The Part Time Economist

The Splinterlands team recently revealed a proposal that will simultaneously give players deep discounts on purchasing in-game items like land potions, upgrading guild halls, and purchasing skins while also boosting the price of the in-game Dark Energy Crystal cryptocurrency. Some see this as a win-win proposal that makes the game more affordable to players while boosting the value of the DEC cryptocurrency, but others point out that the most recent Splinterlands proposal may be inherently inflationary with lots of unintended consequences. In today's post, we are talking all about the most recent Splinterlands proposal to issue DEC-Battery at a 20% discount to DEC.  It might seem like I am excessively bearish on the game, but I want to be clear that this video is not financial advice. Further, I do still like to play the game, but I wish it could just go back to the days when it was a fun game with lots of cool technology and a robust and enthusiastic community. It seems like the community has become increasingly divided, and players don't know what to expect or how to plan for the constant changes. Even if the game isn't as lucrative from a financial perspective, it might make sense to refocus on getting the gameplay right, having a steady set of rules, drawing in new players, and letting the market adjust accordingly. Just my humble thoughts. #sps #dec #splinterlands

Less than 12 short months ago, BTC was trading at over 50K, Ethereum was trading at over 4K, and the entire crypto world looked forward to 2022 with the hope that easing lockdown restrictions and a growing economy would bring good fortune to the crypto market. It was predicted that Bitcoin would reach over 100k, adoption would grow, and a new financial paradigm would emerge. Although many of these rosy predictions didn't come true, others, such as SBF’s foreshadowing that many crypto exchanges were “secretly insolvent” proved eerily accurate, and billions of dollars were lost through exchange failures, hacks, and scams. Join me in today’s video where we recap the biggest crypto news of 2022. #crypto #cryptonews #ftx

The Splinterlands blockchain-based video game has considered introducing solulbound NFT rewards cards in an effort to stop bots from farming the rewards, selling them, and driving down the value that real players earn from interacting with the game. Although the intentions behind the introduction of soulbound NFT rewards in Splinterlands are noble, will it really help? Or, will bots find a way around the proposed changes and continue to extract maximum value from Splinterlands simply by the raw number of matches they play? I'll let you be the judge because in today's video, we are talking all about soulbound rewards in Splinterlands, what they mean for the game, what they mean for bots, and most importantly, what they mean for you the player. #nft #splinterlands #crypto

Donald Trump's recent superhero NFT drop quickly sold out, and the floor price of the Trump NFTs on OpenSea is currently sitting at about 4X the initial purchase price of $99. This implies that both the collection and initial Trump NFT investors received a handsome reward, but there could be an even bigger reward as each additional sale of the Trump NFT collection receives a 10% creator fee. In this post, we will briefly explore the Trump NFT collection while also examining some of the advantages that NFT drops could play for future political fundraising. #nft #trump2024 #trumpnft As always, not investment or political advice.   Link to the official video https://www.collecttrumpcards.com/

The legendary Warren Buffet once said that it is wise for investors to be “fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.” Similarly, the infamous Nathan Rothschild said that "the time to buy is when there's blood in the streets." As the cryptocurrency market continues to experience unprecedented volatility, many investors wonder if it is the perfect time to buy or if now is the time to sell before the price crashes further. Although this is NOT a financial advice or trading strategy video, the recent crash of the cryptocurrency market makes it a perfect time to discuss what contrarian investing is as well as the significance of the fear and greed index and relative strength index in the crypto markets. #crypto #btc #cryptonews

Outrageous cryptocurrency price predictions are nothing new with many people seeking to gain clout and followers by predicting either an extremely high price or, in other cases, predicting that the price of bitcoin will go to zero. While sensationalist cryptocurrency price predictions are both amusing and understandable, we generally expect that more established financial publications will perform their due diligence and offer relatively accurate insight. That's why this recent article by Forbes that mentioned a 100 billion price prediction for BTC caught my eye. This wasn't some average joe making a bold bullish prediction, but a well-respected financial website. If they were reporting a $100 Billion Bitcoin price prediction, it certainly deserved my attention.....so...I looked into the article only to find that they had confused the difference between price and market capitalization. Mixups such as these remind us it is always important to do our own research in crypto and fact-check our sources even when they are generally well respected. In today's post, we will cover the difference between market cap and price while also explaining just how hilariously absurd a 100 Billion Bitcoin price prediction would be.  This article is not financial advice, and I would also like to say that this is in no way intended to poke fun at Forbes. Simple errors can be made by anyone, but I do feel that this presents a good teaching point. #crypto #btc #priceprediction

Over the past couple of years, we have seen the worst of the worst when it comes to crypto lenders. Celsius, FTX, and countless other firms have lost billions in customer funds and face accusations of mismanagement. So, if there was a cryptocurrency lender that could demonstrate proof of reserves, had a stable track record of safeguarding users' funds, and was working with regulators, one would think that regulators would welcome them with open arms and work together to forge a partnership between regulators and crypto that would show the world the true power of a properly regulated crypto lender. Unfortunately, we see that this is not the case, and crypto lender Nexo just announced it is leaving the US market. No, Nexo hasn't mishandled customer funds or lost billions. Despite working with regulators for over 18 months, they simply can't get a straight answer on how to comply with US cryptocurrency regulation, so they are calling it quits in the US market. In today's post, we will examine how a lack of regulatory clarity discourages honest cryptocurrency companies while encouraging the wreckless companies that don't care about regulations. #crypto #nexo #defi

In the latest cryptocurrency drama, many Apple users woke up to find that they could no longer sell or transfer their NFTs out of their Coinbase wallets. This nasty surprise is all thanks to Apple's policy which requires a 30% cut of all in-app purchase fees. Despite demanding a 30% fee, Apple's in-built payment system simply doesn't work with crypto, and Coinbase was unable to comply with Apple's demands and had to remove the NFT feature to remain listed on the app store. So, what does this mean for the countless users who now have their NFTs stuck in the Coinbase wallet, what does this mean for decentralization, and what's the solution? We're talking all about it in today's video. #coinbase #crypto #nft

In the weeks since the complete implosion of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, it has become clear that billions of dollars worth of customer funds weren't the only casualty of this disaster. In addition to the massive loss of wealth, the market is flashing big red warning signs that customers' trust in crypto-related institutions has been completely decimated. People are pulling their crypto off exchanges en masse, and both wBTC and Grayscale's Bitcoin Trust are trading at a discount to "real" BTC. These indicators show us that investors realize the difference between owning their crypto and owning a claim on an asset that may or may not be honored. #btc #gbtc #ftx

In a situation that has become far too familiar to cryptocurrency investors, the FTX cryptocurrency exchange recently filed for bankruptcy. As a result, customers have lost around  $8 Billion. Although we have become accustomed to failures of cryptocurrency exchanges, FTX stands out because it was supposed to be the "good guy" of crypto. Celebrities and YouTubers alike eagerly promoted FTX, and many people saw FTX as a safe place to park their cryptocurrency. So, what went wrong, and more importantly, what does the FTX disaster mean for you and the future of crypto? #ftx #ftt #crypto