Tag Archives: markethive

Facebook Instagram and WhatsApp: A Proven Breeding Ground for Cryptocurrency Scams

Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp: A Proven Breeding Ground for Cryptocurrency Scams

Cryptocurrency, or crypto, is a digital currency transferred directly between users without a central banking system. It was invented in 2008 as an open source project and is not governed by any bank or government authority, distinguishing it from traditional currencies such as dollars, pounds, and euros.

The first cryptocurrency to be created was bitcoin, which was released in 2009 and has since become the best-known example of cryptos. Bitcoin and altcoins are innovative technologies, but they have also been associated with some undesirable activity, including illicit activities like cybercrime and tax evasion, as well as scams and investment frauds. At the moment of writing, there are 20,942 cryptocurrencies with a market capitalization of $1.06T, according to coinmarketcap.

The world of cryptocurrency is rapidly expanding, but this doesn't mean everyone starting a cryptocurrency project is good or honest with investors' money. Scammers have found new ways to trick people into giving them money without repercussions. Unfortunately, victims of cryptocurrency scams have few options for restitution as perpetrators evade authorities and hide their identities behind fake online accounts.

Cryptocurrency has become an investment vehicle for many people. Naturally, some people take advantage of this new technology to scam innocent people out of their money. Most scammers use social media platforms to lure in victims, with Meta being the chief platform used to perpetrate these evil acts. They pretend to be investors or traders and spread false rumors about specific cryptocurrencies. Those who fall for these tactics end up giving out sensitive financial information to complete scams.

One particularly dangerous scam involves a hacker posing as a bank and requesting personal information from customers. This information is then used to create fake IDs that scammers can use to buy cryptocurrencies with stolen money. After that, the scammers sell the digital coins and get away with stolen funds. These scammers often run away with millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency. Many people lose money due to cryptocurrency scams and are left in serious debts that may take several years to pay off.

However, in most cases, it's difficult for investors to recognize a scam when it occurs. Because most fraudulent projects mimic successful ICOs with similar whitepapers and business plans. The creators often don't even use their names when planning their scams. They usually use fake social media accounts and web forums to communicate with potential victims. These fraudulent projects fail within a year due to shoddy programming and design choices.

An FTC Report released in June showed that since 2021, about 50% of people who have lost money to crypto scams claim to have originated from social media platforms. Meta's Instagram contributed 32% of reported scams, while Facebook and WhatsApp were cited in 26% and 9% of cases, respectively.

U.S. senators have asked Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to detail his company's policies to address rising crypto fraud cases on Facebook and Instagram. The Washington Post reported this on September 9. Lawmakers are calling for this after a recent Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report showed a significant increase in crypto scams on Meta's social media platform.

According to the publication by the Washington Post, Senator Robert Menendez said:

"Based on recent reports of scams on other media platforms and apps, we are concerned that Meta provides a breeding ground for cryptocurrency fraud that causes significant harm to consumers."

Lawmakers have instructed Meta CEO to provide a detailed report on how the company is crushing cryptocurrency scams and what it is doing to help scam victims. Mark Zuckerberg is directed to respond to the request by October 24, 2022.

For each of Meta's social media platforms, questions asked include how the company detects and removes crypto scammers, educates and warns users about crypto scams, and supports victims of fraudulent crypto schemes. The senators also questioned how Meta verifies that crypto ads are not scams and what regulatory clearances are required to advertise on its platform. Additionally, they asked how Meta works with law enforcement to track down scammers.

The U.S. authorities have warned that scammers are increasingly making use of social media to defraud investors. In August, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) warned investors against scams that exploit fear of missing out (FOMO) on social media.

According to another FTC Report, more than 95,000 users lost about $770 million to crypto scams on social media. Over 70% of reported scams are classified as investment, romance, or online shopping scams.


Image source: Federal Trade Commission 

A 2021 BBC study found that around 10,500 victims lost more than $18 million to scam giveaways in the first three months of 2021. Most gift-giving scams are carried out by impersonating an influential figure like Elon Musk.

One victim reportedly lost over $550,000 in February 2021 after sending 10 BTC to the Elon Musk giveaway scam.

While several government agencies are busy making plans to safeguard citizens from crypto scams, you have to ensure you make due findings about an investment before injecting your funds into it. Without doing adequate research on the subject matter in question, you may have yourself to blame for it. 

Also, considering that governments have not been effective in combating these crimes, it's clear you have to be more watchful of what you invest your money into. As they say, "you get what you pay for" with cryptocurrencies and ICOs in general, so you should go out there and conduct thorough research on the best possible projects on the market today that can provide you with a real return on your investments.

 

ecosystem for entrepreneurs

 

About: Prince Chinwendu. (Nigeria) Rapid and sustainable human growth is my passion, and getting a life-changing opportunity into the hands of people is my calling. Empowering entrepreneurs provides me with enormous gratification. Find me at my Markethive Profile Page | My Twitter Account | and my LinkedIn Profile.

 

 

 

 

 

Tim Moseley

Study Shows More Than a Third of Africa’s 53 Million Cryptocurrency Holders Are Nigerians

Study Shows More Than a Third of Africa’s 53 Million Cryptocurrency Holders Are Nigerians

Cryptocurrency and blockchain are hot topics in the news these days. Due to its growth and adoption, many people have become interested in digital money worldwide. However, Africa is making tremendous progress when it comes to cryptocurrency adoption. Cryptocurrency is transforming African economies through payments, international trade, and government functions. As countries look to embrace this new technology, Africa is poised to take advantage of its many benefits.

Several African countries have embraced cryptocurrency and blockchain technology by regulating crypto trading or creating state-backed crypto. For example, Kenya's Central Bank (CBK) classified crypto as a virtual currency and regulated its trade. South Africa also has plans to regulate crypto trading when it issued an amendment to its financial services regulatory framework this year. Uganda introduced a regulatory framework for blockchain development and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), which has led to increased investor interest in the country. Several other African countries are looking into similar strategies, further expanding the continent's cryptocurrency adoption rate.

Businesses in Africa typically use local bank accounts to conduct business with other nations. This allows African companies to make international payments using locally stored funds instead of transferring funds from abroad using foreign exchange dealers (FEDs). All thanks to the introduction of cryptocurrency. Many businesses across Africa now use cryptocurrency for international payments since it's cheaper than FEDs and doesn't require additional paperwork or conversions. This frees up time for other tasks while increasing profit margins simultaneously. The adoption of this technological development makes it perfect for casual businesses without extensive staff resources.


Image Source: https://mediciland.com/

African countries are also looking into blockchain technology to increase government transparency and accountability across the continent. Blockchain is secure and can transfer data quickly without any loss of accuracy like traditional computer systems do. This makes it ideal for keeping records such as land registries safe and easily accessible by all users on a decentralized platform like the Internet instead of an authoritative centralized system like governments have traditionally used.

Some African countries are already implementing this strategy, such as Zambia, which has created several pilot programs with international tech partners. These programs will bring government services online for the first time by allowing citizens access to their records online. Cryptocurrency has revolutionized African economies by making daily transactions cheaper, easier, and more secure than before, something any business would love!

Applying existing technology effectively can improve citizens' lives in developing areas far faster than simply throwing money at problems could ever achieve. Therefore, while developed countries wait to "catch up" with digital currency innovation, things appear to be changing in Africa, and Nigeria is leading the way and will be leaps ahead!

Nigeria Championing Crypto Adoption in Africa

According to the latest crypto-proprietary data from Triple-A, the African continent now has an estimated 53 million cryptocurrency holders. This is about 16.5% of the estimated global total of 320 million people. Interestingly, of all cryptocurrency holders in Africa, Nigerians account for more than a third of the total, or just over 22 million.


Image source: TripleA.io 

Nigeria has the fourth largest cryptocurrency holder globally, while the United States is the highest-ranked country with 46 million cryptocurrency holders. According to statistics, India and Pakistan are close behind, with 27 million and 26 million crypto owners, respectively.

While Nigeria ranks fourth in cryptocurrency ownership, the country is still considered the world leader in the number of people who Googled the keywords 'bitcoin' and 'cryptocurrency.' These findings are supported by the report of another study. The study shows that Nigeria is one of the most crypto-obsessed countries in the African continent.

Meanwhile, data from Triple-A shows that South Africa has the second largest cryptocurrency holder population in Africa at 7.7 million. This figure is equivalent to about 12.5% ​​of South Africa's population. Kenya has the third largest cryptocurrency owner in Africa, with 6.1 million or 11.6% of the country's population.

The top 5 countries in Africa with the most cryptocurrency owners are Egypt and Tanzania, with 2.37 million and 2.32 million holders, respectively. Seychelles is the lowest-ranked African country, with an estimated 1,257 cryptocurrency owners.

Bottom Line

The future belongs to those who will seize it today. No doubt, African countries like Nigeria are doing just that. By embracing cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology early on, the country has created an optimal environment for businesses and investors alike. Boosting their local economies significantly via increased investment and revenue generation opportunities through the adoption of innovative technologies such as these is something they have been doing at a rapid pace and with much success so far!

