Coinbase

Coinbase is the easiest place to buy and sell cryptocurrency, especially, Bitcoin. As one of the leading mainstream cryptocurrency exchanges in the United States, the platform has become a standard on-ramp for new crypto investors over the past few years. Coinbase offers a wide variety of products including cryptocurrency investing, an advanced trading platform, custodial accounts for institutions, a wallet for retail investors, and its own US dollar stable-coin. Founded in 2012, the platform is a secure place that makes it easy to buy and sell cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin. Recently, Coinbase was valued at US$85 billion, spurring bitcoin and ether to all-time highs.

Cash App

Cash App is a peer-to-peer payment service owned by Square Inc, a leader in the fintech industry. Users can create a free account that will then let them instantly send or receive money from other users within the same country. They can also add funds to their Cash App account using a debit card linked to an existing bank account and can carry out the transfer from the Cash App account to the bank account instantly. Fortunately, the platform has expanded its service beyond Peer-to-peer payment service. The app users can also receive direct deposit payments and ACH payments, as well as purchase Bitcoin through Cash App. The platform started Bitcoin service in 2017 and is now allowing users to buy and sell them.

Binance

Binance is an exchange where users can trade Cryptocurrencies. Founded in 2018 to enable peer-to-peer Bitcoin exchange transactions using local currencies, the company is now offering trading in more than 45 virtual coins including Ethereum, Litecoin, and Binance Coin using 55 local currencies via 150+ payment channels around the world. In 2020, Binance P2P processed US$7 billion worth of transactions made through 3.8 million orders, with daily volumes reaching as high as US$54 million. Among the many P2P solutions offered across the crypto market, the Binance P2P Bitcoin exchange offers several competitive features like zero fees, multiple payment methods, Escrow service, high liquidity, etc.

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The CEO of Square Inc. says that “bitcoin changes everything for the better.” His comment followed one from Square’s CFO reaffirming the company’s corporate bitcoin strategy. The CEO also made a commitment to “forever work to make bitcoin better.” Meanwhile, Square and Ark Invest have published a report arguing “for bitcoin as a key driver of renewable energy’s future.”

Following a comment from Square’s chief financial officer, Amrita Ahuja, stating that the company has not changed its bitcoin strategy, CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted Friday: “Bitcoin changes ‘everything’ … for the better. And we will forever work to make bitcoin better.”

Dorsey’s statement followed CFO Ahuja’s tweet that says: “Our bitcoin strategy hasn’t changed. We’re deeply committed to this community, including working towards a greener future through our Bitcoin Clean Energy initiative.” She emphasized that “as shared in February, Square continues to access its bitcoin investment strategy on an ongoing basis.”

Dorsey then participated in a discussion thread that started with a tweet stating: “Neither Jack, nor Elon, nor anyone else can change Bitcoin. Bitcoin will change Jack, Elon and everyone else.” Another Twitter user asked about institutions, questioning: “Is that the threat that we all are concerned about?”

Dorsey responded by saying:

No single person (or institution) will be able to change it, or stop it.

This week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that his electric car company has suspended accepting bitcoin for payments. The company cited environmental issues, stating, “We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel.” The price of bitcoin took a hit following Musk’s comment.

In April, Square and Ark Invest authored a white paper “to argue for bitcoin as a key driver of renewable energy’s future,” Square explained.

Hate reading? Here’s the nutshell version:

— Square Crypto (@sqcrypto) April 21, 2021

In the report, Ark wrote: “With real-world data, we (Ark Invest) demonstrate that bitcoin mining could encourage investment in solar systems (solar grid + batteries), enabling renewables to generate a higher percentage of grid power with potentially no change in the cost of electricity.”

What do you think about the Square CEO’s comments about bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

In early Sunday trading, BTC prices had fallen to their lowest levels for over 11 weeks, hitting $46,700 before a minor recovery.

The last time Bitcoin dropped to these levels was at the end of February during the second major correction of this ongoing rally. A rebound off that bottom sent prices above $60K for the first time in the two weeks that followed.

Later today, Bitcoin is going to close another weekly candle. In case the candle closes at those levels, this will become the worst weekly close since February 22nd, when BTC ended the week at $45,240, according to Bitstamp. Two weeks ago the weekly candle closed at $49,200, which the current lowest week close since February.

This time around, things feel slightly different and the bearish sentiment is returning to crypto-asset markets. Since its all-time high of $65K on April 14, Bitcoin has made a lower high and has now formed a second lower low on the daily chart, which is indicative of a larger downtrend developing.

Analyst ‘CryptoFibonacci’ has been eyeing the weekly chart which also suggests the bulls could be running out of steam.

Warning signs or just basing for a move higher. Tick, tick, tick. If this chart was flipped upside down, how many would be calling for a bottom?#BTCUSDT #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/C0OGSxXFr1

— CryptoFibonacci (@CryptoFib) May 15, 2021

The move appears to have been driven by Elon Musk again with a tweet about Bitcoin’s energy consumption on May 13. Bitcoin’s fear and greed index has dropped to 20 – ‘extreme fear’ – its lowest level since the March 2020 market crash. At the time of press, BTC was trading at just under $48,000, down 4% over the past 24 hours.

As usual, the move has initiated a selloff for the majority of other cryptocurrencies resulting in around $150 billion exiting the markets over the past day or so.

The total market cap has declined to $2.3 trillion after an all-time high of $2.5 trillion on May 12. Things are still high on the long term view but losses could accelerate rapidly if the bearish sentiment increases.

Not all crypto assets are correcting this weekend, and some have been building on recent gains to push even higher – although they are few in number.

Those weekend warriors include Cardano which has added 4.8% on the day to trade at $2.27 according to Coingecko. ADA hit an all-time high on Saturday, May 15 reaching $2.36, a gain of 54% over the past 30 days.

Ripple’s XRP is also seeing a resurgence with a 13% pump on the day to flip Cardano for the fourth spot. XRP is currently trading at $1.58 with a market cap of $73 billion. The only other two cryptocurrencies in the green at the time of writing are Stellar and Solana, gaining 3.7% and 12% respectively.

Police in China’s Jiangxi province have reportedly recovered bitcoins stolen from a victim and returned them to the owner. The case involves the theft of 8.236 bitcoins, worth approximately 3 million yuan.

