In this article, we discuss the 10 best cryptocurrency startups to watch. If you want to skip our detailed analysis of these startups, go directly to the 5 Best Cryptocurrency Startups to Watch.

Cryptocurrencies have exploded in value from humble beginnings in 2009 when Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency in the world today that touched a market capitalization of more than $1 trillion towards the end of February, was created and launched as the first decentralized cryptocurrency. Since 2012, Bitcoin has gained more than 193,000% in value and accelerated the launch of hundreds of different types of cryptocurrencies. By 2026, the market size for cryptocurrencies is expected to cross $1 trillion in value.

There is little doubt that crypto-related ventures are some of the hottest items in the technology sector. Many big companies who want to integrate revolutionary new technology onto their platforms or just want some exposure to the industry are funding crypto startups. Big tech names such as Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG ) and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN ) are part of this list, along with payments giant PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL ). Hedge funds and retail investors are jumping on the crypto gravy train as well.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has invested in Blockchain.com, one of the largest online crypto platforms in the world. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) owner Jeff Bezos has backed Chipper Cash, a fintech company based in Africa that has rapidly gained popularity across the continent and is now looking to expand overseas. PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) earlier this year announced that it was in the process of allowing hundreds of millions of users on its platform to checkout with cryptocurrencies.

As consumer confidence in crypto offerings increases through institutional investments and it becomes clear that crypto is indeed the future of financial services in a digital world, startups that aim to solve crypto-related problems in the market have been gaining in popularity. Cybersecurity, health, and coin exchanges are some of the key segments that investors should monitor as they offer explosive growth potential in the crypto market. It remains to be seen whether the wider finance world, stil reliant on fiat, can weather these tailwinds.

The entire hedge fund industry is feeling the reverberations of the changing financial landscape. Its reputation has been tarnished in the last decade, during which its hedged returns couldn’t keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. On the other hand, Insider Monkey’s research was able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the S&P 500 ETFs by more than 124 percentage points since March 2017. Between March 2017 and February 26th 2021 our monthly newsletter’s stock picks returned 197.2%, vs. 72.4% for the SPY. Our stock picks outperformed the market by more than 124 percentage points (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that significantly underperformed the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 13% through November 16th. That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. You can subscribe to our free newsletter on our homepage to receive our stories in your inbox.

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With this context in mind, here is our list of the 10 best cryptocurrency startups to watch. These startups were selected keeping in mind the crypto-related problems they aim to solve, the quality of products or services they offer, and their basic business model underpinning the earnings philosophy.

CoinSwitch Kuber is a cryptocurrency exchange primarily facilitating crypto transactions in India. In late April, the firm raised $25 million in funding from Tiger Global Management LLC , the New York-based hedge fund with $43 billion in assets under management. With the latest funding, the company is now valued at over $500 million. Scott Shleifer, a partner at the hedge fund, has told news media in India that the fund is excited to partner with a firm that is well positioned to cash in on the crypto boom among retail investors in the country.

Chase Coleman of Tiger Global

Previously, the crypto exchange had also raised funding from Paradigm, an investment firm founded by Fred Ehrsam. Ehrsam is one of the founders of Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN ), the largest crypto exchange in the world.

Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) went public in April in one of the biggest IPOs of the year so far, ending the first day of trading with a market cap of $86 billion.

Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) has earned bullish ratings from many investment advisories in recent weeks even as crypto stocks tumble with the fall in price of Bitcoin.

Just like Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), and PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL), Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) is one of the best crypto stocks to watch.

Bitwise Asset Management is a cryptocurrency index fund manager offering clients exposure to crypto investments. Recently, the fund raised $70 million in a Series B funding round led by big names in the hedge fund industry such as Stanley Druckenmiller, who runs Duquesne Capital , and David McCormick, the CEO of Bridgewater Associates. The crypto fund manages more than $1.2 billion in assets and has plans for aggressive expansion in the coming months, CEO Hunter Horsley trying to double the size of his team by the end of the year.

The backing of institutions like Duquesne Capital, one of the leading investment firms in the US with more than $3 billion in assets under management, will help crypto-related offerings gain wider acceptance. A top holding of Duquesne Capital is Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT ), which is also bullish on the crypto industry.

Out of the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, Washington-based investment firm Fisher Asset Managemen t is a leading shareholder in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) with 23.3 million shares worth more than $5.2 billion.

Just like Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), and PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) is one of the best crypto stocks to watch.

Fetch.AI Limited is an artificial intelligence (AI) company that markets AI solutions for blockchain networks. In late March, the company launched a new version of its Mainnet network with 30 validators that included Outlier Ventures, Forbole, and InfStones, among others. The company has so managed to raise more than $26 million in three funding rounds.

GDA Group and Outlier Ventures have contributed to these rounds. The company is based in the United Kingdom and is placed eight on our list of 10 best cryptocurrency startups to watch.

Another firm with a thriving artificial intelligence business is Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU ), the Chinese technology company that operates the leading internet search engine in the country. The artificial intelligence unit of Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) was recently called undervalued by investment advisory Daiwa.

At the end of the first quarter of 2021, 89 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $6.5 billion in Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU), up from 51 in the preceding quarter worth $4.6 billion.

Just like Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), and PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL), Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) is one of the best crypto stocks to watch.

Provenance is a company that markets supply chain and product transparency. It operates software that uses blockchain, mobile, and other open sources of data to provide users with the origin, tracking, and impact of products. It has raised more than $1.2 million in funding so far over five rounds. Digital Currency Group and Working Capital Fund are some of the big names that have invested in the company. The company is based in San Francisco and is ranked seventh on our list of 10 best cryptocurrency startups to watch.

A company that operates on a similar business model to Provenance is MongoDB, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDB), the software company providing commercial support for source-available databases. MongoDB, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDB) recently beat market predictions on earnings per share and revenue for the first quarter of 2021.

Out of the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, Boston-based investment firm Whale Rock Capital Management is a leading shareholder in MongoDB, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDB) with 1.2 million shares worth more than $338 million.

Just like Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), and PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL), MongoDB, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDB) is one of the best crypto stocks to watch.

Solve.Care is a company that markets a decentralized blockchain platform for healthcare and related services. The firm links patients to health professionals and coordinates all kinds of benefits, care packages, payments within the system using a smart blockchain contract. It has so far managed to win the backing of several big insurance companies as the platform of the firm can be used to settle different kinds of insurance claims quickly and cheaply. The company has so far raised $30 million in funding over two rounds.

Another company making waves in the healthcare sector with the innovative use of new technology is Teladoc Health, Inc. (NYSE: TDOC), the telehealth stock that has seen a flurry of hedge fund interest in recent months as the coronavirus lockdowns helped the company grow dramatically with people opting to consult health professionals online instead of making the trip to a doctor.

At the end of the first quarter of 2021, 42 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $3.3 billion in Teladoc Health, Inc. (NYSE: TDOC), down from 50 in the previous quarter worth $2.6 billion.

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It’s been a hot year for cryptocurrencies, and 2021 isn’t even halfway over. The total value of cryptocurrencies briefly surpassed $2.5 trillion in May as a plethora of new investors jumped in, and now approximately 14% of American adults own cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrencies are digital assets that are exchanged online on exchanges like Coinbase (the largest U.S. crypto exchange) and Gemini or via online brokers like Robinhood and SoFi Invest. Cryptocurrencies are hardly new. Bitcoin, the first and largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was created in 2009 and has been followed by more than 7,700 others. You may have also heard of ethereum, tether, or even dogecoin, which began as a joke and now sits among the 10 largest cryptocurrencies.

While some people are investing purely to speculate, others look at cryptos as a way to store value or hedge against inflation. Here’s how to invest in crypto now, whether you should get into it, and what to know before you do.

While investing in cryptocurrencies has gone mainstream, it’s not an option at many traditional online brokers — yet.  Here are a few brokers that allow you to directly hold cryptocurrencies alongside other assets like stocks and bonds, but fees vary and it’s key to do your homework:

TD Ameritrade, Interactive Brokers, and Charles Schwab offer bitcoin futures trading.

If your broker doesn’t offer cryptocurrencies, you might consider signing up for an account with a crypto exchange, such as one of the following:

Not all cryptocurrencies are created alike, and each token has unique characteristics that help dictate its price swings. That’s why it’s important to learn as much as possible about a specific token before investing, including why it was created (what problem it’s trying to solve) and by whom (the governance structure), recommends Chris Kuiper, vice president of equity research at CFRA Research.

“The more you understand it, the more you’re going to approach investing in the ‘right’ way,” Kuiper says. For example, he likens bitcoin to “gold 2.0” because the digital coin has a finite supply and is seen by some as a way to store value and hedge against inflation — characteristics that don’t apply to ethereum, for example. (Note that this bitcoin-is-the-new-gold take is certainly not shared by everyone, as this MarketWatch column reveals). 

