Investors get full custody of their assets on centralized exchanges, which means they have to manage private keys securely. Although it seems too early for decentralized exchanges to experience mass adoption, the community hopes the next bullish cycle will solve hacking issues.

The worst DeFi exploits of 2022, occurring in October, caused users to doubt the advantages of centralized exchanges. Although many view DeFi as the future of finance, those incidents show there is still a long way to go.

A Comparison between Centralized and Decentralized Exchanges

New cryptocurrency investors usually prefer centralized exchanges (CEX) as the user interface (UI) is easy to understand. Meanwhile, users complain that decentralized exchanges (DEX) can be hard to explore since they find them almost unusable.

The saying “Not your keys, nor your coins” suggests that centralized exchanges do not offer users full custody of their assets. Although those platforms have control, they have access to their coins for trading or transferring them to decentralized wallets.

As for decentralized exchanges, investors get full custody of their assets, which implies having to manage private keys securely. Users can no longer access their funds if their private keys are at risk or lost. The lack of a central authority prevents them from recovering their holdings if they cannot access their private keys.

The Private Keys Allow Hackers to Own the Stolen Cryptocurrencies

The ETH balance of a Metamask user reportedly disappeared from his wallet, although he stored his seed phrase on paper. Those incidents and other hack cases in DeFi have caused users to wonder whether decentralization is an excuse for service providers to evade responsibility.

The victims of those attacks wonder who is accountable for their stolen funds, even if they stored the private key correctly. According to the crypto community, decentralized exchanges will not experience mass adoption in the short term. Although they hope the following bullish cycle will solve those issues, investors are moving their funds back to centralized exchanges.

Some Investors Believe their Funds Are Safer on Centralized Exchanges

Besides the incidents occurring in DeFi protocols, centralized exchanges have also been victims of cyberattacks. A classic example is Mt. Gox, a Japanese centralized exchange that handles over 70% of Bitcoin transactions worldwide. After hackers stole around 850,000 BTC, the stock exchange delisted and closed its website and trading services.

A statistic from Chainalysis indicates that most cyberattacks now target DeFi protocols. In 2022, platforms like Voyager and Vauld had to stop withdrawals and deposits and file for bankruptcy. Consequently, the users of those crypto lenders no longer have access to their funds.

The crypto community looks forward to accurate measures regarding centralized and decentralized exchanges. Both platforms should coexist harmoniously to allow investors to choose the one they consider better.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin is trading at around USD 19,617 and has accumulated a 3.2% gain over the last 24 hours. While its daily trading volume is above USD 43.38 billion, its market capitalization is about USD 376.23 billion, according to CoinGecko.

By Alexander Salazar

For Max Keiser, the positive effects of the adoption of BTC in El Salvador have been noted with a growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Investor and maximalist Max Keiser attributed El Salvador’s economic recovery to the adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender in 2021. He also noted that he had “high hopes” that the country could rise to the “challenge” that involves using cryptocurrency.

On the Nomad Capitalist YouTube podcast, the maximalist made the following point:

“Even down to the pupusa (an El Salvadorian snack of a corn tortilla stuffed with cheese and fillings) vendors on the street, who were maybe making $5 a day, would be shaking these people down… This is suffocating the economy and suffocating the willingness of people to want to get up and go out and take over. There has been an uptick in business activity and the emerging market is booming.”

Positive Effects of Cryptocurrency Use, According to Keiser

For Max Keizer, the positive effects of BTC adoption in El Salvador have been noted with a growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 10.3%, as well as a boom in industries such as tourism, where it increased by 83%. Keizer noted that the country is “wide open” for digital nomads.

Months ago, Samson Mow highlighted the advantages that BTC could bring to the country’s economy and to interested investors, and said he agreed with aspects raised by Max Keizer, who about two weeks ago, stated that the advance of the cryptocurrency, and its consequent projects such as volcanic bonds, will entail positive effects for various sectors of the Salvadoran economy.

“The minimum to invest is $100, thanks to the use of Liquid, and that opens the possibility for normal people to invest in El Salvador. Historically, the bonds were destined for entities with a lot of funds, and the minimum was thousands or millions of dollars.”

It is worth remembering that last March, during an interview for the El Salvador newspaper, Samson Mow, iconic cryptocurrency investor and CEO of Pixelmatic, creator of InfiniteFleet, and architect of Bitcoin bonds, explained the variety of opportunities that they present as a unique investment in its type.

The investor and architect of volcanic bonds in El Salvador, Samson Mow, highlighted the advantages that these could bring to the country’s economy and to investors interested in this special type of asset.

Keizer Advocates for El Salvador to be the Next Singapore

For Max Keizer, El Salvador could become the next Singapore, with Bitcoin at the center, with geothermal mining, as well as with appropriate securities laws to support the process and solutions, so that other neighboring countries can replicate the model.

In July, Max Keizer and Stacy Herbert donated $10,000 in Bitcoin to the families of police officers recently killed by gangs in El Salvador. Thus, they demonstrated the extent of the solidarity that exists in the world of cryptocurrencies.

“Max and I donated $10,000 on behalf of @bitfinex to each family of the murdered police officers in El Salvador. We were able to speak with the families, including some of the very young children, who had buried their loved ones today after making the ultimate sacrifice for El Salvador.”

By Audy Castaneda

Hugely successful Ethereum miner Chandler Guo is now the face of the EthereumPoW movement.

