#top cryptocurrency rankings

[dencyemily]

Top Cryptocurrencies Face Dominance and Challenges as Q4 Token Liquidity Report is Released

Kaiko Research's Q4 report has highlighted Bitcoin's remarkable resilience, maintaining top liquidity despite market challenges and fluctuations. While Ethereum experienced a decrease in 24-hour trading volume, Solana emerged as a contender, signaling a possible shift in the top cryptocurrency rankings next quarter.

According to the report, Bitcoin maintained its stronghold as the leading cryptocurrency, with a market cap of $900.4 billion. Despite a decrease in 24-hour trading volume, Bitcoin showcased resilience. Ethereum displayed its characteristic volatility during Q4, with a notable decline in 24-hour trading volume indicating a shift in short-term market dynamics.

XRP maintained its stance as the sixth-largest cryptocurrency, while Dogecoin secured its place in the top ten. The report suggests that Solana is poised for a breakthrough in the next quarter, with potential to challenge the current top four.

In conclusion, Q4 revealed a mixed landscape for major cryptocurrencies. As the market undergoes shifts, investors are advised to stay informed and agile, adapting their strategies to navigate the evolving crypto terrain.

[probablyasocialecologist]

In 2020 to 2021, Bitcoin consumed 173.42 terawatt hours of electricity - enough to rank it 27th among nations, trumping the likes of Pakistan with a population of over 230 million people. The resulting carbon footprint was the equivalent of burning 84 billion pounds of coal. To offset this, a study by the United Nations University found 3.9 billion trees would have to be planted, covering an area almost equal to the Netherlands, Switzerland, or Denmark.

Globally, bitcoin mining used 1.65 million liters (about 426,000 gallons) of water in 2020-2021, enough to fill more than 660,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. China, the U.S. and Canada had the largest water footprints. Kazakhstan and Iran, which along with the U.S. and China have suffered from water shortages, were also in the top-10 list for water footprint. “These are very, very worrying numbers,” Madani said. “Even hydropower, which some countries consider a clean source of renewable energy, has a huge footprint.”

[blogwan]

Tahtakoz - Gold

Fan token are a type of cryptocurrency that allows fans to have a say in their favorite team's decisions, unlock VIP rewards, and access exclusive promotions and games. Tahtakoz's fan token has gained popularity among its fans and the crypto community, with a live price update available on various platforms. Fan tokens have become increasingly popular in the crypto market, with many sports teams and organizations adopting them as a way to engage with their fans and increase revenue. Socios.com, a platform that enables teams to create their own fan tokens, has been at the forefront of this trend. The market for fan tokens is growing rapidly, with a list of the top 50 fan tokens ranked by market cap available for investors. Yesterday to today Fan tokens are not a currency that can be used to purchase goods, but they can be exchanged with other fan token holders on selected crypto exchanges. The current status and future potential of Tahtakoz fan token is promising, with the potential for growth in both its fan base and value. Chiliz, the parent company of Socios.com, recently received a US trademark approval for the term "fan token," indicating the potential for further expansion of fan tokens in the US market. Furthermore, a survey found that a significant portion of Gen Z and Millennial sports fans are interested in purchasing fan tokens to have access to exclusive rewards. While there have been some criticisms of fan tokens, such as accusations of monetizing fan support, the benefits they provide to fans and teams alike suggest that they will continue to be a significant player in the crypto market.

[alphafitnessman]

☑ New AIRDROP Opportunity ☑

- First ZK tokens CEX airdrop.

💰 Grab your $ZKB (official ZK exchange token) tokens now!

Register here and start earning tokens:

https://tinyurl.com/25tpx7kb

SEE MORE DETAILS BELOW:

During the event, any trading activity on the ZKE Exchange (including buying, selling, spot trading, futures trading, and quantitative trading) will be rewarded with ZKE Platform Tokens (ZKB).

The total airdrop for this event is 157,500,000,000 ZKB, available while supplies last.

Event Duration:

Start Date: March 1, 2024, 22:00 (GMT+8)

End Date: August 31, 2024, 10:00 (GMT+8)

How to Participate:

Step 1: Download the ZKE Exchange APP or visit the official website, complete registration, and log in.

Step 2: Participate in trading any cryptocurrency in any way to receive an airdrop equivalent to your trading volume in ZKB.

Step 3: Share your referral link, invite friends to register and participate in the event. Your friends will receive an airdrop equivalent to their trading volume in ZKB, and you can also receive an airdrop of 10% to 50% of your friends' trading volume.

Step 4: If you are an existing ZKE user, invite 5 friends to register and participate in the event, and you can receive an airdrop equivalent to your pre-event trading volume in ZKB.

Step 5: The top 50 traders by weekly trading volume will automatically receive ZKB rewards granted by the system. Click the link to view the trading volume rankings.

See more details on their website (previous registering link).

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#AirdropAlert #earnmoney

#Oscars2024 #Oscars #JoshuaNgannou #Oscar #UFC299Live #QueenOfTears #UFC299Live #crypto

[kushitworld]

Cryptocurrency’s Digital Gold Rush: Unearthing The SEO Benefits

The cryptocurrency landscape has experienced explosive growth in recent years. As more people seek to invest in and understand this digital financial revolution, it’s essential for businesses operating within the cryptocurrency space to seize the opportunity and stand out in a crowded market. This is where SEO (Search Engine Optimization) comes into play, offering a wealth of benefits for cryptocurrency-related businesses that are looking to maximize their digital presence and capitalize on the digital gold rush.

The Crypto Craze and the Importance of SEO

Cryptocurrencies have captured the imagination of investors, traders, and technology enthusiasts alike. As the market expands and diversifies, it’s crucial for businesses to establish their presence in this dynamic ecosystem. SEO is a powerful tool that can help crypto businesses achieve a competitive edge:

Enhanced Online Visibility: In the ever-evolving world of cryptocurrencies, gaining online visibility is crucial. A robust SEO strategy ensures that your cryptocurrency platform, blog, or service ranks prominently in search engine results when potential users search for relevant keywords. Increased visibility can translate into more website traffic and user engagement.

Targeted Audience Engagement: SEO allows you to target specific keywords and phrases related to cryptocurrencies, blockchain, and specific digital assets. By optimizing your content and website for these keywords, you attract a highly relevant audience that is more likely to engage with your platform or services.

Improved User Experience: SEO doesn’t just encompass keyword optimization but also factors like website speed, mobile-friendliness, and overall user experience. A well-optimized website not only ranks better but also provides a better experience for your visitors, enhancing user satisfaction.

Competitive Advantage: The cryptocurrency market is highly competitive, with new projects and platforms emerging daily. SEO helps your business stay ahead by consistently ranking well in search results, establishing your platform as a trusted source of cryptocurrency information or services.

Trust and Credibility: When your cryptocurrency-related content consistently appears at the top of search results, it builds trust and credibility with potential users. People are more likely to trust and engage with platforms that they find easily online and that provide valuable, authoritative information.

Cost-Effective Marketing: Compared to traditional advertising methods, SEO can be a cost-effective strategy for marketing your cryptocurrency platform, blog, or service. This is especially beneficial for startups or smaller businesses looking to compete with established crypto projects.

Strategies for Unearthing SEO Benefits in Cryptocurrency

To unlock the full potential of SEO for your cryptocurrency-related business, here are some strategies to consider:

Keyword Research: Begin with thorough keyword research to identify the most relevant and frequently searched keywords in the cryptocurrency niche. Tools like Google Keyword Planner and specialized SEO tools can help you uncover valuable keywords.

On-Page Optimization: Optimize your website’s content, including meta tags, titles, descriptions, and header tags. Ensure that your content is well-structured and includes your target keywords naturally.

High-Quality Content: Create and publish high-quality content that is relevant to your cryptocurrency niche. This can include articles, educational resources, whitepapers, or video content. Regularly update your website with fresh information, news, and market insights.

Link Building: Build high-quality backlinks to your website from reputable cryptocurrency-related sources. These backlinks act as “votes of confidence” in the eyes of search engines and can enhance your website’s authority.

Social Media Engagement: Use social media platforms to promote your content and engage with your cryptocurrency community. Social signals can indirectly impact your SEO rankings.

Online Reputation Management: Encourage users to leave positive reviews or testimonials if applicable, as these can influence potential users and contribute to your platform’s trustworthiness.