Police in China’s Jiangxi province have reportedly solved a case involving the theft of bitcoins worth almost 3 million yuan ($466,000), local media reported this week.

A man, referred to only by his last name Shan, filed a police report stating that he was unable to access his email account linked to his cryptocurrency wallet after someone changed his password. His account contained 8.236 BTC, worth approximately 2.96 million yuan. At the time of writing, this amount of bitcoin is worth $406,949.

Preliminary investigations showed that the email account was linked to more than 20 telephone numbers that had been illegally obtained by the suspect to avoid police detection, the authorities say.

However, the police eventually located the suspect, who is referred to only by his surname Zeng, from East China’s Jiangsu province through mass data screening and analysis, He was arrested on April 20 in Nanning, South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Zeng confessed that he got greedy when the price of bitcoin soared. The publication described that he then conspired with others to trick the victim into giving him the password to the email account allowing him to gain access to the victim’s bitcoin.

The police said that Zeng has been put under criminal detention while the case is still pending.

What do you think about this bitcoin theft case? Let us know in the comments section below.

The first half of 2021 has so far offered some significant opportunities for bitcoin bears to be wrong. The most salient of them came this past Sunday, when the bitcoin price suddenly dropped to $47,073.37, down from a freshly set all-time high (just 11 days old), of $64,888.99. 

That drop of 27.5% in less than two weeks put bitcoin into bear market territory, at least as far as the normal definition of a bear market is concerned. In equities, the term “bear market” usually applies when prices drop by 20% or more. But bitcoin’s price recovered quickly from the dip, and it seems clear that crypto’s market regime is unchanged, at least for now. Bitcoin seems to demand a different standard to define bull and bear markets: The 20% dips come too frequently, and are often just part of a broader run-up.

Last weekend’s dip wasn’t the first time in 2021 that a price drop of 20% or more prompted headlines proclaiming a bear market. “Bitcoin is now in a bear market, get used to it,” one headline proclaimed on Jan. 25. On that day, bitcoin hit a daily low of $30,480.27, per the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (XBX). In the next two days, it would plumb weekly lows just below $30,000 before rallying to a new all-time high of $58,353.78 three weeks later.

The chart above illustrates how wrong that was, with call-outs showing the price rally following Jan. 25. Similarly, it may take some time to tell what the April 25 dip means. It’s possible the $64,889 all-time high, set on April 13, was the top ahead of a bear market. Or, bitcoin could continue to repeat its 2021 pattern of setting a new all-time high, then falling back below recent averages only to set a fresh all-time high weeks later.

To be defined as a bull- or bear-market regime, a market condition has to last more than a few weeks. With that in mind, we developed the following criteria to define bull and bear markets in bitcoin’s history. Understanding bitcoin’s cycles can be helpful for understanding the crypto market because bitcoin is the bellwether for all crypto assets. Bitcoin moves from bull to bear market, or vice versa, when:

As you can see from the chart above, based on our definition the duration of bull and bear cycles contracted between 2018 and 2020. However, the current bull market, which began after the COVID-19 price crash in March 2020, has lasted 407 days and counting, as of Tuesday when this chart was created.

In the absence of a consensus on fundamentals or macro correlations for crypto, cyclical analyses like this one can be helpful to investors seeking to interpret market dynamics. (For weekly insights like this one, subscribe to CoinDesk Indexes’ Monday newsletter, The Hard Fork.)

Read more: Be on the Lookout for These 4 Bitcoin Bear Signals

Besides price, realized volatility is another metric worth considering from a cyclical viewpoint. In the chart below, we divided bitcoin’s 30-day volatility of daily log returns into three categories: low volatility (< 0.5), middle (≥ 0.5 and < 1.0) and high (≥ 1.0). A cycle is defined as a period during which the 30-day moving average of the 30-day volatility does not move from one category to another.

The chart above shows the average length of a volatility cycle by year. (The year in which a cycle falls is determined by its end date.) After mostly getting longer from 2014 to 2018, these cycles became a lot shorter in 2019 and have stayed relatively short. The current volatility cycle was at 45 days, when this chart was made on Tuesday. It hasn’t changed since then.

Bitcoin has been trading in or near a band between $50,000 and $60,000 since mid-February. In these COVID-stretched days, it feels like a long time. But the current volatility regime is still below recent averages. Bitcoin could be in for a long, cool spring of modest new all-time highs followed by sudden dips.

A chief economist at UBS, the largest bank in Switzerland, sees a number of problems with bitcoin. In attempting to answer the question of whether the cryptocurrency defies the zeitgeist, he claims that “bitcoin is denied to those minority groups who have reduced online access.”

Paul Donovan, Chief Economist of UBS Global Wealth Management, published a weekly update entitled “Does Bitcoin defy the Zeitgeist?” on the UBS website Friday outlining a number of issues he sees with the cryptocurrency. UBS is the largest bank in Switzerland.

“There is something weird about Bitcoin. Bitcoin seems to specifically defy the spirit of the age, in a way other cryptos do not,” he began, adding:

Some suggest bitcoin is a safe haven from runaway inflation. But controlling supply does not guarantee value … Bitcoin has a history of extreme price fluctuation.

“We cannot keep living on environmental credit and must become increasingly sustainable,” he continued, claiming that “Bitcoin is increasingly destructive to the environment – the more that is created and used, the worse the environmental damage.”

Furthermore, he asserted: “There is a global focus on reducing inequality. Bitcoin has extraordinarily unequal ownership. Holdings are concentrated amongst a tiny number of people, and its governance is more plutocratic than democratic.” The economist additionally claimed:

Politicians and economists increasingly value inclusion, yet bitcoin is denied to those minority groups who have reduced online access.

As for the zeitgeist, he concluded that “The modern trend that Bitcoin embraces is the power of narrative. Story telling matters hugely to Bitcoin’s evolution. Otherwise, Bitcoin seems opposed to the modern zeitgeist.”

Many bitcoiners took to social media to counter Donovan’s argument. Bitcoin proponent Max Keiser tweeted: “UBS doesn’t understand the meaning of ‘Zeitgeist.’ Faced with an existential threat from Bitcoin – as the real popular zeitgeist moves against them — Paul Donovan blabs boomer claptrap to the bank’s geriatric constituency hoping to stave off extinction. It won’t work.” Another Twitter user concurred: “I’m not sure you understand what the word ‘zeitgeist’ means – else you’d be saying that Bitcoin is an integral part of it.”