Cryptocurrencies fall under the umbrella of alternative assets (like commodities or real estate) because they offer a way to diversify your portfolio and have a low correlation to other assets, like stocks and bonds, Kuiper notes. But cryptocurrencies are volatile, and because trading occurs 24/7, 365 days a year, that allows traders to react immediately to news — or even tweets. Indeed, this year, tweets from Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, caused crypto prices to both jump and slump.

“Look, this is the Wild West, so you have to be ready for it,” Kuiper says. While bitcoin has experienced average annualized returns in excess of 200%, that’s come with huge price slumps, he adds. “You need to embrace the volatility if you want those gains.” 

If you are ready to invest in crypto, here are a few of your options: Coinbase, Gemini, eToro, Robinhood and SoFi Invest.

Investing in crypto is not for everyone. Those who do dive in should remember this: Given the extreme volatility, moderation is key, notes Matt Schwartz, senior advisor and a certified financial planner with Great Waters Financial. Just as you shouldn’t invest all of your money in one asset — like a stock or bond — cryptocurrencies should have a limited impact on the risk-reward dynamics of your overall portfolio, he adds.

“If you have 2%-5% of your portfolio allocated to any asset class, that isn’t going to move the needle on your overall portfolio that much,” Schwartz says, adding that the exact allocation is unique to each investor. “It’s important to think about your own situation and how it may or may not help you accomplish your goals.” 

Some investing pros say that if you do want to dive into crypto, a smart way to do it may be through dollar-cost averaging, which simply means investing a fixed amount at regular intervals. And be sure to consult an accountant about the tax implications of trading (it can get pricey).

Finally, be mindful of how investment decisions affect you. “Don’t take on so much risk that you can’t sleep at night,” Kuiper says. “But the opposite is true: If you’re constantly watching bitcoin because you have 0% invested and you’re watching it go up, you probably need to buy a little of it for peace of mind.”

If you are ready to invest in crypto, here are a few of your options: Coinbase, Gemini, eToro, Robinhood and SoFi m>About the author: Anna-Louise Jackson is a financial journalist with more than a decade of writing and editing experience. She was a reporter for Bloomberg News, covering the U.S. economy, U.S. stock market, and corporate finance. Her work has also appeared in/on NerdWallet, CNBC, The Associated Press, USA Today, Forbes, Fortune, and Money. 

SEATTLE — Digital currencies are a form of payment. You can use them in exchange for goods and services. 

Cryptocurrencies work using a technology called "Blockchain." It's essentially a very secure and permanent leger of all cryptocurrency transactions. It's able to connect computers from all around the world.

Some of the more common cryptocurrencies are Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin. 

These digital currencies have skyrocketed in popularity over the past few years. However, in just the last week, something big happened in the crypto world. All the markets experienced a massive drop. For some cryptocurrencies, it was the biggest drop they'd seen in years.

The massive decline came after Tesla reversed course and said it would no longer allow you to buy a Tesla vehicle using Bitcoin. China's move toward cracking down on cryptocurrency use in the country also contributed to the drop that's now being dubbed "The Great Crypto Crash of 2021." A total of $1 trillion was wiped out from the market in just one week.

<strong class="cms__embed-related-story">RELATED: Investing 101: Tips for growing your wealth

Experts blame the market's erratic movement on it being so new. Scott Smallman, managing director of Wedbush Securities, says there just aren't as many players.

"The markets don't have the level of depth that they that they might have for, you know, Starbucks stock or something like that," he said.

Experts also point to amateurs investing in cryptocurrency with money they don't have. 

They're also owned by people who usually keep a close eye on the market. When the future looks uncertain, investors can quickly pull their money out. That's also known as panic selling. This can help exacerbate gains or losses on the crypto market.

By Richard Eisenberg, <strong 101/">Next Avenue Editor

Until now, we've never published a Next Avenue article about cryptocurrency or Bitcoin or the blockchain and, as the editor of our Money channel, I'm the reason why.

Frankly, I've felt that the Bitcoin digital currency and other cryptocurrencies were, at best, extremely volatile and risky investments (did I mention the price of a Bitcoin coin went from $10,764 in September 2020 to $64,829 in April 2021 and is now down to $40,000?) and, at worst, sometimes sketchy. I figured the cryptocurrency craze would fade. I was wrong about that last part.

So, here are the basics on the blockchain and Bitcoin and how to invest (just a little!) in cryptocurrencies, pulled from the new episode of the "Friends Talk Money" podcast I co-host with personal finance writer Terry Savage and public media's MoneyTrack host and Wealthramp.com founder Pam Krueger. (You can download the podcast from your favorite podcast distributor.)

Fact is, lots of smart financial analysts — like Ark Invest's Cathie Wood — have become big believers in cryptocurrency.

Some have come around to become, if not crypto fans, then at least no longer deniers. In 2018, legendary investor Warren Buffett called Bitcoin "probably rat poison squared." But his company recently put $500 million into Nubank, the parent company of the digital bank selling cryptocurrency products.

And why should you care about Bitcoin and the blockchain?

Well, the GlobalData analytics company just predicted that revenue from blockchain platforms and services will soar from $4 billion in 2020 to $199 billion by 2030. According to a survey by Motley Fool's service The Ascent, 21 million Americans — 14% of adults — own Bitcoin, which has been around since 2009; half of them bought it during the last 12 months. And, for what it's worth, El Salvador just became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, and the payment app Venmo now lets customers buy or sell cryptocurrencies.

"I see the blockchain technology on which cryptocurrency is built as being transformative," Krueger said on the podcast. Some compare the impact of Bitcoin on the financial world with the way the internet disrupted music and publishing.

Krueger said that a year ago, when she asked Wealthramp's 250 fee-only advisers whether they'd recommend clients invest in cryptocurrencies, "almost all of them said, 'Not yet.'" But she surveyed them in June 2021 "and I would say that there's a shift in the mindset of the whole group." In other words, they now think their clients should consider owning a little crypto if they're interested.

For a primer on all this, let me try to make crypto less cryptic by offering a few questions that may be on your mind and answers to them.

What is the blockchain, what is Bitcoin and what is cryptocurrency?

Here's how Savage explained them on the "Friends Talk Money" podcast:

"The blockchain ledger is a computer program. Think of it as the behind-the-scenes backbone where all [financial] transactions are securely recorded without any intermediaries in a ledger that every participant can see, but no one can change unless by an authorized transaction recorded on this blockchain," said Savage.

Savage conceded that definition might sound "clear as mud," so she offered an analogy that might help.

"When you buy a house, you get title insurance to make sure that no one else has filed a claim to the property. And that's why we have title insurance companies and we pay a fee to them," Savage noted. "But if all the title changes were recorded on the blockchain, there would be no need for this insurance or for the title insurance companies… The registration would be immutable and visible on the blockchain ledger."

With the blockchain's peer-to-peer transactions, she said, you don't need a financial intermediary, a bank, a currency exchange or even a government. "Think about the implications of that kind of medium of exchange," said Savage.

And what does this have to do with Bitcoin, Dogecoin (a meme-inspired crypto), Ethereum (billionaire investor and "Shark Tank" star Mark Cuban is a fan) and other cryptocurrencies?

Savage said: "You could use this blockchain ledger technology as a basis for all kinds of completely secure transactions, like property transactions. But the most popular use is with the so-called cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin." Bitcoin records transactions in the blockchain.

There are thousands of other cryptocurrencies, Savage added, but "many of those are started by complete scammers." Consumers lost almost $82 million in crypto scams during the fourth quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

So, how do you buy cryptocurrencies — if you dare?

Savage's first rule: "If you're going to buy a cryptocurrency, stick with the best-known ones [like Bitcoin]. That doesn't mean you won't lose money on the price fluctuations, but it means you're not just throwing your money into a black hole."

And that led to another of Savage's rules: Buy cryptocurrency on a legitimate crypto exchange like Coinbase or Kraken, or through an ATM that sells it — though ATM fees to do so are steep. (Coinbase isn't that machine in supermarkets where you exchange your loose change for bills, I joked on the podcast; that's Coinstar.)

Alternatively, you could invest in a blockchain Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) that either invests in companies involved in blockchain technology or invests in futures or options pegged to the performance of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or crypto investment products from asset managers.

Is buying Bitcoin investing or speculating?

It's a speculation, since there's no intrinsic correct value for it. Bitcoin is worth what people decide it's worth each day.

But there seems to be strong long-term potential for a rise in Bitcoin's value, since businesses like banks, Microsoft MSFT and Tesla TSLA accept it (CEO Elon Musk's musings on Bitcoin often lead to wild fluctuations) and it looks like more will, over time. And, as Savage noted, the Federal Reserve is studying developing a digital currency.

How big a portion of my investment portfolio should I put into Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies or businesses related to them?

Here's what Kraken.com Chief Product Officer Jeremy Wells told the "Friends Talk Money" hosts: "I just generally encourage everyone to kind of explore the space a little bit. There's no need to put an entire paycheck into cryptocurrency."