Analytics and Monitoring: Utilize web analytics tools to track your website’s performance, identify areas for improvement, and measure the effectiveness of your SEO efforts.

Conclusion

In the fast-paced world of cryptocurrencies, where innovation and investment opportunities abound, SEO serves as a critical tool for making your platform or service stand out. By optimizing your online presence, you can increase your visibility, attract a targeted and engaged audience, and establish your business as a trusted source of cryptocurrency-related information and services. Cryptocurrency’s digital gold rush is in full swing, and with the right SEO strategy, you can secure your place in this exciting and rapidly evolving industry. So, embrace SEO and unearth its benefits to make the most of the cryptocurrency revolution.

Source:

[asicminershub]

Market Impact of Innosilicon's ASIC Miners

Innosilicon

Innosilicon is a well-known company in the cryptocurrency mining industry that specializes in the design and production of high-performance ASIC miners. Founded in 2006, Innosilicon has established itself as a leading player in the market, delivering innovative and efficient mining hardware solutions to miners worldwide.

The company prides itself on its commitment to research and development, continuously striving to improve upon its previous designs and deliver cutting-edge technology to its customers. By leveraging its expertise in semiconductor design and fabrication, Innosilicon has managed to stay ahead of the competition and earn a solid reputation for its products.

Here is the list of the best innosilicon miners as of 2023 ranked according to profitability, price and durability.

1.Innosilicon KAS Master Pro

2.Innosilicon Kas master 2 THS

3.Innosilicon Kas master 1 THS

4.Innosilicon T4 BTC Miner

5.Innosilicon a11 Pro 8gb

6.Innosilicon a10 pro 6 GB

Mining Hardware

Mining hardware is an essential component of the cryptocurrency mining process. It refers to the physical equipment utilized to validate and record transactions on a blockchain network. As the complexity of mining cryptocurrencies increases, miners require powerful and specialized hardware to compete and generate profits.

In the early days of cryptocurrency mining, miners utilized general-purpose CPUs and GPUs to mine cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. However, as the industry evolved, ASIC miners emerged as the most efficient and cost-effective solution for mining popular cryptocurrencies. Companies like Innosilicon have played a crucial role in designing and manufacturing ASIC miners that offer superior performance and energy efficiency.

ASIC Miner

An ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) miner is a mining device specifically designed to mine cryptocurrencies. Unlike general-purpose CPUs or GPUs, ASIC miners are optimized to perform a single task - the computation required for mining. This specialization allows ASIC miners to perform mining operations significantly faster and more efficiently than other hardware alternatives.

Innosilicon has been at the forefront of ASIC miner development and has released several generations of mining hardware over the years. Its ASIC miners are known for their high hash rates, low power consumption, and durability. The company's dedication to innovation has enabled them to continuously push the boundaries of mining technology.

Their ASIC miners are designed to mine various cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and more. Innosilicon's product lineup includes a range of models catering to different levels of mining operations, from individual miners to large-scale mining farms.

One notable aspect of Innosilicon's ASIC miners is their focus on energy efficiency. The company understands the ecological impact of cryptocurrency mining and aims to minimize energy consumption while maximizing mining performance. This approach not only benefits the environment but also leads to reduced operational costs for miners.

Innosilicon's ASIC miners are designed to be user-friendly and accessible to miners of all skill levels. The setup process is straightforward, and the company provides comprehensive support and documentation to assist miners in getting started quickly. Additionally, their mining hardware is known for its reliability and durability, ensuring that miners can operate their machines without any major interruptions.

The constant evolution of Innosilicon's ASIC miners showcases their commitment to staying ahead in the competitive mining industry. By incorporating the latest advancements in semiconductor technology and constantly refining their designs, they continue to deliver top-of-the-line mining hardware to miners worldwide.

In conclusion, the rise of ASIC miners in the cryptocurrency mining industry has revolutionized the way miners operate. Innosilicon, as a prominent player in this space, has played a vital role in driving this evolution. Their dedication to innovation, energy efficiency, and user-friendly designs has contributed significantly to the progression of the mining hardware market. As the industry continues to evolve, it will be interesting to see what new advancements Innosilicon brings forth to further enhance the mining experience.

[marytum]

AAVE Native Stablecoins Revolutionize Stablecoin Paradigm

GHO, the stablecoin developed for AAVE's decentralized lending protocol, has officially launched on the Ethereum mainnet.

In the early years of stablecoins, they were categorized into three types: centralized stablecoins backed by real-world assets, initial centralized stablecoins mainly used for trading cryptocurrencies, and asset-preservation stablecoins, including those pegged to other real tokens like RMB. The second type included stablecoins anchored to on-chain assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Algorithmic stablecoins were once hailed as the industry's gem. These stablecoins relied on algorithms to maintain price stability without being tied to reserve assets. However, Luna Thunder's incident, where UST, a once top-ranked algorithmic stablecoin, plummeted to zero, raised doubts about algorithmic stability. As a result, the industry has shifted towards a combination of excess collateral, multi-asset collateral, and fusion algorithms for more reliable stablecoin development.

Centralized stablecoins currently dominate the industry, but the demand for decentralized stablecoins is growing due to the increasing need for anti-censorship. The focus of the decentralized stablecoin industry has shifted from algorithmic stability to a combination of excess mortgage, multi-asset collateral, and algorithm.

AAVE is not the only lending protocol introducing native stablecoins; Maker Dao, Curve, Synthetix, among others, have also joined in. The launch of their stablecoins enriches their ecosystems and offers resistance against centralized censorship. These stablecoins generally combine excess collateral and algorithmic elements, making it challenging to categorize them into a specific class.

Algorithmic stability has been replaced by the excess collateral approach, where stablecoins are collateralized with various cryptocurrencies. GHO, similar to Maker Dao's stablecoin Dai, operates on a "deposit collateral → mint $GHO, burn $GHO → recover collateral" mechanism. It introduces a "facilitator," acting as a "central bank," with the power to generate and destroy GHOs without trust. However, concerns over centralization arise as promoters in AAVE can cast GHOs without collateral, potentially leading to unanchoring risks.

Lending protocols issuing their stablecoins add complexity to their systems and may expose them to attacks. Nevertheless, it remains an attractive proposition for the protocols due to the significant demand and market potential for stablecoins. The introduction of GHO enhances AAVE's competitiveness, as it encourages more users to deposit assets and increases the demand for AAVE, driving up its price. Other lending protocols, such as Maker Dao and CRV Finance, have also launched their unique stablecoins, each with distinct features and algorithms.

With the development of the stablecoin track, it is no longer limited to just three types, and decentralized stablecoins also have centralized aspects. Defi protocols integrating stablecoins into their ecosystem stand to benefit the most from their popularity and demand.

Overall, stablecoins serve a vital role in asset preservation and have significant applications in the Defi space, benefitting both users and protocols alike.

[mariacallous]

In a nondescript house on a quiet street in a middle-class suburb of Houston, Texas, Alaa Allawi hunched over his black and gold laptop. It was early 2017, and Allawi ranked among the top 10 vendors on AlphaBay, at the time the dark web’s biggest bazaar for all manner of illegal wares. Every week he moved dozens of packages of illegal narcotics: cocaine, counterfeit Xanax, and fake OxyContin.

An order came in from a young marine in North Carolina. He wanted Oxy. Allawi went about fulfilling the order, choosing from among the bags of powders and chemicals strewn about his attic and garage. He had precursor chemicals, binding agents, and colored dyes from eBay, as well as fentanyl—a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin—from China. “Man, you can order anything off the internet,” Allawi once told a friend. It was the secret to his success.

Allawi poured the ingredients into a Ninja blender, pulsed it until the contents seemed pretty well mixed, then went outside to the shed in his backyard. Inside were two steel pill presses, each the size of a small fridge and dusted with chalky residue. He tapped the potent mixture into a hopper atop the press, which came alive with the push of a button. Out shot the pills a few minutes later, stamped to look like their prescription counterparts. Soon, the fake OxyContin was ready to be shipped, sealed first in a bag and then stuffed into a parcel. A member of Allawi’s crew dropped the order off at the post office, along with a pile of other packages addressed to buyers all over the country.

