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Who’s more ‘criminal’: Fiat vs Crypto
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GM. Today on Money Printer Go Brrr newsletter:
Points vs ICO & Yield Farming: The engagement war
Who’s more ‘criminal’: Fiat vs Crypto
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Top Crypto Gainers (24h)
Points ⚔️ ICO & Yield Farming: A crypto fundraising and engagement war
“Points Guard” is an essay on the new pseudo-ICO crypto fundraising and engagement method. If you don’t understand what points are and why they going to be used and abused, read on.
shorturl.at/hEIK3
— Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes)
11:44 PM • Feb 8, 2024
So, there is this new thing in the crypto industry that you might’ve seen it.
From launchpads to layer 2s, various crypto projects started adopting a new way to engage users: Points.
Essentially ⇾ it’s a gamification practice. 🕹️
The question?
Which is a better shot at attracting funds and maintaining users engaged?
ICO (2014)
ETH was the first ICO ever,
great for gathering a crowd, but they're like honey to the regulatory bears,
Yield Farming (2020)
involves issuing tokens to users for engaging with a protocol,
one issue? ⇾ lead to rapid inflation of the token supply, devaluing the tokens and diminishing user incentives
Points programs (2023)
a new method where projects award points for user interaction with the protocol
points can later be converted into tokens, potentially through an airdrop
aim to avoid regulatory issues by not involving direct sales of tokens or exchanges of fiat/crypto for points or tokens.
it's a trust game - you hope they play fair so your points aren't just digital confetti.
collect those points and hope for a crypto jackpot!
Current project with such programs:
⇾ Blur – NFT marketplace – https://blur.io/
⇾ Rainbow – crypto wallet – https://rainbow.me/
⇾ Friend.tech – web3 social media – https://www.friend.tech/
⇾ Blast – layer2 solution – https://blast.io/en
⇾ Marginfi – lending protocol – https://app.marginfi.com/
⇾ Parcl – exchange for real estate synthetics – https://www.parcl.co/
🔗 You can deep-dive into this matter by reading BitMEX ex CEO, Arthur Hayes, paper:
If you're eyeing these Web3 ventures, keep a keen eye on how they handle their points system. 👀
It's a promising path, but only as good as the trust it's built on.
And remember, in the crypto wild west, it's wise to keep your skepticism handy and not put all your eggs in one shiny new basket. 🙂
“Who’s more criminal”: Fiat vs Crypto
Guess what? ⇾ Old-school criminals still swear by cash; crypto is just too "techy" for them. 😁
The US Treasury did some digging and found out that when it comes to hiding their dirty money, criminals are old school - they still love using cash over crypto.
It's all about cash being hard to track and pretty stable, you know?
And guess what?
They smuggle it across borders and even fly it out in private planes.
Let’s break this down:
Fiat | Crypto | |
Preference | Preferred 800x more than crypto for money laundering | Less preferred for laundering compared to fiat |
Volume | ~$1.6 trillion per year (2.7% of global GDP) | Dropped from 2.1% of total crypto transaction volumes in 2019 ($21.4B) to 0.34% in 2020 ($10.0B) |
Transparency & Traceability | Less transparent due to the physical nature of transactions | More transparent and traceable due to digital transactions recorded on a public ledger |
Use in crime | Used in high-profile money laundering cases like the "Global Laundromat"* and "Panama Papers"** scandals | Mostly involved in scams (don’t forget the DYOR) |
Regulatory Challenges | Well-established regulatory frameworks but challenges remain in tracking physical cash flow | Faces regulatory scrutiny due to anonymity features; however, inherent traceability provides opportunities for regulation |
a massive money-laundering operation that moved $20–80 billion out of Russia between 2010 and 2014
*a massive leak of documents revealing how politicians, celebrities, and business moguls used offshore tax havens to hide their wealth.
The full report here 👉 https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy2080
Why does it matter?
⇾ this latest report from the US Treasury is a clear signal that crypto's rep is getting a makeover,🖌️
⇾ while the bad guys are still playing catch-up with their cash stash, crypto is sprinting ahead, clean and compliant.
This is our moment to shine, proving that crypto isn't just about the hype ⇾ leading the financial revolution with transparency and trust.
Meme Of the Day
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What'd you think of today's edition? |