small hint even if the government provides that trading is going to continue and there is going to be restriction on one or two places, that will give a big relief to consumers and also the startups and ecosystems which are dependent on cryptocurrencies, he reasoned.

Sumit Gupta elaborated this further saying that there are around 75 lakh investors who are in this confusion.

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Cryptocurrency conundrum: Is banning private players when Bitcoin is booming the way to go? - CNBCTV18

It was a Saturday morning and Adam was feeling bold.

He'd made thousands of dollars on a single trade the night before, and was feeling lucky. But Adam wasn't trading on the NASDAQ, pumping GameStop stocks or investing in a startup. He was about to sink $2,500 into a cryptocurrency called DeTrade.

It seemed safe. Adam had investigated the coin's development team on LinkedIn, and watched a video of its CEO laying out a roadmap for the coin's future. A newswire piece published on Yahoo touted DeTrade's technology as advanced enough to disrupt cryptocurrency.

Thanks to Bitcoin hitting an all-time high valuation of $40,000, almost tripling its value in two months, cryptocurrency is very much back in the zeitgeist. But while for many people Bitcoin is synonymous with cryptocurrency, it's not what crypto traders like Adam are interested in. Beneath Bitcoin and Ethereum, the second-best-known currency, is a strange underworld of different cryptocurrencies.

Called altcoins or, sometimes, "shitcoins," these are essentially penny-stock cryptocurrencies. And they're crazy. Bitcoin tripled its value recently, but many altcoins explode 30, 40 or 50 times over within days. Arguably the most famous is Dogecoin, which recently shot up thanks to a potent combination of Reddit and Elon Musk, but there are thousands of altcoins, forming an Indiana Jones-esque Cave of Crypto Wonders. The spoils can be life-changing, but there are traps around each corner. Fortunes can be made and lost in seconds. Cons and fraudsters are everywhere, with traders vulnerable to scams at each step of the process.

Case in point: Adam's foray into DeTrade. The touted technology behind it wasn't real. Nothing about the project was. DeTrade, for all intents and purposes, didn't exist. The LinkedIn profiles were fake, and the video of its CEO was a deepfake created with AI. It was a scam. Those behind it, operating in the unregulated world of crypto, vanished. Adam lost his $2,500, but he got off easy. In total, those behind the scam took in around $2 million.

Just a regular day playing with altcoins, says Adam.

Adam got into cryptocurrency in September. When we spoke, it felt like he'd crammed years of trading into two months. He put in $4,000 and lost it in days. Then he turned $3,000 into $90,000. After withdrawing a third of that and then losing just over another third, he now had around $20,000 in crypto.

Adam had seen some tempestuous trading in recent weeks. One person managed to flip $2,000 into over $40,000 on two different occasions, but lost it all to scams both times. Another put $150 in a coin and doubled his money in 15 minutes. Decent result, but his $150 would've turned into $28,000 if he'd waited only one more day.

But despite the community's enthusiasm, there's a small problem. Right now cryptocurrencies don't really do anything.

Bitcoin nearly tripled in price, from $15,000 to over $40,000, in two months. If you invested $1,000 in early November, you could have taken out $2,600 two months later.

Investing in a stock means ascertaining its value -- based on factors like competition, risks and, above all, profit generation -- and then putting money into ones that are undervalued. If other investors follow you, the stock rises, giving you an opportunity to take profit.

Speculation is naturally part of this: The Dot-com Bubble was all about pouring money into "pre-profit" companies in the hopes they'd make money someday. Cryptocurrency, however, takes speculation into the stratosphere. For the most part, cryptocurrency is pure speculation. People are investing in technology that produces nothing, and has no practical application. As I write this, a coin called Meme is selling for $517. That's a little over four times the price of an Apple share. Doge, a coin marketed after the internet slang for "dog,"doubled in value earlier this month after a pornstar tweeted about it. After the price settled, it then rocketed once more when Reddit wanted to make it the GameStop of cryptocurrency.

This disconnect between price and purpose has made many experts understandably skeptical.

