As we have learned from the collapse of FTX, the crypto space is not shy of company bankruptcies and criminal activities. But what exactly happens to crypto seized by the government? As smart investors, it is helpful to know how crypto forfeiture laws work, as crypto regulations are on the rise.
What are Forefeited Crypto Assets?
The term “frozen, seized or forfeited” in the legal field refers to the state of an asset, including cryptocurrencies. When law enforcement seizes these assets, they are frozen at a specific address. If the government claims ownership of the seized cryptocurrencies, they are considered forfeited.
The process of “crypto asset realization and legal forfeiture” enables the government to confiscate digital assets for law enforcement purposes by identifying, separating and seizing virtual currencies. With numerous reports of seized assets as well as warnings from leading regulators about digital assets, it is becoming increasingly evident that regulation of cryptocurrency is necessary, but currently in a state of uncertainty.
How Crypto Exchanges Approach Suspicious Transactions
Most crypto exchanges have compliance tools to monitor transactions and meet regulatory requirements. Suspicious activity may be detected based on the structure of the transactions, movement of value, or if the source or destination of funds is illegal.
When a user engages in suspicious activity, the exchange will first request an explanation from the user, and temporarily limit their ability to transfer funds. Since crypto exchanges are centralized entities, they have the power to freeze the user’s funds or ban the user from the platform if they do not meet legal requirements.
The actions taken will depend on the level of risk posed by the transaction, the user’s response, the user’s previous behavior, and the exchange’s regulatory obligations. Using KYC/AML procedures in place, the exchange will then file a report to law enforcement agencies or financial authorities — in the case of U.S., that would be the Financial Crimes Enforecement Network (FinCEN).
What Happens to Crypto Seized in Criminal Investigations?
Once a strong case has been built against a suspect, financial authorities and law enforcement agencies may work with the crypto exchange holding the suspect’s digital assets to either transfer them to a government-controlled wallet or freeze them indefinitely. Sometimes, the assets stay in the suspect’s personal wallet and they may surrender the funds in exchange for a reduced sentence.
The seized cryptocurrencies are usually kept in this manner until a court decision is made. If the defendant is found not guilty, the assets are returned, but if they are convicted, the forfeiture of the assets is part of their sentence. If a conviction occurs, another process is initiated to determine any third-party ownership of the assets that the government aims to seize.
Once all ownership interests have been addressed, the remaining funds are sold for fiat currency and distributed among the agencies involved in the case. The funds are usually used for compensating identified victims or going to government treasuries. This process altogether may lead to a dump on the market, depending on the size of the assets being sold.
Our #1 priority is to serve our clients and preserve their assets. Therefore, in consultation with our professional financial advisors and counsel, we have taken the difficult decision to temporarily suspend redemptions and new loan originations in the lending business.
Genesis stated that the withdrawal requests have exceeded its current liquidity, which raised concerns about the firm going insolvent. Because Genesis is directly affiliated with some of the largest crypto institutions, its fall could start another domino effect that is even more devastating than the FTX contagion.
In case you are out of the loop, we have covered the entire timeline of the FTX contagion in chronological order listed down below:
Genesis was the biggest creditor to 3AC, lending $2.4 billion. After 3AC went bankrupt, Genesis filed a $1.2 billion claim against them. When 3AC failed to provide the required collateral, the parent company of Genesis, Digital Currency Group (DCG), stepped in and assumed the $1.2 billion claim, leaving Genesis with no outstanding liabilities to 3AC.
By Q3 2022, their market activity drastically fell, with loan originations falling from $50 billion in Q4 2021 to a mere $8.4 billion. Despite the situation, institutional investors still believe they were crypto’s safest counter-party.
Gemini’s Exposure to Genesis Trading
Gemini, one of the top crypto exchanges regulated in the U.S., announced that there would be withdrawal delays with its Earn product, in which Genesis is a lending partner. If you do not know how Genesis ties into Gemini Earn, here’s how it basically works:
After the lenders give their crypto to Gemini, it will be given to Genesis for them to lend out to a fund. The borrowing party will pay fees for this, which will be shared between Gemini and the lenders. The problem now is that Genesis is having liquidity issues, thus they are unable to give Gemini back their crypto. This means that lenders on Gemini Earn cannot get their crypto back.
Although Gemini assures this does not impact any other products and services, Gemini customers are rushing to get their funds out fearing the exchange is next to go down as the FTX contagion spreads. Over the past 24 hours at the time of writing, Gemini has seen $570 million in withdrawals and ETH withdrawals reached an all-time high on the exchange.
Genesis Trading’s Impact on the Crypto Market
It is not just Gemini but also many other CeFi platforms and major hedge funds use Genesis for their yield product. Moreover, many crypto whales opt to give their funds directly to Genesis to earn yields as well as custodial services. If Genesis is unable to give them back their crypto, many lenders worldwide could potentially lose their asset.
Genesis is also a sister company of Grayscale, the world’s largest Bitcoin fund (GBTC) and one of the largest Bitcoin holders worth $11 billion at the time of writing. If Grayscale is affected by this, there is a possibility that Grayscale will dissolve GBTC to pay back lenders. This impact of this could be huge.
2.
Today, @AutismCapital said Genesis may have solvency issues and there is a possibility that Grayscale will dissolve GBTC.@GenesisTrading is indeed facing a liquidity crisis due to FTX and 3AC, but @Grayscale said that the normal operation of GBTC will not be affected. pic.twitter.com/Fpdw3Es6SK
However, Grayscale assured users that Genesis is not a counterparty or service provider for any Grayscale product, which means they will not be affected by Genesis suspending withdrawals. But in light of recent situations where FTX and Alameda claimed that they are two independent entities, sceptics are demanding a full audit to prove customer funds are safe.
Genesis Trading Lays Off 30% of Workforce
On 5th January 2023, Genesis Trading announced a large-scale layoff in order to reduce cost. According to sources close to the matter quoted by Coindesk, 30% of its workforce were cut, which especially affected the sales and business development departments. In addition to Genesis previously slashing 20% of its workforce in August, the company now has around 145 employees.
The layoff follows shortly after Genesis Interim CEO Derar Islim sent a letter to clients on January 4, addressing the fact that the firm needs more time to sort out its financial issues. However, time is not something Genesis can afford as it faces increasing pressure from creditors.
Genesis currently owes $900 million to Gemini, and is due to come up with a solution by 8th January 2023. Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss believes that DCG is to blame and should be held responsible for its subsidiary company’s situation. In an open letter to DCG CEO Barry Silbert, Winklevoss accused him of “bad faith stall tactics” and claimed that a $1.675 billion loan from Genesis to DCG is the reason why Genesis is facing liquidity issues.
Genesis Trading Considers Bankruptcy
According to Wall Street Journal, Genesis hired investment bank Moelis & Company to review Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings. A Genesis spokesperson explained that it is to “preserve customer assets and drive the business forward.”
As of 19th January 2023, Genesis is laying the groundwork for a bankruptcy filing, according to Bloomberg. Reports indicated that Genesis is in confidential negotiations with various creditor groups in an attempt to raise cash. However, if Genesis fails to raise capital, it is highly likely they will file for bankruptcy.