If Allawi believed the dark web’s anonymity was enough to shield him from the prying eyes of law enforcement, he was wrong. Allawi’s work—slipping small amounts of fentanyl into counterfeit pills, making them effective but highly addictive and sometimes lethal—was fueling the latest deadly twist in a national opioid epidemic that has taken more than 230,000 lives since 2017. Allawi’s contribution to that crisis had made him a prime target for the US Drug Enforcement Administration, and federal agents were intercepting parcels containing his fentanyl-laced pills from Kansas to California. Allawi didn’t know it at the time, but shipping these pills to North Carolina would cement his downfall.

Today, Allawi sits in a federal prison in northern New York, where he’s serving a 30-year sentence. His case was the first prosecution for dealing fentanyl using the dark web and cryptocurrency in the American Southwest, and investigators described his operation as a bellwether for the growing counterfeit pill market in the US. Over the course of more than two years of email exchanges, he told me his story: a criminal odyssey whose seeds were planted thousands of miles away, on a US Army base in Iraq.

When the United States invaded Iraq, Allawi was a 13-year-old living in a suburb of Baghdad. On his 18th birthday, he applied to become an interpreter for the US Army. His uncle, a doctor, had encouraged him to learn the language from a young age. Allawi’s English wasn’t great, but he had been a sharp student, the kind of kid who dreamed of going to medical school himself one day. He got the job.

He was quickly dispatched to Rasheed Airbase near Baghdad, where he bounced from one unit to the next. The job paid well by Iraqi standards at $1,350 a month, but it was dangerous. Al Qaeda didn’t look kindly on Iraqis who collaborated with the US. Allawi says that insurgents tied one of his friends, also an interpreter, to the back of a car and dragged him around the neighborhood until his limbs tore apart. They hung another from an electric pole and left his corpse up for days as a warning. Allawi took to wearing gloves and masks while on patrol in his neighborhood so he wouldn’t be recognized.

The work was also occasionally heart-wrenching. Allawi recalls one house raid where the Americans were searching for someone suspected of cooperating with al Qaeda. After they made an arrest, the soldiers realized their satellite phone was missing. An officer proceeded to question several women who were in the house. When he got to an elderly woman, he ordered Allawi out of the room. Minutes later, the woman ran out after him, tears streaming down her face. All the women there fell to their knees, begging Allawi to stop the search. The officer, they said, had frisked the older woman and reached for her private parts. Allawi was livid, but there wasn’t much he could do. “I felt not only enraged but also the feeling of a person that belongs to an invaded country and the humiliation that comes with it,” he says. Eventually, the soldiers found the phone on top of a fridge, where one of them had left it.

Most of the time, though, Allawi got along well with the Americans. Thanks to years of watching Hollywood movies, he had a good grasp on their culture and wouldn’t say anything when they crossed their legs or exposed their soles, which are considered insults in the Arab world. “Everyone liked Alaa,” says Daniel Robinson, who worked with Allawi as a contractor in Iraq. The two men spent a lot of time together on base, sharing meals and swapping stories about their lives and families. Robinson smoked his first hookah on the floor of Allawi’s barracks.

Steroids were prevalent on US bases. “As easy to buy as soda,” one military contractor told the Los Angeles Times in 2005. Allawi began selling them to American soldiers and was dismissed from the unit he’d been serving with. Within a few months, he got another translation job, this time with AGS-AECOM, a private contractor rebuilding maintenance depots at Camp Taji, near Baghdad.

Now Allawi spent his days sitting behind a computer in a cubicle, translating operation manuals for Humvees that the US was reselling to Iraq. Allawi had always loved being around computers. When he was 14, he’d purchased parts one by one—a hard drive here, a RAM module there—until he had assembled a functioning machine. At Camp Taji, he immediately dove in, probing the company’s internal networks like a deep-sea diver exploring an unknown world. “The depot job was a boring one,” he says. “Not much was happening, but I used half of my job time to learn coding and hacking.”

It was also at Camp Taji that Allawi met Eric Goss, an impish 25-year-old Texan who shared his love of hip hop and would become a friend. Goss recalls one day when the camp’s head of operations called a meeting with the translators and contractors on the base. Allawi, he announced, was now cut off from accessing the internet on his computer. According to Goss, Allawi had hacked their boss’s email, found messages he was sending to his mistress, and forwarded them to the boss’s wife. (Allawi denies that he did this.) But the new restrictions didn’t stop Allawi. He found a way to install a password recovery tool on his computer that he could use to crack his way into the company’s wireless network. Around Camp Taji, Robinson recalls, “the running joke was, don’t let Alaa on your computer.”

Allawi put his burgeoning tech skills to use off base, as well. He built a website called Iraqiaa.com, an online dating and chat platform aimed at young Iraqis. At least one guy ended up marrying a woman he met on the site, Allawi says. At Iraqiaa’s height, he was earning a cushy $5,000 a month from subscriptions. People started asking Allawi to design sites for them. He purchased a server from a cloud provider and started his own hosting company. For a time, it looked like he could put together a tech career in Iraq.

Many of Allawi’s fellow interpreters had chosen to leave Iraq for the US as part of a special visa program. Goss, who had returned home to Houston, kept probing Allawi on MySpace: “When are you getting your ass to the United States?” For a while, Allawi put him off, but his outlook on life in Iraq was changing. It dawned on him that his options for pursuing a full-fledged IT career there were limited. “I realized that I couldn’t go further in my country,” he says.

In 2012, Goss received a message from Allawi. He was coming to the US.

On September 12, Allawi landed in San Antonio.

He was ready to start a new life in Texas. Catholic Charities set him up with a driver’s license, food stamps, a $200 monthly stipend, and a free place to stay. He received an online high school diploma, then enrolled in a pre-nursing program at San Antonio College. He managed to complete four semesters, but eking out a living soon took priority. The food stamps were valid for only six months, as was the rent-free arrangement. Allawi found a job as a machine operator at a door manufacturer 45 minutes away. The pay barely covered his commute and college expenses.

Allawi moved in with another former translator named Mohamed Al Salihi, who had arrived in Texas more recently and was moonlighting as a bouncer. They had a spare room, which they advertised on Craigslist to earn extra money. Their first renter, Allawi says, was a young woman who liked to party with a group of weed-smoking friends. Soon enough, Allawi was hanging out with them.

Allawi was spending enough time with American college students to sense a business opportunity. He started selling weed at parties near the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). “It was just for surviving,” he says. He was intent on furthering his education, he insists, and took on a student loan. The plan was simple: pay his bills, sell weed at parties, and go to school. But this new venture put him in contact with other drug dealers and harder substances. “There is American saying,” Allawi adds. “If you hang around the barber-shop too long, you will end up with haircut.”

In 2014, he was evicted for failing to pay $590 in rent. For a brief period, he slept in his car. He started selling cocaine on the street. On January 14, 2015, Allawi was arrested while driving with a small-time drug dealer who was known to local law enforcement. An officer searching the vehicle found less than a gram of cocaine, 10 Adderall pills, and about 100 Xanax pills, according to Allawi, who says the tablets belonged to the passenger. Allawi was charged with the manufacture and delivery of a controlled substance, but because he had no criminal record, he was sentenced to community service. His run-in with the law didn’t dissuade him from selling drugs. He was just getting started.

Allawi had reconnected with Goss by then. Sometime in 2015, Goss got him a job designing a website for a business in Austin. One of the employees confided to Allawi that he’d been buying drugs on the dark web. “It’s like an Amazon for drugs,” he said. Intrigued, Allawi did his own research. “I went and asked the wizard of all time, Mr. Google!” he says.

The introduction blew the doors of drugmaking wide open for the Iraqi. Allawi wasn’t content dealing on the street anymore. He was chasing a broader market than San Antonio—hell, a broader market than Texas. He bought a manual pill press on eBay for $600, eventually upgrading to a $5,000, 507-pound electric machine capable of spitting out 21,600 pills an hour. He also used eBay to purchase the inactive ingredients found in most oral medications, such as dyes. On May 23, 2015, Allawi created an account on AlphaBay. He named it Dopeboy210, most likely after the San Antonio area code, according to investigators. That fall, Allawi dropped out of school for good.

At the time, AlphaBay was one of a handful of would-be successors to Silk Road, the infamous dark-web market that had been shut down in 2013. If you had a Tor browser and some bitcoins, AlphaBay offered drugs by the kilo, guns, stolen credit card data, and more, all with complete anonymity—or at least that’s what many customers believed. Between 2015 and 2017, the site saw more than $1 billion in illegal cryptocurrency transactions, according to the FBI.