So, the "Friends Talk Money" co-hosts said, maybe you might put 3% of your total portfolio into crypto; maybe less. I'm starting to think of it as a new way to diversify your investment portfolio, the way you might do with your stocks by buying international stocks of companies in countries with emerging economies.

Incidentally, you don't have to buy an entire Bitcoin. Crypto exchanges let you purchase a fraction — even as little as $5 or $10 worth.

But think of this type of investment as money you can lose — and very well might. Mad money meet mad crypto.

Dennis Chookazian, a futurist and longtime cryptocurrency analyst, told "Friends Talk Money" that Bitcoin and its ilk are "entertainment assets" that provide "psychic income."

His advice: "You shouldn't buy it with any money that you need for your children's education or something like that…You should not buy cryptocurrencies with money that you absolutely can't afford to lose."

Krueger calls investing in cryptocurrencies "emotional gambling," adding that "anytime you put money into something based on your emotions, it's the fastest way to lose money."

But, she noted, "it's kind of fun to learn about." And, Krueger said, she owns some Bitcoin and digital tokens Ethereum and Cardano.

Next Avenue is public media’s first and only national journalism service for America’s booming older population. Our daily content delivers vital ideas, context and

Next Avenue is public media’s first and only national journalism service for America’s booming older population. Our daily content delivers vital ideas, context and perspectives on issues that matter most as we age.

Cryptocurrency investing has been one of the big news stories of 2021. Although the first Bitcoin was mined way back in 2009, it wasn’t until Bitcoin millionaires began being minted that crypto started grabbing the public’s attention. Now, new coins have flooded the market, and more millionaires have been created, as some coins have rallied 1,000%, 2,000% or even more. In the midst of all of these incredible gains, the natural question is whether or not it’s too late to invest in cryptocurrency. The truth is that no one can guarantee whether crypto will rise or fall from here, as it’s an entirely new market that is neither well-defined nor well-regulated. But there are clear arguments on both sides of the coin as to whether it’s time to buy or not.

Check Out: 10 Best Cryptocurrencies To Invest in for 2021 Consider: Dogecoin: Is It Still Worth an Investment?

One of the fears of entering the crypto market has always been that governments around the world will shut down acceptance and even production of the coins. That time may already be here. In late May 2021, China began cracking down hard on bitcoin mining and trading, which sent crypto prices cascading downwards. According to Boris Schlossberg, managing director at BK Asset Management, the primary reason for this crackdown was because “Chinese authorities are keen to see their own digital currency in the form of the yuan become the primary unit of account in the Chinese economy.” If other governments follow suit, demand and support for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies could falter.

The Economy and Your Money: All You Need To Know

If you’re a believer that the crypto market is another version of the stock market, there might be no better time to buy cryptos like Bitcoin because they are on sale. As of June 4, Bitcoin was more than 40% off its all-time high, and other cryptos had fallen by a similar amount or even more. As the history of Bitcoin has shown, massive drops like this are not at all unusual, and yet the cryptocurrency has managed to consistently climb to new highs. If you were curious about Bitcoin a few weeks ago, the current sell-off might be a chance to dip your toe into the market.

Explore: What Are Altcoins — and Are the Potential Rewards Worth the Risks?

Skeptics believe that cryptocurrency is an asset class with no store of value, no barrier to entry and no value as an exchange currency. As such, skeptics view crypto as simply a speculative asset class with no long-term viability as a true asset class. At a CNBC-hosted panel in Davos, Switzerland in 2019, Jeff Schumacher, founder of BCG Digital Ventures, had this to say about Bitcoin: “I do believe it will go to zero. I think it’s a great technology but I don’t believe it’s a currency. It’s not based on anything.” In 2020, famed investor Dennis Gartman offered the same assessment to Bloomberg, saying that if central banks “refuse to give up their monopoly on monetary policy, ” Bitcoin could one day plunge to zero.

Read: Where Does Cryptocurrency Come From?

Rather than seeing Bitcoin go to zero, believers like Ark Investment’s Cathie Wood suggest quite the opposite. The popular investment strategist and CEO believes that Bitcoin will actually hit $500,000. Part of the reason for Wood’s bullishness is her belief that asset managers will eventually allocate up to 5% of their portfolios to cryptocurrency. Greg Cipolaro and Dr. Ross Stevens, researchers at New York Digital Investment Group, support this belief, adding that “Increasing fundamental demand combined with a fixed supply and automatically declining supply growth make a compelling case for Bitcoin as an alternative investment for institutional investors.” The researchers are referring to the fact that the supply of Bitcoin is limited to 21 million coins.

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Is It Too Late To Invest In Cryptocurrency?

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - There has been a lot of talk about Cryptocurrency recently, but what exactly is it?

Cryptocurrency is a form of digital currency and there are 10,000 different ones currently being traded publicly. Bitcoin is the most recognizable. We asked, John Vandergriff with Blue Ridge Wealth Planners why is it so popular?

“People want to have alternatives to invest in largely outside of stocks, bonds and cash and so that’s one reason, is just trying to find alternative ways to make money,” Vandergriff said. “I think the other thing that has infused in popularity is the Elon Musk’s of the world and people that are giving validation to this is causing younger generations to say ‘oh well, this is a legitimate option we need to put in and obviously when more money chases after something you see an increase in value.”

The currency is backed by Blockchain technology. Something Vandergriff said is almost too secure.

“It’s one of those things it’s almost too safe, because you get five chances to try your password and then something can be locked away forever, and so you can have amounts of Bitcoin that will never be seen again because that Blockchain technology is almost too secure in some ways,” Vandergriff said.

Vandergriff said it’s important to understand cryptocurrency fully before you invest.

“The thing that’s wild about all cryptocurrencies but specifically Bitcoin is it trades 24 hours a day, So, what we’re used to is a stock market exchange that opens at nine and closes at four and then you can sleep and know that nothing’s changing,” Vandergriff said. “You can go to sleep at one price with Bitcoin and wake up and it’s totally different because the other side of the world is trading it.”

“What I’ve been telling a lot of people is, you know at this stage of the game, you want to put money into Bitcoin that you don’t ever care to not see again,” Vandergriff said. “And if you look at your money and say ‘I don’t have any of that,’ then maybe you wait a little bit and let this thing mature and figure itself out.”

Copyright 2021 WVLT. All rights reserved.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced its regulatory agenda for 2021 and cryptocurrencies are not on it.

The SEC has curiously left cryptocurrency and blockchain off its list of regulatory priorities for 2021 according to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. The official release is called the Spring 2021 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. The purpose of the document is to provide “important public notice and transparency about proposed regulatory and deregulatory actions within the Executive Branch,” according to the release.

The document breaks down the actions each administrative agency plans to move forward on, in both the short and long term.

Some of the items that did make the regulatory agenda include cybersecurity risk governance, short sale disclosure reforms, and amendments to the custody rules for investment advisers.

The move to leave off cryptocurrency, specifically Bitcoin, off the agenda is a little surprising after SEC Chairman, Gary Gensler, had spoken about the need for regulations on crypto. Speaking with Congress back in May, Gensler stated that his desire was to regulate cryptos in a similar manner to the stock market.

He said one of his missions is “to bring the similar protections to the exchanges where you trade crypto assets, as you might expect on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq.” While Gensler is pro-crypto, this is not the first time he has stated the need for expanded regulations to protect investors. On an episode of CNBC’s Squawk Box, The Chairman acknowledged that one of the primary issues was that of unregistered securities posing as cryptos. “To the extent that something is a security, the SEC has a lot of authority. And a lot of crypto tokens, I won’t call them cryptocurrencies for this moment are indeed securities.”

While Gensler is not pushing regulatory action this year against cryptos, he did recently make a request of Congress to begin hearings and take official steps to control crypto. In the month following that request, no official action has been taken. 

Gensler is not the only big-name pushing for more regulatory restrictions surrounding cryptos. Senator Elizabeth Warren has long been critical of cryptocurrency, calling them “a fourth-rate alternative to real currency.” Recently, she has taken a hard stance against the mining of bitcoin in the United States, objecting to the negative impact it has on the environment.

You can buy more things than ever with cryptocurrency these days, from video games to new furniture. But should you?

“I wouldn’t,” says Kiana Danial, author of “Cryptocurrency Investing for Dummies” and the personality behind @Investdiva on Instagram. While there are a few circumstances where it can make sense, the practical answer for most people is no. 

Cryptocurrency markets are notoriously volatile, and the price you pay for an item today may not be what your purchase is worth tomorrow. Plus, many companies experimenting with crypto payments only accept Bitcoin, which experts say is one of the worst cryptos you could choose to pay for something. 

Nevertheless, people are interested in how crypto might work as a payment method. Nearly 20% of all U.S. adults say they’re likely to make a purchase using crypto, according to a recent report by PYMNTS.com, a news and research platform for payments and commerce. But before you cash in your Bitcoin to top up the balance on your Starbucks app, here’s what experts have to say about purchasing with crypto:Don’t Pay With Bitcoin

Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency, was originally intended to be used exactly like money. Its white paper dubbed it a “peer-to-peer electronic cash system.” But Bitcoin’s frequent and volatile price fluctuations make that unrealistic in practice. 