Regarding Donovan’s claim of bitcoin’s reduced access for minority groups, many people pointed out the hypocrisy. A different Twitter user commented:

Yeah sure, a UBS bank account is more available to these poor minority groups than a free bitcoin wallet on a cheap Android phone.

Another emphasized several flaws in Donovan’s claims, including that “UBS requires a balance of 10,000 Swiss Franks … to have an open account. I think people in crypto and bitcoin would agree this is a barrier for the people you claim to support.”

In January, Donovan wrote that cryptocurrency has a fundamental flaw and that bitcoin’s fixed supply could cause the collapse of its value and spending power.

What do you think about Paul Donovan’s view on bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

Today, Forbes published its 30 Under 30 list for 2021, its annual curation of America’s most successful entrepreneurs and hustlers born after 1990. 

The 30 Under 30 moniker is something of a misnomer—it’s more like 30 individuals/teams under 30 years old in 20 categories, resulting in over 600 awardees. Nonetheless, blockchain and crypto entrepreneurs made strong showings in categories like Finance and Venture Capital.

We counted 10 awardees who would be equally at home on a Who’s Who in Crypto list: 

Soona Amhaz (Volt Capital); Sam Bankman-Fried (FTX); Joey Krug (Augur); Alexander Liegl (Layer1 Technologies); Jack Mallers (Zap Solutions); Flori Marquez (BlockFi); Charlie Noyes (Paradigm); Brian Tubergen (CoinList); Amiti Uttarwar (Bitcoin Core developer); and Athanasios Karachotzitis, Jeong Woo Park, and Andrew Yang (Authenticiti).

While many people on the list say it doesn’t matter, it was a team effort, they hadn’t really thought about it much...we asked four of the recipients what it really means to them:

The daughter of Argentinian parents who fled their country in the 80s as the economy spiraled into hyperinflation, Flori Marquez, co-founder of BlockFi, considers making the list proof that she’s made her mark on America.

“It's recognition,” she said, “and publicity for our products.”

Marquez, 29, co-founded BlockFi in 2017, but it really burst onto the crypto scene last year when it began offering crypto users interest on their Bitcoin and Ethereum holdings—all before DeFi had truly taken off. 

As soon as she heard the news, Marquez called her mother, Cecilia, a Spanish teacher in Boston. “And this is the most ‘mom’ move of all time,” Marquez said. “She congratulated me, but I could tell she was kind of trying to hang up. And then I think she thought she had hung up the phone, but she hadn’t and I could hear her say to her entire class: ‘Guys, my daughter just won!’”

“It felt great.” 

Joey Krug, 25, told Decrypt he had no idea he was in the running. Unlike his rivals, he hadn’t applied—Forbes journalist Michael Del Castillo snuck him into the competition after he penned a profile on Krug in July. Krug only discovered his success upon scrolling Twitter.

“It's cool; it's exciting, I guess,” shrugged Krug. “But the actual fun part is the day-to-day of actually doing that sort of stuff.”

That “sort of stuff” refers to a lot. Krug co-founded Augur, a platform for betting markets that is built on the Ethereum blockchain. It seeks to foster truly global markets on anything one might want to bet on–and lower the hefty fees that take the fun out of it.

But he also shares the role of Chief Investment Officer at Pantera Capital and serves as an advisor, investor, or developer on a handful of other projects.

“It's not that important in the grand scheme of things,” Krug said of the Forbes award. “It's great to be part of it. But it's not that I would try to use it for personal gain or anything like that.”

Now that Krug is on the way to solving online gambling, his goals are to “at least make a dent” in finance and healthcare, two other industries he considers broken.

At a practically ancient 29 years of age, Brian Tubergen, founder of crypto ICO platform CoinList, made it on the list in his last year of eligibility.

He’s watched as those around him won in years past. His co-founder, Andy Bromberg, made the list in 2016 for starting a (since shuttered) political news analysis app, Sidewire. And two of Tubergen’s close friends won the award. Nader Al-Naji, was honored in 2019 for making Basis, a (now defunct) stablecoin company that raised $133 million in a token sale, and Alex Pack, cofounder of crypto VC fund Dragonfly Capital, won it last year. 

Now that it’s his turn, Tubergen said he feels “a little bit like a celebrity.” 

“Certainly my friends outside the tech community seem to think it's one of the most awesome things in the world,” he told Decrypt.

“I'm sure it'll wear off tomorrow,” said Tubergen, who will return to the grind that won him today’s award. As Chief Product Officer at CoinList, a fundraising platform for crypto companies, he may be helping produce the next generation of 30 Under 30 entrepreneurs. “We got to keep working,” he said. 

The award, he insisted, is “a distraction from what matters most, which is continuing to build this company and deliver value to our customers.” 

But has Tubergen applied before? “It's possible in a previous year that I quickly filled it out,” he said. “But this was the first year that I put in effort.” So that’s how to make the list.

Sam Bankman-Fried, 28, founder of crypto derivatives exchange FTX, said the news broke while he was in a marketing meeting. 

The entrepreneur informally known as SBF said he felt relieved and excited. But it’s daunting, he said. The plaudits add an extra layer—not much, but enough to notice—of responsibility to his job, where he builds systems people have invested “a lot of their time and life and money into.”

“I think that adding the incremental thing on doesn't change that feeling very much,” he said.

Still, he appreciates being noticed for the work he’s done—both at FTX and as CEO of full-service crypto trading firm Alameda Research. “These things tend to at least try to be reflections of what you've done,” he said. Does he think that the Forbes accolade reflects his achievements? “I think that I would feel a lot more weird about it if it didn’t.”

A chief economist at UBS, the largest bank in Switzerland, sees a number of problems with bitcoin. In attempting to answer the question of whether the cryptocurrency defies the zeitgeist, he claims that “bitcoin is denied to those minority groups who have reduced online access.”

Paul Donovan, Chief Economist of UBS Global Wealth Management, published a weekly update entitled “Does Bitcoin defy the Zeitgeist?” on the UBS website Friday outlining a number of issues he sees with the cryptocurrency. UBS is the largest bank in Switzerland.