DopeBoy210 eventually offered no fewer than 80 different products. X50, a package of 50 Xanax pills, was one of Allawi’s flagship items and earned enthusiastic reviews. “Good shit,” one AlphaBay customer wrote, according to data provided by Carnegie Mellon professor Nicolas Christin. “Kick ass,” wrote another. The pills were fake.

At first, Allawi blended chemicals with methamphetamine and used his press to churn out tablets stamped as Adderall and Xanax. Students looking to pull an all-nighter or riddled with anxiety craved this stuff; UTSA made for a lucrative outlet. Allawi then moved on to fake OxyContin pills laced with fentanyl that he ordered from China on the dark web. (Allawi declined to say why he switched to fentanyl, but investigators told me that drug dealers like it because they can make thousands of pills using minute amounts.)

Allawi expanded his operation to a small circle of trusted associates. Some he had met at house parties, like Benjamin Uno, a twentysomething Dallas native whose promising basketball career was cut short by injury, and Trevor Robinson, a mustachioed fan of Malcolm X (with no relation to Daniel Robinson, the contractor). Uno helped Allawi manufacture the pills, and he and Robinson took charge of mailing out the merchandise. (Uno and Robinson didn’t respond to requests for comment.) Allawi also recruited Al Salihi, his old roommate, to guard drugs stashed at an apartment 10 minutes from UTSA.

Sporting a beard and a tattooed right arm, Hunter Westbrook had come to UTSA after toiling away in the oil fields of West Texas. The patrolman was used to dealing with the occasional marijuana trafficker on campus. But toward the end of 2015, something changed. Adderall pills, not just weed, flowed into dorms and parties. Then the overdoses began. When UTSA analyzed some of the pills in a lab, they were found to be laced with meth.

As a campus cop, Westbrook could do little more than stop cars for traffic violations, so he reached out to the San Antonio Police Department for help. In the spring of 2016, he sat in a coffee shop and compared notes with Janellen Valle, an SAPD narcotics officer who was on a joint task force with the DEA. The two cops realized that their findings lined up. A Middle Eastern guy was apparently flooding the campus with marijuana and counterfeit pills. Tips from students led to a name: Alaa Allawi.

Soon after, the DEA took over the case. Investigators say that some pills at UTSA contained fentanyl. (Allawi says he never sold fentanyl on campus, only online.) The country was drowning in the opioid, and stanching the flow was a priority for the agency. The number of overdose deaths attributed to it had skyrocketed, from 1,663 in 2011 to 18,335 in 2016, surpassing those from prescription painkillers and heroin.

The DEA’s San Antonio office was used to handling street dealers and Mexican cartels. But in July, an informant tipped off the DEA about Allawi’s AlphaBay shop and sent the investigation spinning in a whole new direction.

The San Antonio office didn’t do cybercrime. Sure, they had heard of Silk Road. But to the DEA agents in Texas, the dark web might as well have been Baghdad—a faraway land “out of sight, out of mind,” in the words of one investigator.

Westbrook became the office’s de facto guide, largely because he was one of the few people there to have a vague understanding of what the dark web was. He met with cybersecurity professors at UTSA on how to access Allawi’s account. He was by far the youngest member of the task force; around the office, he was known as “the millennial.”

The agents purchased a MacBook and a VPN subscription to access the dark web. They were floored when they saw DopeBoy210’s shop. Based on the hundreds of comments left by satisfied customers, Allawi was a massive retailer.

Getting a peek at Allawi’s online operations was relatively easy. To arrest him for it, the DEA would need to definitively link Allawi to his AlphaBay account, which meant they’d need to buy drugs from him. And to do that, they’d need bitcoins.

This had daunting implications for a governmental office, Westbrook realized. The task force might buy $1,000 worth of the volatile currency, only to wake up the next day and find their wallet’s value down to $900 or up to $1,100. Agency bigwigs didn’t love schemes deviating from tradition, investigators say. They certainly were reluctant to become bitcoin speculators. “It was a headache,” Westbrook says. (But not unheard of: As part of a parallel investigation into AlphaBay, DEA agents in 2016 bought drugs using bitcoin. Before that, they purchased crypto as they sought to shut down Silk Road.)

In the meantime, the agents kept pounding away at the work they knew how to do: tailing suspects and working informants. As the new year began, the task force persuaded a judge to authorize the GPS tracking and tapping of Uno’s and Allawi’s phones, and later Al Salihi’s. In March, Westbrook followed Uno from Allawi’s house to a post office, where Uno delivered three boxes and a trash bag stuffed with what appeared to be envelopes. After that, postal inspectors would periodically intercept mail and packages intended for Allawi.

When he wasn’t tailing members of Allawi’s crew, Westbrook worked at a DEA desk that was unofficially assigned to rookies due to its awkward position in the middle of the open room. During the investigation, someone hung a handwritten sign that read MILLENNIAL ISLAND.

Westbrook usually sat alone, but on March 17 the rest of the task force was peering over his shoulder as he logged in to AlphaBay. The team had gotten the green light from DC: They could buy bitcoins and purchase drugs from Allawi. Navigating to the DopeBoy210 page, Westbrook bought 500 Adderall pills for $1,400 worth of bitcoins, and an ounce of cocaine for $1,200. He listed a mailbox at UTSA and finished the order.

About a week later, he drove to the campus to retrieve the package. Looking giddy under a beige ball cap, he inserted a key into mailbox number 825. The drugs were inside. There were only 447 pills and no cocaine, so Westbrook initiated a dispute with AlphaBay (which ended in favor of Allawi). But this was a detail. What mattered was that the agents had conducted an undercover buy on the dark web. The San Antonio DEA had entered a world its agents barely knew existed a year before.

Allawi’s profits were rolling in, but they were still in the form of bitcoins, and he needed to convert them to cash. On LocalBitcoins.com, a bitcoin exchange platform, he met Kunal Kalra, a cheerful Californian who favored Mao collar shirts and a gold bitcoin pendant—a sign of his unwavering dedication to cryptocurrency. Kalra ran a bitcoin ATM out of a cigar shop in Los Angeles. Allawi began visiting the shop to exchange his bitcoin earnings for cash, and paid Kalra a fee for his help. By the fall of 2016, the two men moved their arrangement online. They transferred more than half a million dollars in total.

With plenty of cash, Allawi went on a buying spree. He made a $30,000 down payment for a two-story slab house in a residential San Antonio neighborhood just south of UTSA. “I didn’t know how much money he was making until he came to Houston,” Goss says. The Texas native accompanied his friend on multiple trips to luxury car dealerships in the city that fall. In October 2016, Allawi set his sights on a white 2013 Maserati GranTurismo, which cost $49,000. He began pulling wads of bills from a Louis Vuitton backpack and handing them to a salesman. Goss worried that paying cash would attract attention, but his friend refused to take a loan and owe interest. “Why am I gonna fucking pay?” Allawi said.

A few months later, Allawi took one of his cars in for an oil change. When mechanics lifted the car on a hoist, they found a curious black box affixed to the undercarriage. It was a tracking device. Allawi had it promptly removed. He was disturbed by the discovery, but not enough to stop. “I needed money, and things had to keep going,” he says.

Otherwise, though, Allawi was on top of the world. By spring of 2017, he had the cars, the luxury sneakers, and the bottle service. He was even in talks to open a local franchise for a juice bar chain. Ever the party guy, on March 23 he flew his crew out on a trip to Las Vegas. Allawi, Uno, Robinson, and Goss walked into Drai’s, a gigantic nightclub known as one of the most expensive in town. Lil Wayne was performing as the group huddled in the VIP area. Allawi was wearing a $2,000 suit that he’d nabbed on a whim at Caesars Palace—they all were, courtesy again of the boss. Allawi passed around an enormous bottle of Veuve Clicquot, a flashy move that didn’t go unnoticed by the rapper onstage. “I don’t know who these n––––s is, but I need to be partying with them,” Wayne shouted, according to Goss.

The four men snapped selfies, sticking out their tongues like a bunch of eager teenagers. They were having the time of their lives.

While Allawi’s crew partied in Vegas, a man in the Midwest named Vincent Jordahl was recovering from a close brush with death. He’d snorted a blue powder—fentanyl—and collapsed on his living room floor. His mother found him and performed CPR before medics revived him with Narcan, a fentanyl antidote. He was taken to a hospital in Grand Forks, North Dakota. On March 25, city medics would rush to the home of another man, named Orlando Flores, who’d also overdosed on fentanyl-laced pills and also survived. The tablets originated in the same package, sent by Allawi sometime in March.

