Lend a helping hand whenever you can
As mankind advances technologically and in other areas of endeavour, one would expect that those characteristics which differentiate and elevate us from the animal kingdom would also be enhanced but alas that hasn't been the case. We seem to have lost compassion or the willingness to help others in need or distress.
Rather what we now have from my experience are three categories of people as regards their reactions to those in need. The categories as I have chosen to name them are as follows:
1. **The opportunists**:this category seeks to benefit from the predicament or misfortunes of others. One kind of opportunist leeches on the dilemma of others to get likes and follows. They are the purveyors of breaking bad news first via their social media handles.
Rather that rendering whatever help is within their reach, they reach for their mobile devices instead to capture the moment which will eventually end of in the social media feeds to earn them likes or follows. This act of insensitivity is especially troubling as these videos sometimes have content that even the conventional media houses will not air out of respect for the dignity of the victims.
If they were even to air such content, the face or other body parts deemed as sensitive for public viewing would be blurred. Alas these 'likomaniacs' have no such ethnics, hence they do not have such boundaries.
The second kind of opportunist render help to those in distress on condition of getting something in return. They take advantage of the situation to request for something which they know the person is distress wouldn't ordinarily do or give to them. They leverage on the hope that they victim is in a desperate situation and will be willing to do anything to get relief.
2. **The indifferent**: This group simply pass by an accident scene or people in need without any feeling. They are simply not concerned or are too engrossed with their own problems or challenges to bother themselves with the plight of another. There are some though who weren't always like this.
They had unsavoury experiences in the past which made them 'turn'. While it is natural to feel bad when one gets hurt because of lending a helping hand, it shouldn't make one permanently seal the door of helping others. What one needs to do instead of becoming numb to helping others is to the cautious as there are indeed those who seek to harm or take advantage of those who are willing to assist others.
3. **The selfless:** this group is what every society needs. We simply do not have enough of them anymore. This group will ALWAYS render assistance to people in need. They can go above and beyond to ensure that relief gets to a person in need. They are oftentimes the object of jokes by those that belong to the earlier mentioned groups or categories who cannot simply phantom why someone would go through all what the stress or inconvenience to render aid to another individual who could at times even be a total stranger. If you belong to this group or category, know that you're one of a kind. Do keep it up even if it appears to be more and more 'out of fashion' to do so in today's world.
This write up was inspired by an advice a commercial bus driver gave to a passenger who boarded his vehicle while I was returning from Friday congregational prayers about a week ago. It happened that he had witnessed an accident somewhere within the city which involved the family members of the employer of the passenger in question, specifically the wife and child.
Their conversation revealed that although the passenger had been aware of the accident, he didn't go the scene where it had occured although he could have done so. It was further revealed that because of this he didn't know that his employer's wife and child had been involved in the accident.
It was this that prompted the driver to advise the passenger that whenever he happens to be within the vicinity where an accident occured he should endeavour to go there, perhaps he may know someone that is involved and possibly render any help within his capacity.
This piece of advise struck a chord as I have never consciously had this thought whenever I happen to pass by an accident scene aside from the sympathy for those involved. The way the driver gave the advise suggested that he was talking from a place of experience, hence the more credible the advise was although it wasn't directed at me.
Showing concern or rendering a helping hand shouldn't be an afterthought in our daily interactions or seen as an unnecessary burden. I say this because often times when rendering assistance to others we too also have some of our challenges or problems solved in the process although the latter wasn't our intention.
Just recently while helping a college scour the web for academic resources, I stumbled across a potential solution to a research challenge which I had never thought possible. In the end while helping someone else solve a challenge, I mine resolved too. Hence it was a win, win situation.
When a stable coin isn't so stable
UST and LUNA have occupied the headlines in the media in recent times. Unfortunately their presence there hasn't been for good reasons. They have both hit the doldrums with lots of skepticism as to whether they will be able to survive and stage a comeback. They appear to be within the firm grips of a bear hug with the bears showing no signs of letting go anytime soon.
In fact the bears appear to be applying maximum pressure to squeeze the life out of them. UST was designed to be a stable coin. Some have mockingly referred to it as an experiment gone wrong because of its present precarious position of losing its peg in a dramatic manner within a short period of time.
This brings us to an important question;
**What exactly is a stable coin?**
A stable coin is a coin which is supposed to be pegged at 1 USD irrespective of the market conditions. Stable coins maintain their peg by being backed by other assets. These assets include:
Other cryptocurrency
Fiat currency
Commodities like oil, gold or real estate
Using algorithms to regulate their supply based on the demand, buying assets when the stable coin rises above the peg and selling them when it drops below the peg
Stable coins are ideally expected to have very low volatility, albeit minimal. Thus there may be occasional variations from the peg. The low volatility is also expected to reduce the associated risks hence stable coins with solid asset backing can be a good store of value.
The UST which is supposed to be the stable coin of the terra network is currently in a quagmire as its backing has failed to keep it pegged at 1 USD. It is indeed in a precarious position despite the best efforts of the Luna guard foundation to shore its value upwards. The foundation had issued loans worth USD 1.5 billion denominated in Bitcoin and UST in an attempt to support the peg. But alas this hasn't been enough to return UST to its peg.
An article in Fortune.com suggests that the current travails of UST is closely related to the drop in the UST deposits in Anchor from USD 14 billion to 11.2 billion over the weekend. The article further stated that the reliance of UST on Anchor has been a source of criticism since the yields of Anchor could be subject to manipulation of being inflated by huge backers. http://Fortune.com
The depegging of UST has devastated LUNA. Aside from losing its place among the top 10 crypto currencies in terms of market capitalization, the token has lost more than 95% of its value, with some speculating that it may eventually crash to zero. This speculation may seem far fetched but with the present market conditions and the massive sell off we're witnessing across board, the worst may be yet to come.
Do Kwon, the Terra founder has attempted to reassure the 'LUNA army' in a recent Twitter thread that Terra ecosystem would survive and bounce back. See screenshots of the Twitter thread below.
Apparently no one has been spared from being hit by the current bloodbath as even USDT's peg has been somewhat shaken by the current turbulence that has hit the crypto market. Some crypto pundits have advised those who care to listen to swap their USDT to either BUSD or USDC because of their stronger backing that they opine will ensure that they will continue to maintain their peg if the present blood spilling which has devastated portfolios persists.
In the eye of the storm
The Defi space on BNB Smart Chain (BSC) was again hit by a series of exploits this week which targeted Jetfuel finance and MahaDAO respectively. The Jetfuel finance exploit resulted in a loss of about USD 3 million on its Fortress Loan platform whose collateral token Fortress (FTS) had just recently seen some very positive price action. This may have been the reason why it was targeted which at this point is a mere speculation.
The official statement about the hack on the Jetfuel Finance Telegram announcement channel reads thus:
"Fortress has been hit with what we believe is an oracle manipulation attack draining all funds. We are investigating to determine the exact method of attack.
PLEASE DO NOT SUPPLY ANY ASSETS TO FORTRESS! Fortress.loans http://Fortress.loans
We are absolutely devastated. We will provide updates as soon as any information is available.
This is the address that implemented the attack: https://bscscan.com/address/0xA6AF2872176320015f8ddB2ba013B38Cb35d22Ad
Transaction that started the oracle attack: https://bscscan.com/tx/0x13d19809b19ac512da6d110764caee75e2157ea62cb70937c8d9471afcb061bf
All stolen funds have been bridged to Ethereum and deposited into Tornado via 1,048.1 ETH & 400,000 DAI
https://etherscan.io/address/0xA6AF2872176320015f8ddB2ba013B38Cb35d22Ad
We need the support of all of our partners and key organizations in the community to assist and try to freeze and bring back the funds! IF THERE IS ANYTHING ANYONE CAN DO PLEASE DM US!"
CertikAlert summarised the hack via its Twitter handle thus:
1. The attacker bought FTS tokens
2. Took control of the governance contracts
3. Manipulated the loan contracts
4. Borrowed large amounts of assets from the loan contracts
5. Bridged the funds to Ethereum and deposited them to Tornado cash
The screenshots from Certik Alert Twitter handle detailing the attack flow are shown below
Barely a month ago hackers targeted Inverse Finance which is built on the Ethereum blockchain and exploited a vulnerability in the Keep3r price oracle to steal tokens worth about USD 15.6 million comprising 1,588 ETH, 94 WBTC, 39 YFI, and 3,999,669 DOLA . The route of choice again which was used to funnel the stolen funds was Tornado cash.
The series of hacks mentioned above focused on exploiting vulnerabilities in the price oracles utilized by the affected Defi platforms to steal tokens.
In Early May, Tornado Cash was again in the news after another Defi hack. Mad Meerkat which is the largest decentralised exchange on the Cronos block chain was hacked for about USD 2 million. This was achieved via a front-end breach of the project's app which resulted in funds involved in transactions being moved to the hacker's wallet. After bridging the stolen funds over to the Ethereum network, the hacker deposited them in Tornado Cash.
Back in January, 2022 Gizmodo reported that hackers who had stolen USD 15 million worth of Ethereum from crypto platform Crypto.com had attempted to launder the stolen funds through ............. ....can you guess? http://Crypto.com
Tornado cash once again
**Why Tornado Cash?**
It is what is termed in some quarters as an Ethereum "mixer". The mixer executes interference on the Blockchain to make the task of tracking stolen funds to determine their final destination difficult.
These recent channeling of stolen funds through Tornado cash seem to justify the accusation that it is now the route of choice for criminals to launder money in the crypto space. With the increasing cases of it being used in moving stolen funds it is only a matter of time before it gets into the cross hairs of powerful law enforcement agencies such as the FBI.
This may eventually lead to its operators facing criminal charges or being prosecuted and the platform possibly being shut down. Other mixers such as Best mixer and Helix were shut down in 2019 and 2021 after being paid visits by law enforcement agents amidst allegations of money laundering. Best mixer was accused of laundering USD 200 million while the operator of helix pleaded guilty to laundering USD 300 million worth of crypto in August, 2021.
Thus the operators of Tornado Cash will do well to clean up their act and put checks in place to make their platform unattractive to individuals hacking Defi platforms else they will be c culpable and find themselves in the eye of the storm that is gathering momentum against them.
Avoid these brand killers
First impressions matter a lot in life and in the business environment. Although the first impression might not tell the entire story or tell it properly, it often times forms the basis or foundation on which relationships are built, hence it is always ideal to leave a good first impression when interacting or doing business with people as it could well define your brand.
Maintaining a good brand is important. It is what makes you or your business stand out in the midst of the competition. Thus anything that has has the chance of tainting or smearing the brand you've worked hard to build needs to be avoided. It may take years to carve out a niche for your brand but a momentary act of indiscretion or non-chalance or impropriety could ruin everything you've built and shred your brand to smithereens.
From my little experience from venturing into a mini importation business as well as my interaction with other businesses, I have identified some practices or acts which have the potential to ruin or destroy any brand or business enterprise if not promptly addressed by the business owner. The list is by no means exhaustive. Without much ado and in no particular order, they are as follows:
**Not keeping appointments /delivering to time**
This is the most common flaw amongst artisans and content creators such as tailors, automobile technicians, graphics or web designers and printing press operators. It is so serious that if you meet any one in these line of business who keeps appointments or delivers products to time, you have indeed met a rare gem which you should tightly hold on to. Their propensity to disappoint clients has gained notoriety and is now seen as normal in some climes. In my country their tendency to fail to deliver is often the subject of comedy skits or jokes.
I remember one which I just watched recently where a bride to be who was preparing to tie the knot deemed it wise to check up on the caterer who was preparing the meal to be served at the reception. The conversation below was what ensued between them:
Bride to be: Hello, caterer
Caterer ( depicted chilling and had just finished taking a gulp from a bottle of soft drink): Hello, madam
Bride to be: Have you gotten to the venue with the food?
Caterer : AH! Na today?
His response indicated that he had not done anything with regards to the meal preparation as he had forgotten that he was supposed to cater for an occasion on the said date. If this was a real world scenario the bride to be would have gone into a fit of rage or fainted due to the enormity of the though of guests for her wedding going home empty handed from her reception.
Another hilarious one, was where a customer was holding a machete while sitting close to his tailor to ensure that the tailor promptly finishes the work at hand (that is his cloth).
These scenes may seem funny but they are a depiction of what clients or customers have encountered overtime in the hands of artisans in terms of failing to deliver wares to time or keep appointments.
On a positive note, not all artisans are guilty of these habits. I have personally had an encounter with a tailor who earlier delivers to time or even earlier than the agreed time. If you were to take an item to him for sewing and based on his workload at the time, he felt he couldn't deliver at the time the finished item was needed, he would politely turn you down.
This act of politely turning down clients when one can't deliver is what most of his colleagues have either not learnt or fail to employ probably because of the fear of losing clients. Ironically this act is what has earned this tailor respect from me and so many others because it shows that for him it's not just about the number of clients but about quality service delivered to time.
**Overpricing**
There is not hard and fast rule as to how much profit businesses should make on their products or services. However, when a business owner changes the price for premium quality products for those that are clearly of low grade, then such business has clearly gone down the path of overpricing. This strategy may seem profitable for some time but could wreck any business or brand in the long run.
