{"id":25139,"date":"2022-08-06T18:26:38","date_gmt":"2022-08-06T18:26:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/?p=25139"},"modified":"2022-08-06T18:26:38","modified_gmt":"2022-08-06T18:26:38","slug":"does-cryptocurrency-create-real-life-money-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/?p=25139","title":{"rendered":"Does cryptocurrency create real-life money problems?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>I do not understand cryptocurrency. Are we inventing new money, making a real-life Monopoly game? Here is one definition of cryptocurrency: a digital currency in which transactions are verified and records maintained by a decentralized system using cryptography, rather than by a centralized authority.<\/p>\n<p>Uh, <em>what<\/em>?<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"i-amphtml-intrinsic-sizer\" role=\"presentation\" src=\"image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyBoZWlnaHQ9IjU4NSIgd2lkdGg9Ijc4MCIgeG1sbnM9Imh0dHA6Ly93d3cudzMub3JnLzIwMDAvc3ZnIiB2ZXJzaW9uPSIxLjEiLz4=\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"780\" height=\"585\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reporternewspapers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/pexels-photo-730564.jpeg?resize=780%2C585&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"round silver and gold coins\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reporternewspapers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/pexels-photo-730564.jpeg?w=1733&amp;ssl=1 1733w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reporternewspapers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/pexels-photo-730564.jpeg?resize=450%2C338&amp;ssl=1 450w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reporternewspapers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/pexels-photo-730564.jpeg?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reporternewspapers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/pexels-photo-730564.jpeg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reporternewspapers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/pexels-photo-730564.jpeg?resize=1536%2C1152&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reporternewspapers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/pexels-photo-730564.jpeg?resize=1200%2C900&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reporternewspapers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/pexels-photo-730564.jpeg?resize=800%2C600&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reporternewspapers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/pexels-photo-730564.jpeg?resize=400%2C300&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reporternewspapers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/pexels-photo-730564.jpeg?resize=200%2C150&amp;ssl=1 200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reporternewspapers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/pexels-photo-730564.jpeg?resize=1568%2C1176&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reporternewspapers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/pexels-photo-730564.jpeg?resize=706%2C530&amp;ssl=1 706w\" \/><figcaption>Photo by David McBee on <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/round-silver-and-gold-coins-730564\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Pexels.com<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It went on to say, \u201cDecentralized cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin now provide an outlet for personal wealth that is beyond restriction and confiscation.\u201d (At this point, I\u2019m on the floor in the fetal position and weeping.)<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>What happened to just money?\u00a0 Well, for all the crypto kings out there, May was not a good month for you, with crypto\u2019s value crashing as it did. Instead, it provided a reminder, especially for seniors, to be suspicious about investing your money, retirement money as well, in such volatile currency.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>So, what is the attraction?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For crooks, there can be good reasons to use cryptocurrencies.\u00a0 Once something is paid with cryptocurrency, it\u2019s nearly untraceable. Now that retailers are more aware of and savvy about, gift card scams, crooks are looking for new ways to scam, and crypto fits the bill.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>According to AARP, their Fraud Watch Helpline contacts involving Bitcoin scams have tripled. Their advice is this: if a stranger or business asked you to use cryptocurrency to make a payment or transfer money, assume it is fraud.<\/p>\n<p>According to Forbes, between January 2021, and March of this year, 46,000 people lost money, totaling over $1 billion dollars, in cryptocurrencies. The article said more than half the victims said the scam started with an ad, or message, posted on social media. Instagram and Facebook originated 32% and 26% respectively and involved phony investments.\u00a0 I thought Facebook and Instagram were for looking at photos of your dinner or dog sleeping on your couch.<\/p>\n<p>Lonely hearts, also known as \u201cromance scams,\u201d represented $185 million in losses since 2021. Crooks who created fake online identities then developed online relationships with vulnerable targets and bilked them of money with such scams as debts that needed to be paid before they could leave the country they were in to join the victim and be together.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>The article concluded by saying that, unlike traditional banks, there\u2019s no formal way to flag suspicious activity and it\u2019s only possible to reverse transactions with a private key that\u2019s difficult to acquire. The rising incidence of fraud has triggered renewed\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/seansteinsmith\/2022\/03\/10\/crypto-regulation-is-finally-starting-to-catch-up-to-market-innovation\/?sh=30c8441821d1\" rel=\"noopener\">interest<\/a>\u00a0in stricter regulation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The FTC points out three things to remember about crypto:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Only scammers will guarantee profits or big returns.\u00a0No cryptocurrency investment is ever guaranteed to make money, let alone big money.<\/li>\n<li>Nobody legit will require you to buy cryptocurrency.\u00a0Not to sort out a problem or to protect your money. Suspect a scam.<\/li>\n<li>Never mix online dating and investment advice. If a new love interest wants to show you how to invest in crypto or asks you to send them crypto, suspect a scam.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Why is cryptocurrency attractive?<\/p>\n<p>According to an article in Investopedia, most cryptocurrencies have a limited supply, capped by mathematical algorithms. This makes it impossible for any political body or government agency to dilute its value through\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.investopedia.com\/articles\/investing\/081415\/understanding-how-federal-reserve-creates-money.asp\" rel=\"noopener\">inflation<\/a>. Moreover, due to the cryptographic nature of cryptocurrencies, it is impossible for a government body to tax or confiscate tokens without the cooperation of the owner.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But the markets can be dominated by speculative trading, meaning cryptocurrencies could again have another month like May.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>So, when Matt Damon comes on the TV and tells you to invest in Bitcoin because \u201cFortune favors the brave,\u201d well the follow-up question should be, \u201cHow much Bitcoin is Matt invested in, and did he take cryptocurrency for the ad or good Ol\u2019 greenbacks? Warren Buffett, on the other hand, is convinced crypto \u201cwill come to a bad ending.\u201d I tend to side with Buffett.<\/p>\n<p>For me, a man who\u2019s never won a game of Monopoly, I\u2019m not in the mood to lie awake each night wondering if they\u2019ll be anything left in the piggy bank in the morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If you are that person though, do your homework.\u00a0<\/p>\n<section id=\"newspack-ads-widget-6\" class=\"below-content widget widget_newspack-ads-widget\" \/>\t<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/reporternewspapers.net\/2022\/08\/06\/does-cryptocurrency-create-real-life-money-problems\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I do not understand cryptocurrency. Are we inventing new money, making a real-life Monopoly game? Here is one definition of cryptocurrency: a digital currency in which transactions are verified and records maintained by a decentralized system using cryptography, rather than by a centralized authority. Uh, what? Photo by David McBee on Pexels.com It went on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[36],"tags":[1129,52,71,2754,10272],"class_list":["post-25139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency","tag-create","tag-cryptocurrency","tag-money","tag-problems","tag-reallife"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/pexels-photo-730564.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25139"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25141,"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25139\/revisions\/25141"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}