 

 

About: Prince Chinwendu. (Nigeria) Rapid and sustainable human growth is my passion, and getting a life-changing opportunity into the hands of people is my calling. Empowering entrepreneurs provides me with enormous gratification. Find me at my Markethive Profile Page | My Twitter Account | and my LinkedIn Profile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tim Moseley

The Five Tenets Of The Great Reset: What You Can Do To Reject And Counter The New Normal

The Five Tenets Of The Great Reset:

What You Can Do To Reject And Counter The New Normal

The famous quote by Winston Churchill, “Never let a good crisis go to waste,” has been used in many contexts. The first context was the creation of the United Nations at the end of World War Two. This quote has been touted quite a few times since the start of the pandemic but has become more evident in the context of the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Great Reset

I started researching and writing about this topic from another perspective two years ago when many claimed that it was “nothing but a conspiracy theory,” with the majority of ordinary people oblivious to what was being planned decades ago. 

As it turns out, it isn’t a “theory”; it’s real, with the elites and NGOs conspiring behind closed doors with their plans to implement a global environmental, social and economic shift under the guise of sustainability with a primary focus on Stakeholder Capitalism. Klaus Schwab, the leader of the pack at WEF, has been very open to letting the global population know that “we will own nothing and be happy.”


2020 virtual event in Geneva, Switzerland – Video

It’s all laid out in Agenda 21/30 and based on a 2020 book, The Great Reset, which Klaus Schwab co-authored with a lifelong colleague, Thierry Malleret.  Now that the cat’s out of the bag and the new normal is starting to take shape, many more people are becoming aware of what’s happening, but a growing number of us ordinary folks are not in favor of it. 

What matters now is that we take the steps needed to secure our personal and financial freedom so that no one can infringe upon them. There are ways in which we can effectively resist any pressure to conform to a “new normal” – whatever that may be. So today, we’ll review the Great Reset, discover ways to resist it and determine which cryptocurrencies will withstand the global shift. 

Who Really Created The WEF?

The WEF is an international organization based in Switzerland. It comprises some of the world's most influential individuals and institutions, including current and former presidents, media moguls, big tech CEOs, asset managers, banks, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). As stated on the WEF’s website, the organization's explicit purpose is to “…shape global, regional and industry agendas.” It does this by supporting individuals and institutions that promote its agenda.

The WEF is headed by Klaus Schwab, a German engineer economist and former professor who served as its chairman since it was founded in 1971. Interestingly, the WEF wasn’t simply Klaus Schwab's brainchild but was born out of a CIA-funded Harvard program headed by Henry Kissinger and pushed to fruition by John Kenneth Galbraith and the “real” Dr. Strangelove, Herman Kahn. 

These three powerfully influential men from the American political elite were the driving force behind the European-based globalist organization. They recognized Schwab’s potential and saw a reflection of their own intellectual desires in him. Back in the late 1960s, they recruited and mentored Klaus Schwab, helping him to create the World Economic Forum. You can read this fascinating story here

Almost all the WEF’s agendas are based on Klaus and his mentors’ ideas. Today, Klaus and his cohorts consider the pandemic to be on a par with another world war as far as its global disruption goes. It presents an opportunity to replace capitalism with stakeholder capitalism. 

Stakeholder capitalism is one of Schwab’s ideas, and it fundamentally replaces shareholders with so-called stakeholders who basically decide what everyone does. If you're wondering who the stakeholders are, Klaus has made it clear in interviews and at many events that the stakeholders are the individuals and institutions who are a part of the WEF. 

In crypto terms, you can think of stakeholder capitalism as being the total centralization of control in the hands of the world's most powerful people, corporations, and organizations. 

Three Phases Of The Great Reset

According to Klaus, there are three phases to the great reset, and the first two relate to the pandemic. These are “Restrain” (fight the virus), the phase we are in currently. Then, “Recover” is the next phase where the world enters the “new normal.” 

Now, the third and final phase is “The Great Reset” itself, which focuses on the following five points;

  1. Redefining the Social Contract 
  2. Decarbonizing The Economy 
  3. Digitizing Everything 
  4. Implementing Stakeholder Capitalism
  5. Global Rollout of all the above ensures those first four tenets find their way into every country. 

As to how exactly the WEF will roll out the great reset around the world, Klaus states that this will be achieved primarily with the help of the WEF’s network of so-called global shapers and young global leaders who will all push for the great reset in their respective nations. The WEF hopes to have it all in order by 2030.

The WEF’s 2020 virtual event in Geneva, Switzerland, focuses on the great reset and their new book in more depth, and you can hear it straight from the horse's mouth in this video. They blatantly tell you what they want and how they plan to get it, which blows the “conspiracy theory” out of the water. 

So now that we know what the great reset is and how the WEF elites plan on rolling it out, we can prepare for its five points outlined above. It’s worth noting that there seems to be quite a bit of overlap between these five points, and it sounds like they will be implemented simultaneously, not in sequential order. 

It's also important to remember that these points are already slowly being implemented. This means you must bare in mind how a change in one could affect the other when preparing to avoid or resist them. This could become difficult since part of the WEF’s agenda distorts traditional definitions of inflation, well-being, and economic growth. 

This distortion of definitions lies at the core of redefining the social contract, as this involves replacing all of the above with ESG-focused metrics that prioritize diversity and inclusion over actual productivity. 

1: Redefining the Social Contract 

ESG has its roots in an initiative spearheaded by the United Nations and some of the world's largest corporations. As time goes on, the ESG criteria are becoming more aligned with the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs). 


Image Source: United Nations

There are 17 SDGs in total, noting a couple of examples mentioned in the great reset virtual event video above of what the WEF wants to see from a few of them. The 4th SDG is quality education, and co-author of the book, The Great Reset, Thierry Malleret, stated at the virtual event that the WEF doesn't like that a science degree from one University is considered more prestigious than a science degree from another University. 

As such, the WEF would like to see all degrees eliminated and replaced with specific skills training that would last until the end of your life. In other words, you'll be in school until you die and never even get a degree. Plus, there’s also the WEF indoctrination you're likely to endure. Now the switch to skills training also ostensibly implies that there will be no more small businesses or entrepreneurs, just mega corporations where everyone is a worker bee. 

This sounds ridiculous until you realize it relates to the 10th SDG, which is reduced inequality. Here, the WEF is willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that economic inequalities do not continue to increase. It includes making sure you’ll own nothing and be happy, as brazenly stipulated in the WEF’s infamous video.

Instead, you'll rent what you use from the stakeholders who will own everything, and remember that these stakeholders are all the folks at the WEF. Historically, attempts at making everyone equal tend to end very badly, as making everyone equal usually translates to making everyone equally poor and miserable except for the select few. The select few in power are subsequently forced to kill anyone who tries to reject that poverty and misery. 

Ironically, the WEFs push for eliminating inequality comes from the fears its constituents have about the riots, revolutions, and migrations that will inevitably occur if inequality continues to increase. A few WEF members have admitted this on stage, including at that Great Reset virtual event. 

Fortunately, there's an easy way to resist this redefining of social contracts, and that's to reject any ESG or SDG-related criteria, especially when it's being used to redefine what a recession means. Instead, stick to tried and true social contracts, and reinforce them with your friends, family, and community. 

Better yet, invest your time, money, and energy in individuals and companies who vocally oppose ESG, SDG, and other top-down decrees coming from technocrats who are out of touch with what life is like for the average person. 

Pro tip – Stay away from companies that force you to pay a subscription service to use a “physical product” that should be entirely in your ownership. The moment you purchase it, your future might just depend on it. 


Image source: The Verge

2: Decarbonizing The Economy 

The second point of focus for the great reset is decarbonizing the economy, and here's where things get a bit complicated and contentious. That's because many would argue that moving away from fossil fuels is a good thing. 

However, there is a right and a wrong way to transition to more renewable energy sources. So telling farmers to stop using fertilizer during a food crisis or shutting down nuclear plants during an energy shortage is not how you decarbonize the economy; It's how you destroy the economy. 

It's also important to remember that many environmental elites see the average person as a form of carbon that should be reduced, if not eliminated. It is why they're eager to implement lifestyles and diets that are objectively unhealthy. Such as constantly living in the metaverse 24/7 and eating insects. 

Another problem with the WEFs green energy agenda is that the energy structures it envisions will result in the hyper-centralization of the electricity grid, probably by design. That's because if everything runs on electricity, it becomes pretty easy to control everything.

Another thing that's probably by design is the focus on wind and solar, and that's because not every country has the ability or resources to create its own wind farms or solar panels. This forces them to trade with other countries for energy, which promotes the globalized world, the WEF wants to see. 

Now, as with redefining social contracts, there’s an easy way to resist the WEFs warped decarbonization doctrine, and that's to advocate for renewable energy solutions that actually make sense. Educate your friends, family, and community about the risks of decarbonizing too quickly. 

Additionally, acquire solar panels and power generators to become as energy independent as possible. Also, learning how to build gasifiers will come in handy when they start making it more and more difficult for the average person to buy petrol and petrol-powered cars. 