Less than a month later, on the East Coast, two other young men readied for a party of their own. Mark Mambulao and Marcos Villegas were marines stationed at Camp Lejeune, in North Carolina. It was Friday, April 14, and the duo were starting their weekend with some gin and tonics at a friend’s house in Richlands, about 32 miles north of the base. Around 9:30 pm, Mambulao sent a girlfriend a photo on Snapchat of a friend’s dog chewing his hat.

Then, Villegas pulled some pills out of a small black plastic bag and passed them around. Mambulao had experimented with drugs before, including LSD, mushrooms, ecstasy, and oxycodone, which he would either gobble up or crush and snort. These pills were advertised as OxyContin. Villegas had purchased them directly from an AlphaBay vendor named DopeBoy210. The friends all swallowed the pills at the same time.

About two hours later, Mambulao started to feel sick and passed out on the living room couch, so his friends laid him down in a spare bedroom, making sure he was on his side. When they checked on him later, he wasn’t breathing. The men called 911 and started to perform CPR, but it was too late. In the early hours of April 15, Mambulao died in a Jacksonville hospital. He was just 20 years old.

It turned out that the pill Mambulao ingested contained a lethal dose of fentanyl. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service began looking into his death. Cooperating with the Postal Inspection Service and DEA, the NCIS traced the drugs to Allawi. (Villegas pleaded guilty in 2019 to distributing oxycodone and fentanyl and was sentenced to 10 years in prison; a second marine was also charged in connection with the case.) Why did Mambulao overdose and not the other revelers that night? There was “no real science” informing Allawi’s pill-manufacturing, says Dante Sorianello, then the head of the DEA’s San Antonio office. “Some of these pills probably got very little fentanyl, and some got too much.”

On May 17, a utility worker in a neon-yellow vest and hard hat walked up the driveway to Allawi’s house in Richmond and knocked on the door. “Sorry, power’s out,” he told the occupants. “We’re going to be working on it for a while.” Anyone who’s been in Houston on the cusp of summer knows what these words mean: Without AC, your home is going to turn into a furnace in no time.

Westbrook and Valle, clad in black bulletproof vests, watched from their cars as Uno and Robinson left the house. The utility guy was a DEA agent, and the whole thing was a ruse so they could raid the house without risking any lives. Law enforcement saw fentanyl as a threat to eliminate at all cost, which meant shutting down the drug manufacturing before moving to arrest Allawi.

At 1:38 pm, men sweating profusely in hazmat suits swarmed the house, lending an otherworldly look to this ordinarily quiet neighborhood. The suits were meant to protect the agents from fentanyl, which they thought could incapacitate or even kill them if they simply touched it. They knocked on the door and got no response. They went in.

The search was fruitful. The agents placed their bounty in front of the garage in a spot demarcated by yellow cones. Among other drug paraphernalia, there were two pill presses, cardboard boxes from China containing ingredients, and enough drugs to put Allawi away for a long time: 500 grams of fentanyl powder, 500 grams of meth, 500 grams of cocaine, 10 kilos of fake oxycodone tablets laced with fentanyl, 4 kilos of fake Adderall laced with meth, and 5 kilos of counterfeit Xanax tablets. Agents found a Ruger revolver and a Sig Sauer pistol hidden in a couch in the living room. They walked out of Allawi’s bedroom carrying an AR-15-style assault rifle and a loaded Glock pistol.

As the agents worked, Uno and Robinson drove by the house and realized what was happening. Far from being scared off by the raid, they returned to the scene with Allawi, Westbrook says. As they drove away one last time, all three men tossed their phones out the car window. Soon after, Allawi called Goss from a new number and asked to meet him at a ritzy house he was renting east of Houston. There, he retrieved a bag stuffed with $50,000 in cash, Goss says, and asked his friend to drive him to the airport. The ringleader had decided to hole up in LA, where he had a condo—and an extravagant collection of sneakers—in the upscale Westwood neighborhood.

His operation was unraveling fast. “I’m fucked. It’s over,” he kept repeating in the car. Like any good drug boss, Allawi started planning his escape. He considered hiding in Dallas or California, according to Goss. When things settled, he could go back to Iraq, where the money he’d sent over the years had allowed his family to start a strip mall. He could flee to Mexico and fly out from there.

But for weeks after the raid, there were no cops in sight. Allawi wondered whether he’d dodged a bullet. Eventually he felt secure enough to return to Texas. One evening at the end of June, he and Goss went to a club. The two men sat in the VIP area, a $500 bottle of champagne on the table. But Allawi wasn’t his usual gregarious self. He remained quiet, his glass untouched. The two men drove back from the club in silence. “I feel like I’m a martyr,” Allawi suddenly said. “All my family’s taken care of. If I die tomorrow, it wasn’t in vain.”

Just a few days later, the DEA moved to apprehend Allawi’s team in simultaneous takedowns across Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston; Uno, Robinson, Al Salihi, and Goss were all arrested. So was Kalra, Allawi’s bitcoin guy. Valle was with a SWAT team at Allawi’s gargantuan rental home in the suburbs of Houston. They tried ramming the door down, but Allawi had splurged on a $10,000 reinforced model, Valle says. The team had to break in through a window.

Inside, they found Allawi clad in black pants and a white polo. He told agents they had nothing on him, even as investigators seized a bitcoin wallet, two money counters, 12 burner phones, four small bags of blue chemical binder, and a .45 Colt.

After the DEA agents made clear that they had more than enough evidence, Allawi quieted down. Sitting on the driveway, handcuffed, cross-legged, and slightly disheveled, he looked more like the young Iraqi who’d smoked hookah alongside US contractors than the leader of a drug ring. He rolled onto his left side, curled into a ball on the pavement, and closed his eyes.

In June 2017, a grand jury indicted Allawi for conspiring to distribute fentanyl, meth, and cocaine; possession of a firearm during a drug trafficking crime; and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, among other charges.

The mountain of evidence against Allawi was overwhelming—so overwhelming, in fact, that Anthony Cantrell, his court-appointed lawyer, said a trial would take months and put a strain on his practice. Instead, Allawi pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl resulting in death or serious bodily injury, and to using a gun during a drug crime. Investigators estimated that Allawi had made at least $14 million off his criminal activities, and had sold at least 850,000 counterfeit pills in 38 states. Sorianello says that Allawi saw the growing market for pills and capitalized on it with his operation. “He was one of the first we saw doing this at large scale,” he says. “He was a pioneer.”

At his sentencing, Allawi adopted a contrite tone. “I messed up. It was a great mistake.” He concluded by asking for mercy, for the US to give him a second chance. But the court showed no such clemency: As part of his plea deal, Allawi was sentenced to 30 years in a federal prison in northern Louisiana; he has since been transferred to a medium-security facility in New York. After that, he will be deported back to Iraq. Uno, Robinson, Al Salihi, and Kalra, meanwhile, all pleaded guilty and received prison sentences ranging from 18 months to 10 years. The judge was more lenient with Goss, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to posses with intent to distribute cocaine, and was sentenced to five years’ probation.

Allawi maintained that if the US had been in the throes of a devastating opioid epidemic while he was running his drug ring, he’d never heard about it, “never heard about overdoses or the damage it can cause.” But it was operations like his—dealers selling counterfeit pills laced with illicitly produced fentanyl—that authorities say contributed to so much death and destruction.

Roughly a month after Allawi’s arrest, authorities took down AlphaBay. But it didn’t do much to relieve the opioid epidemic in the US. More than 106,000 people died of a drug overdose in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—a record high. Dark-web markets, meanwhile, logged $3.1 billion in revenue that year, according to Chainalysis, a research firm that tracks cryptocurrency activity. Revenue dropped last year, thanks in large part to the takedown of another major dark-web bazaar called Hydra, but illegal marketplaces still raked in $1.5 billion.

China provided most of the fentanyl present in the US before 2019, with traffickers shipping the powder through international mail and private package delivery. But controls that China has since imposed have disrupted the flow. Today, Mexican cartels lead the charge, procuring precursor chemicals from China, which can be legally exported, and churning out enough fentanyl to drown the US. The DEA seized the equivalent of 379 million potentially deadly doses of fentanyl last year, more than the population of the entire country. Distributors are active everywhere. The agency’s Rocky Mountain office, for example, which covers Colorado, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming, seized nearly 2 million fentanyl pills.