“There is something weird about Bitcoin. Bitcoin seems to specifically defy the spirit of the age, in a way other cryptos do not,” he began, adding:

Some suggest bitcoin is a safe haven from runaway inflation. But controlling supply does not guarantee value … Bitcoin has a history of extreme price fluctuation.

“We cannot keep living on environmental credit and must become increasingly sustainable,” he continued, claiming that “Bitcoin is increasingly destructive to the environment – the more that is created and used, the worse the environmental damage.”

Furthermore, he asserted: “There is a global focus on reducing inequality. Bitcoin has extraordinarily unequal ownership. Holdings are concentrated amongst a tiny number of people, and its governance is more plutocratic than democratic.” The economist additionally claimed:

Politicians and economists increasingly value inclusion, yet bitcoin is denied to those minority groups who have reduced online access.

As for the zeitgeist, he concluded that “The modern trend that Bitcoin embraces is the power of narrative. Story telling matters hugely to Bitcoin’s evolution. Otherwise, Bitcoin seems opposed to the modern zeitgeist.”

Many bitcoiners took to social media to counter Donovan’s argument. Bitcoin proponent Max Keiser tweeted: “UBS doesn’t understand the meaning of ‘Zeitgeist.’ Faced with an existential threat from Bitcoin – as the real popular zeitgeist moves against them — Paul Donovan blabs boomer claptrap to the bank’s geriatric constituency hoping to stave off extinction. It won’t work.” Another Twitter user concurred: “I’m not sure you understand what the word ‘zeitgeist’ means – else you’d be saying that Bitcoin is an integral part of it.”

Regarding Donovan’s claim of bitcoin’s reduced access for minority groups, many people pointed out the hypocrisy. A different Twitter user commented:

Yeah sure, a UBS bank account is more available to these poor minority groups than a free bitcoin wallet on a cheap Android phone.

Another emphasized several flaws in Donovan’s claims, including that “UBS requires a balance of 10,000 Swiss Franks … to have an open account. I think people in crypto and bitcoin would agree this is a barrier for the people you claim to support.”

In January, Donovan wrote that cryptocurrency has a fundamental flaw and that bitcoin’s fixed supply could cause the collapse of its value and spending power.

What do you think about Paul Donovan’s view on bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below.

This week, we once again look at the top five crypto influencers and how they impacted the news and markets for the week of Feb. 10 to Feb. 17. 

The second week of February was filled with plenty of news, crypto moves, and of course a bit of drama here and there. BeInCrypto takes a look at which crypto influencers impacted the news and what they had to say. 

While the market continues to show bullish momentum, crypto influencers appear to be dominating the news with their opinions, views and comments. Everyone has an opinion. Some of them good, some of them bad, some of them neither. 

This week’s top five people making waves includes Elon Musk, an actress, an extremely wealthy Mexican businessman, a Reddit co-founder, and a YouTube star. Starting off with none other than the doge king himself. 

Billionaire and Tesla founder Elon Musk makes the list once again following his commentary on dogecoin (DOGE). If you thought the richest man in the world was done talking about dogecoin, you were wrong.

Musk tweeted about dogecoin once again stating that the project is too centralized. In a recent tweet storm, Musk stated that the concentration of dogecoin amongst whales was too high. 

The Tesla founder even stated that if the whales sold out their bags, he would fully support dogecoin. 

Musk went on to further state that he would pay the whales actual cash to void their dogecoin holdings. Musk had also previously stated that he had purchased a bag of dogecoin for his son. Fittingly calling him a “toddler hodler.”

Musk has been a huge part of the dogecoin popularity in recent weeks and seems to have a strange attraction to the project that has never been taken seriously. Perhaps Musk sees value in a project that is absolutely decentralized and not run by anyone as the founder sold out years ago. He might actually have something there. 

Who would’ve thought the American actress, singer, songwriter, entrepreneur, and television personality would make the top five crypto influencers list this week? Well she did. Lohan makes the list for her recent commentary on the cryptocurrency market.

It appears that the celebrity either just figured out what cryptocurrencies are or has been actively advertising them. While hard to tell, her avid promotion of Justin Son’s projects seems rather fishy. 

However, Lohan has been tweeting about everything crypto-related. From non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to bitcoin (BTC), she has become a crypto influencer almost overnight. 

Lohan is now actively advertising her NFTs, with a competition offering 100 NFTs up for sale. One winner of the 100 buyers will take home 6 ethereum (ETH) and a shout out on Twitter by Lohan herself. 

No wonder the 34 year old is on the list. She has become an overnight crypto influencer. Now selling off her own NFTs for charity and for personal gain.

While he may not be the most well known person around, Alexis Ohanian is certainly playing in the big leagues. Ohanian is an American internet entrepreneur and investor.

He is best known as the co-founder and executive chairman of the social news website Reddit. While Reddit has become a huge part of the crypto community, it would only make sense that Ohanian has joined the crypto revolution. The Reddit co-founder recently added the bitcoin logo to his Twitter profile. 

Ohanian also tweeted that whoever invented Bitcoin is a hero. 

The latest bitcoin maximalist is also well known among sporting celebrities as the husband of famed tennis star Serena Williams. Now, it looks like he is set to help with the adoption of cryptocurrencies. 

We bring you yet another name you likely have never heard of. However Ricardo Salinas is very well known in his country of Mexico. Salinas is a multi-billionaire thanks to his Grupo Salinas, a group of companies with interests in telecommunications, media, financial services, and retail stores, which Salinas founded. 

Said to have a net worth of approximately $13 billion, Salinas recently added the bitcoin logo to his Twitter profile as well. It appears the wealthy are finally catching on to this decentralized craze. 

Salinas had recently tweeted a video showing a South American country throwing away paper money. Salinas states that it is always good to diversify your portfolio to avoid having your paper money become worthless.

The 65 year old becomes a flurry of celebrities across the world who are starting to catch on to bitcoin, and are adding the bitcoin logo to their Twitter bios. Something that American NFL star Russel Okung has begun sharing recently for people to consider doing. 

Perhaps not well known in the crypto space until now. Marques Brownlee makes the list of top crypto influencers simply because of the sheer size of his audience. Brownlee is known professionally as MKBHD, as an American YouTuber. 

While that doesn’t sound all that impressive, it’s worth noting Brownlee has over 13 million YouTube subscribers. Making him one of the biggest youtubers in his respective field of technology-focused videos.