On a good note, Bitcoin will not be banned because of its energy use or carbon emissions. That's because even the WEF knows that the energy and carbon emissions associated with crypto mining are a fraction of a percentage of the global total, as explained in this article

They're just upset that they can't control BTC like other cryptos, which is why ESG-obsessed asset managers are impelling green energy disclosures from crypto miners. They are also investing in publicly traded crypto mining companies; it's their attempt at taking control, and it will fail. 

3: Digitizing Everything 

Bitcoin relates to the third focus of the great reset, and that's the digitization of everything. Essentially, every asset will be tokenized on a permissioned blockchain that the government and the central bank run. To clarify, the BIS is heavily involved with the WEF, and many of its members are so-called agenda contributors. This means they are directly engaged with the WEF’s great reset plans. 

The tokenization of all real-world assets in such a manner means the government and central bank could turn off your ownership of anything at any given time, for whatever reason it sees fit, including your identity. But having said that, we’re apparently going to own nothing anyway! I go into more detail in this article about the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and its vision of the future financial system.

Furthermore, the digitization of money, specifically the development of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), is something that just about every central bank is planning on rolling out, courtesy of the BIS.


A Blueprint for Digital Identity | weforum.org.pdf

To complete the CBDC puzzle is the dystopian digital identity. This is a prerequisite for the rollout of a CBDC since you need to be able to identify individuals, and it’s no secret that governments have been working hard on proof of concepts for digital IDs during the pandemic. 

A digital ID is also a prerequisite for widespread internet censorship, which the WEF apparently wants to implement with the help of artificial intelligence. It’s not surprising, given that information about the WEF and its affiliates is spreading like wildfire these days. 

To be candid, resisting the WEFs digitization will be extremely difficult. Of the five focuses of the great reset, it's the most critical pillar because if you control the flow of information and the flow of money, you truly control everything.

Case in point, Klaus Schwab explicitly stated at the great reset virtual event that they need digital infrastructure, such as digital identity, facial recognition, human tracking, etc., to enforce ESG criteria and all the upcoming social contracts the WEF cronies are cooking up in the organization's Ivory Tower. 

That means that it is imperative that you reject any form of digital identity that is not entirely decentralized from top to bottom. It also means you must acquire some form of currency that cannot be easily tracked, censored, or confiscated by a centralized authority. This includes cash, precious metals, and select cryptocurrencies. 

Also, familiarize yourself with decentralized social, video, and broadcasting platforms, like Markethive, the social, market, and broadcasting network, where your information and content are free from censorship. Freedom of speech. liberty, financial sovereignty, and autonomy are the tenets of this ecosystem built by the people and for the people. A sanctuary where entrepreneurs have every form of media at their disposal to further their entrepreneurial goals. 

It would be impossible for any so-called authority to shut down distributed data centers globally and sovereign servers which are entirely autonomous. Decentralized blockchain technology and cryptocurrency create an entire ecosystem, ultimately free from subjugation, and the solution for entrepreneurs and small businesses to thwart the opposition and continue to thrive.

Other platforms include Odysee for video, Theta for live streaming, and Arweave for uploading information. These cryptocurrencies will be significant as we endure this tyrannical shift being forced upon us. There are many alternative websites popping up; however, it’s good to be aware that many purporting to be for the people are essentially controlled opposition. 

It’s essential to understand the freedom of information and the freedom of money are the ultimate deterrence to the great reset. That's because the truth eventually overcomes indoctrination, no matter how often it's labeled disinformation or misinformation. 

Overcoming this depends on the ability to financially support the individuals and institutions speaking and propagating these truths. So it’s time to abandon the tech giants in favor of a new world order and get behind platforms with your best interests at heart. 

Pro tip: keep physical copies of all your most important records, such as land deeds, home ownership, documents, passports, driver's license, crypto wallet seeds, and the like. Even if expired, they will help preserve your identity if you become persona non grata for opposing the WEF’s ever-expanding agendas. 

And if you think that complying with them will save you, recent events have shown that it will only make things worse for you and everyone else in the end. The only winners in this system will be stakeholders at the WEF, which ties into the 4th factor; the great reset. 

4: Implementing Stakeholder Capitalism

It’s unclear how the WEF will introduce stakeholder capitalism, mainly because it's not entirely evident how its stakeholder capitalism governance structure works. The WEF has over 4,000 individual members and hundreds of institutional partners, with 100 of them labeled as strategic. 

How they all come to a consensus is anyone's guess. Even if we assume, it's just the 100 strategic partners calling the shots, it's hard to imagine that they're all on the same page about every issue. 

It was evident in one of Klaus's speeches from one of the WEF events earlier in the pandemic, where it sounded like he was desperate to keep the interests of these so-called stakeholders aligned. Now you'd think the real stakeholders are governments, but the great reset co-author  Thierry Malleret admitted at the virtual event that the private sector effectively controls the public sector through lobbying. 

In another article, I discussed the enemies of cryptocurrency and that Wall Street is one of the most prominent lobbyists out there. This means that the real stakeholders are the big banks, asset managers, and the central banks, as they ultimately determine how money moves in the economy.

BlackRock and Bank of America have been explicit in their intentions to direct capital to anyone advocating ESG and remove capital from anyone or anything that offends their sensibilities, regardless of ESG status, such as Tesla. So, this is how stakeholder capitalism can be fought, and that's to exacerbate the differences in interests between the different stakeholders at the WEF wherever possible. 


Image source: Twitter 

It's important to point out that centralized power is inherently unstable. That's because, as more power gathers, in one place, the more profit someone stands to gain if they stab the other participants in the back, especially if it earns them the support of the people. 

Arguably, elite figures like Elon Musk fall into this category. He may be seen as benevolent, or maybe because he figured out that he stands to gain much more by siding with “we the people.” He’s already richer than all the other elite figures, so he’s won their hierarchical game.  

So, supporting breakaway figures like Elon might be our best bet at encouraging more of them to defect from the WEF and ruin its stakeholder capitalism. There’s a strong possibility there are more stakeholders who are not happy with being hated by the public and can't stand Klaus and his clown company, who would love the get the same sort of fanfare as Elon Musk. 

5: The Global Rollout

The final factor of the great reset is the export of the WEF’s endgame to every single corner of the earth. Klaus explicitly stated during that virtual conference that the WEF would leverage its network of global shapers and young global leaders to ensure the great reset is implemented in every country. Klaus also specified that over 10,000 of these recruits are slowly slipping into various positions of power worldwide. And he repeatedly stated that the great reset’s success depends on this. 

This makes sense because there's only so much the WEF can achieve from the top down, and the pandemic proved this. Klaus and his cult followers saw the pandemic response as a “test of the great reset philosophy.” But, this top-down test didn't go nearly as well as the WEF had hoped, which seems to be why they are leaning so heavily on the global shapers and young global leaders lately. 

It's an inorganic bottom-up approach that pushes the WEF’s agenda in major social and economic hubs, and it's no coincidence that most of them seem to have been on-boarded during the pandemic. 

Notably, it’s convenient that the global shapers and young global leaders' websites are searchable. The former lets you see which WEF agents are looking to change things in your city, and the latter lets you see which WEF agents are looking to change something in your country or region. 

If you see a global shaper or young global leader running for public office, vote for a different candidate who represents your views but isn't aligned with the WEF. All it takes to double-check is a quick search on the WEF website, the Global Shapers website, and the Global Leaders website. 

Interestingly, the WEF blocked someone on Twitter for commenting on just two posts saying to vote against its young, global leaders. Note that the WEF gets lots of hate on Twitter daily and doesn't block everyone. So it would seem that undermining the WEF’s subverters may well be the organization's Achilles heel.

Klaus Schwab admitted at the end of that virtual event that they might not succeed, so let's ensure they don't. And remember that we only have until 2030. So, make the next eight years count through your selective spending, full attention, directed energy and informed voting. That's really all we need to do to defeat the WEF at the end of the day. 

Once the WEF has been defeated, the next order of business will be to create robust decentralized, autonomous organizations to replace institutions like the WEF and its affiliates. We need to prevent this degree of centralized power from ever happening again so that the average person can finally live in peace. Also, fix the monetary system, which has been the driver of this centralization since the dawn of time. 

 

Reference:
Coin Bureau
World Economic Forum

 

 

Editor and Chief Markethive: Deb Williams. (Australia) I thrive on progress and champion freedom of speech. I embrace "Change" with a passion, and my purpose in life is to enlighten people to accept and move forward with enthusiasm. Find me at my Markethive Profile Page | My Twitter Account | and my LinkedIn Profile.

 

 

 

 

 

Also published @ BeforeIt’sNews.com

Tim Moseley

Jump Crypto Promulgate Plans to Develop a New Validator Client for Solana

Jump Crypto Promulgate Plans to Develop a New Validator Client for Solana

The Solana network has been haunted by outages and slowdowns this year, especially during periods of congestion due to high demand. Still, the Solana Foundation is now trying to revamp the network to make it more stable, with a new open-source validator client to be developed by Jump Crypto.