Sitting in a hip coffee place in Houston last summer, Westbrook pulled out his phone and flipped through pictures of recent fentanyl busts he’d participated in. In mirror images of the takedown of Allawi’s drug house, federal agents in flashy hazmat suits prowl the driveways of nondescript homes. Industrial pill presses sit on the suburban concrete. DEA offices across the country are establishing groups focused on fentanyl investigations, he says. “It’s weird times,” he later told me, reflecting on the destruction that tiny amounts of fentanyl can wreak. “I went from chasing kilos to grams.”

[artattackk11]

Ecommerce Website Development Company in Delhi: Elevating Your Online Business

In today’s digital landscape, having a robust online presence is crucial for any business aiming for success. An ecommerce website serves as the cornerstone of your online business, offering a platform to engage customers, showcase products, and drive sales. In Delhi, numerous ecommerce website development companies promise exceptional services. However, selecting the right partner can significantly impact your business’s growth trajectory.

Why Choose an Ecommerce Website Development Company in Delhi?

Delhi is a thriving hub for technology and innovation, making it an ideal location for businesses seeking ecommerce development services. With a blend of experienced professionals and cutting-edge technology, these companies offer tailored solutions that cater to various industries. Here are some compelling reasons to partner with an ecommerce website development company in Delhi:

1. Customized Solutions for Unique Business Needs

Every business is different, and a one-size-fits-all approach does not yield the best results. Ecommerce website development companies in Delhi specialize in creating customized ecommerce platforms that align with your specific business goals. They focus on:

User Experience (UX): Ensuring seamless navigation and engagement.

Scalability: Developing websites that can grow with your business.

Integration: Incorporating essential tools like payment gateways, inventory management, and CRM systems.

2. Expertise in Diverse Technologies

The ecommerce landscape is constantly evolving, and staying ahead requires expertise in various technologies. Companies in Delhi employ skilled developers proficient in:

Magento

Shopify

WooCommerce

Custom Development

These platforms offer flexibility and robustness, enabling you to select the one that best suits your business requirements.

3. Comprehensive Services Under One Roof

A reliable ecommerce website development company offers a wide range of services, ensuring that all aspects of your online store are covered:

Website Design: Crafting visually appealing and responsive designs.

Development: Building secure and scalable websites.

SEO Optimization: Implementing strategies to enhance your site’s visibility.

Maintenance and Support: Providing ongoing assistance to address any issues.

Key Features of a Successful Ecommerce Website

An effective ecommerce website must possess certain features to attract and retain customers. Here are some key elements to consider:

1. Mobile Responsiveness

With the increasing number of consumers shopping via mobile devices, your ecommerce site must be mobile-friendly. This ensures a seamless shopping experience across all devices, which is essential for increasing conversion rates.

2. Secure Payment Options

Security is a top priority for online shoppers. A professional ecommerce website development company ensures that your site is equipped with multiple secure payment options, including:

Credit/Debit Cards

Digital Wallets

Net Banking

Cryptocurrency Options

3. User-Friendly Interface

A clean, intuitive interface is crucial for keeping visitors engaged. A well-structured site with easy navigation can enhance user experience, leading to increased sales and customer loyalty.

4. High-Quality Product Images and Descriptions

Visuals play a significant role in ecommerce. High-quality images and detailed descriptions help customers make informed decisions, reducing the likelihood of returns.

5. SEO-Friendly Structure

To rank higher in search engine results, your ecommerce website should be designed with SEO best practices in mind. This includes:

Optimized URLs

Meta Tags

Alt Text for Images

Quality Content

The Development Process: From Concept to Launch

Choosing a reputable ecommerce website development company in Delhi involves understanding their development process. Here’s a breakdown of the typical stages:

1. Requirement Gathering

The first step involves understanding your business objectives, target audience, and specific requirements. This helps the development team create a clear roadmap.

2. Design and Prototyping

Next, the team designs wireframes and prototypes to visualize the website layout. This phase allows you to provide feedback and make necessary adjustments before development begins.

3. Development

Once the design is approved, developers begin building the website. They focus on creating a robust architecture, integrating necessary functionalities, and ensuring security measures are in place.

4. Testing

Quality assurance is vital. Comprehensive testing is conducted to identify any issues related to functionality, usability, and performance. This step ensures that the website operates smoothly across all devices.

5. Launch and Post-Launch Support

After successful testing, the website is launched. However, the journey doesn’t end there. Ongoing support and maintenance are essential to keep the website updated and secure.

Conclusion: Choosing the Right Partner for Your Ecommerce Development Needs

Investing in a well-designed ecommerce website is crucial for driving sales and enhancing customer experience. In Delhi, you have access to numerous skilled ecommerce website development companies that can help elevate your online business. By selecting a partner that understands your needs and provides tailored solutions, you position your business for long-term success.

[coinatory]

Justin Sun, the founder of TRON, has boldly predicted that TRX will rank alongside Bitcoin and Ethereum within the next two years, positioning it as one of the top three cryptocurrencies. In a recent interview on the Altcoin Daily podcast, Sun expressed strong confidence in TRON's trajectory, emphasizing its 7,000% growth in value over the past seven years as a testament to its rising prominence ... cryptocurrency news today

[qocsuing]

Top Forex Brokers of 2024

Top Forex Brokers of 2024 The forex market, known for its vast liquidity and 24-hour trading opportunities, requires traders to choose their brokers wisely. WikiStock’s 2024 rankings highlight the top forex brokers that stand out for their reliability, regulatory compliance, and exceptional trading platforms. This article explores the leading forex brokers of 2024, providing insights into their unique features and offerings.To get more news about forex broker, you can visit our official website.

IG IG tops the list as the best overall forex broker for 2024. Known for its extensive regulatory licenses across the globe, IG offers a comprehensive trading package that includes a wide range of tradable markets, superb trading experience, and exceptional educational resources. The broker’s platform is user-friendly, making it suitable for both beginners and advanced traders. IG’s commitment to transparency and security makes it a trusted choice for forex traders.

Interactive Brokers Interactive Brokers is highly regarded for its professional-grade trading tools and low trading costs. The broker caters to both retail and institutional clients, offering a vast array of investment options. Interactive Brokers’ platform is known for its advanced features, including sophisticated charting tools and extensive research resources. The firm’s strong regulatory standing ensures a secure trading environment for its clients.

Saxo Bank Saxo Bank is celebrated for its top-notch web-based trading platform. The broker provides access to a wide range of financial instruments, including forex, stocks, and commodities. Saxo Bank’s platform is equipped with advanced trading tools and comprehensive research materials, making it a favorite among professional traders. The broker’s regulatory compliance and robust customer support further enhance its reputation.

CMC Markets CMC Markets is recognized for its excellent platform technology and competitive pricing. The broker offers a broad spectrum of tradable instruments and is known for its innovative trading tools. CMC Markets’ platform is designed to cater to both novice and experienced traders, providing a seamless trading experience. The firm’s strong regulatory framework and commitment to customer satisfaction make it a reliable choice for forex traders.

Charles Schwab Charles Schwab’s award-winning thinkorswim platform sets it apart in the forex trading industry. The broker offers a substantial multi-asset offering, including forex, stocks, and options. Charles Schwab’s platform is known for its powerful trading tools and extensive educational resources. The firm’s regulatory compliance and strong financial health make it a trusted choice for forex traders.

XTB XTB is well-regarded for its research and education offerings. The broker provides a wide range of tradable instruments and is known for its competitive pricing. XTB’s platform is user-friendly and equipped with advanced trading tools, making it suitable for both beginners and experienced traders. The firm’s regulatory compliance and commitment to providing a secure trading environment make it a reliable choice for forex traders.

eToro eToro stands out for its innovative copy trading and cryptocurrency trading features. The broker’s platform is designed to be user-friendly, making it accessible to traders of all experience levels. eToro’s regulatory compliance and strong customer support further enhance its reputation. The broker’s unique social trading features make it a popular choice among modern traders.

[zhangsanhzgb]

CoinMapAi - An All-round One-stop Service Platform for Web3

Fractal Bitcoin announced on the evening of September 6 that it will airdrop tokens to eligible UniSat and OKX wallet users, with a total of 1 million FB, accounting for 0.47% of the total token supply. Among them, UniSat and OKX wallets will each be allocated 500,000. The airdrop will automatically reach the user's address after the mainnet is launched.