Brownlee recently posted a YouTube video titled “Dogecoin explained.” The video has already amassed nearly 1.2 million views. 

The video is interesting for several reasons. Firstly, it covers cryptocurrency to an audience of over 13 million subscribers. Essentially why Brownlee makes the list this week.

The video by Brownlee also unearthed the shady dealings of Tron (TRX) founder Sun. Sun had clearly stated that he had not offered any funds to celebrities to endorse his projects. However in the video Brownlee states that he was offered an advertising gig with Tron. The advertisement would require Brownlee to tweet about TRX. 

Sun had commented on the tweet related to Brownlee’s new video which features “shady behaviour in the crypto world” as tweeted by Brownlee. 

This week featured very diverse crypto influencers. All impacting the market in their own unique ways. What’s becoming evident is that cryptocurrency adoption is certainly gaining traction and spreading. No matter the gender, the age, or the background, bitcoin and crypto is here to stay. 

Ryan is a Fintech specialist with a passion for cryptocurrencies and blockchain adoption. He discovered Bitcoin in 2016 when investing in a Ponzi scheme, and it was the best decision he ever made.

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Legendary Bitcoin investor Chamath Palihapitiya has published the secret that allowed him to make a $10 billion profit in Bitcoin. The investor made a big bet in 2012 and 2013 to acquire more than 1 million BTCs at a price of $80 at the time. His strategy consists of distinguishing when an investment yields real profits and knowing how to manage risk, to illustrate this he made the following comparison: Palihapitiya explained that an investment is about knowing the product you invest in, even if it is unknown. In that sense, he pointed out that the MOIC (Multiple of Invested Capital) indicator becomes an indispensable tool to know the total value of the investment or portfolio. Palihapitiya said that “great investors” focus on slugging percentage, that is, they know their investment and can add more money, capitalize or take risks and “ride the winners”. The investor concluded that “great investors” know that it is more important to have a good investment, a winner, than to have “many irrelevant pieces of many winners”. Palihapitiya added: Palihapitiya has worked for giants like AOL and was a senior executive for Facebook in its early stages. When the Bitcoin Whitepaper was published by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009, Palihapitiya had an estimated wealth of $ 1 billion. Through his firm, Social Capital, he has invested in Digital Currency Group, a company that aims to “accelerate the development of a better financial system” by supporting Bitcoin and blockchain companies with access to capital. In the crypto market, bullish sentiment seems to have returned with the recovery of Bitcoin’s price. At the time of publication, Bitcoin is trading at $10,713 with moderate gains of 0.89%. The weekly and monthly charts are still in the red with losses of 2.12% and 6.71% respectively. Market capitalization stands at $197,857,966,542. According to the Whalemap monitor, Bitcoin whale activity indicates a strong support level at $10,407 and $10,570. As shown in the image below, this means that Bitcoin whales have accumulated a significant amount at that level, turning this level into support. Whalemap stated that the price must remain above it in order to bullish. Source: https://twitter.com/whale_map/status/1309472800076304385/photo/1 Nick Cote is more cautious and points to a support level between $9,800 and $10,100. The trader indicates that Bitcoin’s price is at a throwback, but expects it to test daily resistance again at $11,200, if it manages to break above $10,800. The trader has stated that the correlation that exists between Bitcoin and the traditional market will eventually benefit Bitcoin:

Looking to invest in the bitcoin business and have many doubts about its price ups and downs. No dude bitcoins make a great impact on world business but people still do not feel comfortable investing in this currency. Here we give you some useful information about who set bitcoins price?.

Bitcoin, the mainstream cryptocurrency, is neither upheld by any banks or governments nor is it perceived as legitimate cash. Be that as it may, private gatherings can utilize Bitcoin for exchanges whenever settled upon, and it is additionally bought and exchanged on trades by financial backers. Financial backers can buy bitcoins through cryptocurrency trades. Kindly note, anyhow, that the legitimacy of bitcoin shifts by country, for certain nations putting an outright prohibition on its utilization. The U.S. Library of Congress distributes a report on its administrative status around the planet. 

Bitcoin is unstable speculation while thinking about the premise of the money’s cost. At the point when the cash was first dispatched in 2009, it had no authority cost since it was not being sold. Anyhow, when the primary trades started to show up, a cost was created. Bitcoin’s cost from the start was little—only a couple pennies, and it wasn’t in any event, being followed like stocks are on the lookout. It wasn’t until 2013 when Bitcoin started to take off. In October 2013, Bitcoin was estimated at $123.50. It began climbing quickly, coming to more than $140 in April and beat $1,000 by December of that very year.

Factors That Influence Bitcoin’s Price:

Bitcoin’s price isn’t set by someone specifically. It’s set by the market—this makes evaluating the money more unpredictable on the grounds that costs will shift by trade. For instance, you could look into the cost of Bitcoin on the web, and you may discover two unique costs. In the event that you utilized Coindesk.com, you’d consider that to be cost as of June 1, 2020, was $9,710.72.1However, Winkdex.com records Bitcoin’s cost as $9,402.79, as of June 1, 2020. 

Part of the explanation behind all the various qualities is the place where the information comes from. bitcoin billionaire is never exchanged at one spot. All things considered, it is exchanged on numerous trades, all of which set their own normal costs, in light of the exchanges being made by the trades at a given time. Records gather costs from a few trades and normal them out, however not the entirety of the files utilize similar trades for their information. On the off chance that you need to purchase and sell Bitcoin, you need to pick a specific trade, which will have its normal cost. The cost of Bitcoin varies out of the blue, contingent upon which trade the data comes from.

Liquidity and Price of Bitcoin:

The cost of Bitcoin is unpredictable, somewhat because of the liquidity (the capacity to rapidly purchase and sell) of the cash. The measure of bitcoins coursing through the market anytime enables financial backers to enter and leave positions rapidly. 

In the event that individuals are exchanging a high number of a specific resource, it gets more diligently for one individual or occasion to move that cost any single way. Consider it a flood of water—you can divert a little stream by putting down a couple of boards of wood. However, on the off chance that you needed to divert the Mississippi, you’d have a lot harder time, in light of the fact that there’s essentially a lot of it.