David Gerard is one such skeptic. He became interested in Bitcoin in 2013, when it first hit $1,000, and has since written two books on cryptocurrency. His most recent focuses on Libra, Facebook's ill-fated attempt at digital currency.

"The driving force of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is nothing to do with technology," he told me during a Skype call. "It's all about the chance that people might get rich for free. All of this is about the psychology of get-rich-quick schemes."

In his years working as an IT systems administrator, Gerard's job has been to examine new technology and discern what's useful and what's not. Cryptocurrency, he told me, is not.

"Bitcoin burns a whole country's worth of electricity for the most inefficient payment network in human history," he said.

After launching at around $8 in August, the obscure Meme coin briefly reached a valuation of over $1,750 in September. If, with fantastic luck, you invested $1,000 at $8 and sold at $1,750, you'd be up $217,000. This is the allure of "shitcoins."

That's no exaggeration. Cryptocurrencies are mined using powerful computers, and many enterprising types put together farms of computers used solely for the purpose of mining Bitcoin. As a result, Bitcoin is responsible for more energy consumption than Switzerland.

Gerard says the only thing you can do with Bitcoin is buy it and sell it. He's even harsher on altcoins.

"They're absolutely useless objects. Even by the standards of Bitcoin, altcoins are useless," he said.

This is precisely what makes them so fascinating. Seemingly, all they can do is get internet punters to bet on their success. But this enables average people to become rich. That Meme coin I mentioned before? It was listed at $2.72 and a month later hit an all-time-high price of over $2,000.

Imagine becoming a millionaire from a joke internet coin.

Crypto Spider has made millions with altcoins. Crypto Spider isn't his real name. Like most people in the cryptocurrency community, he goes by a pseudonym.

He's gained renown in some Telegram groups over the past few months thanks to a "2K to 1M" challenge, where he endeavored to see how quickly, and with how few trades, he could turn the first number into the second. In cryptocurrency, you can follow someone's portfolio if you have their wallet number, so the community was able to watch this challenge play out in real time.

Within two months, that $2,000 had grown to over $2 million. Much of that money was made off one trade: He chucked $50,000 into a project which, in the space of around a week, magnified 35 times in value, netting him $1.75 million. After passing $2 million, he cashed out.

"You won't ever see that type of explosive growth if you don't trade in altcoins," he told me, though he also said "95% of these coins are going to be nonexistent in the future."

Like Adam, Crypto Spider has no background in finance or trading. He lists college courses in game theory, basic algorithmics and some economics as useful to his crypto exploits -- but in essence he's a self-taught amateur. He declined to tell me his specific age, only that he was "20ish" when he first got into cryptocurrency in 2017.

He admits he was attracted by the "pretty numbers," by seeing coins magnify in value 30, 40 and 50 times within a short period. He was enthusiastic enough to start a university club around cryptocurrencies, and how they'd be used in the future.

Crypto Spider says cryptocurrency will play a "major part in the future of finance," and speaks with the passion of a believer. He breathlessly transitions from how cryptocurrency is a part of the internet's evolution to the possible use cases of blockchain, the technology behind Bitcoin, in the next 10 years. But despite his enthusiasm, I couldn't help but notice how chunks of what he said echoed Gerard.

Cryptocurrencies are mined using powerful computers. More emissions are produced by global Bitcoin miners than by the entire country of Switzerland.

For one thing, he looks back at all the projects he was excited about in 2017 and realizes most were almost entirely vaporware, technology that's advertised but never delivered.

Gerard calls the cryptocurrency community a pool of scammers. Spider notes that people often invest in altcoins they know don't have a function, because there's enough hype around the project to make money. "It's a bubble," he said, "we're literally swapping money from each other. I somehow was able to game all the other people."

Spider says his performance is 60% luck. He first approached cryptocurrnecy trading with the mentality of, "I'm young, I'm dumb, I can lose all my money and it'll be OK."

Again, it reminded me of something Gerard said: "If you're rich enough that your money is your own problem, fine. If you know zero is a number your investment could go to, fine."

"But a lot of people are being ripped off, and that's really bad."

People really are getting ripped off. Difficult to regulate and subsisting largely on hype, cryptocurrencies are particularly prone to scams.