“The price volatility kind of makes it useless as an electronic cash system,” says Ollie Leech, learn editor at CoinDesk, a leading cryptocurrency news outlet. “No person in their right mind would want to buy a coffee with Bitcoin. Say you pay $3 for the coffee, and tomorrow your Bitcoin could be worth $30. That’s a loss.” 

Just one year ago, in June 2020, Bitcoin’s value was under $10,000. Since then, it reached a high of more than $64,000 and, despite a recent price drop, remains close to $40,000. Imagine a video game that cost $50 worth of Bitcoin last June. If you waited until today to buy it instead, the same price in Bitcoin today would now cost you $200. 

People buy Bitcoin “not because they expect to be able to go to the store and spend it, but because they expect it to hold its value,” says Galen Moore, director of data and indexes at CoinDesk.

What About Other Cryptos?

Bitcoin has failed at its intended mission to become a new currency, but experts say there are other cryptocurrencies better for transacting. “Every one of them are optimized for certain things. For example, you wouldn’t go to the store and pay for groceries with gold,” says Danial — in the same way you shouldn’t spend Bitcoin on your morning latte. 

Some popular cryptos specifically designed to work better for spending include Dash, Manero, and XRP, according to Danial. Stablecoins, like Tether or USD coin, can also make better alternatives for purchasing, since their prices are tied to existing currencies. 

“There are coins that are more like cash,” says Pat White, co-founder and CEO of Bitwave, a company that helps businesses with crypto tax reporting. These coins are a better choice for spending, in theory, thanks to faster processing and lower fees. “They are designed to be spent and used very quickly.”

But in reality, there’s still a downside to using crypto developed to mimic cash to make payments. Take Bitcoin Cash (BCH), for example. BCH came about after the original Bitcoin proved itself too volatile to be used as a new kind of internet money. A group of creators decided to split off from the original crypto and create Bitcoin Cash, which was designed as a more stable version to be used for transactions.  But in practice, Bitcoin Cash is still highly volatile. In the last year its price has run from around $250 per coin to over $1,500, highlighting the risk of using it to buy something at the wrong time.

Taxes are another complication. While you don’t need to report your crypto purchases to the IRS, you do need to report when trading a cryptocurrency for goods or services. Each time you make a purchase using crypto, you need to track your cost basis, or the fair market value of the crypto when you bought it versus when you used to transact, and report that capital gain or loss.

Are There Other Real-World Uses For Crypto?

For American citizens in America, “There’s probably not going to be a good reason to buy things in crypto,” Danial says.  

That’s because the U.S. dollar fluctuates less than the vast majority of cryptocurrencies out there. However, when you consider a currency that’s less safe and stable than the U.S. dollar, the case for cryptocurrency payments increases, says Roger Aliaga-Díaz, principal and senior economist with Vanguard Investment Strategy Group.

Take a volatile currency like the Iranian Rial. “It loses value every single day,” Danial says. “I’m Iranian, my parents are as well, and whenever they go to Iran they try to never convert any money to Rial, because it just goes down.”

Would You Ever Buy Things With Crypto?

While it’s not the wisest financial decision, crypto payments can provide an alternative transaction method for those who don’t have the necessary requirements for opening a bank account, or can’t access traditional financing in a certain place. For example, unbanked people can transfer money to others, even internationally, using their crypto wallets, or make purchases using crypto with participating merchants using apps like BitPay, all without the need to go through traditional financial institutions.

Some people may also choose to buy goods with crypto to capitalize upon the speed of transaction. Globally, “a lot of deals are being made with crypto,” Danial says. “Like, maybe a prince in Dubai wants to buy a Lamborghini from Italy, and wants it immediately and doesn’t want to wait for deposits and bank information and everything, so they purchase it using crypto.”

Crypto transactions are also relatively anonymous — which is why they have a reputation as being used by criminals to buy and sell on online black markets. Crypto’s prevalence as a form of payment for illegal trades persists. It played a role in recovering the Colonial Pipeline — a key gas line servicing the U.S. Gulf and East Coasts — last month, after hackers shut down its computer systems until they were paid $4.4 million in Bitcoin. The U.S. government has since seized back $2.3 million of that ransom fee (most of what was originally paid, since the price of Bitcoin has dipped recently). 

As for businesses willing to accept payment in crypto, expect to see more as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies grow in popularity. Some companies may be looking to cash in on the latest craze, or take part in the novelty of a new payment form, while others believe cryptocurrency is the way of the future. A bullish perspective on the future of crypto was behind Tesla’s recent decision to begin offering the option to pay with Bitcoin, although the company declared it would stop accepting Bitcoin payments for cars last month, citing concerns about its environmental impact. 

There may be a future in which digital currencies become more commonplace forms of payments, but for the average American crypto investor considering paying for groceries in crypto, “I think we are not there yet,” says Danial. 

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HOUSTON — It’s getting even easier to buy cryptocurrency. Some kiosks are now inside local grocery stores, like H-E-B. The Texas grocery store company is reportedly using Houston as a test market to figure out if its customers are interested in buying or selling cryptocurrency.

Coin Cloud kiosks are now inside some Houston-area H-E-Bs. You can find a location near you by using Coin Cloud’s interactive map which will lead you to a digital currency machine where you can buy more than 30 types of cryptocurrency.

H-E-B declined to share more details about the cryptocurrency kiosks in its stores. You can buy or sell cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin, at businesses across America.

“So H-E-B is essentially capitalizing on this idea that if they buy Coinstar or any of these other products where you provide a physical location for individuals to engage in the marketplace, that they can essentially take a part of that action,” said Detrich Von Biedenfeld a business law professor at UH-Downtown. “So it draws in individuals who might not otherwise participate.”

Bitcoin and Dogecoin are two of the most popular cryptocurrencies. They're digital coins that are not stored in a central database or backed by a central bank or government. The coins are part of a global economy. Von Biedenfeld said each coin is bought or sold through a blockchain transaction, which is basically a permanent and public digital ledger that tracks the purchase history of each coin. Cryptocurrency has been around for a while.

“But I think the pandemic, of course, sparked a number of considerations, including the idea of government instability, mistrust and a desire by individuals to essentially establish a community of individuals who have immutable transactions,” Biedenfeld said.

From Major League Baseball to Tesla, more companies are accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment. El Salvador just tried to make it a legal tender along with the U.S. dollar. Some see cryptocurrency as an investment opportunity, one that can now be made while picking up toilet paper or fajitas.

What do Vladimir Putin and Burger King have in common? 

For starters, they both have a cryptocurrency named after them. Actually, PutinCoin and Whoppercoin might be the only thing they have in common. But their namesake cryptocurrencies are among the thousands of different virtual currencies making up a growing marketplace grabbing investors’ attention.

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum have a growing track record of holding and increasing in value over time, though recent dips have wracked the market, while lesser-known cryptos are considered much more speculative and unpredictable. And while PutinCoin and Whoppercoin belong to a category of cryptocurrencies marked more for their absurdity than their potential as either an investment or cryptocurrency, they show just how unique different types of cryptocurrencies can be.

Here’s Where to Start:10 Most Popular CryptocurrenciesDecentralized FinanceDigital GoldDigital Cash or Internet MoneySoftware Platforms Stablecoin or Digital FiatMemecoins, and Other Strange Cryptocurrencies

In general, cryptocurrencies can be grouped by utility: What is the purpose of the cryptocurrency? What is its value proposition? What is it for?

“They all have different utilities, they all have different founders who have different visions for where that cryptocurrency is going,” says Mike Uehlein, founder and financial planner of WealthU advisors. Uehlein regularly talks to clients about investing in cryptocurrency. 

10 Most Popular Cryptocurrencies

There are thousands of cryptocurrencies, most with very little value and unclear potential. Many advisors recommend investors stick to Bitcoin and Ethereum — if any — and pass on the smaller cryptos. 

Leading cryptocurrency news outlet CoinDesk maintains a Coindesk 20 list of the most popular cryptocurrencies currently being bought and sold. This list includes cryptocurrency assets and networks by their most common names. Some, like Bitcoin (BTC), have one name for both the blockchain network and the cryptocurrency. Others, like Ethereum, are named for the broader blockchain network, but have a different name for their associated native cryptocurrency (Ether, or ETC, in the case of Ethereum).

Updated quarterly, the list ranks cryptocurrencies based on dollar volume and other data from third-party cryptocurrency exchanges, where people can buy and sell different arChainlinkUniswapPolkadotUSD Coin

Note: This top 10 list was last updated — using the Coindesk 20 — on May 26, 2021. 