The moment clients or customers discover they have been paying premium price for products of lower quality, they will flee from such businesses the way like poles of a magnet repel each other. Hence a better approach with fixing prices for products and services after duly considering all expenses incurred is to be moderate.
**Short-changing customers or clients**
Closely related to overpricing is short- changing or applying deceptive tactics while delivering services to customers. The moment any business is caught engaging in this ignoble act, that is the beginning of the end for it. News about such impropriety has a way of spreading like wild fire among clients who will collectively boycott such business.
In the area where I live about two gas stations have had to shut down because they were found guilty of dispensing less product than what was due to customers. Despite attempts at rebranding by one of the said stations, they returned to the impropriety after a period of sobriety and customers eventually caught on to their deceptiveness and fled enmasse.
Another aspect to this brand killer is deliberately selling faulty products to clients and feigning ignorance of such deficiency. Any vendor or business that engages in this may think they are being smart by ripping off unsuspecting customers or clients what they fail to relaise is that what goes around , comes around.
When they are eventually exposed they would have succeeded in digging the grave for their brand, placing it in its coffin, nailing it, placing same coffin the the grave and eventually covering it with sand by their misdeeds. Aside the prosecution that could follow, it would mean an effective end for such brand as no one in their right minds would likely ever patronise such brand even if it attempts to rebrand.
**Failing to upskill**
We live in a fast changing world where things are always evolving in virtually all fields of endeavour. The way things were done ten years ago is most likely way different from what presently obtains in any field or area one can think of. Hence it is necessary to acquire emerging skills or update the ones previously acquired in order to remain relevant in the scheme of things.
Thus any business that chooses to remain stagnant sticking to the mantra of :
'***this is the way we have been doing it***' will realise sooner than later that it cannot compete with others that took deliberate action to upskill to the current market demands or taste. A restaurant which chooses to continue operating out of a poorly built structure with no deliberate concern for aesthetics and the cleanliness of the environment will surely be met by the rude shock of low patronage as times have changed.
People no longer just only care about tastiness of the food, they now give due consideration to the environment in which it was prepared and how it is served as awareness of food safety spreads. Restaurant business is now a complete package of the food as well as the environment thus any owner that fails to give these two items adequate attention will definitely lose out to the competition that do so.
Similarly a graphics designer who stubbornly decides to continue doing 'crowded' designs will surely be doing himself no good as he will be limiting his potential clientele. The world of graphics design is currently tending towards a more minimalistic approach. Failing to adjust in line with with this trend due to rigidity is a sure way of not upgrading one's skill set and thus tending towards redundancy which isn't good for any brand.
**Poor customer service**
The greatest undoing for any retail or service based business is to have a poor or ranchour filled relationship with its customers or clients. This could be due to the business owner or the staff being ill mannered. Sometimes disregarding customers arises from such service provider or product dealer being the only one available hence the customers do not have any option than to bear with having to interact with ill-mannered staff or vendors. In this scenario the popular saying "the customer is always right" is reversed to the "vendor or sales staff is always right" hence you have to play by their rules or be denied service.
This reminds me of a scenario I witnessed at a PMS service station not so long ago .The usual practice when vehicles drive in is for premium motor spirit (PMS) is for the service attendant to pop the covering of the fuel tank while asking the driver for the driver for the amount of product desired. After dispensing the product, the attendant locks the tank after having collecte the fee for the product dispensed.
However on some occasions especially when the service stations are experiencing traffic, the driver usually has to pop open the fuel tank to fast track the dispensing of the product. On the said date, a motorist drove in and as there wasn't so much traffic expected the attendant to do the honours of popping the fuel tank to dispense product but rather than do this, the attendant on that fateful day ignored the driver while dispensing product to other buyers who came with Jerrycans.
After waiting for sometime the driver was irritated by not being attended to and inquired angrily from the attendant as to the reason for this. Rather than maintain her cool, she rudely retorted that the driver that if he wanted to be attended to , he should alight from the vehicle and pop the fuel tank open himself. This infuriated the driver who zoomed off to get PMS else where. Her example was a text book scenario of how not to treat clients or customers.
What business which enjoy the benefit of being a monopoly fail to realise is that the moment alternatives or other options become available, they can kiss their monopoly goodbye and aslo lose clients or customers who have been badly treated.
In conclusion, it is expected that every vendor or business that intends to 'go far' should have some sort of mechanism or process to elicit feed back from customers or clients. This is necessary so as to access its products or services in order to make necessary adjustments or amends in terms of service or product quality. Such mechanism will aid in no small measure in building a formidable brand which is sensitive to its clientele as well as operating environment.
The Pegasus affair
Pegasus is one of the prominent creatures in Greek mythology. It is a winged horse which has been reported to have aided Bellerophon in defeat of the dreaded Chimera and Perseus in his flight to Ethiopia to aid Andromeda. It is usually depicted in white. The choice of colour is by no means a coincidence as the creature always aided the hero or the cause of good irrespective of its origin story as there are several of such stories.
The Pegasus in this piece though doesn't have such a noble tale but rather more of a chequered past. Although its creators claim the best of intentions for its end use, the choice of those they have chosen to do business with speaks volumes. They market it as a tool intended to fight crime and terrorism but have not put checks in place to ensure it is not abused or misused for other purposes such as unlawful surveillance on citizens.
From activists to high ranking government officials, apparently no one is safe from being spied upon with the Pegasus spyware application which continues to gain more notoriety. The investigations that followed the gruesome murder of prominent Journalist Jamal Khassogi exposed the fact that UAE govt agents compromised Khassogi fiancee mobile device with the Pegasus spyware before his murder.
Although the chief executive of NSO group, the company behind the Pegasus software denied these claims, reports obtained from independent investigations by Journalists indicate otherwise. A more recent case of their software likely being used illicitly is that of the hacking of the devices of the Spanish Defense and Prime Minister where substantial amount of data was gleaned off their devices without their slightest suspicion that their devices had been compromised which is a trademark of the Pegasus spyware.
**What exactly is the Pegasus spyware and its capabilities?**
It is an advanced spyware tool which targets mobile devices created by an Israeli tech firm known as the NSO group whose employees have a background of being former members of the Israeli armed forces cyber division. It can remotely turn on microphones and camera turning such devices into listening posts or surveillance devices and download all data such as text messages and media from the infected devices without the user noticing while all this is going on. Whoever deploys the Pegasus app on infected devices can also eaves drop on the victim's calls.
In early or older versions of the spyware Infection was achieved on the targeted device when the user clicked links included in text messages and electronic mails. In more recent versions, the NSO group have upped the ante as the user does not need to interact with the message bearing the spyware payload which is termed as a zero click attack.
According to an amnesty international report, the first reported cases of these zero click attacks began as far back as May, 2018 and continue till date. The report further stated that the most recent documented case of this type of attack was in July, 2021 on a fully patched iPhone 12 running iOS 14.6. These zero click attacks exploit vulnerabilities termed as Zero day vulnerabilities which OS makers are not aware of (and hence have not patched) to infiltrate Android and iOS devices.
For Android OS , WhatsApp has been documented to have been exploited in 2019 for this kind of attack which for iOS, the iMessages software has been reportedly compromised in the past to execute the attack. What is more worrisome is that the Pegasus payload once successfully delivered has root privileges which implies that it has more control of the device than its owner.
Hence theoretically, it has the potential to be used to lock out the user from the device. It could also send incriminating messages the user isn't aware of and this could serve as evidence against such individuals for criminal prosecution or worse still allegations of terrorism or links to terrorism depending on the content of such messages.
It is in the light of the above mentioned scenarios and other potential abuses of the software that the European data protection supervisor (EDPS) advocated for the banning of the software as it was being used to intrude and violate the privacy of citizens which is unlawful and unacceptable. This is especially true when there is no legal backing for such actions by law enforcement or security agencies.
In pursuit of happiness
This piece isn't about the 2006 Hollywood movie starring Will Smith which chroniclesthe challenges one of which was homelessness that the main character of the movie , Chris Gardner had to overcome in his pursuit for a better life for himself and his family particularly his son. The movie was titled "The pursuit of happyness" and so doesn't technically have the bear the same title as this piece although some of the themes portrayed in the movie may appear herein.
Back in high school while, there was an interesting concept which we were introduced to which seemed abstract at the time but its real world implications continue to strike a chord on a daily basis whenever I reflect on it. The concept is especially relevant for those who decide to delve into the world of crypto currencies via either investing and HODLing or trading.
The concept was that human wants are insatiable while needs to a large extent can be satisfied. Satisfaction could be attained for the latter because needs are in simple terms essential for one's proper well being or even survival in some instances. Let me attempt to illustrate . At one point or another we may need to commute from one point to another hence the need for a reliable means of transportation. If the public transport system in a particular location is very effective, then purchasing a personal vehicle may not be a NEED for persons living in such areas.
However, if such an effective public transport system were to be absent, then an individual having to purchase a personal vehicle would then fall in the category of being a need. The concept surmised that human wants are insatiable because they are essentially borne out of our desires which by their nature can never be satisfied as they are unending.
In the crypto space if you always crave more without proper risk management your greed is likely to be unbridled and you are bound to get rekt or fall victim to HYIP schemes which usually don't end well. In the end the dream of hitting that dream super profit or returns becomes a mirage because of the unmanaged desire to want more and more which more often than not clouds logical or proper reasoning.
So it is in life, some hope that there is that point in the acquisition of material things or goals that they will hit or attain and they will attain happiness. In reality, true or sustained happiness cannot be achieved in this way. The reason is that as as humans we always want more and more in terms of material possessions. This is the basis for the concept in economics that was previously stated. Thus the pleasure or happiness of achieving such goals is usually short-lived followed closely by a longing for something else or a void of emptiness.
Corporations or firms that specialise in consumer products such as electrical gadgets such as smartphones and automobiles tap into this attribute of ours to their benefit. This is why they always have a steady stream of upgrades or new features in their product lines to wet our appetite of wanting more or the newest release in the hope that we will be overwhelmed by our desires and make such purchases.
The reality of life is that there will always be a better or newer gadget or possession than what you currently have. In fact if you're married there is definitely going to be someone more handsome or beautiful than your current spouse. So if your being happy is tied to a material possession or something that is transient, happiness will continue to evade you as there will ALWAYS be something better than what you currently have. Thus your happiness will only be momentary if you hinge it on the acquisition of the next best thing.
This is in no way suggesting that we shouldn't aspire for better things in life or set goals for things we intend to achieve. The point is to not tie happiness to these things as we don't always get what we want in life when we desire them. Hence it is important to make a conscious choice or decision to be happy not only in good times but even in the face of challenges while trying to achieve our goals.
Lock 'n' Load MORE $Cake
The much anticipated release from the Pancakeswap kitchen has arrived. It is indeed smoking hot with everyone scrambling for a piece of the $Cake. Fixed lock staking is now available for all $Cake lovers and the perks that come with it are indeed mouthwatering.
As I previously wrote there is now only one Cake syrup pool with the option of either flexible or fixed locked staking. Since the upgrade to MasterChef V2, the flexible option had been the only option available but users can now access the fixed lock option which has now been deployed on the Pancakeswap platform.
The fixed lock staking comes with the option of locking Cake tokens for a minimum of 1 week to a maximum of 52 weeks. As stated in the Pancakeswap docs on the new updated pools, the fixed lock pool will ALWAYS have a greater APY than the flexible staking pool. However, this APY is not fixed and will fluctuate as with other pools based on the number of Cake tokens staked in it.
Users currently staked in the flexible pool can easily migrate to the fixed locked pool by following the steps below.
1. Navigate to the Cake syrup pool
2. Click convert to locked button
3. Select the lock duration or period by entering any value between 1 and 52 weeks or choosing from the available presets of either 1, 5, 10, 25 or 52 weeks.
4. Click confirm and wait for the transaction to be completed for the migration to the locked pool
There is no limit as to the number of Cake a user can stake. The more Cake staked, the more the benefits that accrue to the staker. The fixed lock pool comes with the absence of the performance fees charged in the flexible pool. However there are some caveats that stakers must take note of. One of which is that a particular wallet address cannot be simultaneously staked in the flexible and fixed lock pool.
The implication of this is that if a user for example has a 100 Cake tokens and intends to stake 50 Cake each in the flexible and fixed lock pool respectively, such user has to send 50 of the Cake tokens to a different wallet in order to be able to use the two options available in the Cake syrup pool at a time.
The following cannot also be done until the end of the lock period or duration
1. harvesting Cake rewards or earnings
2. Withdrawing staked Cake
Stakers can however add more cake to their stake or choose to extend the lock period for more benefits as the APY and yield boost for one's stake increases as the period or duration selected to lock one's tokens.
Lest I forget, the maximum IFO Cake credit will also be obtained from the fixed lock or term staking pool. The PancakeSwap Chefs also hinted in the last AMA that other benefits are in the works for stakers who opt for the fixed lock staking pool. Thus if you're Cake holder who intends to HODL for long term, then the fixed term staking option is the right package for you to earn more benefits on your holdings.