Digital Currency Group (DCG) Under Severe Pressure Amid Genesis Crisis
On 17th January 2023, DCG halted dividend payments to preserve cash. According to a letter to DCG shareholders reported by Bloomberg, DCG is focusing on strengthening their balance sheet by reducing operating expenses and preserving liquidity. As the parent company of Genesis, this move is most likely the result of the financial crisis Genesis is facing.
Moreover, CoinDesk, whose parent company is DCG, is hiring advisors at investment bank Lazard to explore options for a potential sale, including a partial or full sale of the company. According to Wall Street Journal, CoinDesk has actually been privately seeking a deal for months, and has received numerous offers. Whether this is related to the Genesis and DCG crisis, no parties have responded to requests for comment.
CONFIRMED: Genesis Trading Filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection
According to latest news by CNBC, Genesis Trading filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late Thursday night in Manhattan federal court. Over 100,000 creditors were listed in the company’s bankruptcy filing, with aggregate liabilities ranging from a whopping $1.2 billion to $11 billion.
In its filing, Genesis stated that it anticipates that after the restructuring process, there will be funds available to pay off unsecured creditors – a group that can be completely eliminated in bankruptcy cases if the circumstances are particularly dire. They also noted the bankruptcy only affects its lending business, and that its derivatives and spot trading business will continue unhindered.
Coinbase Data Sharing Policy Takes Effect on 22nd January 2023
On 23rd December 2022, Coinbase publicly announced that they would be sharing and selling customer data for marketing purposes as well as other business related purposes. According to their notice, this includes both active and former customers:
“If you are a new customer, we can begin sharing your information 30 days from the date we sent this notice. When you are no longer our customer, we continue to share your information as described in this notice. However, you can contact us at any time to limit our sharing.”
Reddit User Claims Coinbase Ignores Opt Out Requests for Data Sharing
This is in accordance with U.S. financial law allowing users to opt out of financial and personal data sharing for marketing purposes under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA). However, according to Reddit user u/durg0n, they had repeatedly request to opt out of data sharing with Coinbase over the past month, but Coinbase did not respond to their request.
Despite the Reddit user filing a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and even closing their account in protest, Coinbase still did not agree to limit data sharing with marketers and affiliates.
How to Opt Out of Coinbase Data Sharing?
Based on feedback from other Reddit users, Coinbase customers can try the following methods to opt out of Coinbase’s data sharing.
If you have a current/active account, there is an opt-out setting on the website/app people are reporting success with:
Website: Settings > Privacy > Share my Personal Info
App: The 9 dots in the corner > Profile and Settings > Privacy > Share my Personal Info
Note — You should double-check it is properly set as it seems to be defaulting to sharing enabled, even in Europe.
Not all locations appear to have the opt-out setting available (ex: Argentina). If you live in such a country, try contacting Coinbase Support to opt-out manually.
If you have a closed/former account, the only option is to contact Coinbase support. Reddit user u/durg0n has tried this method, but mentions it is still worth a try.
If you have an old open account, you may be forced to agree to the new Terms of Service (ToS) in order to access the privacy settings. Please note that the newer ToS’s include other forms of data sharing and arbitration. Accepting it may open you up to data being used in other ways and limit your legal rights. According to Reddit comments, it is probably better to deal with Coinbase Support and send in a written request. But you could accept the new TOS and use the website to opt-out if you don’t care about the TOS.
If you have already ‘deleted’ your data, you should write in and opt-out anyway. Coinbase retains some ‘deleted’ data of former customers (ostensibly required for regulatory purposes), and this may be subject to the data sale. u/durg0n suggests writing in to Coinbase Support that you wish to limit data sharing to be safe, and carefully read the reply to see if they actually did it or not.
2023 started off with the explosive rise of Bonk ($BONK), a Solana-based meme coin. In the process, some people made a lot of money, and some did not even have to invest a dime as they were eligible for $BONK airdrops as Solana users. It is important to remember that meme coins are purely speculative and extremely volatile, but smart traders are able to recognize patterns and trends, allowing them to capitalize on these opportunities.
What are Meme Coins?
Meme coins are cryptocurrencies that are created for the purpose of entertainment and humor. They are often based on popular internet memes. Dogecoin is the most famous example, a dog-themed token based on the viral Doge meme in 2013.
What started as a joke quickly became a driving force in the crypto market. Thanks to Dogecoin’s success in 2021, the meme coin market rapidly expanded, and is now valued over $17 billion in total market capitalization.
Why are Meme Coins So Popular?
Investing in meme coins present a low-entry barrier. Since meme coins are typically valued at pennies per token, investors can acquire large amounts of tokens for a relatively small price. As a result, investors can gain significant profits if these tokens spike up in price. Many investors view meme coins as a way to make a quick profit, as they are often volatile and can be traded for a profit.
In contrast to actual blockchain projects such as Ethereum or Aptos, meme coins have no utilities at all. They are less about technology and solutions, and more about fun and community engagement. Additionally, meme coins are often seen as a way to show support for a particular meme or cause, which can be a powerful motivator for investors. Instead of complex blockchain terminologies, meme coin communities focus on building on their biggest facility — humor. Because of this, meme coins are a good at exposing newcomers to the crypto space.
The Psychology Behind Investing in Meme Coins
The originator of the term “meme” is Richard Dawkins. In his book “The Selfish Gene”, he explains that when a cultural meme becomes viral and is attached to an exchangeable value, it can theoretically become an actual currency. With blockchain technology, memes can literally become cryptocurrencies.
As such, they have become increasingly popular in the cryptocurrency space due to their ability to post rapid gains and reach incredible market capitalization and popularity levels in a very short period. This phenomenon can be attributed to two main factors: Social Media Hype and Fear of Missing Out (FOMO).
Social Media Hype
We are currently living in the Internet age, where our average attention span is short. As such, memes could prove to be a powerful marketing tool because they are simple, entertaining, and engaging. When used properly, memes are a low-effort marketing strategy that can drive organic engagement.
Generating hype via social media channels has been a successful strategy for many meme coin projects. By creating shills and utilizing prominent influencers and mainstream celebrities, projects can generate excitement and attract potential investors, even if there is limited information available about the project. This growth, although organic, is based on “unverified beliefs” and inflated utility. Meme coins have been particularly successful in leveraging this strategy, leading to a surge in their token prices.
Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)
The volatile nature of the crypto market is often driven by ambitious investors who jump into new projects with the hope of making a profit or not missing out on the project’s potential success. This fear of missing out on further profits has been a major factor in the success of meme coins.
The price growth that follows the hype marketing is further augmented by FOMO and widespread hype. This trend has enabled meme coins to gain hundreds of thousands of followers, mainly due to their meme culture, before they adopted a reasonable utility. Additionally, as meme coins generally appeal to less experienced retail investors, they tend to jump on the bandwagon in hopes of making profit and being part of a large community.
The Risk of Investing in Meme Coins
While meme coins can be a great way to make a quick profit, they also come with a certain amount of risk. As with any investment, there is always the potential for losses. Additionally, because meme coins have no utilities, they are purely speculative assets. Therefore, they are often highly volatile, meaning that prices can change quickly and without warning. As such, it is important to do your research and understand the risks before investing in meme coins.