 Events That Can Change Bitcoin’s Price:

The Bitcoin market is affected by numerous occasions. In the event that it is released that an enormous government is questionable about how to manage Bitcoin—as happened in China—the cost can fall. There are likewise different components influencing Bitcoin costs. There are just so numerous bitcoins that are accessible, and they are created at an anticipated rate. The responsibility for bitcoins is unevenly conveyed—some Bitcoin goliaths have tremendous crowds of money in their wallets (advanced capacity). That, joined with liquidity, makes it simple for individuals to control the market. 

Sometimes, the cost can be driven somewhere near enormous dealers who auction bitcoins in high volume. One such broker, nicknamed BearWhale, incidentally slumped the market by auctioning off an enormous holding of Bitcoin underneath market esteem. With regards to your bitcoin exchanging system, you should practice alert. Bitcoin is a very high-threat resource, and even the most experienced brokers can lose cash in an exceptionally unusual, unstable market. This is definitely not a dependable technique for boosting your benefits’ profit potential.

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We all know crypto is male-dominated and the stats prove it:As recorded in January 2018, women were approximated to own only 5% of the $550 billion market cap for the cryptocurrency industry. Additionally, a study by Quartz showed that over the span of 6 years looking into hundreds of blockchain companies, only 8.5% of people on the founding team were women. Finally, according to Google Analytics data, as of June 2018, 91% of people engaged in the bitcoin community were recorded to be men.But regardless of the stats, all you need to do is go to any crypto-related event or meet-up to notice that women are a minority both in the crowd and in the limelight. Let’s take a moment to appreciate some of the women who brought us through 2018 and made some amazing contributions to the crypto world. Women’s input is extremely valuable in this fast unfolding space, so we can bring balance into this field of innovation and disruption. In an industry significantly pervasive with masculinity, it is inspiring to take a look at the achievements of some of the most successful women.Without further ado, here they are, picked by the CryptoInsider team, and presented to you in no particular order.Elizabeth Stark had a great year bringing the Lightning Network to life, and also providing opportunities and support for other women to develop in the blockchain industry.Ms. Stark is best known as the co-founder and CEO of Lightning Labs. 2018 brought to us the Lightning Network – the secondary layer on Bitcoin’s blockchain which allows for instant, cheap, and scalable payments, while enabling transactions across blockchains without a third party. Although the initiative sparked some debate, it is undoubtedly a significant milestone in Bitcoin history. This enables micropayments and more privacy which enables whole new business models to emerge. Stark is responsible for making the Lightning Network what it is today – and that is an idea transferred into a functioning payment system which kindles hope to those who believe in bitcoin’s use as a day-to-day currency. Despite the state of the crypto market throughout 2018, it’s been a good year for the Lightning Labs. Bitcoin now has almost $2 million in collateral on the network, and has risen to 5000 nodes over the last 12 months.In addition to these achievements, Stark has contributed by creating opportunities for more women to enter this space. She organized scholarships for women to attend Bitcoin Core contributor Jimmy Song’s programming bootcamp. She’s given us positivity throughout the cryptowinter. “If anything, the calming of the hype and frenzy helps us because there are fewer distractions and it’s a better time to keep on building. There’s a lot left to do, but this year has very much exceeded my expectations with the speed of growth and adoption.”Elizabeth Stark embodies the true spirit of decentralization, illustrating someone who’s held true to their values: “If you really believe in decentralization then why are you creating all these centralized services?” She continues: “We need to get to a world where people can hold their own keys [and] have this autonomy.”Alena Vranova played a key role in Trezor and Casa to grow as businesses, and she also helped co-found the B Foundation in 2018. She is best known for her leadership and involvement in successful bitcoin projects like Trezor hardware wallets, SatoshiLabs, and more recently Casa. Since stepping down as CEO of SatoshiLabs in 2017, Ms. Vranova has continued to make significant contributions to this space.In 2018, Alena joined the Casa team as Head of Strategy. The company is responsible for developing the Node (a fast, simple way to run your BTC and Lightning Node), as well as the Casa Premium Plan. The former allows users to make and receive payments, get connected and strengthen the network, while the latter is an extremely secure key management system that’s designed for individual crypto holders and small teams. The mission is to maximize personal sovereignty and safety.“Alena was deeply involved in the launch of the Casa Node for Lightning and Bitcoin. With her mastery of hardware manufacturing and user experience design, track record of building successful business (even long before Trezor), and bold tenacity in the face of unknown markets —  she’s a critical piece of the puzzle for growing the Casa Node from a single device experience into a full computing platform.” In addition to this, Vranova established the B Foundation together with Giacomo Zucco, the director at BHB Network. The B Foundation will “collect donations and investments from commercial Bitcoin-promotional projects, sponsor promising research and development in the field, and award scholarships and grants to Bitcoin Network developers. The Foundation will also provide consulting services to startups.”As a bitcoin maximalist, she keeps the vigorous spirit of the community alive by encouraging people to take action. In regards to her views and active involvement in the field, Alena Vranova stated: “There is a lot of hype around technology, and I think Bitcoin deserves much more attention, much more communication, much more joint effort.” Next on our list is Kathleen Breitman, the CEO and co-founder of Tezos, the smart contract system based on a self-governing blockchain. The platform has a governance mechanism which coordinates and pushes upgrades to its network. In September, the Tezos mainnet went live after a controversial yet successful ICO season. In an interview, she describes her ambitious vision of the future for the project:“I think an interesting question would be: “What sort of cryptocurrencies will people use in five years?” Tezos wants to be the most useful smart contracts platform, the most useful permutation of this idea [of digital currency]. Making Tezos useful to people is still the primary goal.”Now, Ms. Breitman is taking a new approach which involves video games. She believes that video games are an important gateway to their blockchain, which will offer a lead to get more people to start using cryptocurrencies. The line of thought follows that games have an ideal affiliation with “adopting new digital paradigms” that the community would appreciate. The specifics of this ambitious plan are yet to be revealed.Meanwhile, the Tezos Foundation has already committed to dispense $30 million of grants to members of the community who are building tools and services for the platform.Meltem Demirors has kept our spirits up over the rough year, always making sure to bring the most important things to our attention. She was the Chief Strategy Officer of CoinShares and the Managing Director at Digital Currency Group, which invests in (and advises) 100+ bitcoin and blockchain startups. She was also named in the top 100 people in crypto by CryptoWeekly. In her roles, Demirors is blending legacy with blockchain. This year, she has taken initiative and worked on the Leaders Series – a series of articles interviewing women who have taken leadership in various projects, and provide inspiration to many others. Demirors explains in an interview:“People always say to me, ‘Oh, there aren’t women in crypto.’ And I say, ‘There are a lot of women in crypto, they just work for petty tyrants.’ And now we’re in this stage where all of these brilliant women are leaving the companies they used to work for, and starting their own thing. So I’m just trying to create a network to support other women and help them get awareness.”Ms. Demirors knows what needs improving in this space, and like Elizabeth Stark, sees the good things that come out of the bear market: “I think we’ve gone through this orgy of unfettered capitalism. And [the space] has become very tone deaf. It’s become very illogical, and frankly, it’s become unproductive. We’re throwing good money after bad. I’m excited about a period of depressed prices where we can focus on really building. Now we need to bring some rationality, pragmatism, and risk management to the crypto asset space.”Furthermore, she’s dealing with the ethical issues that simply escape the zeitgeist of the “moon and Lambo”-minded crypto culture: “How can we bring ethics and behavioral psychology—and also more discipline— to this ecosystem to make it more approachable, and to actually have us achieve the vision we set out to create? Because a lot of what we’re seeing right now is scamming and value disruption.”Last but not least, Pamela Morgan has published a pioneering system on crypto-inheritance, while working on blockchain technology in fields of law and security.Morgan works to promote bitcoin and cryptocurrency use in the legal field, and focuses on finding innovative ways to use blockchain technology to provide efficient and independent legal services. She is also the founder of Third Key Solutions, LLC, a cryptographic key consulting firm that “works with individuals and organizations to improve the security of their cryptoassets and ensure these assets are accessible in the event of a crisis or disaster.”Ms. Morgan published her book in May 2018, and it’s titled “Cryptoasset Inheritance Planning: A Simple Guide for Owners”. Since 2015, Pamela has educated thousands of crypto-holding people about why inheritance planning for cryptoassets matters and how it can be done in a feasible, secure, resilient, and efficient way. The book description reads:“In this book, Pamela walks you through her successful step-by-step inheritance planning processes. These processes are designed to help you build a customized crypotasset inheritance access plan – and you don’t need to be a security expert or lawyer to do it.”The addition of Pamela Morgan’s pragmatic and realistic approach to the crypto-world is valuable, as the underlying ideas promote sound solutions for long-term problems. An inheritance system completes the picture for crypto to exist as an autonomous and well-rounded system which promotes self-sovereignty. Kathryn Haun, who was the Justice Department’s main prosecutor for fraud, cyber, and corporate crime. Now she’s one of the most important investors in the crypto space.Elaine Ou, who does great writing, coding (she even wrote a great script which allows anyone to see whose posts they liked the most on Jack Dorsey’s social network), and research with the likes of Nick Szabo. Leah Wald, who has been active on the media, like on talkshows with Tone Vays and Jimmy Song. Jill Carlson, who provides us with thoughtful and reliable publications such as this one. What we see from the ladies mentioned in this article is people affectingly helping one another, creating a positive influence not only for other women but also for the project they are most passionate about. The projects in which they’ve had central roles are based on supporting others, on careful consideration of the future, on making the best of the existing situation, and on leading effective innovation.  I hope that over time we can foster an increasingly inclusive environment where contributions from minorities are welcomed. The influence of women in this space can help to embrace better ethics, ambitions and values.Women should not only be celebrated for taking on the same roles that have been dominated by men, but for bringing in qualities that are inherently feminine – that is collaboration, empathy, patience, long-term vision and nurture. And I believe the crypto space can absolutely do with a few more tablespoons of that.With blockchain technology poised to up-end virtuallyA journalist and writer interested in crypto from a social, cultural, political and philosophical point of view. Let decentralization transform societies to have more empowered individuals.This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.Crypto Insider is brought to you by Crypto Taco, a blockchain and crypto marketing team.© Crypto Insider 2018 –

