COVID-19 has taken a toll on public health globally since 2019, and pharmaceutical companies have been competing to offer new medical products to the public. Simultaneously, the pandemic has brought a global surge in black-market vaccines, posing an extreme threat to public health.
The past few years have seen digital or virtual currencies come to the fore, thanks to the rise of cryptocurrency. Basically, digital currency is money that only exists virtually. Arguably the most popular, crypto is not the only digital currency in circulation today. There’s also central bank digital currency (CBDC), i.e. currency launched by central banks of countries, and stablecoins. As per a survey by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), over 100 countries out of its 159 members are exploring CBDCs in the near future.
Cryptocurrency can be a difficult concept to understand. Is it something fluffy out on the internet or is it an actual currency? The difference between cash currency and cryptocurrency is how the latter uses virtual coins or tokens. And the idea of cryptocurrency is that you can trade with other people who own crypto without depending on a bank. Let’s look at how to use cryptocurrency.
After a turbulent year of market crashes and bankruptcy filings from firms like FTX and BlockFi, things have not been looking great for the crypto market. Many cryptocurrencies crashed hard in the past year. For instance, on December 31, 2021, Bitcoin was worth US$46,224.39, but as of December 20, 2022, it was only trading at US$16,794.
Everyone wants to be in the metaverse these days. From Gucci to H&M, nearly all big companies are trying to make themselves known in the virtual world. Through the metaverse, brands get an opportunity to give their customers a more immersive shopping experience— shopping from the comfort of their homes but still browsing the aisles and looking at a brand’s latest collection.
At the fundamental level, a smart contract is a set of digital codes used to trade assets without intermediaries. Say you want to create a smart contract. In this case, you or the other party involved would have to digitally code the smart contract and its parameters, with both of you agreeing to the smart contract rules.
Three celebrities, including American media personality Kim Kardashian, boxer Floyd Mayweather and former basketball player Paul Pierce, were recently sued by an investor over their promotion of the altcoin EthereumMax (EMAX). What exactly happened?
As we have discussed in previous articles, crypto mining can be a lucrative business if you go about it the right way. When it comes to Bitcoin, miners receive 6.25 Bitcoins as a reward for every block mined (as of writing this article). As per the exchange rate at the time of writing, a single Bitcoin is worth US$17,330 which means that a miner would typically make US$108,312 per each block they mine.
The state of cryptocurrency this year has been one for the comic books, where the protagonist—in the face of a crisis—says, “But it can’t get any worse than this, right?”, and it does. It just wasn’t crypto’s year. From rising interest rates to mistakes made by cryptocurrencies like Terra Luna and CEOs like Sam Bankman-Fried of the crypto exchange FTX, a host of factors stunted the digital currency’s growth. It also led to investors losing money and becoming skeptical about its future.
Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our time. From a number of heavy downpours and hotter-than-ever heatwaves to droughts, things have escalated at an unprecedented rate. Temperatures are expected to rise by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius over the next two decades, bringing forth more natural disasters and extreme weather.
In November this year, two big league crypto businesses, FTX and BlockFi, filed for bankruptcy. FTX had a death spiral after news broke out that the Sam Bankman-Fried-owned exchange had used customer funds to make risky bets through his hedge fund Alameda Research. On the other hand, FTX was closely associated with BlockFi, with them having signed a loan agreement with each other and BlockFi holding US$355 million in digital assets on FTX.
TOKEN2049 London is the second part of the greater annual TOKEN2049 event. Every year, the event is held in both Singapore and London, bringing together a wide variety of Web3 participants from developers, thought leaders, founders and investors.
The recent FTX scandal has all the trappings of a Netflix drama series where the business tycoon—once lauded for his power moves—is brought down by greed, selfishness and the judiciary system (The Wolf of Wall Street, much?). The CEO of crypto exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, has come into the spotlight for bringing about the downfall of FTX and his other company Alameda Research. In November 2022, he filed for bankruptcy for both companies after a devastating collapse in the public eye.
n November 11 this year, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy protection. This was a result of CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s decision to save other crypto firms, such as Alameda Research. It led to major losses for the exchange.
Over the past couple of years, cryptocurrencies have become a mainstay in financial discussions. As of this year, there are 15,174 businesses worldwide that accept Bitcoin as a means of payment. This rise in the popularity of crypto has encouraged governments to open up to crypto, with El Salvador declaring Bitcoin as a legal tender and Ukraine legalizing cryptocurrency in 2021.
With a market capitalization of US$380 billion, Bitcoin has established itself as the most prominent cryptocurrency today. While Bitcoin continues to dominate the crypto market, its price crashing from an all-time high of over US$68,000 in November 2021 to US$19,775 a year later has left people pulling their hair, with some even attempting suicide.
