Cryptos are getting increased attention as an asset class. Although it’s still difficult to value most digital tokens fairly, more businesses are now working with crypto assets or incorporating them into their operations or even balance sheets. Meanwhile, the use of decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, which operate without any intermediaries via smart contracts on blockchains, is growing rapidly.

Decentralized finance allows for “censorship-resistant participation in a number of digital markets, expanding the reach of lending [4], stable assets [5, 6], and exchanges [7, 8, 9] past the conventional financial world.” Therefore, as their use increases, we can expect a good number of digital currencies to recover from the recent decline in price and reach new highs in the months ahead.

So today’s article introduces seven cryptos that deserve your attention in July. Despite the recent sell-off in most cryptos, many of theses assets are still up double or even triple digits so far in the year.

According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, “Cryptographic assets, including cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, … and the underlying technology, provide opportunities to digitise a variety of ‘real world’ objects. The benefits of digitisation (such as ease of access, transfer, etc) have resulted in cryptographic assets growing from an obscure curiosity to a technology that is proliferating into a variety of business uses.”

As there are currently thousands of altcoins to buy, market participants need to do due diligence before investing their hard earned cash into them. Here are seven cryptos I’m keeping an eye on now:

52-Week Range: $25.97 – $666.86

Originally launched in November 2017 as ETHLend, by Stani Kulechov, this DeFi protocol was later rebranded as Aave. Those who want to lend or borrow cryptos now consider using the Aave network.

Assets on the platform are currently “limited to only ERC-20 tokens. ERC-20 is a standard for Fungible Tokens on Ethereum, i.e. they have a property that makes each Token be exactly the same (in type and value) of another Token.”

Lenders can earn interest by depositing their digital assets into specially designed liquidity pools. On the other side of the equation are borrowers who can then use their cryptos as collateral to take out loans. Aave’s flagship products are “flash loans,” regarded as the first uncollateralized DeFi loan product.

AAVE-USD started 2021 around $87.61. Now it is around $280. That is an eye-popping return of about 220%. That being said, AAVE is currently down about 12% in the past month. With a market cap of $3.6 billion, it is among the top 30 altcoins.

52-Week Range: $0.004532 – $0.2252

Developed in November 2017 by Chandler Song and Ryan Fang, Ankr depends on shared resources to provide blockchain node hosting solutions. As a result, developers and enterprise clients can easily deploy blockchain nodes at cheaper prices compared to public cloud providers.

A recent paper authored by the founders of the Ankr network highlights, “Most blockchain applications use either Proof of Work (PoW) or Proof of Stake (PoS) as the consensus for validating a piece of information (in most cases the information is the ownership of a coin or a token)… [But Ankr’s] Proof of Useful Work (PoUW) allows for a self-sustainable blockchain framework with the potential to unlock idle computing power around the world.”

ANKR-USD began 2021 around $0.0087. Now it trades at $0.073. That is a massive return of about 1,000%. However, in the past month, Ankr is down about 17%. With a market cap of about $500 million, it is among the to 110 cryptos.

52-Week Range: $16.73 – $690.93

Launched in July 2017 by Changpeng Zhao, Binance has become one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges globally. The growth has also come with regulatory hurdles. For instance, in June, the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority blocked the exchange from operating in the country.

As recent research points out, “BNB is a platform token issued by Binance Exchange and runs on the Ethereum blockchain with the ERC20 standard. BNB has a strict limit of a maximum of 200 million tokens and sold 100 million tokens (50%) to the outside world. The smart contract of BNB is one of the most used ERC20 contracts on the Ethereum platform.”

Put another way, Binance Coin is an integral part of the functioning of the Binance network. BNB-USD began the year around $38.22. Now it trades at $311. That is a staggering return of about 720%. But, in the past month, it is down about 16%. With a market cap of $48 billion, it is among the top 5 altcoins.

52-Week Range: $180.50 – $1,635.15

Next on our list is Bitcoin Cash, not to be confused with Bitcoin. Research led by Yujin Kwon of Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), South Korea, highlights, “In Aug. 2017, Bitcoin was split into the original Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Since then, miners have had a choice between BTC and BCH mining because they have compatible proof-of-work algorithms.”

Bitcoin Cash was designed to function as an electronic cash payment system. Regular InvestorPlace.com readers are well versed in Bitcoin’s scalability problem, which Bitcoin Cash aims to address better. It was designed to pack 8MB of data into each block and to process 116 transactions per second on average. That is much faster than Bitcoin.

BCH-USD started 2021 around $354.60. Now it trades at $475.60. That is a return of about 39%. However, in the past month, it is down about 24%. With a market cap of $9.1 billion, it is among the top 15 altcoins.

Readers would be interested to know that “Since all valid transactions are double-entry accounting entries, Holo’s internal crypto accounting functions just like a balance sheet where every transaction keeps the sheet in balance – total credits equal total debits, every credit has an offsetting debit. This system does not require issuance of crypto coins or cryptographic validation of transactions (mining).”

52-Week Range: $10.36 – $140.37

Neo was designed to digitize assets using smart contracts and a programming language, similar to Ethereum. Da Hongfei and Erik Zhang founded the network in 2014. Initially launched under the name Antshares, the project was rebranded as Neo in June 2017.

Most crypto followers realize that “Consensus protocols make distributed participants collectively reach an agreement, which enables the immutability and prevents the forks within blockchain systems. Byzantine fault tolerance (BFT) consensus and its variants (together denoted as BFT-style consensus) tolerate a certain number of Byzantine participants who can misbehave.”

According to the network, “Byzantine Fault Tolerance mechanism is a universal solution for distributed systems. Neo proposes dBFT (delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance) consensus algorithm based on PBFT (Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance) algorithm. Algorithm dBFT determines validator set according to real-time blockchain voting, which effectively enhances the effectiveness of the algorithm, bringing block time and transaction confirmation time savings.”

The Neo platform has a dual token mechanism that separates the rights of using the network from governance rights. Of the two, NEO-USD started 2021 around $14.44. Now it trades at $33.18 for a return of about 130%. However, in the past month, it is down about 34%. With a market cap of $2.3 billion, it is among the top 40 altcoins.

52-Week Range: $0.419 – $44.97

Launched in November 2018 by Hayden Adams, Uniswap is a decentralized trading protocol. It aims to keep token trading automated, while improving the efficiency of trading.

By automating the process of market making, the protocol reduces costs for all parties. The mechanism also removes identity requirements for users, and technically anyone can create a liquidity pool for any pair of tokens.

Research by Yuen Lo and Francesca Medda of University of London, UCL, UK, cite, “Liquidity providers (LPs) commit proportionate quantities of two cryptoassets to form the basis of a trading pair. In return LPs receive 0.3% of the value of trades.”

The platform’s native token UNI-USD is used for governance, transactions, and paying fees. It started 2021 around $4.97. Uniswap currently trades at $18.21. That is a return of about 270%. However, in the past month, it is down about 22%. With a market cap of $10.7 billion, it is among the top 10 altcoins.

On the date of publication, Tezcan Gecgil did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.  The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.