As the first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC) is also the most popular and highly valued, despite high volatility over the course of its history. Bitcoin was initially created to be used as a digital payment system, but experts say it is still too volatile to be used for that.Ethereum

Ether (ETH) is the cryptocurrency of the Ethereum network, an open-source blockchain upon which developers can build apps and other cryptocurrencies. It’s also the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, behind Bitcoin. Ether’s value has risen sharply since its creation in 2013, to nearly $3,000 for one token as of late May, but still lags well behind Bitcoin’s value of nearly $40,000 per coin. 

XRP

XRP is the cryptocurrency of the Ripple digital payment network. Built for digital payments, XRP touts itself as a faster and more efficient way to power global payments. Ripple and XRP also allow for third-party development on other uses for XRP.

Tether

Tether (USDT) is a fiat currency tied to the U.S. dollar. This keeps its value more stable, allowing Tether to present itself as a stable cryptocurrency alternative to cash deposits and withdrawals. Amid high volatility with other cryptocurrencies, Tether’s value hovers around $1 on account of its tie to the U.S. dollar.

Cardano

Cardano (ADA) uses a technology called Ouroboros, a peer-reviewed blockchain protocol. It describes itself as a more secure and scalable way to maintain decentralization.

Stellar

Stellar’s native cryptocurrency is the Lumen (XLM). Stellar is designed as an “open network for storing and moving money” that allows people to create, send, and trade digital money. It’s designed to sell and trade all digital monies, not just Stellar’s own associated cryptocurrency, the Lumen — although you’ll need to own some Lumen to make transactions.

Chainlink

Chainlink (LINK) uses “real-world data and off-chain computation while maintaining security and reliability,” according to its website.

Uniswap

Uniswap (UNI) is a decentralized crypto exchange that operates on Ethereum’s blockchain. Its developers promise to get rid of unnecessary intermediaries, which it says gives users more control.

Polkadot

Polkadot (DOT) says its mission includes allowing different blockchains to exchange information and transactions with one another. Its website plays up data and identity security and users being in control.

USD Coin

USD Coin (USDC) describes itself as “the world’s digital dollar.” Created by a global financial firm called Circle, USDC is the result of work that has been invested in by Goldman Sachs, Baidu, and IDG Capital, among others. USD Coin is tied to the U.S. Dollar, which makes its price much more stable than other cryptocurrencies. That stability lends itself more toward digital payments, while other cryptocurrencies have more potential to increase in value as investments (along with more risk of losing value, of course).

Cash 

Bitcoin Cash is a peer-to-peer electronic cash system, which was the original intention of Bitcoin. The currency allows you to send money anywhere for very low fees.

While each of these top cryptocurrencies is unique in its own way, they all tie into an underlying principle called  decentralized finance (DeFi). 

Decentralized Finance 

In its simplest terms, decentralized finance refers to financial activities conducted without the involvement of a traditional bank. 

Think about all of the activities in which you’d normally use a bank or some other financial institution — getting a loan, insurance, investing, even using a credit card. “All of these [activities] are traditional-finance based and have intermediary companies,” says Ollie Leech, learn editor at CoinDesk. “Now people are creating these products in a completely autonomous way with [cryptocurrencies].”

It can seem counterintuitive — where else would you go for a loan, if not an established lender? But that’s one of the appeals to DeFi, says Leech. 

In the same way people have increasingly brought “smart” technology into their homes, proponents say cryptocurrency has potential to automate and digitize more and more aspects of the financial system. The appeal of this happening outside the conventional — or centralized — finance system depends on who you ask. 

Many Americans may not understand the appeal of a finance system that operates beyond government control. But things can be very different in countries with less financial stability, says Roger Aliaga-Díaz, principal and senior economist with Vanguard Investment Strategy Group. If cryptocurrencies offer as much or more stability as a given national currency, it’s an entirely different equation than if your national currency is the safe and stable U.S. dollar.

Just like there are different types of accounts and tools in conventional finance — from savings accounts to investment accounts to credit cards — that are used for different purposes, different cryptocurrencies can have similarly unique uses in this emerging decentralized finance system.

Instead of going to a bank to draw out a loan, you might “go to a decentralized application that’s not owned or operated by anyone in particular,” says Leech. 

Where conventional loans involve humans at a bank who take part in processing, reviewing, and approving loans, a DeFi loan — with funding in the form of cryptocurrency — could run via app on a network like Ethereum with an algorithm processing it. The borrower would put up some cryptocurrency as collateral, which they’d get back minus interest when they repay the loan.

“The code runs autonomously using smart contracts,” Leech says. “So once the developers release the data they’re pretty much hands-off, and everything runs automatically so there’s no intermediary.” 

Ethereum’s website offers a comparison chart contrasting decentralized from traditional finance. Along with these technical differences, a big consideration to keep in mind is that the conventional financial system is regulated to serve the interests of everyday customers, while cryptocurrency and decentralized financial systems are largely unregulated, and subject to governance and oversight only by their creators/users.

Unlike the money kept in a bank account, money you have in crypto may not be FDIC insured. Some exchanges offer this insurance while others don’t — something you’ll want to look into before buying crypto from one or another. For exchanges that don’t offer this insurance, there’s no guarantee you will be repaid if there is a hack or the exchange goes out of business.

You hold your moneyMoney held by financial institutions Transfers happen in minutesPayments can take days to processTransactions are pseudonymous Financial activity is coupled to your identity (social security number, name, address, etc.)Market is always openMarket closes Built on transparency – anyone can inspect the systemFinancial institutions are closed books.comparison-table tr td:nth-child(){border-left: 10px solid #5bffb1;border-right: 10px solid #5bffb1;}.comparison-table tr:first-child td:nth-child(){border-top: 10px solid #5bffb1}.comparison-table tr:last-child td:nth-child(){border-bottom: 10px solid #5bffb1}

With that in mind, here are some of the broad categories of cryptocurrencies that tend to organize the market.

Digital Gold

Digital gold refers to cryptocurrency comparable to real gold in its ability to store and increase in value. There’s a limited amount of gold on earth, in the same way that digital gold cryptocurrencies have a limited supply. 

“People buy gold not because they expect to be able to go to the store and spend it, but because they expect it to hold its value and maybe, probably, increase in value over time,” says Galen Moore, director of data and indexes at CoinDesk. 

The primary example of a digital gold cryptocurrency is Bitcoin, though that was not its original intention. Bitcoin was originally put forth as an electronic peer-to-peer cash system, but its volatility, among other things, limited its potential for that purpose. 

In use, such digital gold cryptocurrencies are bought and held, “for the same reason people would have diamonds, or some $100 bills, or some gold coins in a safe,” says Moore. Litecoin is another example — it’s been described as silver to Bitcoin’s gold.

Digital Cash or Internet Money

Internet money is exactly what it sounds like — you use it to buy things over the internet. 

Bitcoin was originally intended to be digital cash, but speculation led to the creation of another cryptocurrency, Bitcoin Cash (a variation of Bitcoin). Bitcoin’s price was too volatile for it to be a suitable currency, which proponents for Bitcoin Cash argued was the entire point of the currency to begin with. 

“There was a big debate about what the future of Bitcoin was going to be. Was it gold or was it cash? The people who wanted it to be more like gold won out,” says Moore. The decision was a “turning point for Bitcoin where it really went down to be digital gold.” 

But the group that wanted Bitcoin to remain internet money split off — or forked, in crypto parlance — the currency and created Bitcoin Cash. The network is devoted to digital payments (with faster processing and lower fees). In these ways, Bitcoin Cash is “meant to be cash. That’s the value proposition,” says Moore.

Though Bitcoin Cash is designed and intended for transactions, its price is still volatile and probably not your best option for making or receiving payments. 

Software Platforms  

Ethereum represents another type of cryptocurrency: It operates as a cryptocurrency network and along with its native cryptocurrency, Ether, offers a programmable crypto environment for developers. Similar to how smartphones allow third-party apps to be downloaded and used, Ethereum allows developers to create “dapps” — Ethereum-based apps that tap into the network. 

Investors can buy Ether just like they can buy Bitcoin, hoping it increases in value. Ethereum’s programmable network allows for other, more customizable uses. One example is the creation of NFTs — nonfungible tokens — that caught the attention of people far beyond the cryptocurrency community this year. NFTs are Ethereum-based digital assets, which hold value based on demand and supply on the Ethereum network.  

Stablecoin or Digital Fiat

A stablecoin pegs its value to some other currency or commodity. A digital fiat represents a fiat, or government-backed, currency on the blockchain, says Moore. One of the most popular examples of a digital fiat is Tether, a cryptocurrency whose value is pegged to the U.S. dollar. 

Tether is a system that enables you to have a cash-like currency that is always worth $1 — but only on cryptocurrency exchanges. A digital fiat like Tether comes in handy when you want to quickly move your assets within a cryptocurrency exchange. For example, if you think the market for smaller, more unpredictable coins is going to crash, you might put your money in a stablecoin like Tether, and then buy back at a lower price after the crash, says Moore. 

