Not all digital money is cryptocurrency. Digital money can take the form of card or mobile phone payments, central bank digital currencies and virtual currencies such as Zuck Bucks.
Blockchain transactions are carried in blocks. The amount of energy it takes to add a new block varies widely depending on how it’s done.
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Ethereum, one of the world’s largest blockchains and host of decentralized finance, NFTs and billions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency, is poised to dramatically reduce its energy consumption.
As businesses establish themselves in the metaverse, the amount of financial transactions there will increase. This will come with previously unknown risks.
Proof of work mining requires specialist hardware, and as a result is energy intensive.
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The landmark change places Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies under immense pressure to follow suit.
Crypto trading platforms Celsius and Voyager filed for bankruptcy in July 2022, suspending all withdrawals, swaps and transfers between accounts and leaving users’ assets trapped inside their platforms.
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Because cryptocurrency exchange platforms act more like banks, they should be subject to increased oversight to protect clients’ assets.
Global central banks, like the Bank of Canada, are considering their own digital currencies as a backstop to prepare for a future where cryptocurrency dethrones cash as king.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Central banks worldwide are racing to implement national digital currencies, yet democratic considerations are hardly discussed in public. This has to change.
Some of the of 19,000 private cryptos in use by end of June 2022. Users have increased sharply in Africa after the COVID-19 outbreak. Silas Stein/Picture Alliance via
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To live up to their promise, both on the African continent and elsewhere, digital currencies must be globally coordinated.
Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, delivers a keynote speech at the Bitcoin Conference in April in Miami Beach, Fla.
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The craze for crypto-currencies continues to grow. However, the environment is risky for investors, not only in terms of volatility, but also because of fraud.
From initial coin offerings that are totally fake to fraudsters demanding payments in crypto, scams involving cryptocurrencies are on the rise. Two experts explain why – and how to protect yourself.
The metaverse might be a work in progress, but a key prototype – the virtual world – has been around for several decades.
Screen capture from Second Life by Tom Boellstorff