Tezcan   Gecgil, Ph.D.,  has worked in investment management for over two decades in the U.S. and U.K. In addition to formal higher education in the field, she has also completed all 3 levels of the Chartered Market Technician (CMT) examination. Her passion is for options trading based on technical analysis of fundamentally strong companies. She especially enjoys setting up weekly covered calls for income generation.

Free money is nothing new to astute consumers: Credit cards have sign-up bonuses, bank accounts earn interest, and there are even tools to get cash back when shopping online. 

And now, you can get many of those same perks issued in cryptocurrency instead of credit card points or U.S. dollars.

If you’ve already added cryptocurrency to your investment portfolio, these options offer some extra coin on top of your initial investment — but you should know exactly how it works before diving in. You should also be prepared for the added responsibilities free crypto may require, especially when tax season approaches. 

While some forms of free crypto, like crypto credit card rewards, are only taxed on the capital gains you earn when you cash out (just as any other crypto you buy with your own money), others may be considered taxable income when you receive it, and it’s your responsibility to report that to the IRS. Do your research to know your own tax obligations beforehand.

But if you’re already in on crypto, and prepared to do a little extra tracking of your coins, here are some ways to bolster your holdings — for free. 

[READ MORE]: Does Crypto Belong In Your Investment Portfolio? These 4 Questions Can Help You Decide

1. Shopping Rewards

Lolli, a Google Chrome or Firefox browser extension, offers “Bitcoin Back” when you shop with its retail partners. It works similarly to browser extensions like Rakuten or Honey that offer discounts and cash back when you use the portal or extension to shop online. Like those programs, Lolli rewards you for spending regular money just as you normally would when shopping online — not for making purchases with crypto.

Retailers on Lolli range from Nike to Sephora to Malaysia Airlines. Rewards go from 1% to as much as 30% Bitcoin back, depending on the retailer and product. Your rewards will go into your Lolli account, and then you can transfer them to your crypto wallet or exchange account. 

2. Credit Cards

A cryptocurrency credit card works similarly to other rewards credit cards, but instead of earning cash back or points with every swipe, you’ll get cryptocurrency. While we love simple cash back rewards (and you can always buy crypto with your cash back earnings), these cards can help you more seamlessly pad your crypto portfolio. 

Gemini and other exchanges have announced plans for cryptocurrency rewards credit cards, along with fintech companies like BlockFi and Upgrade. The rewards categories on these cards are similar to many traditional cash back credit cards. BlockFi Credit Card, for example, earns a flat 1.5% back in Bitcoin on every purchase you make, after earning 3.5% back for the first 90 days after account opening. 

In addition to varying rewards rates, each of these cards offer different redemption values. The Gemini card will let you choose which crypto to redeem rewards in, while BlockFi earns Bitcoin rewards, and others limit your rewards to only certain altcoins. 

As with any credit card, the rewards you earn with these cards are only valuable if you avoid their high interest rates. If you use a card to earn crypto rewards, make sure you charge only what you can afford to pay off in full and on time each month, without carrying a debt balance.

3. Look Out for Exchange Sign-Up and Referral Bonuses

Some cryptocurrency exchanges offer sign-up or referral bonuses for using their services. A previous Coinbase sign-up bonus offered $5 to new users to invest in crypto, for example, and the exchange currently offers a $10 bonus to both you and your referral when they make an account and trade at least $100. 

Make sure you pay attention to the terms of these bonuses. You may be required to provide more personal information or go through other actions to claim these rewards. Most of these offerings aren’t lucrative enough to warrant signing up for an entirely new exchange if you already have an account, but if you’re a beginner, keep an eye on exchanges you’re considering to see if they offer a sign-up bonus or referral for other friends that may be interested.

4. Coinbase Earn

Popular cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase offers incentives for using the platform’s Learn hub. In order to get the free change, you’ll need to watch Coinbase’s videos, take quizzes, and then Coinbase will deposit a small amount of crypto into your wallet. The content is typically focused on a specific altcoin (like GRT and BOND) and, as a result, these are the coins you’ll earn for going through the lessons.

Because altcoins generally aren’t recommended for long-term investing, you can convert these lesser-known coins into Bitcoin or Ethereum once you earn them. But remember to keep track of these transactions, as every crypto-to-crypto trade is taxable. Additionally, you should track the price value of all your earnings through Coinbase Earn, and report them as income on your federal tax return. If you earn over $600 through the program, Coinbase will issue you a Form 1099-MISC, which you can use to report your earnings.

You’ll need to have a funded Coinbase account, live in an eligible country, and verify all of your personal information to start earning with Coinbase Earn.

5. Earn Interest on Your Bitcoin

A few crypto exchanges allow you to earn interest on your cryptocurrency holdings. Gemini Earn, for example, is a lending program in which you lend your crypto to institutional borrowers and can earn up to 7.4% APY. BlockFi has a similar offering, BlockFi Interest Account, which accrues interest up to 7.5%. Lending your crypto out to these institutions can add even more risk on top of the built-in risk of cryptocurrency, so make sure you read the terms carefully before you sign up and don’t lend more than you can afford to lose. 

You can also earn interest by staking on some crypto exchanges, like Binance.US. Staking means leaving cryptocurrency in your wallet to earn rewards or interest. By doing so you help maintain the blockchain network. You can usually only stake certain coins within an exchange, which may require buying into more risky altcoins to reap the benefits. 

Interest you earn on your crypto as well as earnings from staking are both taxable, and your responsibility to report as income. If you choose to participate, you’ll need to track the cost basis of your earnings throughout the year to include on your tax return. 

6. Airdrops

Of all the methods for earning free crypto, airdrops carry the most risk — more than we believe is worth the benefit for most investors. Developers perform airdrops when they want to gain traction for their new cryptocurrency. Put simply, they give away coins to try and garner adoption. 

You can look online to find when airdrop projects are happening; they’re often promoted on the company’s website as well as by users on social media platforms and some crypto news sites. If you qualify, the developers often send the specified amount of coins straight to your digital wallet address. 

It’s important to be cautious with any new cryptocurrency projects. Fake airdrops and ICOs— initial coin offerings — are common scams used by hackers. Even when they are real, many of the coins issued in airdrops are not a great investment store of value. Experts recommend sticking with the most well-known cryptos, Bitcoin and Ethereum, especially for beginners. If you follow that recommendation, then pass on airdrops. 

Any crypto you earn through airdrops is also taxable income. You’ll be responsible for reporting  it as such based on its fair market value on the date it was recorded on the distributed ledger (in most cases, when you receive the airdrop into your digital wallet), according to the IRS.

[READ MORE]: Cryptocurrency Crime Is Booming. Here’s How to Invest Safely 

Bottom Line

Even though there are ways to earn extra crypto for free, don’t let the temptation of freebies force your hand. Cryptocurrency is a very volatile, new investment, and you should only ever put in what you’re OK with losing. 

Free crypto also might not be free come tax season. Any crypto that may be considered income, as well as crypto-to-crypto conversions or holdings you cash out for U.S. dollars, is taxable. You’ll need to track the market price of any crypto you get when you receive it, and again when you sell it, to report to the IRS come tax season.