Stablecoins enable the exchange to flow better, says Moore. Taking the previous example, you could theoretically cash out your smaller coins for actual dollars, and then reinvest those dollars after the crash, but it could take days to convert your coins into dollars and back again, says Moore. 

Memecoins, and Other Strange Cryptocurrencies

There are thousands of cryptocurrencies available. Many of them have little to no value, and no discernable value proposition, which lands them in the category of memecoins. Experts recommend avoiding investing in this category of coins and sticking with more well-known options like Bitcoin or Ethereum, if you decide to invest in crypto at all. 

Whoppercoin and PutinCoin fall into this category of cryptocurrencies, as does another famous memecoin of recent fame: Dogecoin. While Dogecoin has seen a rise in demand — and thus value — in recent weeks, it still is highly volatile, as evidenced by its drop in value when Tesla CEO Elon Musk made it the subject of a joke on a recent episode of “Saturday Night Live.”

Any cryptocurrency that’s not Bitcoin is referred to as an “altcoin.”

Bitcoin, Litecoin

Bitcoin Cash, XRP

Ethereum, Cardano, Polkadot

Tether, USD Coin

Dogecoin, PutinCoin, Whoppercoin

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Looking to get into cryptocurrency but don’t want to risk your own money? We’ve compiled the best cryptocurrency deals going on right now, so you can start earning free cryptocurrency today. Even if you’re already invested in crypto, earning free cryptocurrency as a signup bonus is as good as it gets.

Voyager Exchange

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If you aren’t ready to be exposed to the volatility of cryptocurrency, Voyager is a great option to earn passive income. The platform has high-interest savings accounts that yield 10% annual interest on stablecoins (cryptocurrency pegged to $1). If you’re looking to accumulate more cryptocurrency without continuing to invest more capital, Voyager also allows you to earn up to 7.5% annual interest on your Bitcoin holdings!

Unlike most sign-up bonuses, Coinbase Earn doesn’t require you to deposit funds to receive your bonus. Instead, Coinbase will pay you to learn about different cryptocurrencies. The platform has educational videos about altcoins, and once you’ve completed the video you’ll be asked a question regarding the cryptocurrency you just learned about.

Get the question right and Coinbase will pay you in the cryptocurrency you just learned about. Didn’t quite catch everything in the video? That’s ok, Coinbasse gives you unlimited tries to answer quiz questions, so you’ll be able to get free crypto either way.

eToro has one the largest signup bonuses out of any promotions going on in the cryptocurrency industry right now. However, there’s a caveat: you’ll need to deposit $5,000 onto the platform to be eligible for the bonus. eToro is offering a $250 signup bonus for doing so, making it worth the minimum deposit if you have the capital available.

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Celsius Network

Celsius Network is a dedicated lending platform for cryptocurrency-backed loans. As an investor, you’re able to leverage your cryptocurrency using the platform if you so desire. If you’re risk-averse, then this probably isn’t for you.

Luckily, Celsius has kept risk-averse investors in mind too. Users can deposit cryptocurrency and stablecoins into interest-bearing accounts, allowing them to earn extra cryptocurrency off of their investments. If you deposit $1,000 or more in cryptocurrency, you’ll get $10 in free bitcoin for signing up.

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Many times when a NASCAR driver isn’t actually racing, they can be found outdoors somewhere; hunting, fishing, racing in another series, working on a farm perhaps.

NASCAR driver Landon Cassill is a little different.

When he’s not racing on an actual track the 31-year-old Iowan can be found racing online amongst whomever decides to join him, most often streaming himself on “Twitch” an online platform that allows others to watch. 

The point is that Cassill is part of a generation of younger people who live much of their lives on the information superhighway, aka the Internet. It should come as no surprise then that Cassill knows a lot about cryptocurrency, the once mysterious form of money that to many of us remains nothing more than “magic money.” Cryptocurrency is made up of a bunch of numbers that lives in “digital wallets” on blocks in a “blockchain” on a “node” and can be “mined.”

And Cassill knows all about it.

He’s been dabbling in cryptocurrency for quite some time and has even “mined” it. Recently though, he’s started to do something else with cryptocurrency. You see, Landon Cassill is the first NASCAR driver to get a cryptocurrency platform to sponsor the car he races in NASCAR’s Xfinity series for JD Motorsports using cryptocurrency to pay for the sponsorship. And that’s a pretty big deal.

“I've, I've traded it. I bought it, I've held it, I've mined it,” Cassill said. “But a couple of years ago, I really decided that in addition to it being a part of my personal portfolio I wanted to build a network in the space.”

 “As a race car driver. I make my living by having sponsors and representing brands that I'm aligned with.”

The sponsorship is with Voyager Digital which operates a crypto-asset trading platform. Cassill met CEO Steve Ehrlich a couple years ago at a crypto conference and the two became friends. It was this friendship that led to the partnership.

“It just seems like the space has gotten bigger and bigger and more and more active,” Cassill said. “And it's matured to a point where companies are ready for something like a mainstream sponsorship of a sports team or a race.”

“The timing is perfect for it.”

With no centralized banks that hold onto cryptocurrency, it’s been the Wild West in the crypto space in years past. But that space is starting to be tamed. Voyager is one of the newer platforms, basically a brokerage firm, that allows users to build a portfolio of different forms of cryptocurrency. It’s opening the once mysterious world to more and more people, including those who might not be too comfortable trading “magic money.”

“It's easy for someone that doesn't know much to understand it,” Cassill said. “For me to tell my parents or you know, my grandmother, who last time Bitcoin was at $60,000 called me and asked me, ‘how did my Bitcoin do?’ It takes me two seconds to copy and paste an invite link to Voyager and she's on the platform in a second.”

And that platform brings something that Cassill has been doing on the internet full circle, as in the circle that is a racetrack.

 “To me that's a perfect alignment for something I'm invested in already but also compliments my career as a race car driver.”

One thing that cryptocurrency market is known for however is volatility, the value can swing wildly. That’s something that Cassill says isn’t an issue with Voyager and similar platforms.

“Yes, it’s an active market,” Cassill said. But he adds: “Just like if you're holding a stock or anything else crypto, Bitcoin, light coin, Ethereum, they're all going up and down.”

“One thing that's really awesome about Voyager is you earn interest on your holdings,” he said. “And not just like a little bit of interest, like holding cash in the bank. I think that for Bitcoin, you earn like six and a quarter percent interest. And if you hold their native token, Voyager token, a certain amount, they'll give you a 1% bonus. You can earn between six and 9% interest, 10% interest, actually, I think on some tokens just by holding it in your account. That's pretty awesome.”

“I mean for a crypto guy; I hold my personal portfolio. A lot of people hold off exchanges. So for those of you that are willing to hold on an exchange or want to see your cryptocurrency earning some yield, even while the market is going up and down, it's a great way to, I suppose, hedge the market.”

Holding on then is the best way for crypto to pay off.

“We've seen the price change, it swings of 10 or 15% at a time,” Cassill said. “It can definitely be a volatile market. But I mean, if you're holding one Bitcoin in your Voyager account that one Bitcoin is earning a six and a quarter percent interest annual interest rate, that's nothing to sneeze about.”

It’s obvious that Cassill is passionate about the cryptocurrency market and enjoys educating others about the once mysterious world. Cassill has seen how interest has grown in the crypto market and it’s a big part of the sponsorship.

Something he doesn’t mind at all.

“It is fun to just tie things from other aspects of my life into racing,” Cassill said. “And I think that really what it does is strengthens my community and strengthens Voyager's community. Because that's one thing that is really strong about cryptocurrency is the community. And Voyager, I think a big part of the sponsorship is that community and how can they tap into the NASCAR community and really just provide a good service.”

While the sponsorship may be something new to the sport, the contracts weren’t any different than any other sponsorship deal. And the process of turning cryptocurrency into the cash needed to pay the race team’s bills isn’t all that difficult Cassill said.

“Fortunately, on Voyager's brokerage platform I can just liquidate the crypto that I need and send it right to my bank account,” Cassill said. “The sponsorship is paid fully in cryptocurrency. That's a part of this sponsorship. And from that point I can hold what I want to hold, keep it in my Voyager account. But I could also sell it carve out what I need to pay bills. And obviously, go racing with it.”

Cassill’s JD Motorsports car he’s racing at Nashville Superspeedway (and raced at the Circuit of the Americas several weeks ago) isn’t the first to have a crypto sponsor on the hood and get its funding from cryptocurrency, Stefan Parsons has a partial sponsorship for the same race with Dogecoin. And Josh Wise famously had Dogecoin sponsorship for a race in 2014. But the Voyager sponsorship isn’t just a one or two race deal; in fact, it’s a deal that will see it as a primary sponsor for the rest of the season, with that sponsorship paid for fully in cryptocurrency; that’s a first for NASCAR.