ICYMI III: MasterChef V2 deployed on PancakeSwap
In line with the Q2 roadmap for PancakeSwap, the Chefs deployed MasterChef V2 on Wednesday, 20th March at about 9 am UTC. Although there were some initial hitches with the deployment such as inaccurate APR values for some farms and well as issues with voting power after the initial deployment, these issues have since been addressed and subsequently resolved. As usual the PancakeSwap PR team were consistent in notifying the community once any issues or bugs were detected and also promptly released updates as soon as the issues were resolved.
As expected with the deployment of MasterChef V2, several syrup pools were retired. The Cake syrup pool for example previously had three pools namely:
1. IFO cake pool
2. AutoCake pool
3. Manual Cake pool
With the update there is presently only a single auto compounding Cake pool which has only flexible staking enabled for the time being. However locked staking is expected any moment from now as seen in an update in PancakeSwap announcements channel. The update states that its deployment is scheduled for Monday, 25th April.
The fixed staking pool is expected to give give stakers more benefits than the flexible staking pool one of which is higher APR.
The first new pool to successfully be deployed after a favourable pool is the ANKR pool which has an APR of 172 % as at the time of writing this piece.
Other pools which survived the upgrade or update are :
1. CEEK
2. GMI
3. HIGH
4. GMT
5. TINC
6. PEX
7. FROYO
8. BSW
9. XWG
10. DUET
A big kudos to the pancakeswap Devs for making the upgrade a smooth one. I personally did not encounter any serious challenge migrating from the old IFO syrup pool to the new flexible staking pool. The migration process was made easy by the presence of what I would like to term a migration wizard.
It had prompts to guide stakers through the process of unstaking LP or Cake from the old farms or syrup pools respectively and migrating to the new farms or pools.
The next major update community members are eagerly waiting for is NFT gamification which is in the works and expectedly going to be released soon.
Cake has also seen some positive price action in the last few days. If cake manages to break through the current resistance btw 9.6 and 9.7 USDT, we may see a rally for 14 to 15 USDT if general market conditions remain favourable and the bulls continue to prevail.
The thin line between comedy and insensitivity
One of the characteristics which distinguishes humans from other creatures is the possession of empathy. Sadly most people seem to have lost this attribute. As one grows older with more exposure and enlightenment we tend to regret some things or preferences from our past. One of such things for me was being entertained by comedians who made jest of people's peculiar physical or health challenges such as stuttering and the likes. In hind sight I wonder what must have been going through my mind for such awful speech (which made mockery of things which the affected individuals could not control) to have been mildly amusing.
Empathy demands that we put ourselves in the position of persons living with such challenges or their close relative and see if we would have found it amusing to be the subject of ridicule all in the name of humour or comedy. I certainly know that I would have taken offence if I or a loved one was being made jest off in my presence because of a physical challenge.
The recent Oscar drama where actor Will Smith assaulted comedian Chris Rock brings to the fore an important question ,
Should there not be a limit to what comedians can say or make subject of their jokes ?
Some might argue that it might amount to censorship of free speech but then is there anything that is absolutely free in life without limitations ? . While I am not in support of Will physically assaulting Chris, the G.I. Jane joke which took a swipe at the alopecia challenge Will's wife was experiencing was insensitive. It was satirically a case of you have the right to free speech but cannot be guaranteed what happens after exercising that right.
Any man who cares for his wife would certainly not be pleased with such utterances. In fact no individual should have been pleased or amused by such a joke. The reaction of the audience is a pointer to how generally insensitive we have become when relating with people with peculiar physical or health conditions.
Will didn't do well for initially laughing about the joke only to rethink his display of amusement upon seeing that his wife had been hurt by the joke. Will's sudden about face is an important lesson for everyone to never turn a blind eye or be pleased when a wrong is being done to someone else simply because you think you aren't directly affected.
It is probably the guilt of his initial reaction to the joke an an attempt to save face that prompted him to want to prove to his wife that he wasn't pleased with her being the subject of the joke by landing Chris the slap. Alas the milk had already been spilled ant it was too little, too late. The Will Smith saga reminds me of a local adage:
***Do not throw stones in the market place***
The wisdom behind this wise saying is that if you throw stones in the market place , you cannot determine who is going to be hit by such stone as it could be a dear loved one who is the recipient.
While comedians like any other individual have the right to express themselves , I believe that there must be boundaries which should not be exceeded. You can be funny or crack jokes without making jest of the health or physical challenges of others . Better still you can also avoid being mean just to please your audience.
The crypto market just got disrupted
As the year 2021 came to a close, most people had mentally bid farewell to having a string of green candles as it was thought to be the end of what was a bull year. This was usually heralded by a period characterised mostly by the bear market in the following year(s). This had been the market cycle in previous years and any major deviation from this regime wasn't expected. On the basis of this presumption, what most had expected to witness were short periods of green every now and then. Indeed some had written off 2022 as bear market year with no prospect of significant positive price action.
In fact many had opted to move their portfolios to assets which could be staked such that even if the streets of crypto town were bathed in blood, some gains could still be made from staking rewards. Some others had opted to move a large portion of their portfolio to stable coins as a countermeasure to the effects of a bear market.
However what we're currently experiencing as the first quarter of what was supposed to be a bear market year winds down is somewhat unexpected. Indeed many were taken by surprise when the bulls broke free and took the bears unawares forcing them to make a retreat. Who would have imagined BTC making another dash towards 50K USD and possibly higher in what had been written off as a year that would be within the tight grip of the bears.
Several reasons have been put forth by analysts within the crypto space as to why the bulls have managed to take the centre stage. Of all these reasons I tend to align with the opinion that there has been a disruption to the usual model which determines how the market forces play out.
Development takin place in the crypto space presently is a at a pace which has never been seen before. Several new utilities and products are being introduced which are adding immense value to the crypto space as well as promoting more mass adoption.
The surge of interest in Non fungituble tokens (NFTs), rolling out of Web 3 and the MetaVerse are the prominent actors leading this disruption which is altering the market cycle. It is only a matter of type before yet another innovation in the crypto space alters how we relate with everyday concepts such as the way NFTs altered how we relate with art especially in its digital form.
And this is just the beginning as crypto currencies are taking the globe like a storm with governments beginning to realise that crypto currencies and indeed the block chain have come to stay. The forward thinking governments are looking ways to integrate crypto currencies into their financial systems so that they can also reap from it benefits.
We are indeed in uncharted waters with the current situation of the market and anything can happen within the twinkle of an eye. Hence the need to adopt appropriate risk management techniques even though the bears seem to have been put in chains. They could well be in the process of planning a counter offensive in order to retake the market when we least expect it.
Have you fallen for a honey pot?
A honey pot has several meanings depending on the context in which it is used. From the word formation , it comprises two words, Honey + pot . Thus the first meaning available in most dictionaries is
"a container for honey".
A second meaning which is somewhat related to the origins of honey.
It is common knowledge that honey is obtained from honey combs located in the bee hive which is usually a hub of activities due to bees coming and going in the course of fulfilling their respective duties in the hive. Thus the second meaning of honey pot is:
"Something which attracts people in great numbers".
In computing circles according to an article in Wikipedia, it is a computer security mechanism put in place to detect, deflect or possibly act as a countermeasure against use of information systems in an unauthorized manner. It is designed in such a way that it mimics a legitimate part of a site which holds information or assets that the attackers consider valuable.
Meanwhile in actual sense it is isolated from the real target of the hackers and monitored without knowledge of the attackers with the capability of analysing or blocking their activities. Honey pots are useful tools in protecting IT systems from attacks, the idea behind the concept which simply put is offering something attractive to the target which it will never get while getting it to willingly release something or information in its possession. In some sense it is a form of baiting those with bad intent to execute attacks which will never succeed in order to detect loopholes or weak points within the security infrastructure of IT systems.
However, the concept behind honey pots can also be exploited for malicious intent especially in the crypto space. When this is done, we usually have tokens which offer juicy prospects or returns on investments which are marketed or shilled to attract buyers only for such buyers to be left with tokens that are worthless after being purchased. This is because the creators of the tokens never intended for them to to trade able . Such tokens are only intended for one way traffic of being bought alone and can never be sold.
Hence it is very important to properly research about new tokens that are marketed as going to explode in value in no time as this could be a ploy to get people to lower their guards and go all in with investing. What makes this scheme all the more convincing is that buying such tokens usually proceeds seamlessly without hitches thus giving no room for suspicion on the part of the buyer that the process of selling when the time comes would be any different.
In order to help people in the crypto space detect such potential scams, some sites now offer a sort of honey pot checker. What these tools do essentially is to check if the contracts of tokens are verified and if such tokens can be bought and sold. The tool thereafter generates the results of these checks while warning that even if a token passes theses checks, it is not a guarantee that such token is free from being a honey pot.
A honey pot checker is available at honeypot.rugdoc.io
The honey pot checker available at the above link supports 4 chains. The chains are:
1. Binance
2. Polygon
3. Avalanche
4. Fantom http://honeypot.rugdoc.io
To use the tool follow the steps below
1. Select the chain on which the token is found from the drop down list
2. Enter the token's contact address
3. Click start
After following these steps, the tool will display the results or outcome of its checks.
The screen shots below show the results of the checker tool for two tokens. The first is for a known trusted token.
The second is for one which is suspected to be a honeypot as the Devs for the said token have gone silent since December, 2021 while the token cannot be sold on the same platform on which it was bought.
Hence in order to avoid falling for or falling into a honey pot , always DYOR in order for your funds to stay SAFU.
A must see: $Cake Q1 2022 road map
It is relatively easy for anyone to draw up a road map for a project. It is another ball game to diligently stick to that road map and execute every aspect of it within the designated time frame. Many projects fail in the execution part of their road maps while not keeping their investors or community abreast of what might have caused such failures and the steps being taken to address such. The failure in execution may have arisen during the setting of the targets or goals in the roadmap which could be due to being overambitious or unrealistic.
It could also be as a result of deficiencies on the part of those assigned to execute specific targets. Irrespective of the the reason for this failure, how the team behind the project handles the public relations (PR) in such cases matters a lot. Being prompt and proactive in informing the public about the situation of things can help reassure investors as well as allay fears.
I have highlighted the above because the $Cake PR team in my estimation has done excellently in communicating all progress as they happen in real time as well as challenges with the reasons for such thereby leaving no room for fudders to cash in. This is what is expected from any PR team that "knows its onions".
Back to the issue of discuss. The Chefs at Pancakeswap realeased the official first quarter roadmap on January 21, 2022. The road map has ten notable targets as seen in the photo below.
Between that time some of the items on the roadmap have been executed. They have picked up the pace as we approach the end of Q1, 2022.
Two of the goals (limit orders and perpetual trading) were achieved within a short time interval within the past few weeks. Thus far 4 of the 10 goals or targets have been achieved as pointed out by one of the admins in their official telegram group.
The fact that an admin made the post gives some reassurance that the dev team are aware that all eyes are on them to see if they can follow through with the audacious roadmap.
Some key targets which have been eliciting enquires from the community members are the gamification of NTFs and the MasterChef V2. The MasterChef V2 has been the cynosure of all eyes as it anticipated to herald the release of information about new products as well as tokenomics. Other expected targets are:
fixed term staking
hackathon
affiliate system.
Some community members are although skeptical about the ability of the team to pull through with hitting the remaining 60 % of the road map as the month of march winds down within a couple of days.
However others are rooting for the team and are quite optimistic that that team that was "crazy" enough to draw up the roadmap will pull through before Q1 elapses. This mad dash to the finish line in the last days of March has been dubbed by some of those rooting for the team as "***March madness***".
By the way, in the midst of all this "March madness" , Pancakeswap has partnered with Binance to integrate its Dex into the Binance Market place. It is available by pulling down the entire screen in the home screen of the Binance mobile app.
With this function, you can import any of your defi wallets and use it to interact directly with your Binance spot wallet.
Also you can directly trade tokens from your Binance spot wallet via the pancakeswap dex.
All I can say is that all investors in the $Cake token are hoping that the team can deliver within the time left as 100% completion will surely be a win for all because of the new features that will come into effect. For those who haven't joined the $Cake party yet this might just be a rare window of opportunity to hop in, before the chefs' pans go blazing hot. While for already existing $Cake holders and stakers, I have six words for you:
***HODL on to your dear $Cake***
Why people still fall victim to scams or hacks
Scammers and hackers have been with us for a long while. Although their mode of operations has evolved with time, their aim since time immemorial has either been to cause chaos or swindle people of their resources or wealth. Every now and then their schemes or new methods of perpetrating crime are exposed to prevent people from falling prey or victim. Such warning is usually effective for some time that is before the hackers or scammers device another means to get what they want.
This then brings us to the pertinent question, why do they keep succeeding? The answer is that they exploit our psychology, more specifically our emotions. This answer may seem rather simplistic and I will attempt to shed more light while citing specific emotional states which they target.
I opine that hackers or scammers usually bank on individuals being in either of the 4 states below or having these attributes listed below.
1. Panic
2. Greed
3. Over excitement
4. Negligence
I will explain each of these with practical examples where possible.