[READ MORE]: Yes, Your Crypto Is Taxable. Here’s How to Report Virtual Currency to the IRS

Evaluate any opportunity for free crypto critically before participating. Many of the more legitimate ways to earn “free” crypto require at least some upfront work, like taking lessons on Coinbase Earn or navigating a shopping portal for crypto rewards. And promises of free money are ripe for manipulation from scammers. Never accept an unsolicited offer for free cryptocurrency, and do your own research into any opportunity before you take part.

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Now, I know what you are thinking. Not another cryptocurrency. But hear me out here. Low-price, small-cap Algorand (CCC: ALGO-USD ) has gone unnoticed while the bigger players like Bitcoin (CCC:BTC-USD) and Ethereum (CCC:ETH-USD) take all the thunder.

Algorand, founded by cryptographer Silvio Micali, addresses three key problems with the project: decentralization, scalability, and security. Resolving these issues is the key to growth for any blockchain.

Algorand can handle unlimited transactions fast and not compromise on network security or decentralization.

Investors are hip to this. ALGO token had an excellent bull run in early 2021. However, there has been a recent price dip, providing an excellent entry point.

But I understand the skepticism. Why own smaller altcoins and not the industry bellwether, Bitcoin, for example. Nevertheless, Algorand has certain unique characteristics that set it apart from other tokens.

Due to the emergence of Bitcoin and several other cryptocurrencies, there is a lot of talk surrounding decentralized finance, (DeFi). However, despite its success, DeFi is nowhere close to matching the value of centralized finance. Many investors even fail to understand this phenomenon despite pouring capital into the area.

This is one of the main reasons for bullish on Algorand since it acts as a bridge between CeFi and DeFi through partnerships with strategic centralized finance players, including the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT), HSBC (NYSE: HSBC ), Facebook (NASDAQ: FB ), and the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF).

Apart from this, Algorand offers a comprehensive guide on developing smart contracts, which are an integral part of the future of finance.

Centralized financial institutions will have to understand these features better to serve their customers in the future. The good thing is that Algorand is creating the infrastructure to connect legacy financial systems with DeFi.

According to the project’s metrics, over 4.5 million non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, have been launched on the Algorand blockchain over the last couple of months.

NFTs are cryptographic assets on the blockchain with unique identification codes and metadata separating them. They are different from regular cryptocurrencies since they cannot be traded or exchanged at equivalency. In contrast, Bitcoin and Ethereum work differently since you can buy, sell and hold their digital coins without any equivalency issues.

In the last few months, the popularity of NFTs has skyrocketed, with major brands such as Disney (NYSE: DIS ) and Fox Corporation (NASDAQ: FOXA ) cashing in. This is great news for blockchains that facilitate the issue of NFTs, Algorand being a great example.

One of the main reasons to invest in a crypto project is the quality of its developer team. The more active the developer team, the higher the chances of success. In addition, a team of developers and cryptography experts will have greater chances of success than one made up of primarily non-technical people.

Therefore, one of the main reasons to be bullish on Algorand is its development team. The project founder, Silvio Micali, is faculty at the electrical and computer science department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is well versed in cryptography; Micali is one of the people that developed probabilistic encryption. He is also among the inventors of zero-knowledge proof and other technologies that anchor cryptocurrencies.

Chris Peikert, the head of cryptography at Algorand, is an associate professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Michigan and is one of the foremost experts.

If you check the project’s Github commits, you will appreciate how active this team is. The project’s latest update on Github was on July 7. It was about the implementation of Algorand in the Go programming language.

Overall, considering the fundamentals and the market dynamics, Algorand is a great addition to your portfolio. Algorand was designed from the ground up for modern financial applications, all on a carbon-negative blockchain.

With the broader crypto market in retreat, now is the right time to add this small-cap altcoin to your holdings at a discount.

On the date of publication, Faizan Farooque  did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.

Faizan Farooque is a contributing author for InvestorPlace.com and numerous other financial sites. Faizan has several years of experience analyzing the stock market and was a former data journalist at S&P Global Market Intelligence. His passion is to help the average investor make more informed decisions regarding their portfolio. Faizan does not directly own the securities mentioned above.

Cryptocurrencies are best understood by examining the community structure and cultural values they exhibit, rather than the economic activity they create. Cryptocurrencies are really “cryptocultures” and these cultures are many, a plurality. I define a cryptoculture as an open source community with its own micro-economy. Each culture embeds its values into their blockchain. It’s a sociotechnical arrangement: The values and technology are mixed up with one another.

Many assume cryptocurrency culture is monolithic, essentially a Bitcoin culture, but those involved long term come to know each blockchain as a particular point of view: Dogecoin (memelogy), XRP (corporate), Monero (privacy), SushiSwap (degen) or Polygon (efficiency). Those responsible for managing the blockchain, usually developers and miners (or a variant), constitute the “blockocracy.“

The Bitcoin blockchain is designed to express a belief in scarcity premised on a right libertarian commodity theory of money. Bitcoin is a “theory of society” predicated on the collapse of the fiat monetary system. The project is sustained by the discourse around bitcoins as a scarce digital gold, digital metallism. In particular, scarcity is built into difficult-to-change code, algorithmic authority.

Bitcoin’s political philosophy is well known, but we rarely ask what political philosophy animates Ethereum.

The Ethereum blockchain is often conceptualized as a shared world computer. This computer is agnostic about what happens on it. Ethereum says we are just the infrastructure and how you organize yourselves is up to you. In the white paper, Vitalik Buterin, a Canadian computer programmer who co-founded Ethereum, suggests some applications, but those are just suggestions. But to be the neutral infrastructure is deeply political because it expands Ethereum from an economics experiment, like Bitcoin, into an experiment in public goods provisioning.

The closest Ethereum came to formalizing a political philosophy was its flirtation with Eric Posner and Glen Weyl’s radical markets or radical liberalism. Radical liberalism shares with Ethereum a desire to reimagine the inherited political economy – corrupted democratic institutions, neoliberalism – by creating alternative market arrangements.

Buterin and Weyl co-wrote an academic paper on one such reimagining: quadratic voting for the provisioning of public goods. That found its way into Ethereum with Gitcoin’s quadratic funding mechanism, where smaller voters are matched by a large pool to ensure the spread of infrastructural funding is varied and reflective of the entire community.

Providing and maintaining infrastructure is central to the Ethereum mind-set, to the Ethereum cryptoculture.

Author and philosopher Craig Warmke argues Bitcoin is a case of hyperauthorship. The Bitcoin community collectively tracks the narrative of the movement of bitcoins.

Ethereum is a case of hypergovernance. The Ethereum community collectively creates the infrastructural conditions for new forms of governance. These new forms are alternatives to the inherited ones and implicitly propose to replace them. These surrogates will provide functions previously provided by corrupted democratic states and neoliberalism, but in more decentralized ways.

Ethereum is “minarchist.” Minarchism is a libertarian position advocating a night-watchman state. Associated primarily with philosopher Robert Nozick, minarchism advocates an almost completely anarchist position where all government functions are eliminated except those related to security (police, army, justice).

In Nozick’s hands, the night-watchman state is a right libertarian concept, but in Ethereum’s it morphs into a left libertarian one. The community mutually provides and maintains a shared public good, the Ethereum world computer, but after that it’s hands-off, i.e. libertarianism.