Creating a new validator client for Solana is long overdue, as the protocol is now out of favor with users due to the attacks and outages it has experienced recently. Jump Crypto's joint venture is being conducted in partnership with the Solana Foundation. Both entities are working to reposition Solana as one of the fastest and most resilient smart contract networks.

The new development is expected to improve the accuracy with which Solana receives blocks and makes the network more resistant to attacks. The new features are designed to provide greater security to Phantom Wallet. It gives users control over reporting spam, which helps block contract addresses and domains. Investors can likewise earn SOL tokens as "rent" by reporting spam NFTs. Given the high risks involved with cryptocurrencies, users should exercise caution when transacting with third-party websites.

The process of building the new validator client will be overseen by Jump Trading's Chief Scientific Officer, Kevin Bowers, who leads a proven team of scientists and engineers developing complex algorithms, software, and Trading systems in the hardware and network space.

The move is significant because Jump Crypto, the Chicago-based subsidiary of Jump Trading, is a major player in the cryptocurrency world with substantial investments across the industry, including some Solana-related projects. Validators play a vital role in proof-of-stake blockchains like Solana by confirming the legitimacy of transactions sent to the chain. Anyone can act as a validator, provided they hold the desired amount of Solana's native currency, SOL, and transact in a way that benefits the network.


Image Source: Jump Crypto

Many Solana validators, including Coinbase Cloud and Jump Crypto itself, also offer "staking" services – allowing smaller users to add their own SOL to the validator pool and receive a portion of the rewards validators receive for providing their services. In response to questions about the relationship between new Validator clients and existing clients, a Solana spokesperson provided the following statement:

“In plain language, Solana Labs has an engineering team that is solely focused on building what has been the only software in the world that is capable of running the Solana network. Now there will be a second entire initiative that will be able to coexist and run the Solana network as well.”

In announcing the new validator client, Jump Crypto said the project would help accelerate Solana adoption, drive further technical improvements, and increase its network's decentralization.

Jump Crypto's assertion that its new project will improve Solana's technical performance will likely prove true, given the company's profound reputation for innovation. His contribution is also likely to be welcomed as the network suffered a series of embarrassing crashes and outages earlier this year.

However, the company's claim that its Validator client will increase decentralization may be causing a stir in some circles. That's because Jump Crypto has invested heavily in Solana and has made several rescues; most notably, it spent $320 million to rescue Solana-related projects from catastrophic hacks. Meanwhile, Solana's founders and executives appear to be working closely at Jump Crypto and its parent company.

Solana's close ties to the Chicago-based trading giant could irritate critics who argue Solana lacks the decentralization of Bitcoin or its rival Ethereum.

“Through Jump’s decades of work in solving some of the most complex networking challenges across traditional financial markets, we have seen firsthand the impact that improving a network’s speed and efficiency can have on an entire financial system,” said Jump Crypto executive and former UC Berkeley researcher Kevin Bowers, who leads the Validator project.

But for now, the infusion of technical know-how from Jump Crypto and the potential of the new validator client to bring more people into the network should prove to be an overall boon for Solana. This will outweigh the criticism of the project's governance structure.

 

 

 

About: Prince Chinwendu. (Nigeria) Rapid and sustainable human growth is my passion, and getting a life-changing opportunity into the hands of people is my calling. Empowering entrepreneurs provides me with enormous gratification. Find me at my Markethive Profile Page | My Twitter Account | and my LinkedIn Profile.

 

 

 

 

 

Tim Moseley

Does OFAC Really Know What They’re Doing? A War On Crypto And Privacy

Does OFAC Really Know What They’re Doing? A War On Crypto And Privacy

This month, we witnessed one of the most significant attacks on crypto privacy in the form of the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioning Tornado Cash. This led to protocols blocking addresses, funds being seized, and one of the Tornado Cash developers being arrested. The action was unprecedented, given that it was the first time we have effectively had sanctions placed on a piece of open-source software – essentially, restrictions on lines of code. 

For those unfamiliar with Tornado Cash, it has long been one of the most well-known mixing protocols on Ethereum. What it would essentially do is obfuscate or camouflage transaction history. This means it would anonymize transactions and remove all traces of where funds originated. Thousands of people used this privacy tool in the Defi space.

Unfortunately, it was also used for laundering the proceeds of cybercrime, which is the use case the Treasury focused on, stating that Tornado was a favorite tool of North Korean hackers and had been used to launder more than $7 billion. 

The moment Tornado was sanctioned, its website was taken down, and the code disappeared from GitHub. Not only that, but one of the contributors had his GitHub account banned. Circle blacklisted any USDC in the affected wallets, and RPC providers such as Infuror and Alchemy started blocking requests to Tornado Cash Smart contracts. 

Additionally, some decentralized applications also began to restrict access to their front ends for wallets that had interacted with the Tornado Cash Smart contract. For example, both Aave and dYdx reported blocking access from wallets that had interacted with Tornado Cash and even those that had received funds from it. Regarding dYdx, users who had insignificant amounts but were associated with Tornado Cash in the past were also blocked.

Dusting Celebrity Wallets Gag

Things were further complicated because someone in the community started dusting several public ETH addresses of celebrities in the space. In other words, they sent many small transactions to hundreds of known wallets associated with ETH addresses and their .ens official addresses. 

The likes of Brian Armstrong, Jimmy Fallon, and Steve Aoki were potentially committing sanctions violations by appearing to be doing business with a sanctioned protocol. What's even crazier than that is that some of those users who were subjected to the dusting found that they could not interact with Aave’s front end. These included the likes of Anthony Cesano and Justin Sun. 

The gag effectively points out the absurdity of such sanctions for users receiving funds from blacklisted addresses that they have no power to decline. The open nature of crypto is designed to cut out intermediaries, unlike the traditional financial sector that would use banks and other financial institutions to act as gatekeepers against such transactions.


Image source: eff.org

Is Code Fundamentally Free Speech? 

Perhaps the most chilling development, at least so far, was the arrest by Dutch police of one of Tornado Cash’s developers. Alexey Pertsev was picked up by the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) two days after Tornado Cash was sanctioned. The Dutch police have yet to clarify which exact rules Pertsev broke, but if it's just because he wrote some code, this is a dangerous precedent for several reasons. Furthermore, he is still detained and forbidden from communicating with his wife.  

The first thing we need to ask ourselves, however, is whether these actions by the treasury were legal. It is the first time that the treasury has effectively sanctioned a tool, a piece of Open Source Code that exists on the Ethereum Blockchain and which can be used by anyone for any purpose, albeit good or bad. Given that it is open source, that means it is akin to the likes of a public good. 

So that could be comparable to a road or a park; it would be as if OFAC were to sanction the use of an interstate highway because drug dealers drive on it. Or a more relevant example would be the treasury sanctioning the TCP IP protocol because hackers use the internet for hacking: It's impractical.

Moreover, just because a tool is sanctioned does not mean that the criminals will not use it. That's because criminals, by definition, have zero consideration for the law; they're likely to continue using the Smart contract as they see fit. Then there is the fundamental question of whether sanctioning a piece of code violates the First Amendment. 

To put it in perspective, thanks to a 1996 case Bernstein versus the DOJ, it's been established that code should be considered as speech, and if it is indeed speech, then it should be protected by the First Amendment. By sanctioning this tool, the treasury effectively says that speech itself is illegal. 

Now there is a real possibility that should someone want to challenge these sanctions, they could have a strong case in court. The Coin Center lobbying group is doing just that and believes the Treasury has overstepped its legal authority. The group wants to engage with OFAC to share their thoughts and will be exploring with counsel a court challenge. Additionally, they have had inquiries from members of Congress about the situation and are keeping the interested parties briefed on the matter. 

Furthermore, if, indeed, the only thing the developer did was write code, then that could also be seen as a violation of free speech. But if any legal challenges are mounted, they will take a long time to settle. Until then, the sanctions will have to be enforced, which means that specific Defi projects and protocols will continue blacklisting the Smart contract for fear of arrest. 

 

What Are The Practical Issues? 

Apart from the legal aspect, there is a practical consideration for how this will be enforced.  Remember, criminals will be criminals, and they will continue to use it. The code is open source and free to fork. Should that happen, the treasury will ultimately be playing whack-a-mole with a bunch of newly deployed Smart contracts. 

Not only that but those other crypto projects and protocols will also have to monitor not only the funds coming from the original Tornado Cash Smart contract but also from all the forked ones. This could quickly become a logistical impossibility, and projects will always have to worry whether any ETH they handle has gone through a forked version of the original Tornado Cash.

And speaking of which, there's also the broader question around who could technically find themselves violating OFAC rules due to these sanctions. 

If someone sends ETH from the Tornado contract to you, does that mean you are in violation? I mean, it's not like you can refuse to receive it. As we saw with those dusting attacks, protocols themselves have started blocking some of these dusted addresses. Could the Feds start going after any of those wallets that have received Tornado-tainted ETH? Could we soon see Jimmy Fallon dragged away in handcuffs? 