****Panic****: One of the reasons why price crashes via price manipulation in the crypto space occur is panic. Usually those who intend to benefit from price crashes launch coordinated FUD campaigns against the targeted tokens.
More often than not, they usually succeed because as humans we are bound to panic and sell to avoid catastrophic losses if we hear that something bad is about to happen to a token we invested in. Let me give another recent example, within the last week, the official pancakeswap telegram group was flagged as scam which I presume was on the basis of reports which were made by individuals who wanted to launch a fud attack on $Cake.
Luckily the $Cake Chef's were quick to act in countering the false allegation and thwarted the FUD attack in its tracks. Imagine if they hadn't been proactive and users got welcomed to seeing a scam label on the group, in the midst of panic the first thought would be that $Cake was a scam token , the next thought would be to quickly sell off their tokens before to avoid being scammed.
Another scenario where panic is exploited is when the scammers send out messages to individuals falsely claiming that their accounts or ATM cards had been hacked or compromised. Such messages are usually accompanied with a phone number to call or some sort of code to dial. If anyone who received such message were to allow panic overwhelm them at the thought of losing their money and then follow the instructions contained therein, they would have taken the first step in the direction of being eventually scammed or hacked.
****Greed****: I have heard cases of people being scammed in schemes that are flat our ridiculous in terms of what they offer as returns on investment. How can any platform or scheme claim to offer double of one's investment within a ridiculously short period of time such as 24 hours or the likes. I have encountered messages such as this on WhatsApp and sadly people still fall victim for such.
The only reason I can phantom as to why they fell for such scams is greed which they failed to put in check. It is natural to want a good return on any investment but the moment you start craving an investment such as the one earlier mentioned, just know that greed has kicked in and the story is very likely going to have an unpalatable end.
****Over excitement****: Sometimes we tend to get over excited when we come across offers that seem too good to be true. In euphoria of the excitement we tend to let our guards down thus missing the danger signs on the path to eventually falling victim of being scammed or hacked.
Imagine getting a message prompt of a 500 USD airdrop by a very popular token (from what appeared to be their official handle) which was advertised as a first come first served basis, if one were to allow the adrenaline rush that would likely come to play in order to be one of those that gets in first to cloud one's judgement, you would likely follow all the instructions stated especially if nothing seems out of place that is at least on the surface.
I am very sure most people would even grant access to their wallets if it was requested. Now what some might not know is that that seemingly innocent decision to grant wallet access could lead to opening Pandora's box and the entire content of such wallet being wiped clean. The wallet access granted would allow the hackers or scammers have unlimited spend access to the wallet except the would be victim quickly realises the mistake and revokes such permissions quickly and accordingly.
Another scenario is this, your mobile device has almost run out of juice and you're desperately in need of a charging point, there's a high chance that upon sighting a USB charging point, the excitement of juicing up your device so as not to miss an important opportunity might cause you to overlook doing the necessary checks on the charging point. If this were to happen and such charging point were hacked, you would likely become a victim of juice jacking.
****Negligence****: Scammers or hackers are usually hopeful that when they send out their bait messages, some individuals would be negligent not to see the messages for what they actually are and fall victim. This point is termed negligence because the anomaly in such messages is so glaring , literally screaming out loud that it shouldn't have been missed save for negligence.
This is what is at play when an individual decides to follow instructions in an SMS from a public number claiming to be his or her bank. Banks as a rule usually have customised means of sending SMS to their clients as well as official lines for voice communication which all customers should be conversant with to avoid being defrauded.
Similarly they also have dedicated secured websites and email addresses for interacting with their customers. Any dealings with other addresses other than these is an open invitation to being defrauded due to one's negligence. The crypto space is not left out in this regards, the popular mantra with crypto investing is always do your research. Sadly sometimes people are negligent in this regards and fail to follow the advise and end up investing in scam tokens or those that eventually end up as rug pulls.
Scammers or hackers usually bet on the fact that their would be victim is overwhelmed by one or a combination of the reasons mentioned above for their success. There is usually a higher chance for their ploys to work if a combination of these emotional states (such as say over excitement and negligence or panic and negligence) are at play.
ICYMI 2: Perpetual Trading now on PancakeSwap
The Pancakeswap team appears determined to take the lead on Binance Smart Chain (BSC) as it continues to roll out more functionality on its decentralised exchange. Barely a week after it rolled out the limit order function on its Dex, a teaser photo appeared about an upcoming feature due for release which kept people guessing as to what it might be.
They did not keep their audience guessing and waiting for too long, as soon afterwards an official announcement were made via its social media handles that perpetual trading was now available on its Dex.
Visiting the perpetual trading section on PancakeSwap can be accessed via two routes.
1. Visiting the URL: https://perp.pancakeswap.finance/en/futures/BTCUSDT
Or
2. Visit pancakeswap.finance navigate to the Trade tab and then click on perpetual tab just after the liquidity http://pancakeswap.finance
Irrespective of whatever route you chose, once you have arrived at the perpetual section, you should see something similar to the screen below for those accessing the site via mobile devices while a more detailed view will be available on a desktop browser.
The opened perpetual interface contains the usual trading data such as 24 Hour high and low, trading volume for the assets in the chosen trading pair as well as charts, order book and trades. The menu button opens a simple interface which brings up the settings tab which allows the user to chose between light and dark theme .
There are a good number of trading pairs with USDT presently available. Please see screenshot below. Hopefully more trading pairs will be added in the no distant future.
Once the user selects a desired trading pair, they can then adjust other parameters or settings to their taste or desires.
There's a section on the perpetual page which contains the following information :
Position
Open orders
Order history
Trade history
Transaction history
Assets
A trading competition is ongoing with rewards for traders that utilize the perpetual trading platform. This will no doubt serve as an incentive for some new traders to try out it out. With an eye catching road map for 2022, It may only be a matter of time before $ Cake begins to make some significant price gains.
Who knows it may even surpass its previous all time high of about 42 USD once the bulls take charge of the market. Do you own any $Cake tokens? If yes, are you currently taking benefit of the variety of staking pools available to earn new tokens?
You should try doing so especially if you do not want to risk impermanent losses by farming via providing liquidity.
Leveraging on A.I. in cryptotrading
Having to constantly monitor charts and knowledge of technical analysis is one of the essential tools needed to engage in "active" cryptotrading. The absence of these two could result in one's portfolio getting rekt when there's a shake up in the market. The hard truth is that actively trading in cryptocurrency just like many other endeavours in life isn't meant for everyone. It takes a great deal of grit to remain calm while everyone else is panicking especially when the candles turn red.
However advances in artificial intelligence have provided a way out for those who do not have the time to constantly monitor charts and are neither they proficient in technical analysis. There are now several trading bots available in the crypto space which offer services to meet the needs of the various classes of individuals interested in trading.
There are bots that satisfy the needs of those who have some knowledge of technical analysis but do not have the time to constantly monitor prices or charts. For this class of traders all they need to do is to select their desired token for trading, set up the take profit margin or ratio as well as the targets points for buying and the bot does the rest.
For another group of would be traders who have neither the time to monitor trades nor knowledge of technical analysis, there are bots that offer the option of "copy trading' experienced traders such that the only thing the user needs to set up or established is the trading capital to be invested and wait patiently for the bot to execute the trades it copies on their behalf.
The aforementioned bot types follow the common and conventional trading model while there is yet another bot type that utilizes a not so conventional trading model. These are arbitrage bots. These bots take advantage of the price differences for tokens between exchanges or within an exchange among cryptocurrencies to make profitable trades. The price differentials between exchanges for tokens which these bots exploit could be due to factors such as trading volume.
It should be noted that although trading with arbitrage trading bots attracts lower risk, it also has little profit margin per trade except where a large amount is invested in a particular trade. Another reason why arbitrage trading is typified by lower risk is that less time is spent per trade when compared to the conventional trading models. However in order to make a substantial profit, several trades based on available arbitrage opportunities need to be executed within a short period of time. It should also be noted that losses can and do occur with arbitrage trading bots but not usually in the magnitude of the conventional spot or leveraged trading.
Trading wit bots in the conventional trading model is usually more profitable during a bull market or run. Such bots usually buy the dips during the bear market and sell based on the take profit margin set by the user, hence profit can still be made but clearly less than what is obtainable in a bull cycle.
Although A.I. continues to advance at amazing paces as seen with not trading, there's still that aspect of factoring in market sentiment in decision making during trading that still leaves more to be desired. For example if a bot is programmed to buy the dips for a particular token, it will continue to do so even if it that token is dipping so fast which a human trader would have most likely halted buying especially when there is lots of FUD and there is a high chance that the token may not recover for a long while. The bots do not have the capacity at least for now to include such information in their decision making process of buying low.
There are a number of trading bots out there such as Pionex, Coinrule,Royal Q, CALA which offer to take the burden of trading off the investor for a fee which could be paid at intervals depending on the makers of the bot such as monthly or yearly .
Have you ever used a bot for trading cryptocurrencies? What was the experience like and if you haven't tried bot trading previously would you be willing to do so in future?
Please feel free to air your views or opinions in the comments section.
ICYMI: PancakeSwap now supports limit orders
One challenge which most users face while using decentralised exchanges is the ability to trade or swap tokens at higher prices without having to constantly open up their Dapp browsers to monitor prices to determine if their desired target has been reached. This can indeed be frustrating because of how prices can fluctuate in the crypto verse.
In order to overcome this challenge users such as myself are often faced with the task of having to transfer assets to centralised exchanges which offer spot trading functionality. This would require though that the amount of token one possesses must have reached the minimum benchmark for being eligible for trading. In Binance for example, this minimum is usually avout 10 USD worth of token. Thus any token less than this value cannot be traded on such centralised exchanges whereas this is not the case with decentralised exchanges where less amount of tokens can be traded or swapped instantly.
To address this issue for users of its trading function for BEP20 tokens on its decentralised exchange, PancakeSwap has now added the limit order function accessible via a new tab on its swap or trade section. To access this function on PancakeSwap.finance navigate to the trade tab and then select the limit order tab which is located after the liquidity tab.
In simple terms
Visit Pancakeswap.finance
Connect your wallet
Click the trade button or tab
Click limit order to choose the token pairs you intend to trade
Set your price
See the Screenshots below :
As the feature is still new, in using it you can only presently set a price that is above the market price for your trades or swaps. I cannot say if all BEP 20 trading pairs are supported but I think all tokens officially supported by PancakeSwap should be, provided there is sufficient liquidity.
It is certainly hoped that this is just a taste or piece of the cake for things to come in the impressive 2022 road map for Pancakeswap. Lest I forget another IFO is just around the corner. This time the token to be flippened is Duet protocol.
Shukran
Danke
Merci
Gracias
ขอบคุณ
ধন্যবাদ
Спасибо
for reading.
Taxes on digital assets: Governments Vs The People
While other countries such as Dubai and El-Savador are thinking of ways to attract innovations in the digital currency space, the Indian government's tax proposal will adversely impact trade in crypto currencies, putting it mildly it will stifle any prospective investment or development in the Indian crypto space. The effect this law will have is already being felt as there are reports indicating that crypto exchanges are packing their bags in preparation for exiting India.
The proposal by the Indian Finance Minister places earnings from crypto currencies and NFT's within the 30 percent band. This band is the highest tax band in India. To make things worse the Government furthermore introduced a 1 percent tax deducted at source (TDS) on digital assets. In what seems to be a further attempt to discourage trading in digital currencies, the minister stated that losses from their sale cannot be offset against other income sources.
The practical implications of this tax regime is that If someone in India was receiving a profit of 100 USD from monthly crypto transactions, with this new tax regime, the total tax due would be around 40 USD or more. The prospect of such reductions in profits due to tax deductions will surely discourage trade or investments in digital assets or currencies. Ironically despite this tax regime , the Indian Government maintains its stand of on legally recognising digital currencies or assets has not changed in anyway.
In the United States, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) considers cryptocurrencies to be properties, the implication of this is that taxes are due on them the same way taxes are due on other assets like gold. There was a recent report of the IRS sending out educational or informative mails or notices to about 10,000 individuals whom it reckons have had dealings with digital currencies or assets. It is only a matter of time before these individuals will also be served notices for tax due or collection by the IRS.
And there's more. It is unarguable that the present talk of crypto town are NFT's. They too are apparently not left out in the tax regime for digital assets. I recently received an email from CoinGecko explaining how the taxes are applicable to NFTs. Thus all credits goes to CoinGecko for the texts that follow.
There are many ways for you to acquire and use your NFTs. With each transaction, you’re triggering a capital gain or loss and so your NFTs may be taxable. The following are the various NFT scenarios you may encounter and it’s important to be aware of their tax implications.
1. ****Buying NFTs****
Buying an NFT can create a capital gain depending on how you buy it.
Scenario 1: You already have some crypto readily available in your account and you use that to buy an NFT.
This will trigger a capital gain or loss on the sale of crypto as buying an NFT with crypto is like selling the crypto for USD and using that to buy NFT.
Scenario 2: You buy some crypto just to buy an NFT.
If it is an immediate transaction, there may not be much or any capital gain or loss. Nonetheless, you should still report this transaction on Form 8949.