Key Takeaway
At its core, meme coins are purely speculative, and investing in them is somewhat of a gamble. However, smart traders are able to identify trends before they break out. Because meme coins typically rely on hype, they monitor activities on the niche market via social media channels or word-of-mouth. Because these tokens are usually valued at pennies per token, they are able to secure a position before any price surge or drop. But from that point on, it is really just a bet.
U.S. Government Launches Website for Victims of FTX Collapse
The U.S. government has launched a website for victims of the FTX collapse to communicate with law enforcement in regards to former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s “alleged” fraud. In an order late Friday night, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan authorized federal prosecutors to use the website to speed up the process given the massive scale of the FTX collapse.
FTX owes money to at least 1 million people including creditors and customers. This would help prosecutors with their case immensely as it is ‘”impractical” to contact each victim individually and get their testimony, the prosecutors remarked in the court filing.
Federal Law Requires Prosecutors to Contact FTX Victims
Federal law requires prosecutors to contact possible crime victims to inform them of their rights, including the rights to obtain restitution, be heard in court and be protected from defendants. “If you believe that you may have been a victim of fraud by Samuel Bankman-Fried, A/K/A/ ‘SBF,’ please contact the victim/witness coordinator at the United States Attorney’s office using the email address listed below for assistance in verifying whether you are a victim in this case,” stated in the website.
In criminal cases, prosecutors are required to notify victims ahead of plea or sentencing proceedings and allow them enough time to give testimony if they want to be heard. Based on the number of victims who provide such notice, the court will rule on the manner in which victims will be heard at such proceedings,” Kaplan wrote in his court order.
FTX Victim Testimonies Strengthen Arguments
Recently, Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to eight counts of wire fraud and conspiracy over the FTX collapse. Prosecutors have said he stole billions in customer deposits to pay debts for his hedge fund, Alameda Research, and lied to investors about the exchange’s financial condition.
Though Bankman-Fried has acknowledged risk management shortcomings, he did not consider himself criminally liable. In such a case, the direct evidence regarding the case may not be enough, hence testimonies of the victims can greatly strengthen arguments. Moreover, for the many other victims who did not come forward to cite legal trouble or other factors, this website could help them take the first step to recover their funds, and build a stronger and more compelling case with their testimonies, given the massive scale of damage Bankman-Fried has done.
FTX Owes Money to Over 1 Million People
The US Attorney suggests more indictments to follow. According to FTX’s bankruptcy filing on November 11, it owes money to more than 100,000 creditors and at least 1 million affected FTX and FTX US users.
John Ray, currently CEO of FTX, testified at the U.S. House Financial Services Committee in December, asserting that his team is implementing a restructuring plan that will potentially help customers and creditors get their money back.
One of the core objectives is asset protection and recovery. It involves extensive tracing of money flows and asset transfers from the time of FTX’s founding. Ray said that they are in the process of “collecting and reviewing dozens of terabytes of documents and data, including records of billions of individual transactions.”
U.S. Customers Accounted for 2% of All FTX Traffic
In an analysis of monthly active user data by CoinGecko, customers in the U.S. accounted for 2% of all traffic. Ray mentioned in his testimony that there were 2.7 million users in FTX US and 7.6 million users in FTX. But since “a small number of U.S. customers” were also among the FTX users, he overstates the actual customer relationships due to the possibility a customer may have more than one account.
Therefore, Ray aims to get to the bottom of the actual customer numbers. And the website for FTX victims can help speed up the process by providing information and clarity, since it is unlikely that most customers will not be able to appear at the Manhattan court in person.
The crypto industry had a tumultuous year in 2022, with coins tanking at the start of Q2 and never rallying, signalling the beginning of a crypto winter. To make matters worse, the collapse of Terra Luna and FTX led to a devastating contagion across the industry. Despite the challenges, we shouldn’t forget about the progress and achievements the industry has made. Here’s a brief recap of some of the biggest news in 2022.
Crypto’s Role in the Russia-Ukraine War (February)
During the Russia-Ukraine war, cryptocurrencies have been immensely valuable to Ukrainian refugees. Russian attacks have destroyed critical infrastructure, rendering many Ukrainians inaccessible to withdrawing money from ATM machines. Therefore, many Ukrainian refugees relied on digital currencies sent from relatives or donors abroad to purchase goods and services.
All that is needed for them to access their cryptocurrency wallets is a mobile phone and internet access, which was being provided by the thousands of Starlink satellite internet dishes provided by Elon Musk’s SpaceX at the time.
Feds Interest Rate Hike (March)
Despite Bitcoin reaching an all-time high of $69000+ in November 2021, what follows is a series of market decline. This is in part due to the U.S. Federal Reserve announcing its first interest rate hike in March to fight increasing inflation. As a result, the macro backdrop began to worsen, not only affecting crypto assets but also every other investment asset class. This also called into question Bitcoin’s reputation as an inflation hedge as Bitcoin itself started to trade in tandem with Nasdaq tech stocks, according to the New York Times.
Collapse of Terra Luna (May-July)
The collapse of the Terra Luna ecosystem in May 2022 was one of the most devastating black swan events in crypto history, wiping at least $60 billion off the market which triggered a dangerous domino effect across the industry such as the fall of several high-profile crypto firms, namely Three Arrows Capital, Voyager Digital, and Celsius Network.
Amid the crash, the UST algorithmic stablecoin, which was supposed to maintain a $1 peg via on-chain mechanisms with Terra’s native token LUNA, depegged, bottoming out at $0.006. This was caused by a massive continuous selloff on both UST and LUNA, resulting in a death spiral. Terraform Labs (TFL) developers and founder Do Kwon are facing multiple investigations as well as lawsuits into its collapse. (Canadian Pharmacy) As of now, South Korean authorities and Interpol have issued a warrant for the search and arrest of Do Kwon and his accomplices.
Recovery Plan of Terra Luna Classic (August)
As of now, the Luna Classic blockchain is managed and governed by the community after Terraform Labs (TFL) developers abandoned the chain in support of Luna 2.0. On August 26th 2022, governance was restored as citizens of Luna Classic could delegate, stake, and vote for the future of the ecosystem. Proposals and the associated implementations are being passed by the Terra Classic Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO).
Feds Sanction Tornado Cash (August)
On 8th August 2022, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions against Tornado Cash, a privacy-focused Ethereum mixing service that obscures the trail back to the fund’s original source. They claimed that Lazarus Group, a cybercrime group run by the North Korean government, has been using Tornado Cash to launder illicit funds.
Moreover, one of the developers for Tornado Cash was arrested in the Netherlands. The crypto community and privacy advocates bashed Netherlands authorities as the developer was simply writing code and had nothing to do with illicit activities. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin also criticized the move as he himself used Tornado Cash to make donations to Ukraine’s cause.
Ethereum Merge (September)
On 15th September 2022 at 06:42:42 UTC at block 15537393, the Ethereum Merge was completed. This meant a merger of the Ethereum mainnet execution layer and the Beacon Chain’s consensus layer, transitioning from the proof-of-work consensus mechanism to proof-of-stake. This landmark update brings major changes to the network, including a 99.95% reduction in energy consumption and a 90% cut in ETH issuance.