It's not even about addresses that have received funds. What about liquidity providers on a DEX? What happens if they unknowingly convert ETH that has been through Tornado Cash into some other cryptocurrency? Are they thus engaging with sanctioned entities? 

What about Ethereum miners? What liability did they have if they were to propagate a block that included a Tornado Cash transaction? Does that mean that they could also be flirting with illegality? Or how about that ETH that is sent to the ETH2.0 staking contract? What would that mean for Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake? 

What happens once the transition to proof of stake is complete? Will validators have to decide to censor certain transactions that their jurisdiction deems illegal? Could they get censored? So you can see how quickly this grows out of control. The crypto space has just seen a massive can of worms open up right in front of it. 

Now, of course, there will be some who claim that these actions are justified. Swiped funds from some of the most high-profile crypto hacks of the past two years have gone through Tornado. This was seen in the wake of the $100 million Harmony hack a few weeks ago. 

Why Do We Want Privacy?

Many people have been asking whether there are any legitimate use cases for Tornado Cash, a tool designed specifically for privacy. Essentially this all comes down to the broader question of why someone would want to have financial privacy in the first place. As the old saying goes, “why do you worry if you have nothing to hide?” 

Well, for plenty of reasons; firstly, because blockchains are public and transparent, everyone can see exactly what your wallets are doing and what you could be buying or investing. This is not the case with traditional finance, where your bank account balances and spending habits aren't public. The moment they are public, and someone can attach them to your IRL identity, it opens you up to potential physical harm if criminals ever want access to your crypto. 

Or perhaps you wanted to donate crypto to a cause that may get you into serious trouble in your country. For example, what happens if you were a citizen of Iran or Venezuela who wanted to donate to a journalist or newspaper that the government didn't like? Blockchain is immutable; you’d live in constant fear of being placed on a list of some kind. 

Or how about if you were a Russian who wanted to donate to Ukraine, not something you would like the FSB to know about? On the flip side, you could be a Ukrainian refugee wishing to hide where you are getting your donations from. This is something that Vitalik Buterin himself highlighted earlier this year when he donated to the country. 

Beyond such high stakes implications, it could also just be a situation where you don't want people you interact with on-chain to know what you do with your money. For example, let's assume that you get paid in crypto. That means your employer can see exactly what you do with that money and what you're buying. 

Or perhaps you're buying something from an online Merchant, and you don't want them to know what else you've been spending the money on or how much you have; just imagine the targeted advertising coming your way. Ironically this would be much easier to achieve when paying with a wholly open and permissionless form of money. 

These are reasons why someone would want to anonymize their transaction history. Some might say you could just use a centralized exchange; however, the whole point of the decentralized and censorship-resistant currency is that you don't have to rely on a centralized gatekeeper. Moreover, some people are just not comfortable having others holding their private keys, and can you blame them? 

OFAC’s False Press Release

In its press release, it was also pretty disingenuous for the Treasury to claim that $7 billion was laundered through Tornado Cash. That was the total volume of transactions, many of which would have been for such perfectly legitimate reasons. 

In fact, according to stats from Chain Analysis, only about 17% of the funds that flow through the protocol were tied to sanctioned activity. The vast majority, 50%, was related to DefI activities. That means that these users were thrown into the laundering bucket by the Treasury when all they were really doing was trying to anonymize their funds. 


Image Source: Chain Analysis

First Crypto War Had Net Positive Result

So this raises the question of what all this means for crypto privacy and also privacy in general. It's pretty clear that privacy is under attack, albeit this move by the treasury was prompted by concerns around the North Korean hacking. Still, this radical approach by the Treasury is so nonspecific for what it's trying to achieve that you have to wonder whether the folks at OFAC gave any thought to collateral damage. 

Many have drawn parallels with the early Crypto Wars, for example. For unfamiliar people, this was when the US government arrested Phil Zimmerman, a developer who distributed PGP cryptography online. They accused him of “munitions export, without a license.” 

They contended that his PGP encryption system was a weapon that adversaries could use. Really? It would seem they don’t consider that any citizen wants and has a right to privacy. Only criminals and enemy governments would want to encrypt their communications. 

Well, it turned out that there were many practical uses for encryption online, and various encryption standards have helped power the multibillion-dollar e-commerce revolution we've experienced over the last 20 years. What was initially considered a way to hide state secrets has allowed legal commerce to thrive. 

Many have also wondered why Tornado Cash got hit and not other well-known crypto projects, like Monero. Virtual mixers seem to be viewed with much more suspicion than privacy-by-default currencies. People could see on-chain how the Lazarus group was laundering its funds through the tool. This isn't something that you can easily observe with Monero. 

Moreover, the sheer volume of funds running through Tornado Cash made it a prime target, but this doesn't mean Monero isn't being studied and tracked. There may well be a robust state-backed effort to crack the ring signature technology for which Monero is famous. This is perhaps one of the reasons why the Monero developers pushed through some new upgrades to the protocol only recently. 

Crypto And Congress Take A Stand

There has been a genuine outcry from the crypto industry arguing that the Treasury Department’s actions to shut the Tornado Cash could be “unconstitutional” as people have a right to privacy. 

Abraham Piha, co-founder, and CEO of Web3-focused firm Tomi, told Cointelegraph

“Tornado existed only because most blockchains were not private enough. If successive updates of Ethereum or Bitcoin include protocol integrations like Mimblewimble, will the next step be to block them as well? This act is yet another reason to push for Web3, a free web, controlled by users and not by some big brother governments.”

Kenny Li, co-founder and core developer for Manta Network, a privacy-preservation protocol, said that the Treasury’s decision to sanction Tornado Cash is far-fetched and extreme, even though, in the past, specific individual crypto wallet addresses have been subject to the same treatment. But in most cases, he said, there was a clear case of fraud, hacks, or a Ponzi scheme:

“In this case, smart contract addresses are being blacklisted. Smart contracts aren’t people. Not only that, but people forget that Tornado Cash is a protocol, not a person or an entity, which means it will continue to run regardless of the sanctions. It is time that we realize privacy and anonymity aren’t the same, and Web3 is all about privacy.”

Additionally, some Congress members are standing up, demanding an explanation from OFAC. Specifically, United States Congressman Tom Emmer sent a four-page letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen regarding the unprecedented sanctioning of Tornado Cash. 

He posed a series of questions that sought to clarify the position of the Treasury Department’s OFAC. They were practical questions noting that Tornado Cash is a collection of several Ethereum Smart contract addresses that are not controlled by an individual or entity. 

Emmer asked what persons could be associated with those addresses and:

“Given that the Tornado Cash back-end will operate unchanged […] as long as the Ethereum network continues to operate, who or what entity did OFAC believe was reasonably responsible for imposing controls on the Tornado Cash blockchain contracts?”

Emmer posted the full letter on Twitter, stating that the growing adoption of decentralized technology would certainly raise new challenges for OFAC. Nonetheless, technology is neutral, and the expectation of privacy is normal.

Closing Thoughts

Firstly, I dare say we can all agree that those who engage in criminality should be brought down. The laundering of ill-gotten gains, be it through a bank account or a Defi protocol, should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. 

Those wallets linked to criminal activity should also be sanctioned and flagged. This is precisely what the treasury did before the Tornado Cash sanctions were imposed. And it's not as though this approach wasn't enjoying some success. Thanks to some pretty advanced tools and tracking services, law enforcement can catch such miscreants more effectively than they could in the past. 

They also have the power of subpoenas and search warrants. They simply didn't need to take this action against Tornado Cash. The collateral damage resulted in a loss of privacy for some and a massive disruption for all in the Defi space. 

As for those North Korean hackers, they'll switch to one of the other 100 or so laundering techniques they were using long before Tornado started operating. Moreover, given that tornado cash is nothing but code, it'll be hard to outlaw permanently; it'll be a game of whack-a-mole. It won't have the desired effect. And the collateral damage is already permeating the crypto industry. 

These actions also raise legal questions. Is this a breach of the First Amendment, and what happens to any citizens who have used it in the past? Or anyone that interacts with it? It's a legal quandary, to say the least. 

With legal challenges brewing, this could turn into a new crypto war. One, with a positive long-term impact, as we saw with the first crypto war. Or maybe the large centralized institutions will conform, and we’ll have a more amenable but less free crypto space. It does demonstrate how some developers will continue to embrace decentralization, and many of us as individuals will fight for our right to freedom and privacy. 

Reference:
Coin Bureau
Cointelegraph

 

 

 

Editor and Chief Markethive: Deb Williams. (Australia) I thrive on progress and champion freedom of speech. I embrace "Change" with a passion, and my purpose in life is to enlighten people to accept and move forward with enthusiasm. Find me at my Markethive Profile Page | My Twitter Account | and my LinkedIn Profile.

 

 

 

 

 

Also published @ BeforeIt’sNews.com; Steemit.com

 

Tim Moseley

Hidden in Plain View

Hidden In Plain View

by Jeff Thomas, editor, International Man Communique

Hidden In Plain View

In 1796, the US issued its first quarter dollar.