Ethereum is not in the business of confronting the state, but I do believe it proposes a version of latent minarchism where it provides better infrastructure than the state can. These services would slowly replace their centralized analogues in the traditional world. They cover the broad areas of community well: organizational (decentralized autonomous organizations, or DAOs), financial (decentralized finance, or DeFi), cultural (non-fungible tokens/social tokens). Minimal mutual governance.

What unites cryptocultures in achieving their various aims is a “hash, bash, cash” model of decentralized organization. Users hash it out by treating the blockchain as a shared locus of cultural truth and ensuring it remains so. Bashing it out refers to the discourse and cultural values expressed socially among the community. Cashing it out refers to the centrality of money in the cryptocultural experience: investing, trading, exiting. All these experiences bind the community as a culture.

We hash, bash, cash for different reasons, and the assumptions found in one cryptoculture do not carry into another. In Ethereum’s case, the community hashes, bashes and cashes in order to provide and maintain a shared world computer, a public goods infrastructure. That’s the mutualism. This infrastructure then houses experiments in hypergovernance, that’s the minarchism. Ethereum’s political philosophy is mutualist minarchism.

The run-up in bitcoin‘s price witnessed during the final days of July is facing pressure from sellers looking to cash in their profit amid tensions over a proposed U.S. infrastructure bill’s language.

The pullback from Saturday’s top of around $42,400 to current prices of around $39,500 is likely associated with uncertainty surrounding the bill, according to Daniel Kim, head of capital markets at Australia-based decentralized lending company Maple Finance.

An earlier version of the bill sought to increase information reporting requirements and a broadening of the definition of a “broker” for any parties that might interact with crypto, including decentralized exchanges.

Related: Square’s Cash App Q2 Bitcoin Revenue Rose 200%; $45M Bitcoin Impairment Loss Taken

“This ultimately created a lot of fear, uncertainty, and doubt with users moving funds off platforms, reducing liquidity, and uncertainty of price with this impact,” Kim said in relation to the bill’s proposal on Thursday.

Crypto exchange FTX’s bitcoin reserve almost doubled in July while Binance’s reserve dropped by 70,000, and this has left a lot of uncertainty in the market, Kim added.

Bitcoin had been mounting a significant push toward resistances near $42,000 and cemented a 10-day winning streak, the crypto’s longest in eight years, on Sunday.

The rally came to an end later in the evening and has fallen 5.5% over the last 24 hours, CoinDesk data show.

Related: GoldenTree Adds Bitcoin to Its Balance Sheet: Report

The bill, which is being debated in the Senate, seeks to bolster tax receipts in order to fund the more than $1 trillion in infrastructure improvements across the country, $28 billion of which would come by way of crypto transactions.

Criticism over the bill’s definitions as it relates to the crypto community has been vocal with some suggesting the bill is too broad and could apply to most economic activity in the U.S. crypto industry.

An updated version of the Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure bill, revealed Sunday evening, seeks to narrow the definition of “broker” to people who provide digital asset transfers.

The bill’s revised language does not explicitly include decentralized exchanges, nor does it explicitly exclude miners, node operators, software developers, or similar parties.

The options market, however, is painting a somewhat different picture. Bitcoin has been rallying into “the largest open interest strike” of the July expiry, Coinbase announced in a newsletter.

“Listed options are seeing continued interest to buy weekly low premium upside calls between $40k and $50k strikes,” the exchange operator wrote.

Other notable cryptos in the top 20 by market capitalization also fell with XRP, link, and theta shedding the largest amount, between 5-7% over a 24-hour period.

Digging Into El Salvador’s Bitcoin Bill

Bitcoin Price Over $41K After Longest Streak in 8 Years

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Cryptocurrency has boomed in recent months, with major cryptocurrencies like bitcoin gaining increased interest. Cardano is another cryptocurrency that has come under the spotlight recently, but unlike bitcoin, Cardano is considered an altcoin.

Nick Jones, CEO and Co-Founder at Zumo, Scottish crypto wallet, told   Express.co.uk   that Cardano is just one example of many different altcoins available on the cryptocurrency market.

Mr Jones said: "In the cryptocurrency space, an altcoin refers to any digital asset that is not bitcoin.

"Bitcoin dominance - the value held in bitcoin as opposed to the total value of the entire cryptocurrency market - currently stands at 46.22 percent.

READ MORE: Bitcoin price: What is bitcoin's price today?

"In other words, bitcoin accounts for almost half of today’s crypto market, leaving just over half to the bitcoin alternatives, or altcoins."

Examples of altcoins that have gained attention in recent months include Cardano, Ethereum and Dogecoin, the latter of which has been referenced frequently in tweets by Tesla CEO, Elon Musk.

But like all cryptocurrencies, Cardano and other altcoins are considered high-risk and are known for being volatile.

Mr Jones added: "Cardano is an example of one of these altcoins. It was founded in 2015 by Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson.

"Like bitcoin or Ethereum, Cardano has its own separate blockchain, or network for processing transactions.

"It is claimed to be the first blockchain platform developed based on peer-reviewed research, and is targeting a broad range of use cases across education, retail, agriculture, government finance and healthcare.

"Cardano has captured public attention for a couple of notable reasons. First, it has stated an emphasis on inclusivity and positive global change.

"Founder Charles Hoskinson has a particular interest in Africa, and one recent example has been Cardano’s involvement in Ethiopia, where the Ethiopian government will be using the Cardano blockchain to track student performance.

"Cardano is also viewed by some as an ESG-friendly blockchain. This is because it operates on a proof-of-stake mechanism that is said to require less energy and computing power than bitcoin's proof-of-work algorithm.

"Like Ethereum, Cardano will also incorporate smart contracts - computer programs stored on the blockchain that automatically execute when specific conditions are met, opening up a range of practical applications."

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According to CoinDesk data, Cardano was priced at $1.25 (£0.899614) as of Wednesday afternoon.

This is a drop in price of -3.61 percent over the last 24 hours.

Cardano also had a market cap of $40.17 billion or £28.98 billion.

Cardano's price on Wednesday was a significant drop from its price a week prior.

On July 7, Cardano had a price of $1.43 (£1.03), before dropping on July 10 to $1.32 (£0.954169).

The information in this article does not equate to financial advice.

Anyone considering investing in cryptocurrency should understand the risks involved.

The run-up in bitcoin‘s price witnessed during the final days of July is facing pressure from sellers looking to cash in their profit amid tensions over a proposed U.S. infrastructure bill’s language.

The pullback from Saturday’s top of around $42,400 to current prices of around $39,500 is likely associated with uncertainty surrounding the bill, according to Daniel Kim, head of capital markets at Australia-based decentralized lending company Maple Finance.

An earlier version of the bill sought to increase information reporting requirements and a broadening of the definition of a “broker” for any parties that might interact with crypto, including decentralized exchanges.

“This ultimately created a lot of fear, uncertainty, and doubt with users moving funds off platforms, reducing liquidity, and uncertainty of price with this impact,” Kim said in relation to the bill’s proposal on Thursday.

Crypto exchange FTX’s bitcoin reserve almost doubled in July while Binance’s reserve dropped by 70,000, and this has left a lot of uncertainty in the market, Kim added.