This is a significant achievement in the history of blockchain, allowing the Ethereum network to scale effectively as demand for Web3 and DeFi increase. Since Ethereum is the mother of all smart contract platforms, this could put Ethereum in a position to rival Bitcoin in adoption and even value.
Downfall of FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried (November)
On 11th November 2022, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) filed FTX, FTX US, and Alameda Research for bankruptcy in the U.S. Once hailed as one of the top crypto exchanges, the sudden collapse of FTX came as a shocking blow to the entire crypto industry, setting off yet another contagion across the space. This affected 130 affiliated companies including several high-profile firms such as BlockFi, Genesis Trading, Grayscale, KuCoin, Gemini, Coinbase, Crypto.com, Sequoia Capital, and Galaxy Digital.
Apparently, SBF was misappropriating customer funds for his own benefits without customers’ consent and knowledge, conducting unethical flywheel schemes with Alameda Research. As a result, SBF had been arrested in the Bahamas, facing many criminal charges including securities fraud, money laundering, and campaign finance law violations. However, on 22nd Decemeber 2022, the disgraced FTX founder was released on a $250 million bail.
A derivative is a contract based on an underlying financial asset such as a stock, bond, or currency. The value of the underlying asset is subject to changes according to market conditions.
Traders can use derivatives to earn profits by speculating future price movements of the underlying asset, a strategy becoming increasingly popular among cryptocurrency traders.
Why the Need for Risk Management?
The cryptocurrency market is volatile and speculative.
Everyone will take losses, including the most experienced professional traders. That is the name of the game.
Without risk management, a trader could deplete their budget and the game is over. The most important goal is to stay in the game. By analyzing platforms like Online Casinos Schweiz, traders can gain insights into managing their funds wisely. As long as the trader is still playing, they can make up for losses.
For that reason, it’s important to know when to take losses, how to manage risk, and generally aim to make more good trades than bad ones.
Important Things to Consider Before Trading
First, a trader should determine their total budget.
It does not matter if it is $100 or $100,000,000. The essential point is to have a given budget freely available. Traders should not use loaned money, which has to be paid back at a deadline. Using retirement money is not encouraged either.
A trader’s budget should be considered as “play money”. If a trader is emotionally attached to that money, these emotions can affect their trading decisions. A trader should aim to be a calm and collected statistician, not a passionate and desperate gambler.
Once a budget has been allocated, the next step is to look for a trade. There are tools available to find trades such as fundamental, sentiment, and technical analysis. But before entering a trade, a trader should determine the risk size, entry price, and stop loss.
The general rule of thumb for new traders is to risk at most 1% of the budget per trade.
The entry price might be the current market price or the limit set for an order.
Finally, it is essential to decide a stop loss before one enters a trade. How can a trader pick a stop loss? Technical analysis is the only available method, apart from randomly picking something. A trader can look at support and resistance levels, or trendlines.
These are the four ingredients for risk management: Budget, risk size, entry price, and stop loss. Having these ingredients will make it easier to manage risks when trading.
Transaction or Trade Volume
The volume of a transaction or trade is also known as “position size”. The position size is defined in relation to a trader’s risk tolerance and the size of their budget.
What are some risk management formulas that traders can use to determine their position size?
Here is one example:
Position Size = (Risk x Budget) / (Entry Price – Stop Loss)
Let’s say the trader has a budget of $10,000 and wants to buy Bitcoin for $30,000 with a stop loss at $29,500 and a risk of 1%.
Their position size would be (1% x $10,000) / ($30,000 – $29,500) = $100 / $500 = 0.2. They can buy 0.2 Bitcoin for this trade to stay within their risk tolerance and budget.
Some consider it advisable to make this calculation before every single trade. It can be tempting to take larger risks. (Zolpidem) However, this can be a recipe for disaster given the volatile crypto markets.
It’s always safer to stick to the math and be the calm statistician.
A trader can make a spreadsheet, where they can enter the parameters and it computes the position size or risk for them. This way it only takes a few seconds per trade and a trader can easily manage risks with every trade.
Stop Loss Orders
Stop loss (or just “stop”) is an order that traders can set to automatically close losing trades. It is the primary tool for risk management because traders can manage trades effectively during abrupt and unexpected market changes.
For instance, if there was some reported hacking, it could prompt a large price movement for the asset. If a trader has open trades and they happen to be in the opposite direction of the market movement, then they could be in danger of losing all their invested funds. A stop loss to sell will automatically prevent that from happening, which is why traders should always place a sell stop to avoid considerable losses.
Traders can also use a buy stop to buy when a target price is hit. A buy stop can be useful for automatically buying into target entry points.
Stick to the Trading Strategy
A trading strategy is only effective when a trader sticks with it, in sickness and in wealth.
Trading is a matter of getting the law of averages to work in one’s favour, so maintaining discipline is vital for consistent and profitable trading.
That being said, a trader’s strategy should be developed to fit their own goals, risk tolerance, and lifestyle. It should be based on reality, not on hope.
If a trader tries to copy someone else’s trading strategy without truly understanding it, chances are they will be incompatible with the strategy and will have trouble following it.
At the end of the day, each trader is accountable for their own trade decisions and therefore must be cautious when deciding on a trading strategy and seeking market opportunities.
Avoid Emotional Trading
There are two main emotions that will try to sway a trader from their strategy: fear and greed. These emotions are the culprits behind FOMO.
FOMO – the fear of missing out – is when a trader is afraid of missing out on a huge trading opportunity in the market. When FOMO happens, traders are susceptible to abandoning their strategy to chase the trading opportunity.
Greed can cause a trader to buy when prices are high because they are afraid of missing out on future gains, and fear can cause a trader to sell when prices are low because they are afraid of losing too much.
Fear and greed are amplified when a trading decision is based on hype rather than research and calculated strategy.
Understanding one’s emotions and keeping them under control will help traders avoid taking uncalculated risks caused by FOMO, and other emotional trading mistakes such as revenge trading.
Revenge trading happens when a trader tries to force a trade to recover from a loss. It’s driven by anger suffered from the loss and lust to make it all back quickly. This type of trading can easily cause a trader to invest more than they can afford to lose.
When a trader is overexposed in an asset, they aren’t trading or investing, they are gambling. When one gambles in general, things start going wrong, both logistically and psychologically.
Final Words: Risk, Reward, and Statistics
General wisdom says that it is best to invest and trade using small amounts of the total capital set aside for cryptocurrency.
That wisdom is rooted in two general concepts:
1. Risk / Reward 2. Statistics
Statistically, the larger the bid size, the more potential risk / potential reward per position.
Reward is nice, but to ensure rewards over time it is vital to limit risk.
The reality is that the risk of large bid sizes (relative to the total budget) outweigh the potential rewards statistically, over time, on average.
Consider a budget of $100. Now consider using that entire budget and losing 50% twice in a row, as opposed to using half the budget and doubling it twice. One leaves you with $25 and the other gets you to $225.
If $100 turns into $25, getting back to $100 will be a real challenge.