Scenario 3: You buy an NFT directly with USD.
Congratulations, you’ve experienced a rare non-taxable event! In this case, the amount of USD you paid is your cost basis, and you’ll have a capital gain or loss if and when you sell the NFT.
Scenario 4: You buy an NFT off-chain and then move it to your wallet.
This is similar to purchasing directly with USD so it’s non-taxable. In this case, the cost basis is not recorded on the blockchain but there is still the value that you paid for the asset. You should still record the amount.
2****. Reselling NFTs****
Just like other cryptocurrencies, NFTs are considered sold when you sell them for USD, use them to buy something, or trade them for other tokens. As such, it would trigger a capital gain or loss event and will be taxable.
***What about collectibles?*** Consider it similar to holding a cryptocurrency. It is non-taxable until you sell it. The long-term gains from selling NFT are subject to a maximum of 28% tax rate. If you’re not sure whether an NFT is a collectible or not, consult an NFT tax professional.
3. ****Trading NFT for NFT****
Without any extra steps in between, trading an NFT for another is akin to swapping BTC to ETH. Therefore, as far as the IRS is concerned, this triggers a capital gain or loss as you are “selling” the first NFT for USD and then using USD to buy the second NFT. This is a taxable event.
4. ****Fractionalized NFTs****
A fractionalized NFT is a small piece of a larger work. As an investor, you can generally treat a fractionalized NFT like any other NFTs for tax purposes. However, in some cases, owning a fractionalized NFT may be considered ownership in a partnership in a pool of funds.
5. ****Pooling Funds to Buy NFTs****
If you pool your money with some friends and purchase an NFT together, you would still need to report it on your taxes. To make things less complicated, it’s best if all parties set up an LLC with its own separate accounts before purchasing NFTs. Reselling or trading the NFTs will create capital gains or losses and it’s much easier to keep track of all that if you properly set up a business.
But if you’ve already pooled funds to buy NFTs using personal wallets, you can still report the tax returns accordingly. Here’s how each person might report their NFT taxes:
Let’s say an NFT costs 1 ETH. Alicia sends 0.5 ETH to Ben and he purchases the NFT. Ben should account for the “sale” of 1 ETH that was used to buy the NFT and also have the cost basis for his 0.5 ETH. For the 0.5 ETH that Alicia sent, Ben can use the fair market value as the cost basis. Essentially, when this ETH was sold to buy the NFT, there was no capital gain.
For Alicia, she can report her 0.5 ETH sold to Ben. Depending on the cost basis, she’ll have a capital gain or loss to report.
To avoid further confusion moving forward, both Ben and Alicia should set up an LLC and create a separate business account.
6. ****Loaning NFTs****
It’s now possible for NFTs to be loaned to others or used as collateral for loans. Typically, taking a loan or loaning something out is not a taxable event. However, interest earned is considered taxable income at the fair market value of the interest received. The interest paid by an entity is a spend that can trigger a capital gain or loss. That being said, the tax implications depend on how exactly the NFT lending service is set up.
7. ****NFT Airdrops****
In certain situations, if you own specific NFTs, you may be awarded other tokens via Airdrops. Similar to cryptocurrencies, Airdrops are considered as ordinary income and therefore taxed as such.
8. ****Burning NFTs Bought****
Let’s take the example of NFT artist FVCKRENDER who allowed owners of his BALANCE// NFTs to burn one BALANCE// token in exchange for two FVCK_CRYSTAL// NFTs. How would the transaction be taxed?
Say the BALANCE// token was originally bought for $500. The two new FVCK_CRYSTAL// NFTs that you receive are currently trading at $1,000 apiece. These are the two potential ways you could go about reporting the transaction.
**Option 1:** Treating it as two separate transactions.
In this case, you would consider the burning of the old token and the receipt of the new ones as two separate transactions. In the first transaction, you sold BALANCE// token for $0, realizing a capital loss of $500. Then, you received two FVCK_CRYSTAL// tokens. You have $2,000 of ordinary income.
**Option 2:** Treating at as one transaction.
This means you’re selling one BALANCE// token for two FVCK_CRYSTAL// tokens. Since the FVCK_CRYSTAL//s are worth $2,000 and you initially spent $500 for the BALANCE// token, you have a capital gain of $1,500.
Note that these are just examples of one scenario and may defer on a case-by-case basis depending on the facts and situation.
9. ****Play-to-Earn Games and In-Game NFTs****
Now, how about the NFTs that you can earn, buy and trade in play-to-earn games like Axie Infinity, Guild of Guardians, and Aavegotchi? How should you report these transactions?
**Earning Tokens**
If you earn tokens within a game that can be traded and sold and have real-world value, then they should be considered taxable as ordinary income.
**Spending or Trading Tokens**
Spending crypto to buy in-game items, spending in-game tokens for items, and trading in-game tokens are all taxable transactions. This is because each transaction is considered a sale that creates a capital gain or loss.
10. ****Axie Infinity Scholarships****
The play-to-earn game Axie Infinity gained popularity in 2021. Some players have amassed a horde of fantasy creatures called Axie but only a handful can be played at any given time. To not let other Axies go to waste and to earn more in-game tokens, Axie owners (Managers) started loaning out Axies to new players (Scholars).
The Axie Infinity Scholarship has allowed Scholars an easy entry point into the game, as they can play without any upfront costs. Managers and Scholars typically split the rewards based on an agreement between the two individuals.
This is a legal gray area and the IRS has not issued specific tax guidance on the income earned from scholarships. However, the IRS would likely view this arrangement as a business partnership. Ideally, a business entity should be established by all entities before entering into this type of agreement. But in reality, it’s more likely that many players have entered Manager-Scholar relationships without taking this step.
**Splitting Rewards**
With Axie Infinity Scholarships, the Manager creates an account and gives the Scholar limited access. As the Scholar plays with the Axies, rewards go into this account. The Manager is in charge of distributing rewards to their own wallet and the Scholar’s wallet. At a minimum, both the Manager and Scholar should report the distributed rewards as ordinary income. Income is taxable at the time that you have dominion and control over it.
**NFT Gaming Business**
Like some Filipinos in Cabanatuan City, people have quit their jobs to play NFT games full-time.
If games like Axie Infinity are a primary source of income, you may have a bona fide business with the ability to write off expenses. If you’re a Manager frequently loaning out Axies, it would be best to create a business entity so you can easily report your NFT tax.
**NFT Tax For Creators**
Minting NFTs is like creating your own product. And if you sell them, you’re basically running a business. So it’s best that you’ve registered a business entity with a separate business bank account to avoid additional tax responsibilities and protect yourself from liability. The following points will assume that you have a business entity and can claim expenses.
1. Business Tax Basics
When you form an LLC and choose to be taxed as a sole proprietorship or general partnership, then your income and expenses should be reported on Schedule C.
If there are multiple owners of the business, you should also file a separate business tax return to show each owner’s share of the income and expenses. This doesn’t mean any additional tax will be owed. Anything deemed an “ordinary and necessary” business expense can be included on Schedule C.
To find your taxable income, you pool your ordinary income from all sources—wages from a job, self-employment income, etc—and subtract your business expenses.
Keep in mind that self-employment income is subject to FICA taxes. These fund Social Security and Medicare and are roughly 15% of your self-employment income.
2. Minting and Selling NFTs by Yourself
When you sell an original NFT, the proceeds are considered ordinary income. Say you sell an original NFT for 5 ETH. If 1 ETH is worth $2,500 at the time of the transaction, then you have $12,500 of ordinary income to report.
Later, if you sell any of that ETH, you’ll have a capital gain or loss. You can deduct any gas fees required to mint an NFT as business expenses.
3. Minting and Selling NFTs with Others
If you’re collaborating with another artist or a group of people, be sure that each of you has set up a separate LLC with its own business account. That way, each partner will only have to report their own share of the income.
But if you’ve already sold original NFTs with a friend and neither of you have set up an LLC, the following is how you each might report on your tax returns.
Considering you have minted an NFT and sent it to your personal wallet. The NFT is then sold for 1 ETH. You and your friend, Carlos decided to split the proceeds evenly. So you sent 0.5 ETH to Carlos. You should report 1 ETH as ordinary income (business revenue) on Schedule C. The 0.5 ETH that you sent to Carlos can be reported as a business expense. Meanwhile, Carlos can report the 0.5 ETH received from you as ordinary income.
4. Burning NFTs Created
In some cases, you might need to burn an NFT because you made a mistake in the minting process, or you wish to lower the supply and increase the value of the remaining tokens. Since NFTs don’t create taxable income until the creator sells them, burning an unsold NFT wouldn’t create a capital gain or loss. The gas fees used for burning can be considered a deductible business expense.
Although the above information package was addressed to individuals in the United States, those residing in other countries may do well to start keeping proper records of their crypto transactions as it is only a matter of time before our countries bring their own tax regimes to bare.
The virus of taxing digital assets and the associated transactions by governments is spreading rapidly probably because they i.e. the governments do not want to miss out of the action in the crypto space. A pertinent question to ask is how long can transactions via decentralised exchanges continue to evade the radar of governments seeking to impose tax laws.
Shukran
Danke
Merci
Gracias
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ধন্যবাদ
Спасибо
for reading
The (im)balance of power
I started writing this piece a while ago but never got to finishing it. But in the light of recent occurrences on the world stage especially the ongoing faceoff between Russia and Ukraine, I felt compelled to complete it. Perhaps it may give some readers the much sought clarity as to how events will eventually play out. Some have expressed fear that the conflict may spiral into a conflict of global proportions culminating in the much dreaded third world war or WW III. I am however of a different view that it will not escalate to that extent but we may eventually see an expansion in the sphere of influence of the Russian Federation across Europe.
It is common knowledge in diplomatic circles that most if not virtually all nations put their national interests first even in the face of conflicting collective interests. Such that some nations are willing to strike a deal with the devil himself if it were possible to achieve their goals or serve their interests at the peril of the collective good of other nations of the world. Global alliances for the collective good which seemed so solid may be shattered in the twinkle of an eye, if any nation feels that it would gain more if it is no longer part of such an alliance.
It was therefore not surprising to hear the proclamation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) that it would not be having boots on the ground to halt the progress of the Russian troops towards the capital of Ukraine. The reason is quite obvious. Too many member countries of NATO are dependent on "mother" Russia for certain supplies which are pivotal for the running of their economies, the most vital one being energy in the form of gas supplies.
As former U.S President Donald Trump aptly put it doesn't make any sense for the United States to be spending lots of money protecting NATO members from Russia, while these same countries are solely dependent on Russia for virtually all of their energy needs. He cautioned that something needed to be done about it, but apparently he wasn't taken seriously and here we are today.
Besides those who were hoping to see NATO invoke article 5 of its charter (summarised simply, an attack on one, is an attack on all) were probably misinformed for obvious reasons. Ukraine is not a member of NATO yet hence the requirement of article 5 for all NATO members to respond to acts of aggression against any of its members does not apply. However, even if it were to apply, although the article has provisions for military intervention, it gives individual members lots of latitude as to what they would deem the most appropriate way to respond to an attack on a member of NATO. So you may see a scenario where most member countries would attempt to avoid using the military option especially against a powerful adversary such as the Russian State.
Little wonder that there is a common saying in international diplomacy that there are no permanent friends but permanent interests. The powerful nations of the world can exert undue influence on the policies of less powerful or underdeveloped nations by flexing their economic or military muscles. The prospect of being at the receiving end of such power, more often than not forces less endowed nations to retreat or back pedal in enforcing policies which ordinarily would have benefited her citizens but will not go down well with the more powerful nations.
On rare occasions do we see smaller or less powerful nations sticking to their guns and daring the powerful nations. This is especially possible when the latter is not a benefactor to the former. In international politics or relations, the concept of right or wrong is almost non-existent as nation states do only what they feel is in their interests irrespective of whether such actions are ok in the scales of morality.
While the Ukrainian government is declaring the acts of Russia as an armed invasion of an independent State which ought to be condemned by all, Russia and her allies are saying otherwise. The Russian position is that it is securing the greater motherland including States allied to it from a possible threat posed by Ukraine joining NATO and what it terms acts of aggression by the Ukrainian State against breakaway regions which are loyal to Russia. Each side claims it is exercising its legitimate right to defend itself or protect her national interests. This is where international politics gets tricky and murky as it is virtually impossible to get an unbiased arbiter to resolve conflicts of this nature.
The UNSC which could have acted as an arbiter in this case is virtually useless at this point as Russia is one of its five permanent members who weild veto powers hence any resolution against its actions is as good as being dead on arrival. Even if Russia were to decide not to exercise her veto powers , the chances of this occuring being very slim, there is a very strong likelihood that China would do so on her behalf.
As the Russian Ukrainian conflict unfolds, it remains to be seen which nation will dare go beyond mere rhetoric and poke the Russian "bear" by engaging it in a game of Russian roulette with the odds clearly tipped in the favour of the Russians. Some may enthusiastically be waiting to see the United States mobilise its armed forces to confront the Russian threat like it happens in Hollywood blockbusters. However this is reality and not some studio in Hollywood. The chances of the United States engaging the Russians in an all out war are very slim at the most.