“I've been a NASCAR long enough, I guess I don't count anything out in this sport,” Cassill said. “But I think that the one thing that I probably didn't imagine when I first got into cryptocurrency; the level of professionalism I would deal with when, doing a sponsorship with a brokerage exchange like Voyager you know, Steve, or like Pam Kramer and the whole team there. These people are really good people and they're professionals and I'm excited to work with them. Because I think it's a, a really great brand.”

Cryptocurrency is indeed becoming less mysterious. It’s exiting the information superhighway, and thanks to enthusiasts, like race car driver Landon Cassill, its going racing in NASCAR.

I have been around and written about the sport of NASCAR for over two decades and previously worked fulltime for the Sporting News and Scripps-Howard News Service. I am

I have been around and written about the sport of NASCAR for over two decades and previously worked fulltime for the Sporting News and Scripps-Howard News Service. I am also a contributor to two Chicken Soup for the Soul books including the NASCAR edition, published in 2010 and the author of “The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing.” I am a multiple National Motorsports Press Association award winner. Early in life I spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community serving in support of Operation Just Cause, Desert Shield/Storm and ended my military career in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Bitcoin, the original cryptocurrency, was launched in 2009. Today, there are thousands of cryptocurrencies with a total value of about $2 trillion. The surge in their prices earlier this year minted tens of thousands of cryptocurrency millionaires—at least on paper. Cryptocurrencies might turn out to be a massive speculative bubble that ends up hurting many naive investors. Indeed, many cryptocurrency fortunes have already evaporated with the recent plunge in prices. But whatever their ultimate fate, the ingenious technological innovations underpinning them will transform the nature of money and finance. Eswar Prasad Senior Fellow - Global Economy and Development Twitter EswarSPrasad

Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and Ethereum were designed as a way to make payments without relying on traditional modes such as currency notes, debit cards, credit cards or checks. The bitcoin white paper, which set off the cryptocurrency revolution, envisions an electronic payment system that allows “any two willing parties to transact directly with each other without the need for a trusted third party,” cutting governments and banks out of the financial loop. The website Pymnts claims, “Blockchain IS the future of the payments industry,” a reference to the computational technology that undergirds cryptocurrencies.

In fact, it has become very expensive and slow to conduct transactions using cryptocurrencies. It takes about 10 minutes for a bitcoin transaction to be validated, and the average fee for just one transaction was recently about $20. Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, processes transactions slightly faster but also has high fees.

Moreover, wild swings in the values of most cryptocurrencies make them unreliable as a means of payment. In late April, the price of a Dogecoin was 20 cents. It tripled in the next two weeks and then fell to half that peak value ten days later. It is as though a $10 bill could buy you just a cup of coffee one day and a lavish meal at a fancy restaurant just a few weeks later. Even on a calmer, more typical day, the value of a major cryptocurrency such as Ethereum might fluctuate by 10 percent or more, making it too unstable to be practical. Recently, Elon Musk announced that Tesla would no longer accept bitcoin as a form of payment, reversing a policy it had implemented earlier in the year. The value of a single coin almost immediately plummeted. A Chinese crackdown on cryptocurrencies then briefly took another one-third off the price in just one day.

Investment funds in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have proliferated. Even major banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are getting into the game. And you would certainly have made a fantastic return if you had bought any of the major cryptocurrencies last year. A typical article in the Motley Fool debates not whether cryptocurrencies are a good investment but “which one is right for you.” The website Business Mole claims: “Even with adjustments made, Bitcoin and Ethereum are very profitable. It’s simple.”

But beware. Part of the allure seems to be that, like gold, the supply of most cryptocurrencies is tightly controlled (by the computer programs that manage them). For instance, about 18.5 million bitcoin have been created so far, and there will eventually be a maximum of 21 million bitcoin. This is a cap set by the computer program that manages the supply of the currency.

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Scarcity by itself is not, however, enough to create value—there has to be demand. Since cryptocurrencies cannot easily be used to make most payments and have no other intrinsic uses, the only reason they have value is because many people seem to think they are good investments. If that changed, their value could quickly drop to nothing.

Bitcoin is now seen as the granddaddy of cryptocurrencies, and investors (or speculators, more precisely) are piling into other cryptocurrencies such as Dogecoin. In 2019, Investopedia claimed that bitcoin was “losing its power as the driving force of the cryptocurrency world.” “Bitcoin And Ethereum Are Being Left In The Dust By Dogecoin,” reads a recent Forbes headline.

Dogecoin and other such cryptocurrencies, which are simply built around memes (Dogecoin, with its Shiba Inu dog mascot, references the “doge” meme), don’t even make a pretense of being usable in financial transactions. And there is no clear constraint on the supply of these coins, so their prices surge or crash on random events such as tweets from Musk. The valuations of meme currencies seem to be based entirely on the “greater fool” theory—all you need to do to profit from your investment is to find an even greater fool willing to pay a higher price than you paid for the digital coins.

Bitcoin’s technology does seem outdated compared with some of the newer cryptocurrencies that enable greater anonymity for users, faster transaction processing and more sophisticated technical features that facilitate automatic processing of complex financial transactions. For all its flaws, however, bitcoin remains dominant: It accounts for nearly half of the total value of all cryptocurrencies.

Morgan Stanley’s chief global strategist, Ruchir Sharma, has argued that bitcoin could end the dollar’s reign—or at least that the “digital currency poses a significant threat to [the] greenback’s supremacy.” A Financial Times headline proposes, even more ominously, that “Bitcoin’s rise reflects America’s decline.”

Cryptocurrencies are not backed by anything other than the faith of the people who own them. The dollar, by contrast, is backed by the U.S. government. Investors still trust the dollar, even in hard times. As one illustration, domestic and foreign investors continue to eagerly snap up trillions of dollars in U.S. Treasury securities even at low interest rates.

New cryptocurrencies called stablecoins aim to have stable values and therefore make it easier to conduct digital payments. Facebook plans to issue its own cryptocurrency, called Diem, that will be backed one for one with U.S. dollars, giving it a stable value. But the value of stablecoins comes precisely from their backing by government-issued currencies. So while dollars might become less important in making payments, the primacy of the U.S. dollar as a store of value will not be challenged.

Warren Buffett has compared cryptocurrencies to the 17th-century Dutch tulip craze, while Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey cautioned, “Buy them only if you’re prepared to lose all your money.” Economist Nouriel Roubini called bitcoin “the mother or father of all scams” and even criticized its underlying technology.

Cryptocurrencies may or may not persevere as speculative investment vehicles, but they are triggering transformative changes to money and finance. As the technology matures, stablecoins will hasten the ascendance of digital payments, ushering out paper currency. The prospect of competition from such private currencies has prodded central banks around the world to design digital versions of their currencies. The Bahamas has already rolled out a central bank digital currency, while countries like China, Japan and Sweden are conducting experiments with their own official digital money. The dollar bills in your wallet—if you still have any—could soon become relics.

Even transactions such as buying a car or a house could soon be managed through computer programs run on cryptocurrency platforms. Digital tokens representing money and other assets could ease electronic transactions that involve transfers of assets and payments, often without trusted third parties such as real estate settlement attorneys. Governments will still be needed to enforce contractual obligations and property rights, but software could someday take the place of other intermediaries, including bankers, accountants and lawyers.

At any particular moment, thousands of computers around the world are humming away, crunching complex math problems that create and sustain bitcoin. 

This network gives bitcoin its appeal: decentralized, always on and easily tradeable. But it also means the network is constantly using energy — a sticking point for many of the cryptocurrency's skeptics and critics. And it's not just a bitcoin problem. Other cryptocurrencies and blockchains including Ethereum have similar challenges.

The debate about bitcoin's environmental impact was elevated earlier this month when Tesla CEO Elon Musk, once one of the most notable bitcoin boosters, said his company would no longer accept it for the purchase of vehicles. He cited the use of fossil fuels for bitcoin mining as a reason.

It's an issue that some blockchain evangelists think they can solve — and potentially open the door to more widespread adoption of the technology. 

"It's a fundamental breakthrough for humanity, we can now do things that we could not do otherwise," said Danny Ryan, a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, of decentralized computer systems and blockchain technology. "When humans find new tools they use them. So this decentralized thing, this crypto thing, it's not going anywhere, but there's also a much better way to do it."

The better way is called proof of stake. And for some cryptocurrencies, it's already in use.

To understand the implications of proof of stake, it's important to first detail the way bitcoin currently works: a system called proof of work.

The idea for bitcoin is generally recognized to have emerged out of a white paper published in 2008 by an anonymous author who used the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.  It laid out the idea for proof of work, in which separate parties take on the task of verifying the records and transactions stored in a blockchain. 

The system is entirely decentralized, meaning that many computers from all over the world participate in the blockchain verification process. The underlying code of the bitcoin system governs the process, rather than any central authority. 

In order to participate, bitcoin miners need to use specially constructed computers and have access to a lot of energy. Currently, those computers are in short supply but in high demand. At their core are specialized computer chips and semiconductors, both of which are in a global shortage that has already affected the manufacturing of automobiles, laptops and smartphones.