Bitcoin had been mounting a significant push toward resistances near $42,000 and cemented a 10-day winning streak, the crypto’s longest in eight years, on Sunday.

The rally came to an end later in the evening and has fallen 5.5% over the last 24 hours, CoinDesk data show.

The bill, which is being debated in the Senate, seeks to bolster tax receipts in order to fund the more than $1 trillion in infrastructure improvements across the country, $28 billion of which would come by way of crypto transactions.

Criticism over the bill’s definitions as it relates to the crypto community has been vocal with some suggesting the bill is too broad and could apply to most economic activity in the U.S. crypto industry.

An updated version of the Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure bill, revealed Sunday evening, seeks to narrow the definition of “broker” to people who provide digital asset transfers.

The bill’s revised language does not explicitly include decentralized exchanges, nor does it explicitly exclude miners, node operators, software developers, or similar parties.

The options market, however, is painting a somewhat different picture. Bitcoin has been rallying into “the largest open interest strike” of the July expiry, Coinbase announced in a newsletter.

“Listed options are seeing continued interest to buy weekly low premium upside calls between $40k and $50k strikes,” the exchange operator wrote.

Other notable cryptos in the top 20 by market capitalization also fell with XRP, link, and theta shedding the largest amount, between 5-7% over a 24-hour period.

HODL. DApp. Ethereum.

No, these are not words from a newly-discovered alien language. They’re among the many new and key terms in the language of cryptocurrency.

Cryptocurrency isn’t just a novel investment option, and in many ways represents a different world altogether compared to traditional stocks and bonds. Between unfamiliar acronyms, emerging technologies, and keeping up with memes and tweets, just learning the basics takes time, even for seasoned traditional investors.

As with any investment, it’s important to understand exactly what you’re investing in before you start. That’s especially true when it comes to a speculative — and still evolving — asset like crypto. 

There are a few prerequisites we recommend before you buy into crypto, like stocking your emergency fund, paying down high-interest debts, and securing a traditional retirement plan. And, like we’ve said before, you should only ever put into crypto what you’re willing to lose, and experts recommend dedicating no more than 5% of your portfolio to these digital assets. 

But another item you should add to your checklist is at least a beginner’s understanding of what you’re getting into, including how crypto differs from other investment strategies, and the different factors that can affect a cryptocurrency’s market value.

Here are some of the terms and phrases that will help beginners better understand the world of crypto investing. 

Crypto Terms You Should KnowAltcoin

Any coin that’s not Bitcoin. Altcoins can be anything from the second-most popular coin, Ethereum, to any of the thousands of coins with very minimal market value. Experts say you should largely stick to the bigger, more mainstream cryptocurrencies as an investment.

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The first and most valuable cryptocurrency, launched on Jan. 3, 2009. While its value has climbed steadily since then, it has seen wild fluctuations. In the past months alone, the price of Bitcoin has fluctuated from a record high of $60,000 to below $30,000.

A peer-to-peer electronic cash system that formed from a fork of the original Bitcoin. Where Bitcoin is widely accepted as too volatile to be useful as a currency, Bitcoin Cash is designed to be better optimized for transactions.   

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Block

Groups of data within a blockchain. On cryptocurrency blockchains, blocks are made up of transaction records as users buy or sell coins. Each block can hold only a certain amount of information. Once it reaches that limit, a new block is formed to continue the chain.

Blockchain

A digital form of record keeping, and the underlying technology behind cryptocurrencies. A blockchain is the result of sequential blocks that build upon one another, creating a permanent and unchangeable ledger of transactions (or other data).

Coin

A representative store of digital value that lives on a given blockchain or cryptocurrency network. Some blockchains have the same name for both the network and the coin, like Bitcoin. Others can have different names for each, like the Stellar blockchain, which has a native coin called Lumen. 

Coinbase

A popular centralized cryptocurrency exchange. Coinbase made history recently as the first cryptocurrency exchange to go public on the Nasdaq.

Cold Wallet/Cold Storage

A secure method of storing your cryptocurrency completely offline. Many cold wallets (also called hardware wallets) are physical devices that look similar to a USB drive. This kind of wallet can help protect your crypto from hacking and theft, though it also comes with its own risks – like losing it, along with your crypto.

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Cryptocurrency

A type of currency that’s digital and decentralized. Cryptocurrency can be used to buy and sell things, or as a long-term store of value.

Decentralization

The principle of distributing power away from a central point. Blockchains are traditionally decentralized because they require majority approval from all users to operate and make changes, rather than a central authority.

Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

Financial activities conducted without the involvement of an intermediary, like a bank, government, or other financial institution. 

Decentralized Applications (DApps)

Applications designed by developers and deployed on a blockchain to carry out actions without intermediaries. Decentralized finance activities are often completed using decentralized apps. Ethereum is the main network supporting activities in decentralized finance.

Digital Gold

Experts sometimes compare specific cryptocurrencies to real gold based on the way it can store and increase in value. Bitcoin is commonly referred to as digital gold.

Ethereum

The second largest cryptocurrency by trade volume, Ethereum is a crypto network and software platform that developers can use to create new applications, and has an associated currency called ether.

Exchange

A digital marketplace where you can buy and sell cryptocurrency.

Fork

When a blockchain’s users make changes to its rules. These changes to the protocol of a blockchain often result in two new paths — one that follows the old rules, and a new blockchain that splits off from the previous one. (Example: a fork of Bitcoin resulted in Bitcoin Cash).

Gas

A fee that developers have to pay to the Ethereum network in order to use the system. Gas is paid in ether, the native cryptocurrency of Ethereum. 

Genesis Block

The first block of a cryptocurrency ever mined. 

HODL

Stands for “Hold On for Dear Life” though the term originated from a user typo on a Bitcoin forum in 2013. It refers to a passive investment strategy in which people buy and hold onto cryptocurrency — instead of trading it — in the hopes that it increases in value. 

[RELATED]: The Price of Bitcoin Continues to Fall. Here’s How Worried Investors Should Be, According to Experts

Halving

A feature written into Bitcoin’s code in which after a certain number of blocks are mined (typically every four years) the amount of new Bitcoin entering circulation gets halved. The halving can have an impact on Bitcoin’s price.

Hash

A unique string of numbers and letters that identify blocks and are tied to crypto buyers and sellers.

Hot Wallet

A software-based cryptocurrency wallet connected to the Internet. While more convenient for quickly accessing your crypto, these wallets are a bit more susceptible to hacking and cybersecurity attacks than offline wallets — just as files you store in the cloud may be more easily hacked than those locked in a safe in your home.

Initial Coin Offering (ICO)

A way that funds are raised for a new cryptocurrency project. ICOs are similar to Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) of stocks.

Market Capitalization

For cryptocurrency, market cap refers to the total value of all the coins that have been mined. You can calculate a crypto’s market cap by multiplying the current number of coins by the current value of the coins. 

Mining

The process whereby new cryptocurrency coins are made available and the log of transactions between users is maintained. 

Node

A computer that connects to a blockchain network.

Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs)

Non-fungible tokens are units of value used to represent the ownership of unique digital items like art or collectibles. NFTs are most often held on the Ethereum blockchain.

[RELATED] Ethereum: What You Should Know Before You Invest

Peer-to-peer

Two users interacting directly without a third party or intermediary. 