But if 5% of $100 is risked, that’s a total of $5. Even if lost, getting back to $100 from $95 is much easier. Sure, it will take more time to get to $225 using smaller bets, but statistically there will be many more opportunities to make gains and avoid losses.
There will be more room for skill, and less reliance on luck. Remember that anyone can get lucky, but luck can and usually will run out. Statistics are usually a safer bet.
Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency trading involves significant risks and may result in the loss of your capital. You should carefully consider whether trading cryptocurrencies is right for you in light of your financial condition and ability to bear financial risks. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and can fluctuate widely in a short period of time. As such, trading cryptocurrencies may not be suitable for everyone. Additionally, storing cryptocurrencies on a centralized exchange carries inherent risks, including the potential for loss due to hacking, exchange collapse, or other security breaches. We strongly advise that you seek independent professional advice before engaging in any cryptocurrency trading activities and carefully consider the security measures in place when choosing or storing your cryptocurrencies on a cryptocurrency exchange.
“Plus Token” was a cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme disguised as a high-yield investment program. Platform administrators closed down the operation in June of 2019. Fraudsters abandoned the scheme by withdrawing over $3 Billion dollars in Cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, and EOS) and leaving the message “sorry we have run“. This has led to an international manhunt for the platform administrators and creators of Plus Token. Plus token has been blamed for causing Bitcoin prices to fall in 2019 as stolen funds were sold via Bitcoin OTCs.
PlusToken had a major following in Korea and China – especially among investors not familiar with cryptocurrencies. Plus token was a High Yield investment program that offered massive rewards on “investment” to unsuspecting victims in China and Korea. The scheme offered 9% to 18% monthly returns on investment – with larger investments getting more rewards. This type is similar to other High Yield investment programs like “Bitconnect” which collapsed in January of 2018.
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How did the Plus Token Ponzi Scheme Work?
Plus Token is a classic Ponzi scheme it lures unsuspecting victims to invest with promises of high returns and low investments. Plus Token maintained an illusion of sustainable business by pretending the funds are used to develop cryptocurrency-related products such as the Plus Token Wallet and Exchange. However, returns are generated by dividing more recent investments to pay off older members. The illusion of a sustainable business is what classifies this as a Ponzi Scheme, as victims actually believe that they are investing in a business that generates high returns.
Plus Token also had a strong referral element, which gave huge bonuses to any member who referred friends and family into the scheme. Investors were divided into 4 “tiers”, according to how much they invested and how many other referrals they can make. This meant the more a member referred, the exponentially higher the return. Members started to refer their friends and family to invest in large sums of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, EOS, and Litecoin.
How did it become so popular?
Plus Token relied heavily in conferences and meetups to promote the token. The following video is taken at a Plus token gathering.
Early signs of trouble started surfacing in June of 2019 as users started reporting delays in fund withdraws. Some took to complain on the Chinese social media site “Weibo” citing that they were unable to receive funds despite writing for 35 hours after submitting withdrawal requests (Source Blocktempo).
Initially, Plus token blamed on “higher miner fees” for the withdrawal delays. They claimed the sent transactions with 1 sat /byte, leading to long delays on the Bitcoin Blockchain. Plus token supporters avidly as their followers to “believe” in the system and disregard the “false information”.
Ring Leaders tried to convince the community that Plus Token will come back.
Scammers: “Sorry We have run”
As funds began moving, one of the transactions carried the note “Sorry, we have run” as a comment to the transaction. This really needs no explanation – organisers of the scam have initiated their exit strategy and fled the country.
109 members of Plus Token scam have been arrested
Reports from Chinese news outlet CLS on 30th July 2020 reported that 109 individuals have been arrested in connection with the PlusToken scheme by the Ministry of Public Security. These include all 27 primary suspects thought to be responsible for the scam and another 82 core members.
Is Plus Token still scamming users?
On 29th April 2020, there were screenshots of the PlusToken app circulating on Chinese social media of a supposed notice announcing that version 3.0 beta of the app is now online. Subsequently, on 4th May 2020, a further notice was issued by the PlusToken team saying that version 3.0 beta will undergo compatibility synchronization and will stop all transaction functions. The notice further added that once this version is live, some eligible users will receive a reward. However, it seems more like an effort by PlusToken’s ringleaders to placate those who have invested by giving them hope that the project may return.
Tip of the Iceberg
PlusToken can be seen as the tip of the Iceberg as there are many other very similar crypto Ponzi schemes and scams. These include Cloud Token, S Block, and other cloud “mining” tokens. At the end of the day, tokens that ‘guarantee’ high returns without a clear and audit-able business plan should generate red flags.
Laundering stolen funds into exchanges
Luckily research is being down to track wallets known to be associated with Plus Token (8btc.com, @doveywan, @PeckShield). Work done by @PeckShield has shown funds moving from large wallets (~5000+ Bitcoin) to smaller wallets, and eventually into cryptocurrency exchanges. Due to the large sums of cryptocurrencies moved and actively being sold off – Plus Token played a role in dropping the price of Bitcoin.
Known amounts scammed – List sum of BTC from identified and tracked addresses. Reports have been circulating that up to ~1% of the entire Bitcoin supply is involved in the scam. Currently more wallets are being added to this list.
Plus Token Sell-offs Responsible for Bitcoin Price Drop?
Since as early as August 2019, Chinese cryptocurrency trading groups have already been circulating that due to the sheer amount involved, the scammers trying to dispose of the ill-gotten Bitcoin are pushing prices downward. And this price dump halted on 15th August 2019, coincidentally when Binance was suspended for trading because of a system upgrade.
In late November 2019, this issue was again brought to the forefront when Twitter user Ergo reported having traced 187,000 BTC of the approximately 200,000 BTC attributed to PlusToken’s investors. As to these funds, Ergo found they were “shuffled” (albeit badly, if at all) and gradually sent to various cryptocurrency exchanges and OTC brokers, primarily Huobi, for sale on the market.
I’ve been seeing a lot of Twitter FUD opining on miner capitulation in the last few days.
This got me thinking… could the selling by the PlusToken scammers have had an abnormal effect on this market cycle? pic.twitter.com/VZGjyQAxaF
Ergo predicts that if all the “mixed” funds were sold from August to November 2019, it would average out to be around 1,300 BTC sold per day. This could lead people to think it would have an effect on Bitcoin prices, which has fallen from USD $9,981.41 on 1st August 2019 to USD $7,182.89 on 4th December 2019.
Based on Ergo’s estimates of the amounts sold daily, the sell-off of the remaining 58,000 BTC or so Plus Token funds would continue for another 1.5 to 2 months.
In an apparent pattern, PlusToken scammers move their funds when BTC prices experience volatility. Such was the case on 11th February 2020, when Bitcoin trading at around USD $9,800, almost 12,000 BTC (worth around USD $118 million) from one of the addresses associated with the Plus Token funds were moved and split amongst various other wallets.
On 7th March 2020, Bitcoin was again trading at over USD $9,000. Again, Plus Token funds were being funneled through mixing services. This time, Twitter user ErgoBTC noticed that a total of 13,000 BTC (worth around USD $210 million) was involved. Analysts such as Kevin Svenson believe the scammers were “slamming the market with sell orders” every time Bitcoin prices went up so as to unload the funds.