Well, if anything is responsible for the current price surge in Bitcoin (BTC), it’s the war among the Bitcoin whales that took its price above $40,000. BTC has surged over 34% since the beginning of 2021 so far and if we look at the buying pattern, whales have been buying at different BTC price points over the last week.

Over the last three months, the graph for BTC-USDT spot orders has escalated very sharply. On Friday, January 8, the BTC trading volume across exchanges went all the way close to $100 billion. Twitter handle Material Scientist shows an interesting graph on how different BTC whales show different behavior over the last year.

Mega-whales ($1M+ order) added 30% of the total net-volume just in the last week!

If the top will be anything like 2019, looking at whale CVD will make it child's play 🙂 pic.twitter.com/lH5DO77i93

— Material Scientist (@Mtrl_Scientist) January 8, 2021

As we can see in the graph, BTC “mega-whales” holding in the range between $1M-$10M have been aggressive purchasing at every BTC price rise over the last year. As said, the mega whales have added over 30% of the total net volume over the last week.

On the other hand, the smaller whales are losing their supplies to the big fishes. But if we see the 48-hour Bitcoin (BTC) price chart, even the “mega whales” have resorted to some profit booking above $40,000 levels. However, the dips to under $37K on Friday have been quickly absorbed. At press time, Bitcoin (BTC) is again trading at $39,200 levels.

They expected more downturn, which never came.

Now, smaller Bitcoin whales ($100k – $1M) are taking profit just under $42k.

My friend at @Mtrl_Scientist explained. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/26iyNK6ynJ

— Joseph Young (@iamjosephyoung) January 8, 2021

Analyst Joseph Young mentions that while whales are resorting to profit booking above $40K, the U.S. investors at keeping the BTC price higher. Most of these purchases are happening on Coinbase. He writes:

“It’s the same old story. Buyers in the U.S., mostly Coinbase (due to massive volume, premium, outflows), are carrying Bitcoin to new highs. Whales taking profit as soon as BTC hits a new high. So it’s important even more so to observe Coinbase outflows and volume”.

Another crypto analyst Ki-Young Ju also mentions that the OTC deals happening on Coinbase over the last week are leading to massive outflows. He hints that institutions have been moving BTC in large numbers in cold storage and they aren’t yet interested to take profits on around 20% price surges.