On the obverse, it displayed the image of Lady Liberty, and above the image (in case there was any doubt about the message), the word "LIBERTY" was prominently displayed. The coin was minted from silver (90%) and copper (10%).

Over the years, the design of the US quarter changed repeatedly. Then, in 1932, a new quarter (image #1, above) was issued that featured the image of American Founding Father George Washington. As before, the word "LIBERTY" appeared above his image—a continuing reminder of the primary principle upon which the US was founded. And as before, the coin was minted from silver (90%) and copper (10%).

So far, so good.

The quarter remained unchanged until 1965. The new quarter (image #2) was the same in every way, except that it contained no silver whatsoever. It now contained only copper and nickel. (At today’s metals prices, the intrinsic value of the quarter dropped suddenly to 1% of its previous value.)

Conceptually, the American people should have been outraged, as they had effectively lost the ability to hold real, redeemable wealth. The coin they would hold in the future would not have the value of silver; it would be a mere token. The new coin represented no more than a "promise of value" on the part of the US government.

However, there was almost no outcry. The reason? Because the new quarter still retained the same purchasing power it had when it was made of silver. As long as the quarter was perceived by all and sundry as having value for the purpose of payment, most Americans were content to accept the switch.

In 1999, the quarter’s design did change (image #3). The word "LIBERTY" was removed from above the head of Washington and in its place were the words, "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA." It might have been argued at the time that those words needed to be on the quarter to remind holders of the coin what nation had issued it. However, those words had always appeared on the reverse of the Washington quarter, and I recently saw a 1999 quarter that had those words on both sides—a very odd redundancy for a coin, which, by its very size, has little space to spare, even for essential information.

The word "LIBERTY" was still in evidence on the new coin, but it had been moved lower down, beneath Washington’s chin, and was now much smaller.

It would seem one reason for the change in design had been to diminish the importance of Liberty as an American concept. (Later, when the "states" quarters were issued, the Mint dropped the "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" on the reverse and retained it on the obverse.)

In any case, as in 1965, there was no outcry from the American people—again, for the same reason as before. The coin retained the same purchasing power, so the change in design was simply not an issue.

Some citizens may have a different slant on the subject. It may be argued that the two changes in the American quarter reflect the changes in the US as a nation. There can be no doubt that the value of US currency, in general, has been dramatically reduced in purchasing value since 1932. It is also true that none of the US currencies (whether paper notes or metal coins) have any true, redeemable value. They have only perceived value, which is subject to dramatic change, depending on economic conditions. (In the last century, the un-backed currencies of some twenty nations have been rendered valueless, as a result of hyperinflations.)

In 1796, when the quarter was first minted, the quarter was in itself wealth. The paper banknotes that came later (beginning in 1861) were initially fiat (during the war) but were quickly replaced by notes backed by, and redeemable for, silver. The redemption of US banknotes for silver bullion ended in 1968.

Today, if a US citizen seeks to build up his wealth, he cannot do so by holding the currency of his country. All US currency, whether paper or metal, only represents his faith in the currency to retain its value, which it is unquestionably losing. Therefore, merely by dealing every day in US currency, the holder is paying a hidden tax, and his wealth is diminished accordingly.

As to US Liberty, many would agree that that, too, has been devalued, particularly after 1999. Laws such as the Patriot Act of 2001, its expansion in 2011, and the National Defense Authorization Act of 2011 have stripped Americans of their constitutional rights on a wholesale basis.

There is an old saying that, "The best place to hide something is in plain view." If true, a reminder of what the US citizen has lost may be found in plain view, merely by reaching into his pocket and examining his change.

Unfortunately, there's little any individual can practically do to change the trajectory of these trends in motion.

The best you can and should do is to stay informed so that you can protect yourself in the best way possible, and even profit from the situation. We think everyone should own some physical gold.

Gold is the ultimate form of wealth insurance. It has preserved wealth through every kind of crisis imaginable. It will preserve wealth during the next crisis, too.

 


New Opportunities Are Emerging For Citizens of The World.

Freedom and democracy may appear to be struggling to stay alive in America, but there may be a knock-out punch ready to be released. The evolution of the blockchain-enabled metaverse is going to enable the 'Citizens of the World' to gain their own Freedom by democratizing power and creating a new world with new rules, new players, and new opportunities. For 99.99% of us, the metaverse will improve our real-world lives by democratizing power and opportunity.

Along with the major long-term trend of society towards decentralization and smaller-scale organizations, there are new opportunities developing to help 'Preparers' in the cryptocurrency sector. Businesses are beginning to issue their own Crypto Coins that can be traded on Cryptocoin Exchanges.

Markethive.com will release its HiveCoin (HIV) in the coming weeks. It has tremendous upside potential that is outlined in a Video by Founder Tom Prendergast, "Entrepreneur Advantage…".

Not only that, if you go to their website and register as a FREE Member, you will be given 500 HiveCoins for "FREE" along with access to several Earning Opportunities and online tools to increase your HiveCoin balance.

Be sure to check it out today – Markethive.com

Markethive

Tim Moseley

2022 Q1 Survey Reveals Over Half of South Africans Know Little or Nothing About Cryptocurrency

2022 Q1 Survey Reveals Over Half of South Africans Know Little or Nothing About Cryptocurrency

In many countries, years of ultralow interest rates coupled with the government stimulus unleashed during the pandemic sent cash flows into riskier investments, like tech stocks and crypto. Now some of those initiatives are winding down, and the potential for inflation to weigh on economic growth has many exploring safer investments than they'd gone for in the past.

Over the years, cryptocurrencies have become a viable way of conducting transactions anytime and anywhere. This is possible through users' ability to transact with each other directly without any intermediaries. Based on the value of their virtual money, cryptocurrencies are also referred to as money. South Africans use cryptocurrencies, but many still don't know much about them. The cryptocurrency space has been left to develop organically in South Africa, with no clear-cut awareness to encourage maximum adoption.

The Merchant Consumer Survey revealed that 53% of South African participants knew little about cryptocurrencies. Interestingly, nearly half of respondents said they would be more open to the cryptocurrency space if local banks offered such services. The report noted a considerable growth opportunity for crypto trading platforms on the African Continent. In South Africa, local exchanges lead the way, in stark contrast to the rest of the continent, where global exchanges lead in market share.

According to the report from Merchant, a global telemarketing firm:

  • Only 14% of South Africans have any significant knowledge of the cryptocurrency industry.
  • 23% of participants remained neutral.
  • The vast majority (53%) said they had limited or no knowledge of the matter.
  • 18-24-year-olds have higher literacy rates than any other demographic group, including 25-42-year-olds.

The survey also noted that cryptocurrency adoption in South Africa could be boosted if domestic banks embrace the asset class and offer educational programs to users.

Due to technological advancement, cryptocurrency is being used to a certain extent in South Africa. Businesses can accept and pay their employees using cryptocurrency without affecting their current cash flow. Additionally, some South Africans use cryptocurrency as a hedge against inflation. By purchasing cryptocurrencies when prices are low and selling them when prices rise, users earn more money than they spent on their investments. Through this strategy, they become financially independent from traditional banks that charge high-interest rates on loans.

“There is a real opportunity for banks to get involved in cryptocurrency as it begins to really take off on the continent, rather than waiting until it is more established – by when consumers are likely to have a preferred platform or partner who they have built that trust with.”

– Group CRO, Merchants

Another recent report by Bitget Exchange, Boston Consulting Group, and Foresight Ventures found that South Africa has the continent’s most significant cryptocurrency market, as evidenced by its more advanced financial infrastructure and fiat-to-crypto payment rails.


Source: BCG, Bitget and Foresight Ventures Report File

The report noted a considerable growth opportunity for crypto trading platforms on the African Continent.

On-platform exchange services, such as Coinbase and Gemini, have been less competitive in the African market. However, with few existing exchanges offering access to fiat currencies or local payment methods, it might be challenging for them to thrive in that market.

In Summary 

Despite the benefits that cryptocurrencies offer users, including lower transaction fees, increased financial security, and uncomplicated business operations, few people know much about them in South Africa at present. As awareness rises among local users, more will start investing in cryptocurrency and allowing themselves greater economic freedom over time.

Cryptocurrency transactions help to remove the procedural bottlenecks that plague traditional banking and financial services. Fearing a collapse of the banking industry or arbitrary appropriation of money by the government, Africans who live in politically unstable countries could be attracted to cryptocurrency.

Generally, it is expected that there will be an increase in cryptocurrency awareness amongst users in Sub-Saharan Africa over the coming years. This would drive the adoption of cryptocurrencies within the region.

 

 

 

About: Prince Chinwendu. (Nigeria) Rapid and sustainable human growth is my passion, and getting a life-changing opportunity into the hands of people is my calling. Empowering entrepreneurs provides me with enormous gratification. Find me at my Markethive Profile Page | My Twitter Account | and my LinkedIn Profile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tim Moseley

The Truth About Climate Change: There Is NO Climate Emergency

The Truth About Climate Change: 
There Is NO Climate Emergency

Large frameworks of science that don’t fit the narrative on climate change or global warming have been ignored by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Conference of the Parties (COP), and self-interested scientists paid by taxpayers. A formidable industry has been subsidized, creating intermittent, unreliable wind and solar electricity based on unsubstantiated science. 

