Everything just went up! (?) Here's why...
GM, we take the latest Web3 news and translate it into plain old English - so you can stay up to date, without your eyes glazing over.
In today’s edition:
Everything just went up (hooray!) Here's why...
NFTs are about to become wearable
RESOURCE: What is ENS? (Learn in 7mins)
How to avoid the latest trend in wallet hacks
Terms used (click for translation):
NFTs, Crypto Wallets, Web3.
Everything just went up (hooray!) Here's why...
"It's all interconnected".
A phrase used by astrologists, conspiracy theorists and economists alike.
At the moment, the loudest voice is the latter, after the U.S. Federal Reserve hiked interest rates by 75 basis point (0.75%) - and if you're thinking:
'Pffft. 0.75%? This doesn't affect me - I pay more in transaction fees at Starbucks.'
Remember, it's all interconnected - we'll all feel it in some way.
Here're the broad strokes of how interest rate hikes cause ripple effects throughout the economy and our daily lives.
Rates go up -> monthly repayments on borrowed money increases -> costs of everyday items are increased by businesses to make up the difference -> less people borrow / spend money -> less money is invested/spent in real estate, businesses, stock & crypto markets -> the value of these assets go down, all while cost of living goes up...
Long story short: your savings & investments take a hit, while your daily expenses (food, gas, bills) go up.
If you need hard numbers and context to visualize the effects of rate hikes, take a gander at this...
If you took a $500K mortgage at 3% interest in June 2021, your monthly repayments would have totaled $2,100.
A year later (now) that interest rate would have increased to 6.28% and your monthly repayments would be $3,100.
An extra $1K per month in expenses? No one wants that. So why do it at all?
Inflation, baaaby!
I.e. Money was too easy to get, so it became less valuable.
How do you reverse it?
Well, one tactic is to make money more expensive to borrow, which makes it harder to get, which makes it more valuable.
And that's what the U.S. Federal Reserve is attempting to do.
[Side note] This is why the crypto community LOVES Bitcoin. It's a deflationary asset.
I.e. It's something with a fixed total supply, that becomes harder and harder to get over time, (so far) increasing its price over the long term.
Here's the weirdest part of all of this rate hiking business:
When rates went up yesterday, stocks and crypto markets shot up in price (the exact opposite of what was meant to happen).
This is because the market had seen this rate hike coming - everyone sold off their holdings preemptively, which is why everything crashed earlier this week.
...it's aaall interconnected ;)
NFTs are about to become wearable
This weeks articles have been kind of intense - market crashes, interest rate hikes, crypto community infighting...
For a change of pace, here's some news you can file under 'cool and fun'.
The luxury watch company, Tag Heuer, just announced a new smartwatch which lets you display your NFTs on your watch.
Seeing as 'flex culture' and NFTs go hand in hand, the 'Calibre E4' makes perfect sense.
Owners of the E4 can connect their Ledger or Metamask wallet to an app on their smartphone, which will let them choose which NFT they’d like to show off.
And it seems as though the Tag Heuer team went all in on getting it right.
They consulted a range of NFT communities, including Bored Ape Yacht Club, Cryptopunks, CLONE-X and World of Women, to make sure the end product didn't suck.
TAG’s main man, Frédéric Arnault, said in a statement:
“Watch this space, as TAG Heuer will have more stories to tell about Web3.”
What will those stories be? No idea.
But isn't it nice not to be talking about market crashes for a moment?
Resource of the day
What is ENS?
(Learn in 7mins)
How to avoid the latest trend in wallet hacks
We've told this story a few different times.
It's taken shape around a handful of different articles, but the method is always the same.
Create a copycat website of a trusted business/app/tool from the Web3 space -> convince people to use it -> steal their crypto.
Todays example is particularly malicious. Hackers have cloned the MetaMask and Coinbase wallets - almost one for one.
The difference lies in their codebase, which has been altered to allow the hackers full access to any crypto held in the wallet.
Other than that - they look, feel and behave exactly like the real ones would, meaning users may continue sending funds into a compromised wallet, without even knowing it.
Here's how to avoid these malicious wallets:
Always make sure to download them from a trusted source like Apple's App Store or Google's Play Store.
If you're downloading them on your computer, from a website - always check the URL. If it doesn't match the official site, don't download it.
Here's how hackers are getting traffic to their fake sites:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
By including the right keywords on their page and artificially boosting their site traffic, these imposter web pages can trick search engines (like Google) into thinking they're legit.
If a search engine thinks the page is legit, it places it higher in particular search results, exposing them to more potential victims.
So...how do we solve this issue in the long term?
The quickest solution would be for Apple and Android to offer a default all-in-one crypto wallet, alongside (or within) their existing wallet apps.
In the meantime, stay vigilant!
Your Daily Dose of Web3
Kraken reiterates hiring targets as CEO denounces ‘woke activists’ in corporate culture
Bill Gates says crypto and NFTs are ‘100% based on Greater Fool Theory’
Vitalik Buterin shares his thoughts on non-financial use-cases for blockchain
Alright, that’s it for today!
Love to the family,