Is there a pattern to the movement of funds associated with Plus Token?
According to ErgoBTC, the movement of funds to exchanges took a bit of a break from mid-March to early May 2020. Movement to exchanges has since then resumed and around 300-500 BTC/day is being moved to exchanges.
On 22nd June 2020, Twitter user Whale Alert found over 26 million EOS (worth over USD$67mil) had been transferred from a wallet associated with PlusToken to an unknown wallet, prompting cryptocurrency traders to go on high alert for potential downward price movement for EOS.
🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 26,316,339 #EOS (67,139,663 USD) transferred from PlusToken to unknown wallet
Indeed on 24th June 2020 we did see a marked dip in EOS prices, though it cannot be confirmed that this was due to a sale of the PlusToken funds.
EOS prices from 22 to 26 Jun 2020
Only a matter of a few days later on 24th June 2020, Whale Alert found another huge chunk of PlusToken funds, this time over 789,000 ETH (worth over USD$187 million) had been transferred from a PlusToken wallet to a new address, and yet again to another unknown address.
🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 789,534 #ETH (187,847,558 USD) transferred from PlusToken to unknown wallet
These funds were then further split into multiple unknown addresses of varying amounts.
Twitter user ErgoBTC, who has been following the movement of the PlusToken funds observes that the ETH that was recently transferred is the remainder of PlusToken’s unmixed coins which are now being moved to mixers. The purpose of this is to cloud the movement history of the PlusToken funds, so that they can avoid being flagged by exchanges when they are eventually sold on the market.
With all the excitement, a short update on their BTC is warranted.
We have also seen just about all of the remaining unmixed coins ~22k on our watch list begin entering their mixer over the last few days. https://t.co/DLR1M7xty9
In addition to the movements of EOS and ETH, it’s been a very busy week for PlusToken. So far they have moved over USD$428 million worth of cryptocurrencies to new addresses and the following exchanges: Binance, Huobi, HBTC, OKEx, Gate.io and MXC Exchange.
This week the following #PlusToken funds have been on the move to exchanges and new addresses for mixing:
– 22k BTC ($203m USD) – 789k ETH ($183m) – 26m EOS ($68m) – 20m XRP ($4m)
The big question: can the crypto markets absorb this volume or are we headed lower?
Those behind Plustoken rely on cryptocurrency Exchanges to dispose of their scammed funds. Cryptocurrency exchanges do have Know Your Customer (KYC) measures in place which should identify and report any such activity since it clearly constitutes money laundering. However previous massive sell-offs by PlusToken took place in Huobi and Okex, thus demonstrating that their KYC and AML measures were ineffective in stopping them in that instance.
Since the previous selloff, exchanges have stepped up their standards. For example, in reaction to the selloff Huobi has launched Star Atlas, an on-chain analytics tool to identify problematic activities such as fraud and money laundering on their Exchange. Meanwhile, peer-to-peer exchange Paxful has partnered with Chainalysis so that the exchange’s transactions can be monitored in real time.
In the latest sell off, it has already been found that substantial funds are being mixed and deposited into Binance, Huobi, HBTC, OKEx, Gate.io and MXC Exchange. Nothing has happened yet, but many traders are already watching to see if a market crash could be incoming, whilst questioning whether the affected exchanges will take any action on the funds that are now in their hands.
#Plustoken has been a major market factor since early 2019.
Analysis from @ErgoBTC & others proves ~165k BTC from PlusToken were mixed & sent to Huobi & OKex since August.
This week >$200mm of ETH/EOS/XRP have moved.@HuobiGlobal and @OKEx have remained entirely silent.
Chinese police seized US$4.2b of PlusToken, forfeited to China’s treasury
Filings from the Yancheng Intermediate People’s Court reveal that authorities have seized 194,775 Bitcoin (BTC), 833,083 Ether (ETH), 1.4 million Litecoin (LTC), 27.6m EOS, 74,167 Dash, 487m XRP, 6bn Dogecoin (DOGE), 79,581 Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and 213,724 Tether (USDT) from 7 individuals convicted in connection with this case.
This totals around USD$4.2bn worth of cryptocurrencies!
Court filings have also indicated that the seized cryptocurrencies will be forfeited to the National Treasury. This is because in China, trading and dealing in cryptocurrencies is illegal. So victims have no legal right for return of the seized assets.
Hence some victims have joked that they have inadvertently contributed to the national treasury.
Translation: “carelessness led me to also contribute to the nation’s treasury” lol I see what they did there.. https://t.co/jp1cLAboJo
It seems that the Plus Token saga, which started all the way back in 2018 had drawn to a close in December 2020 when the court in Jiangsu province, China sentenced the ringleaders of the Plus Token scheme to up to 11 years imprisonment. The main ringleader, Chen Bo and 13 other ringleaders were sentenced to between 2 and 11 years in jail. They were also fined various amounts ranging from 120,000 yuan to 6 million yuan. Another associate, Chen Tao, who was responsible for transferring the illegally obtained funds, was sentenced to over 4 years imprisonment.
As mentioned in the previous section, all the confiscated cryptocurrencies obtained from the Plus Token fraudsters were turned over to the state.
The Plus Token scam however is not dead in 2022. We can see from various social media outlets that people making periodical videos saying that the Plus Token project is alive and that they are working with a top Asian cryptocurrency exchange. Furthermore, these “influencers” who apparently have connections with those involved with Plus Token allege that once Plus Token is launched, they will not have a native token but instead the Plus Token proceeds will be issued in the form of that exchange’s own token.
Note however that the “major Asian exchange” in question has never mentioned any working relationship with Plus Token, nor has there been any announcement that they will issue their own native token.
Plus Token Sources and References
Chinese Sources and News Coverage
Special thanks to Matthew Graham for providing the videos and research!
Updated on 4th December 2019 to include new section- Plus Token Sell-offs Responsible for Bitcoin Price Drop? Updated on 18th December 2019 to correct spelling mistakes and more details of how the Ponzi Scheme operated Updated on 9th March 2020 on the latest Plus Token moves in 2020. Updated on 25th May 2020 on the latest PlusToken prosecutions and ver 3.0 beta of the app. Updated on 25th June 2020 on the movements of PlusToken’s remaining unmixed funds in the week of 21st June 2020. Updated on 2nd July 2020 on what exchanges are doing in response
Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency trading involves significant risks and may result in the loss of your capital. You should carefully consider whether trading cryptocurrencies is right for you in light of your financial condition and ability to bear financial risks. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and can fluctuate widely in a short period of time. As such, trading cryptocurrencies may not be suitable for everyone. Additionally, storing cryptocurrencies on a centralized exchange carries inherent risks, including the potential for loss due to hacking, exchange collapse, or other security breaches. We strongly advise that you seek independent professional advice before engaging in any cryptocurrency trading activities and carefully consider the security measures in place when choosing or storing your cryptocurrencies on a cryptocurrency exchange.
Stacks ($STX) (formerly Blockstack) is an open-source network that allows developers to easily build decentralised applications (such as decentralised finance DeFi applications) and smart contracts. It also relies on Bitcoin as a backbone by reusing its computing power and blockchain for settlement and security with a new mechanism known as proof of transfer (PoX). Below, we look into PoX and everything you need to know about Stacks.