If you were institutional investors, would you be satisfied with 24% PNL for Bitcoin?#Bullish pic.twitter.com/WfLIDEfsbJ

— Ki Young Ju 주기영 (@ki_young_ju) January 8, 2021

Let us know in the comment below what do you think about future BTC price action. Will BTC continues its journey to the north, will it consolidate a while at $40K, or is a correction on the charts ahead? Whatever it is, the whales have made this rally even more interesting.

To keep track of DeFi updates in real time, check out our DeFi news feed Here.

Erik Finman was 12 years old when he bought $1,000 worth of Bitcoin in the summer of 2011. The worlds first digital currency was just two years old and trading for $10, a time when most folks, if they knew about Bitcoin at all, associated it with the dark web drug trade or its fringe fanbase of libertarians, anarchists, and cypherpunks.A month before he made the purchase, hed cut a deal with his parents. If he could turn a $1,000 gift from his grandmother into $1 million, he wouldnt have to attend university. By 2017, hed won the agreement.This lucrative decision would give the Idaho native a financial autonomy unfathomable to most teenagers. He dropped out of high school at age 15 to move to San Francisco and found an online education startup, Botangle (which he later sold and then bought back); he also spent his energy on a couple of pet projects, including a Doctor Octopus-inspired robotic tentacle suit and launching a satellite containing pop culture memorabilia from Earth.As one might expect, the something-of-a-wunderkinds sudden riches, business stunts, and cocksure-dropout attitude have resulted in a viral notoriety for the young entrepreneur. And hes drunk the kool-aid of his own internet fame, often hamming up his success on Twitter.Im not even 21. Just wait, his pinned tweet from June 10 reads.Well, the wait is apparently over. The worlds youngest Bitcoin millionaire recently announced his next big thing: Hes dumping all of his Bitcoin holdings into Metal, a cryptocurrency that launched an ICO in 2017.Im willing to stake it all on Metal, he told me in an interview. Im converting all my crypto money into this coin.Metal (MTL) is the token behind Metal Pay, a wallet that lets users store multiple coins and exchange them for USD seamlessly. Finman bills it as an all-in-one application for cryptocurrencies. The Venmo-like app lets its users send dollars to each other and earn MTL for their activity on the app (those reward tokens come out of the apps PoPP pool, a trove of 26,000,000 tokens that represents a little over a third of the entire MTL supply).It makes crypto sexy, Finman said, speaking of the applications sleek design.It was Metals attractive design and founder/CEO Marshall Hayners drive to make crypto sexier to the general public, that turned Finman on to the project. After liaising on Twitter, the two sat down to a six hour business dinner in June, and Finman left feeling that the encounter had rekindled [his] love for cryptocurrency. He had agreed to convert his entire crypto portfolio into MTL tokens and to announce his investment on August 19, the same day Metal Pay finally graduated from beta testing.Finman told me yesterday that hes already put a good amount of funds into MTL but that he still has 446 Bitcoin (worth about $4.5 million right now), which he plans to move into MTL incrementally. He justified drawing out the process by saying one big off pump would create price hype and disrupt any actual grassroots support for the platform.Finman has also taken on a role at the company, although his bio on Metal Pays website doesnt include a job title, so its not clear what his function is. I dont believe in titles, he told me. Just last night I was working on product. I was helping with hiring two days ago. Other times, Im making videos about announcements. Im working on anything I physically can because, as you know, we have big goals to say the least.Big goals indeed. Finman has boasted that Metal Pay will beat out Libra, Facebooks ideation on digital currency, and hes even gone so far as to say that Metal will replace Bitcoin.Yeah, these are bold claims, he told me in an interview Friday. I thought 10 years ago wed be a lot further along in the blockchain space [by now]. He sees Metal Pay as the killer app that will finally make cryptocurrency usable for normal people.I like to say we have dragon energy. I feel like the momentum is here. Ive really never seen momentum like this happen so quickly, so fast, and even more to come. We were the number one in trading volume and price gain on Binance yesterday.The Metal token enjoyed a $40 to $60 million 24-hour trading volume in the days following Finmans announcement. For most of July and August, the token was clocking anywhere from $300,000 to a few million dollars in daily trading (save a spike of about $18 million a few days before the announcement). The increased trading activity has bumped the price up to $0.40, nearly double its price a week ago. Like most so-called altcoins in the crypto market, this is a far cry from its all time high (~$13) at the peak of the 2017 market mania.Also like most altcoins, MTLs liquidity is thin even the numbers Finman cites likely have faked volume. (His numbers come from CoinMarketCap, which features exchanges known to spoof volume.) Messari provides what is likely a more accurate data feed, though even this volume might not be completely spot on. Messari, for example, only takes data from because the others dont meet its standards for data transparency and accuracy; , causing about a $1 million spread between the two.All of that to say, with MTLs market cap hovering around $19 million (Bitcoins, for comparison, is about $185 billion), it wouldnt take much to double its price. In fact, MTLs price has been so flatlined of late that this weeks surge caused barely a blip on its chart.I asked Finman what he thinks about the price increase, and more pointedly, if this runup was the result of his own buying or of crypto enthusiasts chasing his investment or both. He said, I guess people see me and see me backing it and see me believing in it, and seeing the product itself. I think the product really speaks for itself with how beautiful it is.Beautiful or not, the MTL token is struggling to find users. Sure, , the wallet, is sleek and functional, and it has 30,000 users who send dollars or exchange cryptocurrencies on the platform (available only on iOS devices; Metal Pay has 2.8k ratings for an average of 4.3 stars on Apples App Store). But the token itself has little practical utility. For now, its primary use case is as a rewards system to encourage people to use the app. A less accessible, secondary use case allows users who stake a heap of tokens on their Metal Pay wallet to receive zero-fee trading privileges on the platform.And Metal doesnt even have its own blockchain; instead, it runs on the Ethereum chain, although Finman told me that it wont for long. He wouldnt give more specifics.So is Metal going to be as hot as Finman thinks it is? Well, its clear that Finmans contributions so far have given the projects token price a boost. But as for how long the rally lasts and where the token goes from here, well, well see how long the project can run on dragon energy.[VentureBeat regularly publishes guest posts from experts who can provide unique and useful perspectives to our readers on news, trends, emerging technologies, and other areas of interest related to tech innovation.]Colin Harper is an associate editor and staff writer forBitcoin Magazine. You can find him on Twitter @AsILayHodling.