Public Key 

Your wallet’s address, which is similar to your bank account number. You can share your public wallet key with people or institutions so they can send you money or take money from your account when you authorize it.

Private Key

The encrypted code that allows direct access to your cryptocurrency. Like your bank account password, you should never share your private key. 

Satoshi Nakomoto

The pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin. No one knows the true identity of Nakomoto — or if it’s more than one person.

Smart Contract

An algorithmic program that enacts the terms of a contract automatically based on its code. One of the main value propositions of the Ethereum network is its ability to execute smart contracts. 

Stablecoin or Digital Fiat

A stablecoin pegs its value to some other non-digital currency or commodity. A digital fiat represents a fiat, or government-backed currency on the blockchain. (Example: Tether, which is pegged to the U.S. dollar)

[RELATED]: The 10 Most Popular Cryptocurrencies, and What You Should Know About Each Before You Invest

Token

A unit of value on a blockchain that usually has some other value proposition besides just a transfer of value (like a coin). 

Vitalik Buterin

Programmer who invented Ethereum in 2015.

Wallet

A place to store your cryptocurrency holdings. Many exchanges offer digital wallets. Wallets may be hot (online, software-based) or cold (offline, usually on a device).

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In a potentially hugely disruptive move, a last-minute provision of a major bipartisan infrastructure bill moving through the U.S. Congress would impose stricter reporting requirements on cryptocurrency transfers, which the bill estimates would raise an additional $28 billion in tax revenue.

But the legislation, according to at least two crypto-regulatory experts, is so badly flawed it might be unenforceable. Specifically, the rule as written appears to define any actor who participates in a transfer of cryptocurrency as a “broker.” That could impose transaction reporting requirements on a strange array of players, including miners and decentralized exchanges.

The creators of software wallets could even be required to track and report user transactions, according to both crypto lobbyist Jerry Brito of Coin Center and Blockchain Association head Kristin Smith. Software and hardware crypto wallets, of course, do not track or report user transactions, which would make the law impossible to comply with.

The disconnect highlights the shaky foundations of U.S. attempts to tax or regulate crypto. There are at least two separate bills in the House of Representatives attempting to establish basic definitions, jurisdictions and standards for crypto regulation. Having those in place before trying to rush through a poorly conceived tax might have been a good idea.

The case of software wallets is illustrative. They’re fundamentally tools for interacting with a database, not tremendously different from a web browser. They are not services, any more than your leather wallet is a “service” for holding dollar bills. There is in fact no “service” managing bitcoin or any other legitimate cryptocurrency, a fact that fundamentally clashes with the regulatory framework legislators are trying to shove it into.

These flaws are particularly worrisome because the measure has been introduced as a revenue-generating element of the much larger bipartisan infrastructure bill, creating a rushed environment with little margin for subtlety or revision. On Twitter, Brito described the bill as “must-pass,” and said that Coin Center staff “worked all day [Wednesday] trying to fix” the measure, and continued into Thursday. The good news is the bill is still in process, so there’s at least the possibility for things to change.

Aside from their technical shortcomings, the new tax rules lean on near-universal monitoring and automated reporting, rather than on a privacy-protecting system of voluntary reporting, with investigation and enforcement for those who break the law. This potential law, much like the new European money laundering rules introduced this month, would likely create huge honeypots of personal and financial data to be targeted by hackers – including your data, whether you sought to evade taxes or not.

The sins of this poorly designed tax, though, shouldn’t be laid at the feet of taxation as a whole: Strange as it may seem, cryptocurrency development has been advanced to a huge degree by investments funded by past tax revenue. SHA-256 cryptography was developed by the National Security Administration. The internet itself was created largely by the Defense Department’s DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) program. David Chaum, one of the 10 or so most important pioneers of digital cash, earned a PhD at University of California, Berkeley in the 1970s, when public funding kept tuition costs to about $800 a year.

Most world-transforming innovations rely on a similar level of collective support, because basic or speculative research is usually not profitable fast enough for the private sector to invest in. So there’s nothing inherently objectionable about crypto being expected to give back to support the next generation of innovators. But the current rushed and technically flawed approach could significantly harm the very innovation that took so many years and resources to bring to life in the first place.

The co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain, Vitalik Buterin, donated roughly $1 billion in a Shiba Inu-themed cryptocurrency to a covid-19 relief fund in India in May 2021. So far, according to Bloomberg , just $20 million or roughly 2% of the original commitment has made it to its donation.

Cryptocurrency supporters often talk the crypto market up as being as fast, reliable, and efficient, if not more so, than cash transactions. The slow pace at which Buterin’s donations are actually being used to achieve results in India, however, highlights how regulatory snafus and the difficulty of moving wealth back out of the crypto market can interfere. And that’s before considering the lengthy vetting process common among charitable funds, which have to balance getting money where it’s needed with ensuring that it doesn’t go to waste.

Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that Buterin’s gift of 50 trillion coins of Shiba Inu, one of the many knockoffs of meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin , has encountered numerous obstacles. First, Buterin’s donation plans amounted to 5% of all of the cryptocurrency in circulation—which immediately resulted in a 50% price crash, wiping out half its value. (As CoinTelegraph noted , this did have the unintended side effect of putting a speed bump on rising transaction costs across the Ethereum network.) Sandeep Nailwal, the New Delhi-based entrepreneur behind the recipient India Covid Crypto Relief Fund, told Bloomberg he currently projects the donation to be worth $400 million by the time it’s cashed out.

Nailwal added that in order to avoid violating India’s Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, all of the Shiba Inu coins have to be converted to U.S. dollars and then Indian rupees before they can go to any legal use. He told Bloomberg that the process is 80% complete, but that he’s also been cautious with disbursement to ensure the money reaches organizations that are having a real impact on the local level. $20 million more is in the pipeline, Nailwal added, and the $20 million already spent has gone to shoring up food supplies and setting up intensive care units for patients across India.

India has been ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic, particularly in dense cities where average citizens often struggled to gain access to basic medical services well before the virus began circulating and engulfed hospitals and clinics with a never-ending deluge of patients. In April, when the highly transmissible delta variant of the virus began hitting its peak in India, tens of thousands fell ill a day, crematories were overwhelmed in cities like New Delhi, and funeral pyres burnt 24/7. The country is now estimated to have surpassed 31.5 million confirmed cases with over 422,000 deaths, though these numbers are widely considered an undercount. Researchers from the U.S.-based Center for Global Development have estimated total excess deaths during the pandemic in India could be in the range of 3.4 million to 4.7 million .

Many Indian survivors of the virus have been left trapped with potentially insurmountable medical debt, according to the Associated Press , and just 25% of the population has received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

Nailwal told Bloomberg the fund has “been in preparation for the third wave” of the virus. Despite rising case numbers, many state governments across India have loosened restrictions, with the South China Morning Post reporting that courts and medical associations have been among the sole institutions urging caution against reckless decisions.

The Indian government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been broadly hostile to cryptocurrency and was reportedly considering legislation to make it a crime to mine, trade, or even hold cryptocurrencies like bitcoin earlier this year. Although a bill was introduced, it went nowhere, and as of June 2021 , the central government was still in the process of working out how any potential regulation should work.