The same charlatans now want subsidized hydrogen, costly inefficient electric vehicles, subsidized mega-batteries, and other appallingly expensive tried and failed schemes that impoverish people, create unemployment, transfer wealth and enrich China. Many parts of the world like Germany, Texas, California, and the UK have already had a glimpse of the Net-Zero CO2 by 2050 policy with blackouts, astronomically high electricity costs, and hundreds of deaths. 

The sentiments above are from Professor Ian Plimer, a geologist and author in earth science who edifies his thoughts in his latest book, “Green Murder.” He’s part of the global network Climate Intelligence (CLINTEL), an independent foundation that operates in the fields of climate change and climate policy. It consists of over 1100 scientists and professionals that want to get the message out that there is no climate emergency. 

Furthermore, in 2019, the unelected, unaccountable, transnational World Economic Forum (WEF), which is also the main driver behind The Great Reset,  gave 16-year-old student Greta Thunberg a public stage, rendering her a poster child for climate change. Greta’s comments such as “I want you to panic”… “Our house is on fire,” terrified millions of children and adults worldwide. 

But in a testimony to the US Congress on April 21, 2021, Greta stated that there is “no science” behind her comment; it was just a metaphor. At no point has WEF or its media-mogul trustees apologized for foisting fear on world citizens. 

“Crickets” From WEF

CLINTEL, the climate intelligence think tank based in The Netherlands, sent a letter to Borge Brende, President of the WEF, in January 2020, calling for engagement on the issue of the claimed “climate emergency,” writing:

“Despite heated political rhetoric, we urge all world leaders to accept the reality that there is no climate emergency. There is ample time to use scientific advances to continue improving our society. Meanwhile, we should go for adaptation; it works whatever the causes [of climate change] are.”

“We also invite you to organize with us a constructive, open meeting between world-class scientists on both sides of the climate debate. Such an event complies with the sound and ancient principle that all pertinent parties should be fully heard.”

There has been no response from the WEF to date. The WEF’s unwillingness to engage with CLINTEL in an open scientific debate on climate change suggests the WEF is not acting with “moral and intellectual integrity is at the heart of everything it does,” as it claims.

On Dec. 24, 2021, CLINTEL also issued a letter to the President of Switzerland, concerned about the ‘host state’ status that Switzerland had bestowed on the World Economic Forum in January 2015. The Paris Agreement was signed that year, and it appears that WEF has adopted the mission to push the Club of Rome’s Planetary Emergency agenda.

The WEF’s 2006 Global Risks report.pdf featured oil price shock and pandemic as two severe global risks. However, by the 2020 report, WEF had removed both from the list of risks and replaced them with climate change.

Now the world is experiencing a global oil price shock, an energy crisis, and is struggling to recover from a pandemic. Millions of people face energy poverty and famine due to skewed energy investment markets, much of it driven by WEF trustees like Mark Carney demonizing vital energy.

Good vs. Evil

According to CLINTEL, climate science should be less political, while climate policies should be more scientific. In particular, scientists should emphasize that their modeling output is not the result of magic: computer models are human-made. What comes out depends entirely on what theoreticians and programmers have put in: hypotheses, assumptions, relationships, parameterizations, stability constraints, etc. Unfortunately, in mainstream climate science, most of this input is undeclared.

To believe the outcome of a climate model is to believe what the model makers have put in.  This is precisely the problem of today’s climate discussion to which climate models are central. Climate science has degenerated into a discussion based on beliefs, not on sound self-critical science. We should free ourselves from the naïve belief in immature climate models. In the future, climate research must give significantly more emphasis to empirical science.  

Below is the World Climate Declaration (WCD) CLINTEL has published that fall on deaf ears as far as the bureaucrats are concerned. This declaration is based on scientific fact and must be disseminated worldwide so that people are aware and not deceived by evil rhetoric, trickery, alarmist literature, and the greedy agenda of the elite few. 

There Is No Climate Emergency

A global network of over 1100 scientists and professionals has prepared this urgent message. Climate science should be less political, while climate policies should be more scientific. Scientists should openly address uncertainties and exaggerations in their predictions of global warming, while politicians should dispassionately count the real costs as well as the imagined benefits of their policy measures.

Natural as well as anthropogenic factors cause warming
The geological archive reveals that Earth’s climate has varied as long as the planet has existed, with natural cold and warm phases. The Little Ice Age ended as recently as 1850. Therefore, it is no surprise that we are now experiencing a period of warming.

Warming is far slower than predicted
The world has warmed significantly less than predicted by IPCC on the basis of modeled anthropogenic forcing. The gap between the real world and the modeled world tells us that we are far from understanding climate change.

Climate policy relies on inadequate models
Climate models have many shortcomings and are not remotely plausible as global policy tools. They blow up the effect of greenhouse gases such as CO2. In addition, they ignore the fact that enriching the atmosphere with CO2 is beneficial.

CO2 is plant food, the basis of all life on Earth
CO2 is not a pollutant. It is essential to all life on Earth. Photosynthesis is a blessing. More CO2 is beneficial for nature, greening the Earth: additional CO2 in the air has promoted growth in global plant biomass. It is also good for agriculture, increasing the yields of crops worldwide.

Global warming has not increased natural disasters
There is no statistical evidence that global warming is intensifying hurricanes, floods, droughts, and suchlike natural disasters or making them more frequent. However, there is ample evidence that CO2-mitigation measures are as damaging as they are costly.

Climate policy must respect scientific and economic realities
There is no climate emergency. Therefore, there is no cause for panic and alarm. We strongly oppose the harmful and unrealistic net-zero CO2 policy proposed for 2050. If better approaches emerge, and they certainly will, we have ample time to reflect and re-adapt. The aim of global policy should be “prosperity for all” by providing reliable and affordable energy at all times. In a prosperous society, men and women are well educated, birth rates are low, and people care about their environment.

Epilogue
The World Climate Declaration (WCD) has brought a large variety of competent scientists together from all over the world*. The considerable knowledge and experience of this group are indispensable in reaching a balanced, dispassionate, and competent view of climate change.

From now onward, the group is going to function as the “Global Climate Intelligence Group.” The CLINTEL Group will give solicited and unsolicited advice on climate change and energy transition to governments and companies worldwide.

* It is not the number of experts but the quality of arguments that counts.

World Climate Declaration plus all signatories in pdf

World Climate Declaration AMBASSADORS
NOBEL LAUREATE PROFESSOR IVAR GIAEVER NORWAY/USA
PROFESSOR GUUS BERKHOUT / THE NETHERLANDS
DR. CORNELIS LE PAIR / THE NETHERLANDS
PROFESSOR REYNALD DU BERGER / FRENCH-SPEAKING CANADA
BARRY BRILL / NEW ZEALAND
VIV FORBES / AUSTRALIA
PROFESSOR JEFFREY FOSS † / ENGLISH SPEAKING CANADA
JENS MORTON HANSEN / DENMARK
PROFESSOR LÁSZIÓ SZARKA / HUNGARY
PROFESSOR SEOK SOON PARK / SOUTH KOREA
PROFESSOR JAN-ERIK SOLHEIM / NORWAY
SOTIRIS KAMENOPOULOS / GREECE
FERDINAND MEEUS / DUTCH-SPEAKING BELGIUM
PROFESSOR RICHARD LINDZEN / USA
HENRI A. MASSON / FRENCH-SPEAKING BELGIUM
PROFESSOR INGEMAR NORDIN / SWEDEN
JIM O’BRIEN / REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
PROFESSOR IAN PLIMER / AUSTRALIA
DOUGLAS POLLOCK / CHILE
DR. BLANCA PARGA LANDA / SPAIN
PROFESSOR ALBERTO PRESTININZI / ITALY
PROFESSOR BENOÎT RITTAUD / FRANCE
DR. THIAGO MAIA / BRAZIL
PROFESSOR FRITZ VAHRENHOLT / GERMANY
THE VISCOUNT MONCKTON OF BRENCHLEY / UNITED KINGDOM
DUŠAN BIŽIĆ / CROATIA, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, SERBIA, AND MONTE NEGRO

 

Source and Research: 
https://clintel.org/world-climate-declaration/ 
https://clintel.org/
https://friendsofscience.org/

 

 

Editor and Chief Markethive: Deb Williams. (Australia) I thrive on progress and champion freedom of speech. I embrace "Change" with a passion, and my purpose in life is to enlighten people to accept and move forward with enthusiasm. Find me at my Markethive Profile Page | My Twitter Account | and my LinkedIn Profile.

 

 

 

 

 

Also published @ BeforeIt’sNews.com

 

Tim Moseley

The Darker Side of Amazon’s Acquisitions

The Darker Side of Amazon’s Acquisitions

By Jason Bodner, EditorOutlier Insights

 

The Darker Side of Amazon's Acquisitions

 

Amazon recently announced it’s acquiring iRobot (IRBT) in an all-cash deal for $1.7 billion. The company is best known for its robot vacuum cleaners – namely, its flagship product the “Roomba.”