A military analyst remarked that presently with the way the Russian armed forces have been positioned, they could strike at US troop positions across Europe if they decided to do so. However even the Russians likely would not want to go to war with the United States even if the odds were in their favour. The economic and human cost of a conflict of such a scale would undermine both countries which I am sure they would want to avoid at all costs.
Hence on the Side of the United States, you're likely going to see more of economic warfare via means of sanctions and other non-kinetic approaches. For the Russians, the long term objective we are likely to witness is the deposition of the current Ukrainian government and the imposition of one that is loyal to the Russian State. This is because the costs of a prolonged military campaign will be too much for the Russians to sustain.
Sadly this will not be the last time a powerful nation will exercise its military might on a smaller one simply because it can do so even if it claims to be right. There can never be any justification or excuse for the needless loss of lives whether those of military personnel or civilians simply to massage the ego of politicians who are at the helms of affairs of powerful nations. Truly there is an imbalance of power on the world stage which needs to be addressed before the ensuing conflagration consumes us all at some point in no distant future.
Shukran
Danke
Merci
Gracias
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ধন্যবাদ
Спасибо
for reading.
Guide to launchpads on SmartBCH and BSC
One of the ways to get in early on good crypto projects is to participate in their presale or initial token offering which may have variations as to its customized nomenclature depending on the taste or desire of the project developers or owners. The presale or initial coin offering (ICO) price is usually lower than the price when the token eventually begins trading or is listed on exchanges. Thus participating in presale is good idea for those who are interested in making quick profits. It is also the route of choice for those who see the long-term potentials in such projects and intend to make a substantial investment in such projects.
This article is intended to address some of the decentralised exchanges which have lauchpads for listing of new tokens on the SmartBCH and Binance Smartchain networks respectively. It is by no means an exhaustive guide as only a few lauchpads have been handpicked for discussion.
The lauchpads serve as a means for the listed projects to raise funds and they usually have a specific amount which they intend to raise. Different models are available for the projects to choose from. One approach is the first come first served (FCFS) model, where only those who contribute while the target amount is still being raised get tokens allocated to them when the sale ends.
In this approach once the amount to be raised is achieved, the token sale automatically ends. Another approach is one where participants can continue participating even when the target amount has been reached provided it is within the time allocated for the sale.
Irrespective of whatever model the developers choose to adopt, the higher the amount individual participants commit, the higher their their eventual token allocation. It is important to note that in some instances lauchpads usually set a minimum and maximum amount that individual participant can commit during a token listing while in some cases there is no maximum limit.
The means of payment or committing during token listings also varies. Some choose to use provision of liquidity pairs of selected token or utilizing individual tokens. These individual token could be BCH or WBCH as is the case for SmartBCH, BUSD or BNB for Binance Smart Chain. It may as well be the native token of the decentralised exchange hosting the launch.
Let's start off with the SmartBCH network. The SBCH network is the newer of the two networks in this article. Notwithstanding this fact a couple of dexes have launchpad platforms which are either functional or in the process of becoming so. The first of which is BenSwap with the native Eben token.
The BenSwap launchpad which is referred to as Initial Ben Offering (IBO) can be accessed by clicking IBO from the Menu button on its homepage which loads up the IBO page. Currently there is no ongoing IBO but the statistics from previous IBO's can be gleaned when the IBO page or section is accessed.
The next platform offering a launchpad on the SmartBCH network is BCHPAD which has seen a number of Initial Dex offerings (IDO) such as 1BCH, Tropical finance, Incinerate and Ashcoin.
BCHPAD has an added advantage to its holders in that it runs a policy of new projects assigning tokens to be distributed among holders via airdrop. As at the time of writing this piece, there is currently no ongoing IDO on BCHPAD.
Lastly MuesliSwap on SBCH now rebranded as CowSwap has a launchpad for those intending to launch their token via its platform. The launchpad button can be found in the menu bar from the home screen just like the previous platforms that have been mentioned.
The CowSwap launchpad has the options of presale, token creation and locker.
On the BSC side of things, aside from the well known launchpool hosted by the Binance centralised exchange, there are other decentralised exchanges which offer developers of new tokens a launch platform. We will be looking at a few of these.
The first and probably one of the most popular is PancakeSwap which dubbs it's launchpad as an Initial Flippening Offering (IFO). It's IFO has seen a number of improvements or enhancements as to how it is executed over time with the current IFO 3.1 now having the option of private sales with no maximum commitment amount per user.
However to join the private sale, a would be participant has to set one of the pancakesquad NFT's as his or her profile which is not a requirement in the public sale option which needs no specific NFT available in the PancakeSwap NFT collection.
The steps to participate in either sale are quite easy.
First ensure that you have Cake staked in the IFO pool when the calculation period for an upcoming IFO commences. This is usually announced in the PancakeSwap Telegram channel.
Thereafter navigate to the IFO section from the PancakeSwap home screen, Set your profile to the appropriate PancakeSwap NFT depending on the sales option you desire to participate in.
Then a few hours to the IFO commencement after it has been announced that the calculation period has ended ,unstake the number of Cake you intend to commit for the IFO from the IFO pool and wait for the announcement of the IFO commencement. Once the IFO goes live, commit your cake and wait for the process to end. Thereafter claim any unspent Cake as well as tokens allocated.
The second BSC launchpad of interest is the one offered by JetSwap finance. They dubbed it as Initial Jet Offering (IJO). They have done a few IJO's with the latest being that of Cosmosium finance about a week ago. Just like the others the IJO button is available via the menu on the home screen.
Navigating to the IJO landing page displays the upcoming IJO when the next option is enabled and previously concluded IJO's when the past option is enabled.
The rules for participating in an IJO could vary as either a single token or an LP may be required. For the just concluded Cosmosium IJO, BUSD was the token of choice.
Participants had to enable the contract to take part and thereafter commit the desired amount of BUSD of their choosing for the IJO. Upon completion of the IJO, the tokens allocated based on the amount of BUSD committed as well as any unspent BUSD are claimed for a network fee by the participant.
Our last stop on the BSC is BabySwap. It's IFO is also accessible from the menu on the home screen.
To participate in BabySwap IFO you need to provide liquidity by creating a Baby-USDT pair which will cover the cost of tokens you intend to purchase.
Thereafter commit your Baby-USDT LP once the IFO commences and claim your allocated tokens as well as unspent LP once the IFO ends. There is currently no ongoing IFO on BabySwap but you can view the statistics for IFOs that were done in the past.
This guide is in no way an investment handbook but a sneak peek into the opportunities that are available for joining token launches on SmartBitcoinCash and the Binance Smart Chain. Remember to ALWAYS Do Your Own Research before interacting with any decentralised exchange or participating in launchpad irrespective of the network on which they are being run.
Shukran
Danke
Merci
Gracias
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ধন্যবাদ
Спасибо
for reading.
The 'juice jacking' hack
We live in a world where technology in fast advancing with our mobile devices like our smartphones and tablets becoming an integral part of our lives particularly our financial dealings. It will not be out of place to say that having these devices is akin to having our banks in our palm of our hands with the advent of mobile as well as internet banking while they can be used for. Thus if these devices were ever to fall into the wrong hands, it could result in financial doom for the one who lost them if proactive steps aren't taken quickly.
Criminals have since realised that our mobile devices if compromised are a treasure trove of information that could hold the key to unlocking our closely guarded finances. There's therefore a need for extra vigilance so as not to fall victim to these criminal elements who are devising innovative ways of gaining access to our devices via coercion or deception with the intent of carrying out fraud.
This brings us to a scary way via which our devices could be compromised. Although this particular hack is not new as it has been around for a couple of years, I am sure that like myself some of us aren't aware of it or haven't paid particular attention to it. The worst nightmare for any smartphone user in this world of ours where one needs to virtually always be online is for one's device to run out of juice i.e. for the device to run out of power and eventually shutdown or give the dreaded low battery prompt.
The consequence of such an unwanted shutdown could be catastrophic particularly for anyone involved in cryptotrading due to the characteristic volatility of the market where things can go sideways within the next second with open trades if not closely monitored. It could also mean missing out of time bound opportunities such as IDO's or ICO's.
If one were to be faced with dilemma of running out of juice in a public space such as a hospital, airport or park, the sight of a free charging space would surely be a source of relief. However it could also be the source of one's undoing. As demonstrated in an NBC report dated February 7, 2020, Cyber security expert Jim Stickley set up a free charging space with special hardware which allowed him to remotely access any device connected to the charging space.
An exploit aptly tagged as 'juice jacking', where the connected mobile device is jacked while being juiced i.e. charged. This hack exploits the fact that aside from being the charging interface for mobile devices, the USB port is also used for data transfer to and from them. Thus anyone such as a hacker who has USB access to the mobile device via a PC or other hardware can collect and send data to the device.
Jim showed all those who had connected to the charging space that he could remotely access their phone screens, seeing every action they performed such as the phone numbers dialled, the emails and messages viewed. Since the mobile phone screen could also be recorded remotely, any sensitive information entered such as credit card details and passwords can also be gleaned by whoever had the remote access.
Aside from what was demonstrated in the report of being able to steal personal information, hackers could also install malware that would give them the ability to remotely control one's device for cryptojacking, locking to demand ransom or other unsavoury activities like sending messages or turning the camera on to take pictures or record videos .
With these potential risks it is only wise to totally avoid topping up your device via public USB charging spaces. Your best bet remains to charge you device via an AC charging space or power bank. If you suspect that there might be instances where public AC charging spaces might not be available leaving you with only the option of using a USB charging space, then get a data blocker which will be attached to the port on the USB charging space before plugging in your USB cord for charging.
Stay safe and be cautious out there because our mobile devices are now prime targets for cybercriminals.
Shukran
Danke
Merci
Gracias
ขอบคุณ
ধন্যবাদ
Спасибо
for reading.
Money making gone bad
There's a popular saying that money is the root of all evils. While this statement is a subjective one, the trend over time in my country of residence as well as in some others gives some level of credence to the expression. There has been an upsurge in the quest to get rich quick without putting in honest or lawful hard work. The presence of honest or lawful before hard work in the preceding sentence is by no means a mistake.
The reason for this is that one can become wealthy by working hard while engaging in dishonest or unlawful activities. It is now common place to see young people engaging in outrageous display of affluence while boasting more or less as to the illicit means by which they have acquired such wealth. The display ranges from needlessly driving expensive vehicles at high speeds as though they are race cars to spending ridiculous amounts of money on items that should ordinarily have been purchased at lower prices.
These youths who engage in these illegal money making ventures are popularly referred to as yahoo boys. This is in reference to the origins of their fraudulent activities whose perpetration began as far back as when Yahoo mail was the only email service provider which they exploited to perform their nefarious activities. Initially the targets were mainly foreigners who they swindled via scam e-mails. In its infancy some locals ignorantly supported this crime which constitutes economic sabotage in a sense.
The shortsightedness of these ignorant supporters was that those affected were foreigners hence it was no concern of theirs. It was only a matter of time before , the dragnet of these cyber criminals expanded closer home and they started targeting locals. Only then did the alarm bells start chiming, but alas it seems the bells weren't loud enough as no concrete and sustained action was taken by all concerned as it ought to have been to ward off this menace. Indeed, the chickens had come home to roost and they weren't taking any hostages.
The current dimension that this crime has taken which has been dubbed yahoo+ is indeed worrisome because of the extremes to which they have gone as well as how young the perpetrators are. If you haven't studied African culture or have some knowledge about metaphysics or how the spiritual realm operates, their actions will leave you baffled and speechless. Irrespective of your belief system though, the reprehensible acts that now accompany the quest for fast wealth will both sadden and enrage anyone that has a conscience.
In their quest for wealth, some youths have descenced so low that one can no longer imagine or say how low they can go. From eating excreta of babies, taking baths in broad daylight in grave yards to committing murder at the behest of so called spiritualists or vodoo practitioners, the list of abhorrent things they are willing to do to have and sustain a needlessly lavish lifestyle appears to now be endless. Young females are now an endangered species of sorts because they are being targeted by these criminals for ritualistic purposes which they believe is bringing them wealth.
Some have been murdered while others have lost their senses as a result of their encounters with these evil young men. Recently a story emerged about how some teenagers, the oldest being about 20 years old murdered one of their female acquittances and severed her head for ritual purposes which they believed would bring them wealth. It was in the act of roasting the severed head that they were apprehended.
Probably if they had succeeded no one would have known or bothered to ask what they did to get rich without any known job or beneficial skill set. The painful thing is that some young ladies are still falling victim to these criminals despite the widespread publicity that their crimes have received in recent times as to their mode of operations and the consequences for their victims.
The scene I witnessed just a few days ago points to the fact that some young ladies have refused to learn from the mistakes of others who have met unfortunate ends. A young man presumably a yahoo boy based on his appearance was dragging a young lady who towards a vehicle which it appeared she had just alighted from. While dragging her he was mercilessly dishing out slaps to her and searching a handbag she was holding.