Background
Stacks is handled by a globally-distributed team that includes scientists from leading universities such as MIT, Stanford, and Princeton. On top of that, The project is a public company with its headquarters in New York.
Stacks’s place in the DeFi and broader crypto ecosystem is further cemented by being backed by notable names in the industry such as Y Combinator, Foundation Capital, Digital Currency Group, Winklevoss Capital, and LUX.
What is Stacks?
Stacks is a decentralized platform that leverages the Bitcoin platform’s security to power the creation of smart contracts and decentralized applications (Dapps). Interestingly, the network does not have to recreate the system’s PoW mechanism to connect to it. The project has four major layers; application, protocol, Stacks blockchain, and the Bitcoin system.
What is Proof of Transfer (PoX)?
Proof of Transfer (PoX) and the earliest Proof of Work (PoW) are requirements to define what a miner needs to do in order to create blocks on the blockchain. The purpose of mining is to verify a transactions’ legitimacy and in return miners are rewarded with cryptocurrencies. Proof of Work is the mechanism used for Bitcoin whereby miners compete to solve a puzzle using their computer’s processing power in order to add each block to the chain.
However, Bitcoin has its fair share of drawbacks. It has a very low transaction speed and is not smart contract-friendly. Therefore, second-layer solutions like the Lightning Network have tried to provide fast Bitcoin transactions but failed to power smart contracts.
As such, it has lost in the competition to Ethereum who now powers most decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. Yet, with Ethereum witnessing increased congestion, new projects are shifting from Bitcoin and Ethereum’s proof of work (PoW) to platforms using proof of stake (PoS) and other energy-friendly consensus mechanisms such as proof of burn (PoB). Now Stacks wants to take this a step further with their proof of transfer (PoX).
Name
What miner needs to do to mint new cryptocurrencies
Proof of work (PoW)
Use electricity towards computations i.e. solving complex problems.
Proof of stake (PoS)
Dedicate an economic stake in a base cryptocurrency
Proof of burn (PoB)
Destroy a base cryptocurrency
Proof of transfer (PoX)
Transfer a base cryptocurrency
Proof of work and other mechanisms
Stacks Blockchain
As mentioned earlier, Stacks has four major layers; application, protocol, Stacks blockchain, and the Bitcoin system.
Stacks blockchain is the solid rock that holds the ecosystem together. It is a distributed layer by itself and allows users to create smart contracts and virtual assets. What’s interesting with this layer is that it’s not a layer two chain but connects to the BTC-powered network with a 1:1 block ratio.
This implies that whatever happens on the Stacks platform is easily verifiable on the Bitcoin platform.
How Do the Two Platforms Connect?
To interface the two independent distributed networks, the Stacks blockchain uses PoX instead of PoW. Generally, the mechanism enables miners to mine a new digital currency by transferring a base currency. In the case of Stacks, transferring BTC results in a new coin being minted on the Stacks protocol.
Apart from fronting a new consensus mechanism i.e. PoX, the decentralized platform allows its users to easily create virtual assets that are transferable, and ownership can be assigned. The assets can represent a wide range of use cases such as business models, funding, and governance.
However, to effectively cater to each of these use cases, Stacks, through the Stacks blockchain, supports different asset types such as fungible and non-fungible tokens.
To power smart contracts, the Stacks blockchain uses a smart contract-centric programming language called Clarity, which provides enhanced security. Notably, the programming language is employed by leading decentralized platforms such as Algorand.
Protocol Layer
The protocol layer has the storage, authentication, financial, and naming service. Stacks’ storage system is called Gaia. It stores app data without the need for a third-party service provider.
It utilizes off-chain cloud systems such as a DigitalOcean or Azure to power super-fast data access by applications. Fortunately, the data is secured by its creator’s private key.
On the other hand, Stacks uses a decentralized feature to provide authentication. Authentication powers access to the network’s apps using a username and details on Gaia.
The financial aspect of the system supports DeFi platforms such as those providing decentralized exchanges and lending. The financial pillar is further strengthened by the protocol’s use of Clarity to drive smart contracts.
For instance, the smart contract-programming language can interface directly with the Bitcoin blockchain. Additionally, it’s reinforced to prevent security breaches and anticipate possible vulnerabilities.
Stacks has a unique naming feature called BNS (Blockstack Naming Service). Despite being decentralized, the service enables the platform’s users to give assets human-readable names. The names are secured with a combination of public and private keys.
$STX Token: What is is and tokenomics?
Activities on the Stacks blockchain are powered by a native currency known as Stacks token ($STX). It is used up as “fuel” when making transactions, interacting with smart contracts and using the BNS feature. It is also distributed as a reward to STX miners (see below).
The genesis block minted 1.3 billion Stacks tokens. Minted coins were shared among the founders, treasury, equity investors, employees, two token sales, and app mining.
App mining is Stacks’ way to reward developers for building high-quality applications on the Stacks network.
Stacks is available on Binance, HashKey, Crypto.com, and Kucoin. Unfortunately, its availability has been set for non-US persons only.
Stack Network’s Use Cases
From the start, the platform is built to enable privacy and allow users to control how their data is used in a world where user data is treated as a commodity for sale. And with Stacks’ use of PoX, Clarity, and other qualities, developers can ensure data privacy when creating apps, eliminate central authorities in financial products, and build fair games.
Stacks 2.0 and use cases
Stacks 2.0 blockchain is a layer-1 blockchain utilising the Bitcoin blockchain as a secure base-layer to bring apps and smart contracts to Bitcoin. Stacks 2.0 is currently in the testnet phase. The team have confirmed they are on track to reach code completion for the Stacks 2.0 blockchain by 15th December 2020 and have set a launch date for 14th January 2021.
Stacks implements proof of transfer (PoX) as a consensus mechanism and natively connects to Bitcoin. Therefore developers can ensure data privacy when creating apps, eliminate central authorities in financial products, and build fair games without the need to modify Bitcoin.
There will be 2 types of participants on Stacks
STX miners
They can spend BTC to elect leaders by sending transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain, where a Verifiable Random Function (VRF) will randomly select the leader of each round. The leader then writes the new block on the Stacks chain.
As a reward, STX miners get STX tokens, transaction fees, and the Clarity contract execution fees of each block.
STX holders
Holders can participate in consensus by locking up their STX for a cycle, running a full node, and sending useful information on the Stacks network as transactions.
As a reward, STX holders can earn Bitcoin rewards and unlike in the proof of stake mechanism, there is no risk of slashing for STX holders.
Conclusion
With an increasing number of security breaches on smart contracts and blockchain platforms, leveraging Bitcoin’s security when building smart contracts puts Stacks at the top of the game. Using Clarity at the base of every smart contract keeps hackers at bay, especially in the DeFi scene where malicious actors are always on the prowl for vulnerabilities in protocols.
Additionally, Chainlink oracles provide a trusted source of off-chain data for developers, while PoX allows for a one-on-one connection to the BTC-powered blockchain.