Take OneCoin, a company that, through a presale for a cryptocurrency that didn't exist, stole $4 billion from people around the world before its founder disappeared. Then there's BitConnect, a coin that reached a $2.6 billion valuation by promising a 1% return on investment every day. It was eventually designated a Ponzi scheme by various authorities around the globe, causing it to lose 96% of its value before getting shut down months later.

Those are two of the biggest instances of crypto-fraud. But millions of dollars are scammed from cryptocurrency markets every day in less dramatic ways. Coins are suddenly discontinued, with owners taking all the money with them in what the community calls "rug pulls." Some have investment contracts, ignored like terms-of-service agreements, that prohibit you from taking your money out of a project. Other times, entire cryptocurrency exchanges -- which sell coins like a stock exchange sells stocks -- vanish.

"I think I've been scammed over 100 times," Crypto Spider said, adding that he lost $250,000 through fraud in December. "Who knows who creates these projects. A lot of people are taking on pseudonyms, because they're almost all money grabs."

But the deepfake used to scam $2 million adds a new vector. Coming into wider use in recent years, deepfakes are mostly used for pornographic purposes, but as the DeTrade scam shows, deepfakes can also be used in financial scams.

OneCoin founder Ruja Ignatova at an event for the "revolutionary" cryptocurrency. Ignatova disappeared around the time OneCoin was discovered to be a fraud: The cryptocurrency the company sold didn't actually exist. It's reported to have scammed over $4 billion from people around the world. Ignatova has yet to be found.

Gerard says he's never seen a deepfake used as part of a scam before. Crypto Spider says he's seen it just once.

"We didn't have that problem in 2017, where people would use deepfakes and rug pull like this," he said. "The internet is evolving, but the scammers are also evolving."

Deepfake technology "is being democratized, and that may not be a good thing," said Julie Inman-Grant. Now commissioner of the Australian government's eSafety Commission, Inman-Grant formerly led public policy teams at Microsoft, Adobe and Twitter.

"This kind of takes the art out of social engineering," she explained, referring to the techniques usually used by scammers to get you to click a fraudulent link or hand over credit card details. "If they're delivering a video of someone you respect and you really have no way of telling by the naked eye or ear if it's fake or not, the potential for misuse could be devastating."

Ironically, it's blockchain, the behind-the-scenes technology, that could be the solution to the burgeoning deepfake problem. In cryptocurrency, the blockchain is an unalterable ledger that tracks every transaction. Once it's on the ledger, it can't be altered. That same technology can be used to track anything -- like the creation and distribution of a video, from studio to iPhone screen. There are already startups working toward this, like Truepic.

When I asked about blockchain's ability to neutralize deepfakes, Inman-Grant wasn't entirely optimistic.

"It's definitely an arms race, but it's not an arms race we're winning right now."

When Bitcoin hit $40,000 in December, it was confirmation to enthusiasts that cryptocurrency is the future. For skeptics, a higher peak just means a more precipitous fall.

"I think they'll become increasingly regulated and less and less interesting," Gerard said of cryptocurrency. That means less of the "pretty numbers" Crypto Spider was attracted to, but hopefully fewer scams.

For Adam, DeTrade actually had a happy ending. One aggrieved victim of the scam analyzed the metadata of the deepfake, which he used to track down the perpetrators. After some naming and shaming across Telegram, the money was returned.

That unexpected $2,500 return was a big deal, equivalent to a few weeks pay. Good timing too: By the time Adam got it, a bad trade saw his crypto portfolio diminish from $10,000 to $2,000.

Just another day trading altcoins, Adam told me.

Correction, 1:30 p.m. PT:Removed incorrect statement that Netflix had yet to turn a profit.

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Forget Bitcoin: The insane world of altcoin cryptocurrency trading - CNET

Ether, the digital token of the Ethereum blockchain, is the second-largest cryptocurrency in the world by market value.

Jaap Arriens | NurPhoto via Getty Images

LONDON The cryptocurrency ether hit a fresh all-time high on Friday, surging past $1,700 for the first time.