If you’re looking at opportunities in under-the-radar altcoins, Algorand (CCC:ALGO-USD) may be of interest.

Source: Shutterstock

It may be a relative newcomer to the world of crypto, but it’s accomplished quite a bit since its launch in 2019 .

It has secured hundreds of millions in funding for its development. Numerous third-parties now operate within its ecosystem.

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Sure, it’s still far away from starting to give Ethereum (CCC:ETH-USD) a run for its money, or the “Ethereum killers,” like Cardano (CCC:ADA-USD), for that matter.

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Yet, with its smart contract capabilities , solid transaction speeds , and focus on being a bridge between centralized and decentralized systems , it does look set to quickly enter that category.

To top it all off, as InvestorPlace’s Tezcan Gecgil recently discussed, it’s a carbon-negative platform.

This by itself may not help it become one of the most widely-used cryptos out there. But, as proof-of-work cryptos like Bitcoin (CCC:BTC-USD) get called out for their environmental impact, it’s another positive for this proof-of-stake blockchain.

Its prospects may look bright, but, keep in mind this may not immediately translate into higher prices for its native token.

Uncertainty continues to hang over the crypto market. It may have more room to fall before it finds its floor. Keep this risk in mind, as it trades for around 83 cents, down big from its all-time high of $3.28.

In the two years since going live, this token’s blockchain has seen rapid adoption, from a variety of third-parties.

A recent one of note is MAPay. The healthcare payments processor is using the network to facilitate over $800 million in payments for Bermuda’s healthcare system.

With this initial success, crypto funds have invested $500 million in projects that run on the Algorand blockchain.

Given what it’s accomplished so far, it’s easy to see continuing to gain in usage in the years ahead. Especially as it continues to launch protocol upgrades, such as one launched recently that improves smart contract development and dApp functionality .

It’s clear it has the technology. All it needs now is critical mass. With the larger “Ethereum killers” offering up similar advantages, this may be a challenge.

Assuming it attracts more capital for its development and its upgrades allow it to continue “leveling up,” it looks primed to become a front-runner, like Cardano, or Polygon (CCC:MATIC-USD).

Algorand’s best days may lie ahead. A few years down the road it could be worth many times what it trades for today.

But, that doesn’t mean it’s all uphill from here. As crypto market uncertainty still looms, it may first make a trip back toward its pre-bubble prices.

As of this writing, cryptos across the board are trading sideways. This may signal to some that we’ve reached the “bottom,” after the sell-off that kicked off in mid-May.

The waters have been calm. But, we may not have seen the end to the sell-off just yet. The market could still have room to pull back further, before the dust has truly settled.

Algorand prices could see another double-digit percentage decline. Or worse, a brief trip back under 50 cents per token. That’s where it traded for, prior to the early 2021 bubble. If you do buy it today, be aware of possible near-term volatility.

There may be a silver lining: a continuation of the crypto bear market could be short-lived. Once speculators who dived into this space late in the game (that is, earlier this year) cash out, but long-minded “HODLers” sit tight, things could bounce back sooner rather than later.

Admittedly, this may not guarantee a fast trip for cryptos back to their respective high-water marks. It may just mean an end to the declines, with several years of middling performance ahead.

That’s what happened after the last crash, in 2018. Yet, if you’re looking at this as a long-term crypto investment, and not a short-term trade, this may not be a big concern.

Considering its capabilities and features, along with its gaining usage, this “new kid on the crypto block” stands to soon enter “Ethereum killer” territory.

This may make it one one of the better altcoin opportunities you can get in at the ground floor on. Even so, keep in mind the high-risk, and high volatility ahead.

Depending on how long today’s crypto bear market lasts, Algorand may pull back to 50 cents before it bounces back above $1, but if you can handle the volatility and hold it until its blockchain grows in usage, starting to accumulate a position at or below today’s prices appears worthwhile.

On the date of publication, Thomas Niel held long positions in Bitcoin and Ethereum. He did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in any other securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.

Thomas Niel, contributor for InvestorPlace.com, has been writing single-stock analysis for web-based publications since 2016.

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Bitcoin’s price surge early Monday led a rally in so-called altcoins, with aave (AAVE), chainlink (LINK) and bitcoin cash (BCH) notching double-digit percentage gains. 

Bitcoin briefly broke above $39,000 Monday for the first time since June 16. The cryptocurrency is currently trading its sixth consecutive day in the green, up 12% in 24 hours. 

The University of Pennsylvania recently announced a $5 million gift to Wharton, its business school. The donation was not one of its largest, but the university announced the gift with the type of fanfare it usually lavishes on gifts many times its size.

The gift, from an anonymous donor, was in Bitcoin. The announcement, therefore, was a trial balloon — a signal that cryptocurrencies are now as acceptable for donations as stocks, bonds, real estate and other investments.

“A few years back, there had been a lot of discussion among nonprofits about cryptocurrency and whether we should accept it,” John Zeller, senior vice president for development and alumni relations at Penn, said in an interview. “The donor’s goal was to make a gift of that magnitude, a promotable gift, to say, ‘If you’re interested, we’re in the crypto world, and we can accept it.’”

But, Mr. Zeller said, the floodgates did not open. “We haven’t seen a rush of gifts in cryptocurrency,” he said.

Cryptocurrency, as an asset to donate to charity, is as complicated as the asset itself and the reasons for owning it. Bitcoin, Ether and other cryptocurrencies have many of the qualities of publicly traded securities: For the recipient, the value is easy to know, and for the donor, any gains that would have been subject to tax are erased when the asset goes to charity.

But cryptocurrencies have been a lot more volatile than almost any single stock. That increases the risk for the recipient, and it may make it more difficult for the donor to commit to a fixed amount. (Cryptocurrencies that are worth $5 million today may be worth $3 million or $7 million just next week.)

It is also true that a donation in cryptocurrency can be more convenient for an international aid organization. It simplifies the task of sending the money to a particular country, and the underlying blockchain technology can enable the organization to track exactly how the cryptocurrency is being used.

Penn had contracted with NYDIG, a platform that manages digital currency transactions, only at the start of this year, Mr. Zeller said. Shortly after, it received $25,000 in Ether from a young alumna who wanted the gift to go to the general scholarship fund.

“Lo and behold, we had just put this in place,” Mr. Zeller said.

The $5 million Bitcoin gift in May was more complex. The donor wanted it to be large enough to attract attention that would help the university get similar donations. At the same time, the donor wanted the money to fund research and programs at the Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance at the Wharton School.

The donor wanted the university to hold at least some of the donation in Bitcoin, but the issue of what would happen if it plummeted in value had to be resolved.

“Our policy had been to traditionally sell everything immediately, even if it had been $5 million in stock,” Mr. Zeller said. “So the donor and the university agreed that he would backstop it. He gave us $5 million in Bitcoin. We liquidated some; we’re holding some. But he said, ‘I guarantee that at the end of the day you’ll get $5 million whether it’s in Bitcoin or something else.’”

Of course, the value of Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency could just as easily skyrocket. That is why some owners of cryptocurrency would rather not donate it to a charity.

“A lot of crypto investors are bullish on it and are holding on to it to go to the moon,” said Larry Cheng, managing partner at Volition Capital, which invests in early-stage financial technology companies.