**Project Background and Token Economics**

Fractal Bitcoin is a Bitcoin-based expansion solution that aims to increase transaction capacity by creating a recursive expansion layer on BTC while maintaining compatibility with the Bitcoin ecosystem. The project developed by UniSat has received investments from Binance, OKX Ventures, and others.

CoinMapAi - An All-round One-stop Service Platform for Web3-The total number of tokens is 210 million, of which 80% is allocated to the community and 20% to the team and contributors. The specific allocation is:

- POW mining: 50%

- Ecosystem Treasury: 15%

- Pre-sale: 5%

- Consultant: 5%

- Community funding: 10%

- Core Contributors: 15%

As can be seen from these allocations, Fractal has not reserved tokens specifically for airdrops, which may come from the ecosystem treasury or the community funding portion.

**AIRDROP RULES**

The airdrop rules are different for UniSat and OKX users:

CoinMapAi - An All-round One-stop Service Platform for Web3- **OKX users**: Need to hold more than 100 USD equivalent of BTC on September 1 and have traded Ordinals, Runes, Atomicals assets in the past 6 months, or be ranked in the top 5,000 in the OKX Web3 wallet BTC ecosystem activity. Eligible users will receive 6.6 basic FB rewards and 30 additional rewards.

- **UniSat users**: Based on the past 90 days of activity, including transaction volume, card holdings, and ranking, rewards range from 5 to 15 FB. The airdrop conditions are more complicated, including UniSat OG card, Prime card holders, and active testnet users.

**Community Feedback**

The number and conditions of the airdrops sparked some discontent:

CoinMapAi - An All-round One-stop Service Platform for Web3- The airdrop represented a low percentage of total supply (0.47%), which some community members considered to be too small an allocation.

- The rewards for loyal users and early testnet users are similar to those for regular users, causing dissatisfaction.

- High threshold requirements exclude new testnet users.

OTC PRICES

Currently, the price of FB in OTC trading is between $5-8, with a total market value of over $1 billion. Even though there are some complaints in the community, the price expectations for FB after it goes online are high. The airdrop rewards are concentrated between 10-40 coins, and at the current price, users may receive $60-240 in benefits.

**Summarize**

Fractal's airdrop strategy seems to be to allow more real users to experience its mainnet ecosystem, rather than simply distributing "pig trotters". This also reminds participants to pay attention to market trends after the mainnet is launched, avoid blindly following the trend, and ensure effective participation in ecosystem construction.

How to Buy FB

How to buy cryptocurrency on an exchange

Investing in FB has never been easier! Registering on an exchange, verifying your account, and paying by bank transfer, debit or credit card, with a secure cryptocurrency wallet, is the most widely accepted method of acquiring cryptocurrencies. Below is a step-by-step guide on how to buy cryptocurrency on an exchange.

Step 1: Register CoinMapAi - An All-round One-stop Service Platform for Web3

You can register by email or phone number, then set a password and complete the verification to pass the registration.

Step 2: Identity verification - Submit KYC information to verify your identity

Please verify your identity to ensure full compliance and enhance your experience with full identity verification. You can go to the identity verification page, fill in your country, upload your ID, and submit your selfie. You will receive a notification once your ID has been successfully verified, bind your bank card or credit card and start transactions.

How to exchange USDT with a credit card and then convert it to FB

Step 1: Click Buy Coins, first select your country , then click Card

Step 2: Click My Profile in the upper right corner

Step 3: Select Add Payment Method in the lower right corner and select a credit card that is suitable for you to fill in the information and bind, such as Wise, Visa, etc.

Step 4: Click P2P transaction again, select the corresponding payment method and choose the appropriate merchant to complete the transaction.

Step 5: After the transaction is completed, your amount will be converted into USDT (USDT is a stable currency of US dollar, pegged at 1:1 with US dollar) and stored in your account. Click on the transaction, search for FB , and buy its tokens.

How to buy USDT with a savings card and then convert it to FB

Step 1: Click Buy Coins, click P2P

Step 2: Select My Profile in the upper right corner

Step 3: Select Add Payment Method in the lower right corner, and select the savings card that applies to you to fill in the information and bind it, such as: Payeer, ABA bank, TowerBank, etc.

Step 4: Click P2P transaction again, select the corresponding payment method and choose the appropriate merchant to complete the transaction.

Step 5: After the transaction is completed, your amount will be converted into USDT (USDT is a stable currency of US dollar, pegged at 1:1 with US dollar) and stored in your account. Click on the transaction, search for FB , and buy its tokens.

[scarletnews]

Bitunix Enters Top 15 on CoinGecko Rankings

Bitunix, a rapidly growing player in the cryptocurrency exchange market, has made a significant leap by ranking as the 13th global exchange on CoinGecko, categorized by trust score on September 2, 2024. This milestone comes on the heels of Bitunix unveiling its reserves through the implementation of Proof of Reserves (PoR), a move that has set a new standard for transparency in the industry. By…

[36crypto]

Bitunix Enters Top 15 on CoinGecko Rankings, Achieving Milestone in the First Week of September 2024

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, September 9th, 2024, Chainwire Bitunix, a rapidly growing player in the cryptocurrency exchange market, has made a significant leap by ranking as the 13th global exchange on CoinGecko, categorized by trust score on September 2, 2024. This milestone comes on the heels of Bitunix unveiling its reserves through the implementation of Proof of Reserves (PoR), a move that…

[cryptorushsnap]

What Are the Top Crypto Analysis Websites for Accurate Market Insights?"

Cryptocurrency markets are notoriously volatile, making timely and accurate analysis critical for traders and investors. Whether you're a day trader looking for real-time price movements or a long-term investor wanting deeper insights into blockchain fundamentals, the right crypto analysis website can significantly enhance your decision-making process.

In this blog, we’ll explore the top crypto analysis websites that offer valuable market insights, covering everything from price tracking and technical analysis to on-chain metrics and social sentiment. These platforms cater to various trading strategies and provide comprehensive data for both beginners and professionals.

1. CoinMarketCap

One of the most well-known crypto analysis platforms, CoinMarketCap, offers a broad range of data for nearly every cryptocurrency on the market. Launched in 2013, this site provides real-time price updates, market capitalization rankings, and trading volumes. CoinMarketCap is particularly useful for:

Tracking the overall performance of specific coins.

Comparing coins and tokens by different metrics.

Monitoring exchange liquidity and volume.

For newcomers, it offers a user-friendly interface that provides all the essential data in one place.

In addition to market data, the platform also provides educational content for beginners and daily news on the cryptocurrency landscape.

2. TradingView

TradingView is the go-to platform for traders who rely on technical analysis. While it covers various markets like stocks, commodities, and forex, TradingView is a favorite for crypto traders due to its advanced charting tools and customizable technical indicators. Key features include:

Interactive charts with hundreds of customizable indicators.

The ability to publish and share trading ideas with a community of analysts.

Real-time updates and alerts for price movements.

Whether you’re analyzing candlestick patterns, setting up Fibonacci retracements, or looking for RSI divergences, TradingView is an essential tool for technical traders.

3. CoinGecko

Like CoinMarketCap, CoinGecko offers comprehensive data on cryptocurrencies, but with a twist. It tracks more than just prices and volumes; it also factors in community engagement, developer activity, and liquidity metrics. This holistic approach gives users a clearer understanding of a coin’s growth potential and long-term viability.

CoinGecko is especially useful for comparing cryptocurrencies side by side, using metrics like GitHub activity and public interest in addition to price performance. The platform also features a DeFi tracker, allowing users to monitor decentralized finance projects.

4. Glassnode

Glassnode focuses on on-chain data analysis, providing deep insights into blockchain networks. It collects data directly from blockchain networks, offering metrics like:

Network health: Tracking the number of active addresses and transactions.

Holder distribution: Analyzing the concentration of coins in large wallets.

Transaction volumes: Monitoring the movement of coins across wallets.

This data is invaluable for understanding the behavior of large holders, often referred to as "whales," who have a significant impact on the market. Glassnode is particularly helpful for long-term investors who want to gauge the health of a blockchain and its adoption rate.