Ether, which is the world's second-largest digital coin by market value, climbed 11.2% to a price of $1,743 at around 10:30 a.m. ET, according to data from CoinDesk.

It comes after bitcoin, the most valuable virtual currency, hit a record high close to $42,000 last month.

Bitcoin more than quadrupled in price over the course of 2020, and is up 29% since the start of 2021. Ether has risen about 129% year to date.

Ether has been steadily rising this week as investors await the highly anticipated launch of ether futures contracts from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange next week.

Trading in ether futures is set to start Monday. The CME launched bitcoin futures over three years ago, at the peak of that cryptocurrency's 2017 rally.

Some investors believe that futures and other crypto-focused derivatives products will give institutional investors more confidence to invest in the space.

"Bringing more financial instruments will bring more participants into the market," said SachinPatodia, a partner at Avon Ventures, a venture capital fund affiliated with the parent company of Fidelity. "That probably is positive for the ether price."

But Patodia said a big driver of the price of ether and other smaller digital currencies was the momentum for bitcoin in recent months.

"We've seen this pattern over many crypto cycles that we've gone through, where bitcoin leads the way in price movement and then you see what we call the alt-coins get carried along," he said.

Ethereum, ether's network, was created after bitcoin in 2013. The main difference it has with bitcoin's blockchain is the ability to support applications.

"This move by the CME may spark further buying of ether by new entrants to the market because it provides a way forsophisticatedinvestors to hedge their risk againstpositions that they may be holding on the underlyingasset," Simon Peters, a cryptoasset analyst at online investment platform eToro, told CNBC.

"However, it is worth noting that, like bitcoin, CME ether futures will be cash settled so as not to involve any physicaldelivery, so we shouldn't necessarily expect a major impact on spot prices."

Crypto investors said another factor potentially boosting ether was the start of a major upgrade to the Ethereum blockchain, called Ethereum 2.0. Believers in ether hope the upgrade will make Ethereum faster and more secure.

The total market value of all cryptocurrencies combined hit $1 trillion last month, as bitcoin's price surged to records. Bitcoin bulls say it's gotten a boost from institutional demand, as well as the perception that it is a store of value similar to gold.

Bitcoin was up 4.7% in the last 24 hours, trading at a price $38,151. XRP, the third-largest digital token, climbed 10.7% to 44 cents.

But skeptics like economist Nouriel Roubinisay bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have no intrinsic value. A recent Deutsche Bank survey found investorsview bitcoin as the most extreme bubblein financial markets.

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Ether, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency, hits a record high above $1,700 - CNBC

Cardano (ADA) has risen 93% over a seven day period leading up to Sunday.

What Happened: ADA has pushed past the psychologically important $0.50 barrier amid high buying interest from investors. Smart contract platforms are seeing increased interest in general, with Ethereum (ETH) and Polkadot (DOT) seeing similar surges.

Daniel Wolfe of Moscow-based Halycon Global Opportunities, a crypto fund, told Forbes that Cardanos blockchain is being built and released in stages, based on a number of design principles. It allows for economic transactions that contain more information that is important for institutional investors, corporations and regulators.

Wolfe pointed to a co-founder of Cardano also having co-founded Ethereum (ETH) a reference to entrepreneur and mathematician Charles Hoskinson.

The cryptocurrencys price under a dollar has been a reason why it has also attracted investor interest, according to Forbes.

Why It Matters: Launched in December, Cardanos third phase Goguen was focused on the integration of smart contracts into the blockchain.

The addition of a multi-currency ledger will also extend the usefulness of the blockchain further, as per the Cardano roadmap.

Cardanos market cap is near touching $20 billion in market capitalization and is behind only Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum, and Tether (USDT) at the number four spot, according to CoinMarketCap data.

ADA traded at $0.6475 at press time. BTC, the apex cryptocurrency by market cap, traded 1.08% lower at $38,277.30and 14.91% higher on a seven-day trailing basis.

See Also: How To Buy Cardano

Cardano rival ETH fell 4.19% to $1,574.46 on a 24-hour basis and was up 20.67% in the seven-day period.

ADA is often touted as a so-called ETH killer.

Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (OTC: GBTC) traded 0.21% lower at $37.88.

See Also: Dogecoin Hits New All Time-High As Elon Musk Takes Twitter Frenzy To A New Level

2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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Why Cardano Cryptocurrency Has Skyrocketed 93% This Week - Benzinga

New Delhi: As the surging Bitcoin grabs most of the headlines, Ether or Ethereum, the second biggest cryptocurrency, is touching record valuation and could still be bought cheaper -- for nearly Rs 1.16 lakh or $1,600 for one Ether.

According to industry players, Bitcoin which is hovering around $40,000 is beyond the reach for most investors while Ether that has touched an all-time high is still within reach.

According to Rahul Pagidipati, CEO, ZebPay, Ether tends to follow Bitcoin.

"Now that Bitcoin has hit record high and is consolidating, investors are adding Ether. Together the two cryptocurrencies constitute nearly 80 per cent of the total crypto market cap," Pagidipati said.

"Nearly 3 million ETH ($3.8 billion) have been locked up for long-term staking, removing them from the buyable supply. With lower supply comes higher prices,"

Shivam Thakral, CEO of BuyUcoin said that Ether is touching record valuation because Bitcoin is consolidating and investors are looking at Ether to reap greater economic benefits in the long term.

"Ethereum is up about 135 per cent since the start of the year and is expected to become as valuable as Bitcoin in the years to come," Thakral added.

"We hope Indian counterparts will take note of this and enable the growth of the digital asset industry in India by providing a positive regulatory environment. Ethereum Blockchain has very strong fundamentals and a lot of projects are using it to power their infrastructure."

As India plans to introduce the 'Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021', to prohibit all "private cryptocurrencies" in the country, the industry stakeholders have come out in unison hoping that the Indian government would listen to all stakeholders before taking any decision.

"As more people see new applications for the Ethereum protocol, like staking, they're realising that Either is real and has lasting value, just as they are realising the truth about Bitcoin," said Pagidipati.

Owning one full bitcoin is probably a dream now for most people.

"But you can still buy a full Ether for Rs 1.6 lakh, still in reach for many. Those who remember Bitcoin at that price may be thinking that this opportunity won't last for much longer," the ZebPay CEO noted.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is already exploring the possibility as to whether there is a need for a digital version of fiat currency and in case there is, then how to operationalise it.

The apparent softening in RBI's stand on cryptocurrency came after the Supreme Court last year set aside a circular issued by the RBI that barred any entity from providing banking services to anyone dealing with virtual or cryptocurrencies.

The RBI, in its booklet on payment systems, noted that central banks around the world are examining whether they could leverage on technology and issue fiat money in digital form.

With the overall value of all cryptocurrencies surpassing the $1 trillion mark, industry experts have said that crypto may become the most important asset class of the 21st century and India needs to catch up fast with the global trend.

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THIS cryptocurrency is touted to be the next best bet after Bitcoin - Zee News

MUMBAI: Tesla bought Bitcoins worth $1.5 billion in January 2021 after the company updated its investment policy to invest in digital assets, a filing with the Securities Exchange Commission showed.

We updated our investment policy to provide us with more flexibility to further diversify and maximize returns on our cash that is not required to maintain adequate operating liquidity, the document filed by Tesla showed.

In another significant move, the company said that it will start accepting Bitcoin as payment for its product and services in the future.

We expect to begin accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment for our products in the near future, subject to applicable laws and initially on a limited basis, which we may or may not liquidate upon receipt, the company said in its filing.

The development comes days after Tesla co-founder Elon Musk displayed a symbol of Bitcoin on social media. He has been recently tweeting memes of another alternative cryptocurrency Dogecoin.

Bitcoin rates have surged 35 per cent since the beginning of the year and recently crossed above the psychological resistance level of $40,000. The cryptocurrency has rallied over 800 per cent since the beginning of April as more institutional and retail investors bought the currency as hedge against inflation.

The central bank recently said that an internal panel is working on the model for a digital currency to rival private cyrptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

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Tesla buys Bitcoin worth $1.5 billion, to accept the cryptocurrency as payment - Economic Times