The reaction to the scene from onlookers including myself was one of " na these boys again" ( as we say locally) but no one could do anything to intervene as someone pointed out that the young lady wasn't even crying out for help. Next thing the vehicle zoomed off with the young lady. Only God knows how that story will end. Who knows, perhaps the temptation and allure of associating with the 'big boys' and 'enjoying life' is simply too much for them to resist.
The value system which African societies used to be known for is fast eroding away or has totally eroded away in some places hence our present dilemma. While growing up no child dare take money home or purchase an item that was clearly above his means because he knew that even if others in the society failed or decided not to ask the right questions, it would surely be done at the home front.
Sadly these days encouragement to start "pressing computer" even comes from the home . It is so bad that some parents even purchase computers for their children to enable them start "bombing". There have been cases where mothers have been arrested alongside their children for being accomplices in the perpetration of internet fraud.
The houses of God which ought to have served as a refuge or rallying point of sorts from and against this evil that is ravaging the society have virtually being overrun by these criminals who are now 'extalted' even in these places of worship. I am not surprised though as most of those presiding in these so called places of worship are nothing more than con-men or selfish individuals whose sole goal is to satisfy their personal desires of wealth acquisition.
The bitter lesson to be learnt from our present moral crisis is to never support any evil or wrong doing because you think it doesn't directly or will not affect you as oftentimes the exact opposite happens. Also no evil or wrongdoing should be rated as small or inconsequential as that is how disasters or calamities often begin when left unchecked.
Most of the problems ravaging the world today began as insignificant challenges but because they weren't nipped in the bud, they developed to be the monsters that we are battling today. One thing is certain, this is not the last we will see or hear about internet fraud and its many variations as those hell bent on making money by any means are always at work seeking new avenues for money that is more often than not tainted with blood.
Shukran
Danke
Merci
Gracias
ขอบคุณ
ধন্যবাদ
Спасибо
for reading
The BCH half decade report
It was the year 2017, in order to address the scalability challenge associated with Bitcoin, BitcoinCash (BCH) was born. Since then the gospel of BCH has been spread by Roger Ver and other BCH enthusiasts. Their "envagelism" hasn't been free of criticism though as some have accused them of marketing or publicising BCH as the real Bitcoin. The enthusiasm with which Roger Ver spread the word earned him the nick name "Bitcoin Jesus" in some cryptocurrency circles. Since 2017, BCH has grown in leaps and bounds. Little wonder It has been described as the most successful as well as largest fork from bitcoin. It is built on proof of work and the Nakamoto consensus algorithm with an expected block time of 10 minutes and difficulty increasing at intervals of 6 blocks.
It has a 21 million supply cap which once attained no more Bitcoin Cash will be produced. An interesting feature of BCH is its scalable mining difficulty modus operandi. This feature is an added benefit to miners especially at times when their numbers are few as they find it easier to mine BCH, but when their numbers increase, so does the difficulty. This can create a draw back though as there exists the risk of large number of coins hitting the market at a time potentially pushing down the value of Bitcoin Cash.
Five years down the road , the BCH ecosystem is expanding beyond being just a viable and adoptable peer to peer payment platform to new frontiers with the emergence of the SmartBCH Defi space. As more and more liquidity makes its into SmartBCh with several dexes competing to offer investors the best value for their funds, it is clear that we are just seeing the beginning of better things to come for BCH.
Another exciting reason to keep an eye on BCH is that it is moving with the developmental trends in the cryptospace. Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are making waves in the cryptospace and SmartBCH isn't left out as several NFT project have since emerged on its platform. Amongst the list of presently available NFT projects , the Lawpunks NFTs appear to be the most successful in my estimation as it currently occupies the 5th position in terms of market capitalisation in the SmartBCH ecosystem.
Although there was an initial difficulty in moving funds from the main BCH network to SmartBCH, things have since gotten better and easier. Initially CoinFlex was the only channel to achieve this but other channels like hop.cash are now available. More recently, MistSwap developed a multichain bridge with support for multiple networks to allow more inflow of BCH to SmartBCH. This bridge has thus far ranked highest in terms of versatility and ease of use. http://hop.cash
It must be stated that although BCH has achieved a lot within a short period of time , it hasn't all being smooth sailing. With the ever lurking danger of hard forks , the latest of which birthed BitcoinCash ABC (now rebranded as eCash:XEC ) on November 25,2020, BCH has had its ups and downs. Probably one of the most notable challenges which was quickly fixed occured in 2018.
A Bitcoin Core developer for the Digital Currency initiative at the MIT media labs named Cory Fields discovered and privately disclosed a potentially catastrophic bug which was dubbed "Sighash_bug" on April 25, 2018. If this consensus vulnerability had been exploited it would have made transacting with BitcoinCash unsafe as it would have resulted in an unintended network split. In summary, it would have been a devastating punch to the utility and price of BCH.
Thankfully, Cory had no malicious intent else the outcome of his significant discovery would have been devastating to BCH and its investors. The BitCoinCash ABC developers promptly fixed the bug when they were notified. They publicly acknowledged the bug report on May 7,2018 which was made anonymously at the time for security reasons by Cory. They further stated steps that had been taken to mitigate the challenge as well as measures to prevent events from occurring in the future.
Between this event in 2018 till date there has been no major or known vulnerability which has been exploited to compromise the BCH network, an indication that the developers have been vigilant and dutiful behind the scenes to ensure that the network is secure and stable. It is thus hoped that they do not let their guard down especially with the ongoing rate of development on the BCH network particularly via SmartBCH.
Till next time, here's a big
Shukran
Danke
Merci
Gracias
ขอบคุณ
ধন্যবাদ
Спасибо
for reading.
The BTC Vs BCH duel is needless
The never ending debate between promoters of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash is pointless in my opinion except of course it is intended for publicity. If that it is the case then the debate would have achieved its purpose to an extent as I am certain that some persons got to know about Bitcoin Cash because of it. More often than not humans are drawn to topics or issues that are controversial such as the BTC Vs BCH debate, that is probably why newspapers and media outlets these days seem to be on the hunt for controversial issues to adorn their front pages.
The BTC Vs BCH duel has been on since the creation of BCH and I am sure it will continue to rage on until probably either of the tokens goes into oblivion. The chances of this happening are not even remotely possible at least in the no distant future. Instead of this needless duel, what I expect is for the frontliners and developers in both ecosystems to focus more on making their tokens more efficient and adoptable. This approach I believe will be of more benefit to the entire cryto ecosystem instead of the infighting.
Despite of one's best wishes for these two tokens, there are areas in which there is room for more improvement or efficiency especially for BTC. It is bedevilled with some obvious drawbacks. These drawbacks include the massive energy consumption that is associated with its mining as well as its transaction speeds due to network congestion. Rather than spend time bickering and throwing shades on other cryptocurrencies such efforts should rather be channeled to making BTC greener and more environmentally friendly while not throwing a blind eye to the ease and speed of transactions on the network.
Another issue which the proponents of BTC need to critically address is that of fees for transactions. An article in Condesk Updated in September, 2021 stated that the average BTC transaction fee ranged between 24 to 30 USD which for the 'Whales' might not be so much of a headache but for most 'small time' crypto entrants or 'small fishes', paying such fees would indeed be discouraging. The implication of such high fees persisting in the bitcoin ecosystem is that it is fast becoming 'Whalecentric' at the detriment of the 'small fishes'
Although the lightning network built on Bitcoin attempts to address the Bitcoin transaction fee and speed issues, it is yet to scale the hurdle of adoption in the mainstream of the Bitcoin ecosystem.
BCH on the other hand seems to be an antithesis of BTC, excelling at the obvious frailties of BTC in terms of transaction fees and times. The speed with which my earnings on read.cash are transferred to my regular crypto wallet with miniscule fees is always heartwarming as I usually get the notification of the deposit within a short period of time after making the withdrawal. I know many users of the BCH network can relate with this feeling. http://read.cash
Another area in which BCH outperforms BTC is the number of transactions it can handle at any given point in time due to its larger block size. Although there have been concerns about possiblity of security challenges in the BCH ecosystem when compared to BTC, there has been no significant events to warrant the chiming of alarm bells on the BCH network.
Despite these advantages of BCH, BTC still largely remains the face of cryptocurrency as it still maintains a significant market dominance as well as having the largest market capitalisation. Being the first cryptocurrency it has the strategic advantage of being the reference point on cryptocurrency related matters and this is bound to be the case for sometime to come. BCH has the potential to grow in terms of market capitalisation as it becomes more visible especially with the arrival of SmartBCH which will attract more capital to the BCH network as more solid projects gather momentum.
Despite the continued dominance of BTC, If given the option of choosing between BTC and BCH for receiving or making payments, I will most certainly be choosing BCH because of the ease of utilizing it at the present time which I hope will only get better as I expect improvements on the network to go hand in hand with the drive for mass adoption.
My candid advice to the captains at the helms of the BTC and BCH ecosystem is to focus on making their respective tokens more attractive via enhanced security, faster transaction times and more importantly low (specifically for the BTC ) or lower transaction fees. These are the primary concerns of most people who intend to adopt cryptocurrencies as means of carrying out transactions.
The token which is more efficient in terms of cost and usability will obviously receive more mass adoption in the long run. Like we say in my country when your product is good, you (i.e. the maker or producer) don't need to exert yourself so much with constant marketing but your product will market itself through it being pitched to others by those who have had a taste of it.
Shukran
Danke
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Much ado about decentralisation
The concept of decentralisation aims at taking control from a central authority and spreading the control across board. The central authority usually comprises very few individuals when compared to the entire population or structure. In simplistic terms decentralisation is wrestling control from the grips of a few and spreading it across to the many. This idea as I will attempt to narrate later on is supposed to be one of the pillars on which the house of crypto is built.
People who joined the crypto space are divided across several lines as it pertains to the reason(s) for their entry. Some joined because they are true believers in cryptocurrencies that is they see and believe in the prospects , real world applications and use cases of the tokens in crypto space. They are convinced that it is only matter of time before the fortress of fiat which seemed impregnable for so long is overrun by the crypto army especially with the recognition and adoption certain crypto currencies have gained in the last few years.
Some others see it as purely or strictly a business opportunity to make profits from trading in crypto currencies. This group can and will buy or ape into any project no matter how ridiculous or useless it may seem or be provided there is a chance to make a buck or two.
There is yet another group that hopped onto the crypto train as they perceived it to be an opportunity to get back at the government. They see crypto as an anti-establishment or anti-central control system which ought to be free of any form of centralised control of the government via any of its agencies such as the Central Banks. They also embrace it as a means to truly have control of their financial assets which is absent in the conventional banking system with its inherent charges as well as limited channels where one can exchange one's assets.
There are also individuals who have chosen to go the way of cryptocurrency but do not belong exclusively to either of the aforementioned categories or groups. In some ways these individuals are hybrids of sorts as it pertains to their motive(s) for venturing down the path of cryptocurrencies.
Pertaining to the crux of this piece, it was borne of some past experiences in the bear market as well as more recent occurrences prior to the current bull onslaught. The idealist idea of decentralisation is one of true ownership of one's financial assets in non-custodial wallets as well as the price of assets or tokens being free from any sort of centralised control or manipulation by individuals or groups with vested interests.
More specifically in terms of the interplay of demand and supply in the determination of prices, the dream of being decentralised was freedom to a large extent if not totally from any sort of manipulation. Alas this dream has failed to come to fruition thus far and may never become a reality as it appears it is now generally accepted that price manipulation by whales is and will remain inevitable.
In the heat of the first bear market in 2021, some persons in a platform where I was a member justified the actions of whales 'dumping' substantial quantity of tokens for profits as them reaping their rewards for being early investors which shouldn't surprise anyone. This opinion seems fair to such whales but someone else must bear the brunt of the dump.
Another aspect to the price manipulation in the crypto space is the actions of vested groups of individuals whose combined shares in any token has immense influence on its price . I recently stumbled across a telegram group which specialises in short signals to dump the price of any token the group administrator chooses. The group has about 76K members and the effect of their dump signals are clearly felt in the market price of their chosen token. I can only but imagine how many of such groups are out there.
My opinion on the issue of price manipulation by a few may be viewed by some as the ranting of a new entrant into the crypto space but I know that many others like myself are disappointed and shocked by what appears to be an unfair manipulation or control of prices which the conventional financial systems had been accused of.
One thing is for certain, we are yet to hear the last on the debate as to whether the price determination of crypto assets can truly be decentralised . The hand writing on the wall seems to point to the fact that decentralisation in this regards may be a mirage.
Shukran
Danke
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Entrapment
I watched a movie recently which depicted a dark side of law enforcement. The movie opened with a car chase involving a suspect and several police vehicles. The car chase ended when the suspect abandoned the vehicle in which he had fled the supposed crime scene at the front of the apartment complex in which he resided. The lead police officers involved in the car chase cleared the apartment complex floor by floor till they cornered the suspect in his apartment after he had unsuccessfully attempted to flee with his wife and young son.
After trying to make a forced entry into the apartment of the suspect where he had barricaded himself and his family, the officers were out for blood as their colleague was in a critically hospitalised due to the actions of the suspect. The moment the suspect moved close to one of the windows in his apartment, they deceitfully called out gun and opened fire in an attempt to silence him from telling his side of the story. A sympathetic police officer calmed things down by ordering all officers on the scene to cease fire and stand down as the suspect had posed no imminent threat at the time.