5. CryptoQuant

CryptoQuant provides detailed insights into exchange activity, focusing on the flow of assets between wallets and exchanges. By tracking the movement of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies, CryptoQuant helps users identify trends such as:

Potential sell-offs: When large amounts of cryptocurrency are deposited into exchanges.

Accumulation phases: When major holders withdraw assets to cold storage.

Market sentiment: Analyzing whether traders are moving assets for sale or long-term holding.

The platform also offers alerts for significant market movements, making it easier for traders to react to sudden changes in sentiment.

6. Messari

Messari is one of the leading research platforms in the crypto space. It provides institutional-grade analysis through in-depth reports and daily newsletters. Some of its key features include:

Comprehensive crypto asset database: Compare various metrics across thousands of projects.

Research reports: Get expert analysis on major trends, market movements, and emerging technologies.

Customizable screener: Filter and track assets based on specific criteria.

Messari's professional approach makes it an excellent tool for serious investors and those looking for detailed market research beyond just price charts.

7. Santiment

Santiment blends on-chain data with social sentiment analysis to offer a unique perspective on the crypto market. The platform tracks:

Social media mentions: Gauging the overall buzz around a specific cryptocurrency.

Developer activity: Tracking GitHub commits to see if a project is being actively developed.

Network usage: Monitoring how often a blockchain is being used.

Santiment’s ability to combine these metrics makes it a great tool for traders who want to understand the sentiment behind price movements and identify opportunities before they appear on mainstream radar.

8. IntoTheBlock

IntoTheBlock leverages machine learning to analyze blockchain data and generate insights. Its analytics cover:

Transaction history: Track the frequency and volume of transactions.

Holders’ data: Analyze the distribution of coins among wallets.

Price correlation: See how different cryptocurrencies are correlated with one another.

One standout feature is its "signals" tool, which provides real-time alerts when there are significant shifts in the market, helping traders make informed decisions quickly.

9. LunarCrush

LunarCrush offers insights based on social media activity, focusing on how various cryptocurrencies are being discussed online. The platform aggregates data from Twitter, Reddit, and other social platforms to provide:

Sentiment analysis: Are people generally positive or negative about a coin?

Engagement metrics: How often is a coin being mentioned?

Influencer impact: Which influencers are driving conversations around a project?

LunarCrush is ideal for traders who rely on sentiment to make decisions, as it gives a clear picture of how a coin is being perceived by the broader community.

10. Skew

For those focused on derivatives trading, Skew provides in-depth analysis of futures and options markets. It tracks:

Open interest: The number of active contracts on a specific derivative.

Volatility: Understanding the potential price swings in the market.

Funding rates: The costs of holding a leveraged position.

Skew’s data is crucial for traders who focus on derivatives, giving them a comprehensive view of market conditions and potential price movements.

Conclusion

Navigating the volatile world of cryptocurrency requires accurate and timely insights. The crypto analysis websites listed here provide traders and investors with a wide range of tools to make better decisions, whether they rely on technical analysis, on-chain data, or sentiment analysis. By leveraging these platforms, you can stay ahead of market trends, spot opportunities, and minimize risk in your trading strategy.

Always stay informed and choose the tools that best suit your trading style to maximize your success in the dynamic world of cryptocurrency.

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Best CFD Brokers in 2024: A Comprehensive Guide

Key Considerations When Choosing a CFD Broker

Regulation and Security

One of the most critical factors in selecting a CFD broker is ensuring they are regulated by a reputable authority. Regulatory bodies such as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), and Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) enforce strict guidelines that protect traders. Trading with a regulated broker ensures that your funds are secure and that you operate in a transparent environment.

Trading Platforms and Technology

A robust trading platform is essential for executing trades efficiently. Brokers offering platforms like MetaTrader 4 (MT4), MetaTrader 5 (MT5), or proprietary platforms with advanced trading tools give you the edge in the fast-paced trading environment. The platform’s usability, availability of real-time data, and comprehensive analytics are all factors that can significantly impact your trading experience.

Range of Tradable Assets

Diversification is key to managing risk in CFD trading. The best brokers offer a wide variety of assets, including forex, commodities, indices, stocks, and cryptocurrencies. A broad range of options allows traders to capitalize on multiple market opportunities, enhancing the potential for profit.

Leverage and Margin Requirements

Leverage is a double-edged sword in CFD trading, amplifying both potential profits and losses. It’s important to choose a broker that offers flexible leverage options suited to your risk appetite. High leverage, while enticing, should be balanced with reasonable margin requirements to prevent overexposure.

Fees, Spreads, and Commissions

Trading costs can eat into your profits, making it essential to choose a broker with a competitive fee structure. Look for brokers that offer low spreads and transparent commissions. Some brokers may provide commission-free trading with slightly wider spreads, while others might offer tight spreads with a commission fee. Understanding the fee structure can help you optimize your trading strategy.

Customer Support and Educational Resources

A reliable customer support team and a wealth of educational resources are invaluable for both novice and experienced traders. Brokers that offer 24/7 support, along with educational content such as webinars, tutorials, and market analysis, help you stay informed and improve your trading skills.

Top CFD Brokers in 2024

Below is our curated list of the best CFD brokers in 2024, based on regulation, platform quality, asset variety, and overall user experience.

1. IG Group

IG Group is a leading name in the CFD trading industry, offering traders access to over 17,000 markets, including forex, indices, commodities, and cryptocurrencies. It is renowned for its robust regulation and advanced trading platforms.

Regulation: FCA, ASIC, NFA

Trading Platforms: IG Trading Platform, MetaTrader 4

Leverage: Up to 1:200

Spreads: Competitive, starting from 0.6 pips

Customer Support: 24/7, available in multiple languages

Unique Feature: ProRealTime charting package

Learn more about the best CFD brokers in the market and how IG Group compares.

2. Plus500

Plus500 is favored by traders for its user-friendly platform and commission-free trading. It offers a wide range of assets with tight spreads, making it an excellent choice for traders at all levels.

Regulation: FCA, CySEC, ASIC

Trading Platforms: WebTrader, mobile apps

Leverage: Up to 1:300

Spreads: Tight, starting from 0.8 pips

Customer Support: Available 24/7 via live chat and email

Unique Feature: Negative balance protection

To see how Plus500 ranks among the top CFD brokers, visit our comprehensive review.

3. eToro

eToro is unique for its social trading feature, allowing users to copy the trades of successful investors. This broker is particularly appealing to beginners who can learn by observing and mimicking expert traders.

Regulation: FCA, CySEC, ASIC

Trading Platforms: eToro Platform (web and mobile)

Leverage: Up to 1:30 (varies by asset)

Spreads: From 1 pip

Customer Support: 24/5 via live chat, email

Unique Feature: Social trading and CopyTrader™ feature

Explore more about best CFD brokers and why eToro is a top pick for social trading.

4. Saxo Bank

Saxo Bank offers a premium trading experience with a wide range of assets and sophisticated trading platforms. It caters mainly to experienced traders with higher minimum deposit requirements but offers unmatched research tools and analysis.

Regulation: FSA, FINMA, ASIC

Trading Platforms: SaxoTraderGO, SaxoTraderPRO

Leverage: Up to 1:50

Spreads: Starting from 0.4 pips

Customer Support: 24/5 with dedicated account managers

Unique Feature: Extensive research and analysis tools

For a deep dive into Saxo Bank and other best CFD brokers, visit our full guide.

5. CMC Markets

CMC Markets is known for its competitive pricing and advanced trading technology. It provides access to a vast array of CFDs across various asset classes and has received multiple awards for its platform and services.

Regulation: FCA, ASIC, MAS

Trading Platforms: Next Generation, MetaTrader 4

Leverage: Up to 1:500

Spreads: From 0.7 pips

Customer Support: 24/5 via phone, email, and live chat

Unique Feature: Advanced charting tools and technical analysis

Find out why CMC Markets is among the best CFD brokers in 2024.

Why These Brokers Lead the Market

The brokers mentioned in this list have been chosen based on stringent criteria, including regulatory oversight, platform excellence, and a commitment to providing a superior trading experience. They all offer a secure environment, advanced trading features, and comprehensive support, making them the best CFD brokers you can rely on in 2024.

Conclusion

Choosing the right CFD broker can make a significant difference in your trading success. The brokers listed here stand out for their regulation, platform quality, asset variety, and customer support. Whether you are a novice trader or an experienced investor, these brokers offer the tools and security needed to thrive in the competitive world of CFD trading.