There are at least two reasons that cryptocurrency gifts could be a smart for both sides.

Cryptocurrencies are like any appreciated asset, including securities and real estate, in terms of taxes. No taxes are owed on the capital gains of assets donated to charity, so the nonprofit effectively receives more money.

A second reason is that the blockchain technology has proved effective in transferring, tracking and accounting for money sent internationally.

Take UNICEF, the United Nations program that helps impoverished children. “You can have the local office in the region convert the crypto into the local currency, and now you don’t have to pay the wire fees on the transfers,” said Tom Pageler, chief executive of Prime Trust, a Nevada trust company that focuses on digital assets that has worked with donors to UNICEF. “You can get money there immediately.”

“Also,” he added, “if I’m the Red Cross and moving crypto around the world, it’s all on blockchain, so I can see when it’s cashed and used. There’s the ease of it.”

A few years ago, a UNICEF fund-raising drive asked video gamers to create, or “mine,” cryptocurrency between gaming sessions.

Greenpeace stopped accepting cryptocurrency because of the environmental impact of generating it. But Mr. Pageler pointed to strides being made in using renewable energy to mine digital currency.

Other nonprofit organizations aren’t accepting cryptocurrency directly because they lack the infrastructure to receive it and store it securely.

“It’s different, and it’s not for the uninitiated,” said Kim Komando, author of “Cryptocurrency 101: The Beginner’s Guide to Buying, Selling and Spending Digital Currency the Safe Way.”

“It’s too much the Wild West right now for somebody to think, if they don’t know a lot about crypto, that they can hop online, buy some crypto and alleviate some capital gains taxes,” Ms. Komando continued, “because they might get scammed along the way.”

Still, she said, there are plenty of resources, like the Giving Block, that allow people to donate cryptocurrency and nonprofits to receive it safely and relatively easily.

Donor-advised funds, which allow people to make donations today for tax purposes and recommend charitable grants at a later date, have seen an increase in cryptocurrency donations. Among them are Fidelity Charitable, the largest donor-advised fund in the United States, with over $35 billion in assets, and its main competitor, Schwab Charitable, with over $17 billion.

So far this year, Fidelity Charitable has received $150 million in cryptocurrency, up from $28 million for all of 2020 and $13 million in 2019, said a spokesman, Stephen Austin. “The appreciated value of cryptocurrency is prompting more donors to use this asset to fund their charitable giving as well as increasing the average size of each contribution,” he said.

What neither Fidelity Charitable nor Schwab Charitable does is manage the cryptocurrency, meaning that they sell it and put marketable securities or cash into the client’s donor-advised fund.

“Generally, charities are conservative with how they want to manage assets,” said Todd Eckler, executive director of Fiduciary Trust Charitable, a donor-advised fund that has about $250 million in assets and does not have cryptocurrency abilities. “You could see the value evaporate pretty quickly. It’s highly volatile, and it’s not a good fit for many charitable institutions.”

For Mr. Zeller, who helped broker the Bitcoin donation at Penn, the ability to accept cryptocurrency is what matters most.

“It’s very nice to have the capacity to do it when a donor says, ‘I have some Bitcoin,’” he said. “We can accept it now without it grinding the university to a halt.”

Soaring bitcoin and cryptocurrency prices this year, making crypto a more-than-$1 trillion market, have attracted a wave of cyber criminals.

Bitcoin-demanding ransomware attacks and social media-based crypto scams have become commonplace as a sudden influx of new users pour billions of dollars into digital assets (subscribe now to Forbes' CryptoAsset & Blockchain Advisor to get ahead of the market).

Now, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has warned bitcoin and cryptocurrency buyers, exchanges and payment platforms over the growing threat of criminals looking to steal bitcoin and crypto-assets.

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The FBI alert, first reported by Bleeping Computer, cautions users to be aware of attacks using technical support fraud, phone sim swapping, and identity theft.

Sim swapping, when the attacker requests a carrier transfer a phone number to a new sim card giving them access to incoming SMS messages and calls, has exploded in popularity in recent years, prompting a warning from the FBI in 2019 and guidance from the Federal Trade Commission.

The increase in criminals targetting those holding bitcoin and digital currencies comes after the bitcoin price surged to around $65,000 per bitcoin in April, up from around $10,000 last year, before crashing back. Bitcoin is currently trading at around $32,000. Other smaller cryptocurrencies, such as ethereum and the meme-based dogecoin, have seen even bigger price increases.

"Cybercriminals are targeting cryptocurrency users, exchanges, and third-party payment platforms in the virtual asset industry, resulting in large amounts of financial loss to victims," the FBI alert, issued via a system for distributing sensitive information to selected groups and individuals called the Traffic Light Protocol, reportedly read.

Once the stolen cryptocurrency has been transferred to attacker-controlled accounts it can be hard for law enforcement to recover it, the FBI warned.

The FBI advised financial and crypto companies to check the origin of emails and keep an eye on recently created accounts while those buying bitcoin and cryptocurrencies were encouraged to use multi-factor authentication—meaning they must have access to at least two devices or accounts linked to the platform—avoid download requests, remote access applications and any unofficial company communication channels.

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The warning comes after the FBI seized around $4 million in bitcoin paid to the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attackers last month, though it remains unclear exactly how the FBI retrieved the funds.

Elsewhere, police in the U.K. this week announced they'd seized nearly $250 million worth of bitcoin as part of an investigation into money laundering.

"While cash still remains king in the criminal world, as digital platforms develop we’re increasingly seeing organized criminals using cryptocurrency to launder their dirty money," the Metropolitan police’s deputy assistant commissioner, Graham McNulty, said in a statement.

I am a journalist with significant experience covering technology, finance, economics, and business around the world. As the founding editor of Verdict.co.uk I reported

I am a journalist with significant experience covering technology, finance, economics, and business around the world. As the founding editor of Verdict.co.uk I reported on how technology is changing business, political trends, and the latest culture and lifestyle. I have covered the rise of bitcoin and cryptocurrency since 2012 and have charted its emergence as a niche technology into the greatest threat to the established financial system the world has ever seen and the most important new technology since the internet itself. I have worked and written for CityAM, the Financial Times, and the New Statesman, amongst others. Follow me on Twitter @billybambrough or email me on billyATbillybambrough.com. Disclosure: I occasionally hold some small amount of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin’s price surge early Monday led a rally in so-called altcoins, with aave (AAVE), chainlink (LINK) and bitcoin cash (BCH) notching double-digit percentage gains. 

Bitcoin briefly broke above $39,000 Monday for the first time since June 16. The cryptocurrency is currently trading its sixth consecutive day in the green, up 12% in 24 hours. 

Aave, an open-source and non-custodial protocol that runs on the Ethereum blockchain that enables users to lend and borrow a range of crypto assets, has climbed 18% in the last 24 hours, according to CoinDesk 20 data.

Chainlink, a decentralized oracle network, was trading at $19.17, representing a 14% gain in the last 24 hours.

Bitcoin Cash, the blockchain that forked off Bitcoin in 2017, was up 13%.

Ether, the native token of the Ethereum blockchain, is trading at $2,348 at press time. The cryptocurrency is up 9% in the past 24 hours.

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