Thereafter other police officers arrived at the scene including a negotiator. However, the suspect insisted on communicating only with the officer who had shown some sympathy towards his situation. He insisted that he had been set up by the police officers who had shot at him and his family and that there was video evidence to back up his claim.
Upon the insistence of the sympathetic cop footage of the suspect prior to the car chase was found. The video proved that the suspect was truthful when he claimed he had been a victim of entrapment. Via means of flashback in the movie, the events that preceded the commencement of the car chase were revealed. It turns out that our main character had been in a tight spot financially and had sought means to make some money.
Unfortunately for him the offer which came his way involved committing a crime. His case may be likened to that of a hungry dog who had a juicy bone dangled in its face, he simply couldn’t resist taking a bite at it. However, upon meeting his would-be accomplice, he had a change of heart and opted out of the criminal venture.
He was indeed walking away as shown in the footage but was coerced back in reluctantly to have a rethink by his would-be accomplice at the prompting of his superior officer. It was at this point that the other cops involved in the entrapment operation decided to roll in and make an arrest. Upon sighting the oncoming police vehicle with blaring sirens, our character hops in to the driver’s seat of the vehicle and zooms off to avoid being arrested as he knew he would likely be convicted irrespective of his attempt to back off from committing the crime. In the process of driving off he ran over his would-be accomplice who turned out to be an undercover cop.
Several conversations took place amongst the police officers in the midst of the standoff. One conversation was particularly striking. When the lead police officer in the chase was briefing the head of the special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team and the negotiator, he mentioned the specific gun model which the suspect had in his possession. This prompted one of the officers to sarcastically remark that if the lead officer had given the suspect the weapon for him to be so specific as to the gun model. This was an indictment of sorts that such a scenario was not an uncommon one.
Matters took a turn for the worse when the cop who had been run over by the suspect eventually died as a result of the injuries he had sustained. This changed the whole narrative as the suspect had now become a cop killer. The implication of this development was that his chances of survival had nose dived as the police force would be coming at him with extreme prejudice. The story ended tragically with the suspect being taken out by a sniper without having a chance to have his day in court.
The scenario depicted in the movie of tempting “would-be” law offenders with the prospects of committing a crime is a known practise in the law enforcement community across the globe. The word entrapment has several definitions but with regards to law enforcement, the definitions below are especially relevant.
“***instigation or inducement of a person into the commission of a crime by an officer of the law***” Britannica.com http://Britannica.com
“***is the conception and planning of an offense by an officer or agent, and the procurement of its commission by one who would not have perpetrated it except for the trickery, persuasion or fraud of the officer or State agent***”. Wikipedia.com http://Wikipedia.com
A pertinent question that arises on the basis of the aforementioned definitions is,
**What is the ultimate goal of law enforcement?**
Is it to lure people to commit crimes (especially when the individual has no prior criminal record) so that they can be thrown into jail
or
to prevent such individuals from committing the crime in the first instance ?
Shukran
Danke
Merci
Gracias
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You are the new commodity for sale
Your digital data or online footprint is now a commodity to be bought and sold at the 'right' price. It is indeed now a million if not a billion dollar industry. The title above may seem somewhat alarmist but if you have been opportune to watch the documentary title 'the great hack' you might likely have a contrary opinion. Quick question, what do the following items below have in common?
Project Alamo
Trump campaign
Ted Cruz campaign
Facebook
Leave.eu
Brexit
The bad boys of brexit http://Leave.eu
The answer is Cambridge Analytica. It was a British political consulting firm under the SCL group. Being a political consulting firm ought not to be a villainous venture but its methods to ensuring its clients success turned out to be anything but ethical. They stood out from the pack because of how they manipulated big data.
They harnessed big data & big data analytics including but not limited to
Machine learning, artificial intelligence, predictive analytics to provide tools for the interested parties such as individuals or organisations to derive useful and actionable insights about their target audience. Their misuse of big data exposed the infringement on the data rights of individuals that could occur which were previously not possible.
In some instances big data and tools associated with it can be utilized in psychological warfare. When this is done it could serve the purpose of a weapons grade communications technique which can be used to target an entire country or a particular segment of a country. The danger this portends is that it has the potential to be used to swing public opinion or the outcomes of elections especially where the results are determined by the votes of particular group of the electorate.
Data is collected and analysed to be unleashed on the electorate as targeted ads to modify their behaviour and ultimately influence the decision they will likely make at the polls. This was exactly what Cambridge Analytica did with the The Ted Cruz and Trump Campaigns in the run up to the 2016 Presidential elections.
During the campaigns for the election, Facebook admitted providing the Trump campaign with user data. To be more specific the data was given to Cambridge Analytica. Although the Facebook founder claimed that he was unaware that Facebook staff gave the data to Cambridge Analytica during his appearance before the US Congressional hearing on allegations of data harvesting by Cambridge Analytica in which the tech giant was fingered .
Cambridge analytica execs bragged about how they had aided the Trump campaign with online campaigns to discredit his main democratic opponent in an undercover video released by Channel 4 News. They specifically mentioned a particular catch phrase which they had developed against the democratic contender and how they saturated the internet with the unbranded and untraceable ads to manipulate the voting public.
https://youtu.be/mpbeOCKZFfQ
These ad campaigns were used to target the U.S. electorate based on analytics of data obtained without due consent from them. This was a clear cut case of weaponising the data of the electorate against them with the intent of influencing how they vote.
Who will be the next Cambridge Analytica, as it is only a matter of time before someone steps in to fill the void left by their demise, that is if this hasn't happened already as the potential revenue from harnessing big data has steadily increased on an annual basis.
With Blockchain based social media platforms now emerging, it is hoped that they will do a better job in handling and securing user data as well as privacy when compared to likes of Facebook et al., only time will tell if they will.
Shukran
Danke
Merci
Gracias
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The rise of the deep fakes
In one episode of the popular TV series, The Blacklist starring James Spader as Red Reddington, a scientist was confronted and shot by security operatives while trying to gain entry into his place of work, why? He had apparently been seen in a video published online threatening to carry out a bombing with an explosive which had prompted the security operatives to engage him with lethal force. The security operatives had further being convinced of the authenticity of the video as the man had arrived at his place of work holding a cellphone which they assumed was the detonator for the bomb prompting them to open fire on him.
It turned out that there was never any bomb or bomb plot. The supposed bomb threat video was a manipulated video by an advanced artificial intelligent entity with the aim of eliminating the man by presenting him to be a bomber. Raymond Reddington eventually got his hands on the technology to suit his own purposes. He specifically utilized it to expose one of his close associates who had planned to betray him to one of his many adverseries.
This episode of the series was my first encounter with a technology which is referred to as Deep fake. So what is a deep fake? According to an article in the Guardian Newspaper dated January 13, 2020 Deep fakes are images of fake events produced using a type of artificial intelligence called deep learning. The same technology has also been applied maliciously to manipulate audios and videos.
According to the Guardian article, deep fakes were birthed in 2017 when a Reddit user posted manipulated pornographic videos where the faces of popular screen actresses had been used to replace those of the persons actually involved in the video. Although many of the deep fakes are of pornographic nature targeting celebrities especially women, the use of the technology for sinister motives has been used in diverse ways such as committing fraud. In recent times deep fakes have made their way to the political arena being used to manipulate videos of political figures with malicious intent.
Videos of former U.S. Presidents Barrack Obama, Donald Trump, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Russian President Vladamir Putin just to mention a few, have been manipulated via deep fake technology to serve the purposes of their opponents or critics. A more recent deep fake video which has received a lot of attention is one featuring present U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.
In the deep fake video which has been manipulated she is seen to be making a speech where she states that most of the dead as well as those hospitalised due to Covid-19 were individuals who had been vaccinated against the virus. The authentic video broadcast of the VP's speech shows her saying the exact opposite of what was conveyed in the deep fake video which was indeed very convincing pointing to the frightening level of sophistication that the technology has presently attained.
Coming closer home, in the aftermath of the events of the evening of 20th January, 2020 in Lagos State Nigeria during the protest against police brutality and misconduct, a lot of information was flying about as to the casualty figures and what exactly transpired that night. One of the media that was spread via social media was a video of a military officer firing a high caliber weapon mounted on a gun truck into the dark. This video was eventually revealed to be a deep fake as the said event was reported to be one from the fronts at Sambisa in North Eastern Nigeria where the military was engaging book haram terrorists. To make the video convincing, the manipulators had inserted the chants of the slogan for the protests.
The reality is that we are likely seeing the tip of the iceberg as to the power of deep fakes as machine learning is constantly advancing in leaps and bounds. Deep fakes have the potential to be used in manpulating the outcomes of elections by swaying public opinion in favour of or against a particular candidate. It could even be used to instigate civil unrest within countries of conflicts between nation states by targeted disinformation campaigns spread via deep fake videos and audios.
While previously making a deep fake required some level of technical skill, the deep learning technology is now being pushed to mobile platforms with apps now available to replace faces in photographs. Thus the ability to make deep fakes will virtually be available to anyone with a smart phone or a personal computer which meets the requirements to run the software for this purpose.
With the way deep fake technology is evolving, the popular saying that seeing is believing may well be on its way to oblivion as the barrier between truth and falsified information is being torn to shreds.
Shukran
Danke
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A ticking time bomb
During the just concluded climate change conference held in Glasgow dubbed COP 26, the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley made a speech laden with emotion and urgency on the need for world leaders to act promptly to forestall a global catastrophe befalling mankind due to global warming. She emphasized the need for the world's wealthiest nations to make the necessary committments towards curbing the global carbon footprint. She cautioned that although presently the less developed or poorer nations are the ones currently bearing most of the brunt of the warming globe, it was only the beginning as no one or nation would be spared of the consequences of the planet warming up eventually.
She cited the global pandemic as an example of what would eventually happen if the needful is not done now while a narrow window of opportunity still exists to stem the tide of getting warmer. Just as the pandemic did not spare any location no matter how developed or secured it was, so also would a warmer earth spare no one when mother nature unleashes her wrath.
The facial expressions on the faces of world leaders present as well as their body language indicated that they agreed with the message in the Prime Minister's speech. Sadly days after the conference ended it remains to be seen if action will be promptly taken to avoid the colossal environmental crisis that may soon overwhelm the entire planet. In an ideal world where reason is given preference over interests the world stage should have been abuzz with actions or initiatives to forestall any further warming of the planet. But alas the situation in the world today is anything but ideal, in fact it is the furthest it has even been from ideal.
Nationalistic interests are given preference virtually in all situations even when such interests may be detrimental to a vast majority of the inhabitants of the planet. Even in the face of the looming crisis some nations watch comfortably as mother nature unleashes its vengeance on other less endowed nations due to the collective wrongs of mankind which is hurting the planet. Some others adopt a laissez-faire attitude to the problem probably because they haven't been visited by mother nature which will surely happen. It is only a matter of time.
Decades ago someone remarked that mankind will be quick to put aside their personal differences in the face of an extra- terrestial threat but would not do same to combat an enemy from within. That enemy with us today is global warming and how true his words have turned out to be. Some of the nations who seem not to care about what is happening to others may have drawn up a detailed plan to combat the enemy when it arrives at their doorstep with all the resources at their disposal. But they forget no matter how good a plan might be, more often than not it does not survive first contact with the enemy.
In my country of residence, we are living with the reality of climate change as a result of global warming with almost no clear distinctions anymore between the dry and wet seasons. It almost rains all year round as against the six months of dry and wet periods which was obtainable decades ago. Who would have ever imagined that we would still be having heavy rainstorms in the last month of the year.
This was unthinkable when I was a young boy and the thoughts of it ever occuring would have been inconceivable back then. However this is the reality of today. This disruption is hurting agricultural activities with a negative impact on food security. Perhaps in some of the countries that don't seem to care about the issue of global warming their climate has not been altered significantly hence they are decieved that all is still Uhuru.
The fight against climate change occasioned by global warming is one that cannot be won if fought in isolation by the countries of the world. There needs to be a united front to confront this challenge head on else when the consequences of our inactions today begin to fully manifest themselves, the battle would have been lost and mankind may face an environmental catastrophe, the likes of which have never been witnessed.
The ship of humanity is sinking metaphorically speaking because some passengers in the lower decks have decide to take a fast route to get water from the ocean by boring a hole in the hull of the ship without having to disturb those in the upper deck each time they need water. Some passengers on the upper decks are raising alarms as to the consequences of such actions to the integrity of the ship while others who are in a bette position to take action look on , unconcerned as to what will eventually happen. It is only a matter of time before the lower decks get flooded due to the breach in the hull. Eventually all the decks in the ship will be flooded and the vessel will sink.
With the alarm bells ringing globally with bizarre environmental disasters on the increase and the powerful nations of the world seemingly turning a blind eye with little or no political will to act, one is forced to ask the million dollar question:
***Who will save the planet from this ticking time bomb***?
Shukran
Danke
Merci
Gracias
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@M3i