Amazon execs say the deal is a natural extension as part of its mission to move further into robotics and smart home technology.

But there’s a darker side to this deal than Amazon would care to admit.

As of 2020, Amazon’s Alexa devices were already in 25% of U.S. homes. They sit on the shelf, tracking, listening, and mining data from our daily lives.

And it’s estimated that the company has hundreds of millions of Ring doorbell security cameras active by our front doors.

Now the company will have up to 40 million Roomba’s zipping around the inside of our homes. Some of these automated vacuums even use advanced LIDAR (laser mapping technology) and cameras.

These technologies enable our Roombas to map out our homes to better see, understand, and avoid obstacles.

And with Amazon behind them, these devices are capable of monetizing our homes in a whole new way.

 

The Monetization of Our Private Spaces

A report from this past April revealed what most of us have guessed –our conversations with Alexa provide data for the ads we’re served by the company.

And Ring doorbells can watch and listen to us and our neighbors over 50 feet away from our doors, gaining more data on our lives.

But Amazon knows there’s still more data to be obtained inside our houses.

Bloomberg reported that the data Amazon will soon collect from Roombas could be used to determine the value of your home based on how big it is and what you have around the house. It could then combine that data with our Amazon shopping habits.

All this can create an even more advanced customer profile about us. With Roomba’s help, Amazon will know exactly what kind of throw pillows would look great on our couch.

And in the very near future, we may see it start to show us ads that pertain to what is or is not inside our homes.

 

Big Tech Won’t Stop

If any of us feel uncomfortable with a company gaining so much information about us, that’s completely understandable.

Big tech has a dark side – it’s as plain and simple as that.

If something as mundane as cleaning dog hair off the floor can be monetized, then big tech is going to find a way. And there’s no better example of an amazing monetizer than Amazon.

It has a history of buying up other companies like this:

 

Companies That Amazon Owns

Source: SMB Compass

 

It owns streaming hubs, Hollywood production studios, robotics companies, pharmacies, news agencies, grocery stores, and the list goes on.

It’s safe to say Amazon is immersed in nearly every major industry in our lives today – and it is constantly working on ways to monetize it all.

So it makes sense why Amazon has fought to integrate with so many areas of our lives. The more data Amazon has, the more it can market and sell to us.

And Amazon isn’t going to stop its acquisitions anytime soon.

 

 

It simply makes too much sense for Amazon to continue buying companies. When you play in the league Amazon is in, it’s cheaper to buy a business than to build your own.

This strategy has allowed Amazon to become the marketplace for basically everything.

And even with the huge anti-trust cases we’ve seen, the federal government has failed to rein in the Big Tech space, including Amazon.

So it’s hard to imagine anything can stop this giant.

 

If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them

“If you can’t beat them, join them” may be a cliché, but this is certainly a true statement with Amazon. Amazon is a giant, and as investors, there’s no way around that fact.

Amazon’s revenue in 2021 grew 21.7% year-over-year to over $469 billion. The company is expecting to see that number grow to over $522 billion this year and over $604 billion in 2023.

And with the recent stock split making share prices more affordable and attractive for everyday investors to buy, now is a fantastic time to buy shares of Amazon (AMZN).

Right now, investors can even get into Amazon while it’s trading at a discount.

 

 

Amazon is still down 17% since the beginning of the year.

But in the past month shares have climbed 25% – which is consistent with the forecast of a continued rally into the fall. Amazon’s current price and upward trend reflect a great opportunity to hitch ourselves to a stock with some serious momentum.

 


New Opportunities Are Emerging For Citizens of The World.

Freedom and democracy may appear to be struggling to stay alive in America, but there may be a knock-out punch ready to be released. The evolution of the blockchain-enabled metaverse is going to enable the 'Citizens of the World' to gain their own Freedom by democratizing power and creating a new world with new rules, new players, and new opportunities. For 99.99% of us, the metaverse will improve our real-world lives by democratizing power and opportunity.

Along with the major long-term trend of society towards decentralization and smaller-scale organizations, there are new opportunities developing to help 'Preparers' in the cryptocurrency sector. Businesses are beginning to issue their own Crypto Coins that can be traded on Cryptocoin Exchanges.

Markethive.com will release its HiveCoin (HIV) in the coming weeks. It has tremendous upside potential that is outlined in a Video by Founder Tom Prendergast, "Entrepreneur Advantage…".

Not only that, if you go to their website and register as a FREE Member, you will be given 500 HiveCoins for "FREE" along with access to several Earning Opportunities and online tools to increase your HiveCoin balance.

Be sure to check it out today – Markethive.com

Markethive

Tim Moseley

Why Liz Cheney Lost

Why Liz Cheney Lost

by Dana Loesch, Chapter and Verse

Why Liz Cheney Lost

 

Mean tweets don’t derail a republic but a weak economy will.

 

Liz Cheney lost in devastating fashion last night, 66-28% against Harriet Hageman. It was a loss of her own making. She doesn’t see it that way.

She unironically compared herself to Abraham Lincoln in her concession speech after accusing Trump of being a self-obsessed egomaniac. She called the Republican party a “cult of personality” but had her father, former Vice-President Dick Cheney, cut a campaign ad where he called Trump as an individual the “greatest threat to our republic” accusing him of trying to “steal the election.”

 

Twitter avatar for @deirdrekwalshDeirdre Walsh @deirdrekwalsh

New: Cheney's next step – her spokesman confirms she will launch a new political org (1st reported by Politico) -says will "educate the American people about the ongoing threat to our Republic, and to mobilize a unified effort to oppose any Donald Trump campaign for president,”

 

 

Twitter avatar for @TODAYshowTODAY @TODAYshow

“I’ll make a decision in the coming months.” — Rep. Liz Cheney said about possibly running for President.

 

Image

August 17th, 2022

 

The greatest threat to our republic isn’t a roundly-condemned riot at the Capitol or Democrat hyperbole, it’s inflation, recession, a lack of energy independence, over-taxation, weaponization of government agencies against political opposition, ironically helped by the civil liberties-violating, Dick Cheney-backed Patriot Act.

The greatest threat is not political jockeying and tone-deaf ambition from disgruntled candidates.

This is solely about one lone candidate’s political ambition wrapped up as some white-knight fever dream.

This isn’t about the “values” and “principles” Cheney and her surrogates invoke — what values and principles? Are low taxes, life, energy independence, a strong Second Amendment, and a fairly non-interventionist foreign policy not values of the Republican party?

Hating Trump is neither a “value” nor a principle. 

Acknowledging the achievements of the previous administration isn’t a violation of principles, either, nor a pledge of fealty.

Voters watched Cheney sacrifice attention from their values and concerns: inflation, recession, supply chain crisis, and high gas prices, in favor of fighting Trump. Her “fight” doesn’t pay rent, create jobs, or put food on the table. In fact, under the previous administration, those things were more affordable. 

During Trump’s tenure, we received one of the biggest tax cuts in our nation’s history, one of the lowest unemployment rates in half a century, enacted major deregulation, the Abraham Accords, no new wars, and the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, with Trump stopping per the advice of military counsel, unlike Biden after him. 

The left is eager to give wings to this flightless fantasy that Cheney “lost the fight but could still win the battle” but what battle, exactly? 

Mean tweets don’t derail a republic but a weak economy will. 

You can disagree with your party without burning down the barn and alienating voters. Politicians are merely avatars for voter sentiment. Blaming Trump for Cheney’s problems ignores the issues with Cheney that pre-date Trump. Her last name alone irked the tea party, who opposed the idea of family dynasties back in 2008. These criticisms laid the foundation not just for Trump, but also for a less interventionist GOP. Candidates time-stamped for the late 90s or early aughts aren’t appealing anymore.

I don’t know what battlefield Cheney thinks she’s on, but it’s not where the rest of America is fighting.  

 


New Opportunities Are Emerging For Citizens of The World.

Freedom and democracy may appear to be struggling to stay alive in America, but there may be a knock-out punch ready to be released. The evolution of the blockchain-enabled metaverse is going to enable the 'Citizens of the World' to gain their own Freedom by democratizing power and creating a new world with new rules, new players, and new opportunities. For 99.99% of us, the metaverse will improve our real-world lives by democratizing power and opportunity.

Along with the major long-term trend of society towards decentralization and smaller-scale organizations, there are new opportunities developing to help 'Preparers' in the cryptocurrency sector. Businesses are beginning to issue their own Crypto Coins that can be traded on Cryptocoin Exchanges.

Markethive.com will release its HiveCoin (HIV) in the coming weeks. It has tremendous upside potential that is outlined in a Video by Founder Tom Prendergast, "Entrepreneur Advantage…".

Not only that, if you go to their website and register as a FREE Member, you will be given 500 HiveCoins for "FREE" along with access to several Earning Opportunities and online tools to increase your HiveCoin balance.

Be sure to check it out today – Markethive.com

Markethive

Tim Moseley