The rise of EthereumPoW (ETHW) kicked off what is arguably the biggest Blockchain war since 2017, when Bitcoin split into three competing versions.

In the early days of this new Blockchain battlefront, Chandler Guo, the former Ethereum miner and ICO investor that has become the face of EthereumPoW, came out of retirement to lead the upstart chain. However, Guo had more than that in mind.

Why Chandler Guo Took on ETHW

One of the curious things about Guo’s involvement in EthereumPoW (ETHW) is that he is no longer a miner himself. Despite this, it has become a major focal point of Ethereum’s proof of work. It is interesting to know how Guo, now retired, came to become an important figure in the movement. Guo says:

“At first I didn’t care about the merger thing, but when more and more mining companies came to me and asked for help… I wanted to help them and keep them alive.”

Even then, Guo was surprised at how quickly things took off. Shortly after expressing his interest in ETHW, the businessman took a short fishing vacation in Moscow to reflect. During that time, EthereumPoW started to gain a lot of momentum.

Guo went on to say that, “Seven days without internet and no signal, I was thinking a lot. I thought, ‘maybe I should do something.’ But by the time the ride was over and he was finally back online, “the price had already gone up to $12, double the price, and the developers already had more than 15,” leaving Guo simply exclaiming, “Wow, this is crazy!”

At that moment, Guo decided that he was inside. Having gone from indifference to acceptance, and suddenly overwhelmed, in a matter of weeks, Guo is now more grounded and philosophical about his involvement with ETHW, which has meant the end of his early retirement.

“Man, I’ve been retired for a long time. In 2017 I did the investment banking business, helping the ICO projects. I’ve been retired for a long time, but you always want to do something, right? So I think [ETHW] is a good thing,” he says.

Guo’s Controversy Regarding Vitalik Buterin and PoW

A recurring theme is Vitalik Buterin and his relationship with the Proof-Of-Work mining community. One area of ​​disagreement between Guo and Buterin was the existing Ethereum Classic (ETC) Proof-Of-Work (PoW) chain, which Ethereum’s founder saw as a “good” PoW alternative to Proof-Of-Stake (PoS). Ethereum.

“Vitalik is not happy,” says Guo. “He suggested to me that all miners should go to ETC, but ETC doesn’t have an ecosystem,” he says before concluding, “It’s not good enough.”

As Guo sees it, the miners felt as if the Merger forced them to do so, and the creation of a new Ethereum PoW chain was almost inevitable.

“So the miners are a little bit upset about that, so almost all of them went to the ETHW. Twenty mining pools and 5,000 miners. I think Vitalik helped me push this forward and push miners towards ETHW.”

Buterin Needs to “Shut Up”

According to Guo, who says he “helped [Buterin] a lot” and was once “the biggest ETH miner,” the die is now cast and the time for talking has come to an end.

“Keep quiet,” is Guo’s message. “Just let me do my job. Keep your mouth shut.”

By Audy Castaneda

Ether recently traded slightly above its low of USD 1,223 in September, but it has dropped by over 70% after peaking in 2022. The MACD has been trending sideways, which indicates that sellers target the next support at USD 1,000 and a further drop in the price.

The price of Ether (ETH) has consolidated over the last few days as the Fear & Greed Index reached its lowest levels in weeks. The token of the Ethereum network recently traded at USD 1,300, slightly above its low of USD 1,223 in September.

However, Ether has dropped by over 70% since its peak in 2022, bringing its market capitalization to just over USD 160 billion.

The Fear and Greed Index Indicates that Investors Are Scared

Although investors have experienced growing fear lately, the price of Ether has remained relatively stable. The Fear & Greed Index of CNN fell to 19, its lowest level since last month, when it was still at 47.

According to the data, momentum in the stock market has also fallen into the territory of extreme fear. Factors like stock price strength/breadth and put/call options have dropped dramatically, as well as junk bond demand and market volatility.

The Fear & Greed Index of CNN Money mainly focuses on the stock market but also gauges sentiment in other financial areas. Meanwhile, that metric has dropped to 20 for Bitcoin, indicating that cryptocurrency investors are also scared. Extreme fear in the market has historically caused financial assets to perform poorly.

In 2022, the US Federal Reserve (Fed) raised interest rates by 300 basis points and shrunk its balance sheet. Consequently, the upcoming FOMC meeting minutes and US inflation data will help determine how much the government agency will increase those percentages.

Since the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) upgrade started, many analysts expected the price of Ether to perform better.

Prediction of the Price of Ether in the Short Term

The weekly chart shows that the price of Ether has consolidated over the last few days. The coin has traded between the support and resistance levels at USD 1,223 and USD 1,420. In addition, its value dropped below the 25- and 50-day moving average (MA) lines.

After falling below the neutral point, the moving average convergence divergence (MACD) is trending sideways. The best way to describe that consolidation could be to call it “the calm before the storm.”

The price of Ether might continue dropping in the coming days as sellers target the next support at USD 1,000. The best option would be for the value of ETH to rally until it reaches resistance at USD 1,500.

Ether is trading at around USD 1,296 and has accumulated a 0.8% gain over the last 24 hours. While its daily trading volume is above USD 7.41 billion, its market capitalization is about USD 156.41 billion, according to CoinGecko.

Investors should research cryptocurrencies like Ether before buying them to know their all-time high, behavior, and possible future price. That will allow them to find the most convenient investment opportunity to minimize the risk of losing money.

By Alexander Salazar