The decentralized network of specialized computers, called "rigs" or "mining rigs," works hard to solve very complex mathematical equations. By solving the equation, they verify that the blockchain is accurate. People who participate in this verification process are called miners and they are rewarded for their efforts in the form of cryptocurrency, in this case, bitcoin. 

The process is energy intensive. In order to verify that the record is accurate, so-called bitcoin miners expend a significant amount of computing power. The miners verifying the records are then rewarded for their expenditures with bitcoin.

The security of the system is built into the enormous amount of computing power that is required to run it. In order to hijack the records, an entity would have to contribute over half of the total computing power. In the case of bitcoin, this would be prohibitively expensive and, due to the shortage of hardware, is not feasible. 

And so, any cryptocurrency built on a proof of work protocol is going to be plagued by, as Musk put it, "insane" energy demands as it scales larger. The Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance,  a part of the Cambridge Judge Business School, found that bitcoin uses about 110 terawatt-hours per year, which is similar to what Malaysia and Sweden use.

Proof of stake takes a different approach to security by ensuring trust in a more old-fashioned currency: money. 

To participate in the blockchain verification process in proof of stake, users create a node, that node can be run by one person or by a pool of people working together. You can think of a node as a computer. The node is required to prove its trustworthiness by locking away a certain amount of crypto coins, the same type generated by the blockchain they are verifying. Imagine putting a deposit in escrow or locking it in a security bond. This process of locking away is called staking.

For each block of transactions that needs to be verified, one node is selected by an algorithm that takes many factors into account to both reward those with more coins staked and prevent one node from getting too much control over the process. That node is responsible for checking and publishing or adding the block to the chain.

Then all the other nodes get some time to make sure that everything looks good. If there is a mistake or fraud, the node that published the problematic block is punished by having some or all of their staked coins destroyed. But if everything looks good, that node is rewarded with more coins. This is both the security mechanism for the blockchain and the motivator for participation.

"Instead of buying a bunch of hardware and burning a bunch of energy, I can instead take that asset and lock it in kind of like a security bond," said Ryan, the researcher at the Ethereum Foundation. 

Because the basis of proof of stake doesn't require any extra energy to prove trustworthiness, it is much more energy efficient. Unlike in proof of work, where specialized computing equipment like high-end graphics cards are needed, the proof of stake protocol can be run off of a laptop. The nodes are virtual spaces, not physical equipment.

As a result, participating in the "mining" process has a much lower barrier to entry, meaning that more people can participate in the process. And given that a core principle of cryptocurrency is decentralization, having more people participating in securing the blockchain helps secure the whole system.

The whole process uses marginally more energy than a computer would if it was just on. Researchers like Ryan believe that the result is that energy consumption for proof of stake is 99.99 percent lower than proof of work.

Proof of stake is already working. Cardano uses proof-of-stake and has the fourth-largest market capitalization — $50 billion — of any cryptocurrency as of mid-May. It is currently the most significant proof of stake cryptocurrency on the market.

Cardano surged after Musk tweeted about ending the program to allow people to buy Teslas with bitcoin due to energy efficiency concerns, which sent nearly every other cryptocurrency into steep declines. It has since followed suit and plummeted.

Other already functioning cryptocurrencies that use proof of stake include Polygon, Tezos, Polkadot and EOS.

But perhaps the biggest potential impact of proof of stake is a project called Ethereum 2.0.

Ethereum is the second largest cryptocurrency and has become more popular over the past year as investors have looked to diversify their portfolio away from bitcoin. And at its core, Ethereum is designed to be a versatile platform for an emerging concept called decentralized finance, or the use of smart contracts to automate many financial transactions that today require middlemen.

Launched in 2015, Ethereum is also run by proof of work, but since its inception, founder Vitalik Buterin envisioned a transition to proof of stake. At the launch of Ethereum, the community agreed to set aside 430,000 ether coins to fund the Ethereum Foundation, a registered nonprofit in Switzerland. That is now equal to about $1 billion. The foundation has supported the community through grants in an effort to move toward the more energy efficient Ethereum 2.0, but in the spirit of decentralization is not leading the way.

"There's hundreds of people that work on this project," said Ryan, who is one of the few researchers employed by the foundation. "The EF certainly plays a kind of coordination role, and has tried to help facilitate and keep things moving. But I would say it's certainly not centralized."

It is complicated to switch Ethereum to proof of stake. The engineers working on the project have to build and test the proof of stake engine and have it run parallel to the existing system, which continues to run on proof of work. This portion has already begun to slowly come online.

Once the proof of stake engine is completely online, it will run for some time while bugs are worked out. Then, when the kinks are fixed, the community will ideally come to a consensus and set a time for the swap to happen. Users of the platform and people who hold ether won't be affected; all the changes will happen on the backend. At that moment, the energy usage of the platform is expected to drop by 99.99 percent, according to the Ethereum Foundation.

Ryan says the goal is to get this done in 2021, but cautions that 2022 is also fairly likely. And there have been delays before.

In the latest sign of peak cryptocurrency mania subsiding, a token backed by billionaire Mark Cuban crashed down to zero dollars Tuesday, joining a slew of other hyped-up cryptocurrencies that have crashed over the past month after frenzied trading drove the market to meteoric price highs this year.

A wave of panic selling Wednesday morning drove the price of Iron Titanium, a token Cuban disclosed he owned earlier this week, from a Wednesday high above $64 to less than 0.01% of a penny by Thursday morning after some of its biggest investors started selling the token at high volumes, spooking individual investors and triggering the massive selloff.

Though much more gradual, the prices of several other tokens sporting multi-billion-dollar market capitalizations have similarly crashed over the past month amid a broader crypto-market rout.

After skyrocketing to a $45 billion market cap and becoming a top 10 cryptocurrency virtually overnight last month, Internet Computer has seen its prices tumble nearly 90%.

The token drew widespread praise from analysts and institutional investors, including Polychain Capital founder Olaf Carlson-Wee, but crypto enthusiasts on Reddit have soured on the token during its plunge and blamed "elites" (or institutional investors) for dumping their coins and driving down prices.

Safemoon, another token lauded by the Reddit crowd and social media influencers including crypto-bull Dave Portnoy, has plunged as much as 70% since amassing a $6 billion market cap in mid-May.

Shiba Inu tokens drew massive fanfare for their resemblance to dogecoin, the virtual currency endorsed by billionaire Elon Musk, and though they once held a nearly $13 billion valuation, they've plummeted nearly 75% in value since a peak on May 10.

According to crypto-data website CoinMarketCap, roughly one-third of the world's 100 most valuable cryptocurrencies have plummeted at least 40% over the past month, and a dozen have crashed more than 50%. Only three have added value: Quant, Theta Fuel and Amp—small tokens (subject to extreme volatility) worth $916 million, $2.8 billion and $4.2 billion, respectively.

"I got hit like everyone else. Crazy part is I got out… [Then] Bam," Cuban tweeted late Wednesday about Iron Titanium's crash. The plunging prices exposed a flaw in the token's design that created an arbitrage opportunity, effectively allowing investors to make unlimited money by buying and selling the token, which drove prices down further. “It was a crypto vortex of money,” Fred Schebesta, the founder of fintech company Founder and an Iron Finance investor, told Coindesk. “What happened is just the worst thing that could possibly happen considering their tokenomics.” Reddit traders have also blamed lackluster designs for the plunging prices of Safemoon, Shiba Inu and other formerly lauded tokens, though their crashes have been much less severe.

Established cryptocurrencies bitcoin and ether have struggled over the past month amid regulatory concerns and peaking investor sentiment, but their prices have fared much better than most of their smaller counterparts. Bitcoin is down 11% over the past month, while ether has plunged about 28%. When the crypto market peaked in May, Oanda Senior Market Analyst Edward Moya noted traders were piling into altcoins—or bitcoin alternatives—in a sign of growing speculation. Trading volume surged at the time, consistently totaling more than $300 billion each day. Mania has since cooled, with volume down to less than a third of its peak. 

$1.6 trillion. That's the value of the cryptocurrency market, 63% of which is made up of bitcoin and ether. 

Iron Finance's Titan Token Falls to Near Zero in DeFi Panic Sell (CoinDesk) 

Musk Denies Bitcoin 'Pump And Dump'—And Says Tesla Will Resume Transactions Once This Mining Goal Is Reached (Forbes)

I'm a reporter at Forbes focusing on markets and finance. I graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where I double-majored in business journalism

I'm a reporter at Forbes focusing on markets and finance. I graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where I double-majored in business journalism and economics while working for UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School as a marketing and communications assistant. Before Forbes, I spent a summer reporting on the L.A. private sector for Los Angeles Business Journal and wrote about publicly traded North Carolina companies for NC Business News Wire. Reach out at jponciano@forbes.com. And follow me on Twitter @Jon_Ponciano