We are certainly curious to see what the team come up with in Stacks 2.0 and whether they can live up to their aims.
Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency trading involves significant risks and may result in the loss of your capital. You should carefully consider whether trading cryptocurrencies is right for you in light of your financial condition and ability to bear financial risks. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and can fluctuate widely in a short period of time. As such, trading cryptocurrencies may not be suitable for everyone. Additionally, storing cryptocurrencies on a centralized exchange carries inherent risks, including the potential for loss due to hacking, exchange collapse, or other security breaches. We strongly advise that you seek independent professional advice before engaging in any cryptocurrency trading activities and carefully consider the security measures in place when choosing or storing your cryptocurrencies on a cryptocurrency exchange.
Staking on Ethereum 2.0 is finally live. However, the process of connecting your Ethereum (ETH) coins can be a bit tricky. It’s not all about sending 32 ETH to the contract. Doing so would end up with you losing your funds. In this tutorial, we will cover how to connect to the ETH staking contract through a validator node. Furthermore, we shall be using Allnodes, a non-custodial platform for hosting nodes.
How To Set up an ETH 2.0 Validator?
First, your Ethereum wallet should have the 32 ETH coins needed by the contract. Note that interacting with the Ethereum blockchain is done through MetaMask. Therefore, you need to fund your MetaMask through a hardware or a software wallet.
The journey starts on Allnodes. The platform takes care of the technical bit of hosting nodes for a relatively low fee, although it depends on the hosting package chosen. The platform supports multiple payment methods, including Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Click on Ethereum staking on the upper right corner, and on the new window that opens, select “Host ETH 2.0.”
If you’re new to Allnodes, create an account; otherwise, login to your account.
Select you’re your plan.
Connect to MetaMask.
ETH 2.0 Launchpad
Click on “Open ETH 2.0 Launchpad” then “Get started.”
There are subsections on the left pane of the welcome screen, such as introducing eth2 phase 0, signing up, and responsibilities, among others. In addition, it holds information on the expected income. On the responsibilities section, for example, it states that a validator node only earns rewards when it’s actively participating in the network. Unfortunately, the effects of a node being offline are equal to the profits of it being online.
Other critical sections:
Risks of slashing – If a node gets compromised or it misbehaves, its stake is slashed, consequently reducing its staking power.
Backup Mnemonic – They are special words that are used for recovering deposited ETH. For maximum security, the mnemonic should be written on paper instead of saving on a computer.
Transfer delay – For now, interacting with the deposit address is one way. As such, you can only deposit and not withdraw or transfer the coins.
Long term committed – Ethereum has a commitment statement noting that validator nodes are in it for the long haul and they can’t go back to previous versions such as ETH 1.0.
On the client selection pane, there’s the option to run ETH 1.0 client. While this is possible, it’s costly and needs some technical knowledge.
Generating Key Phrases for ETH 2.0
The next window is for generating key pairs. First, select the number of ETH 2.0 validator nodes you need. Note that each node requires depositing 32 ETH into the Ethereum staking contract.
Next, select between Linux, Windows, and Mac operating systems.
For this example, we’ll be setting up an ETH 2.0 validator node on a Windows-powered computer.
The intimidating part about this part is that it uses a command-line interface (CLI) instead of a graphical user interface (GUI), which is what non-devs are used to.
Downloading and Using CLI
Download the CLI from Github by clicking on the link “get it from developers.” When on the download page, select the release that coincides with your computer’s operating system.
Extract the zipped folder to reveal the file called “Deposits.”
The “Deposits” file is a CLI interface.
To get it to run as required, hold the SHIFT key and right-click on the file to bring up the option “Open PowerShell window here.”
On the previous download page, below the list of available downloads, copy the command code and paste it on the open CLI window. Note that this window should have a blue background color.
CLI window
Follow the instructions on the screen for the command to run successfully.
Choose language and select a password. PLEASE remember this password; we shall need it later.
The CLI will generate a unique mnemonic. The mnemonic helps you unlock your staked ETH when transfers finally go live. Therefore, put it on paper for safety and press “Enter.” Input the phrase.
In the folder with your CLI download, a new folder named “validator keys” will be created. Inside this folder, we have two files; Deposit data and Key store.
Depositing The Files on Launchpad
On the “Upload Deposit File” section, hit “add file” and drag and drop the deposit data file (Deposit.in).
Click “Continue” and connect to your MetaMask wallet, which should have 32 ETH.
Read the summary, “Initiate the transaction,” and double-check the Ethereum deposit address.
Confirm the transaction on MetaMask. You can view the transaction status on Etherscan after it’s successful.
Back To Allnodes
Let’s pick up from where we left on Allnodes. Confirm that you’ve generated ETH 2.0 phrases, deposit data, and have put in 32 ETH to the contract.
The next step is to choose the hosting plan.
Drag the files in the specified order. That is, the deposit data file, key store file, and provide the password we generated earlier on the CLI interface.
The next window on Allnodes shows the status of your node.
Note that you can use Allnodes to run multiple ETH 2.0 validator nodes.
And, that’s it.
Note that you can view the status of the deposit on the Beacon Chain by using the same address that you used to deposit your coins to the ETH 2.0 staking contract.
Manage your Allnodes account
To keep up ETH 2.0 node, you need to top up the node which requires a payment of around US$5 per month until the release of ETH 2.0. ETH 2.0 is expected to be launched in around 2 years. In return, at every epoch you would be able to earn a bit of ETH in return.
Update: Returns on my Allnodes node?
As of June 2022, my validator node balance is at 35.45202. This means I have earned a total of around 3.45 ETH since I set it up 2 years ago in 2020. Note that results may vary and those who set up their node earlier (as was in my case) were able to enjoy a 16% APY.
Conclusion
Ethereum 2.0 is being continuously developed by the Ethereum Foundation to be able to run on a wide range of computing devices. The above tutorial on how to set up an ETH 2.0 validator node using Allnodes covers every corner of the process. However, critical details such as mnemonics and passwords should be kept secure since they determine access to the deposited coins.
In addition, it’s worth noting that the process happens on three platforms, Allnodes, ETH 2.0 Launchpad, and CLI. Therefore, the three systems must harmoniously work together to get the desired outcome.
FAQs:
What if You Don’t Have the Full Amount?
Good question. First, NO. a validator node needs the full amount.
Can the ETH 2.0 Staking Contract Take Less Than 32 ETH?
However, you can still stake a lower amount only that it will be through third parties such as participating cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase.
Can I withdraw the rewards I earn from staking?
NO, not until ETH 2.0 reaches Phase 1, which is likely to be in 1 year or possibly more.
Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency trading involves significant risks and may result in the loss of your capital. You should carefully consider whether trading cryptocurrencies is right for you in light of your financial condition and ability to bear financial risks. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and can fluctuate widely in a short period of time. As such, trading cryptocurrencies may not be suitable for everyone. Additionally, storing cryptocurrencies on a centralized exchange carries inherent risks, including the potential for loss due to hacking, exchange collapse, or other security breaches. We strongly advise that you seek independent professional advice before engaging in any cryptocurrency trading activities and carefully consider the security measures in place when choosing or storing your cryptocurrencies on a cryptocurrency exchange.
