Explore how cryptocurrency is redefining value, from gold and paper to digital trust, decentralisation, and financial inclusion in the digital age.
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For millennia, humans have defined value through the tangible: gold you could hold, land you could stand on, and later, paper notes backed by government promises. But in just over a decade, cryptocurrency has fundamentally challenged these ancient conventions, introducing a radical new proposition: what if value could exist purely as information, secured not by central authorities but by mathematics and collective consensus?
Consider this: cryptocurrency isn't merely a financial innovation; it represents a philosophical, cultural, and psychological revolution in how we conceptualise value itself. While traditional economists and crypto bros might view crypto assets as speculative instruments, they miss the broader transformation occurring beneath the price charts - a complete reconstruction of our relationship with money, trust, and economic participation.
As we'll explore, this shift extends far beyond trading and investing. It's reshaping how entire generations think about wealth preservation, questioning long-held assumptions about institutional authority, and expanding financial access to previously excluded populations. From Bitcoin's deflationary model to the complex ecosystems of decentralised finance, crypto is rewriting the very language of value in the digital age. Let’s explore it.
From tangible to digital: the evolution of wealth perception
"Where exactly is your Bitcoin?" This seemingly simple question reveals the profound shift occurring in our collective understanding of wealth. For centuries, value storage meant physical possession (again, gold bars in vaults, cash in wallets, or property deeds in filing cabinets). The materiality of these assets provided psychological comfort; you could literally touch your wealth.
Cryptocurrency challenges this fundamental association between physicality and value. When someone owns Bitcoin, they don't possess a digital coin in the conventional sense. Instead, they control access to a position on an immutable ledger - a concept so abstract that it requires significant cognitive adjustment for many traditional investors.
From a behavioural aspect, the difficulty many people have with accepting cryptocurrency stems from our evolutionary programming: our brains developed to value tangible resources (food, shelter, tools). Abstract representations of value require more cognitive processing, which is why many people struggle with the concept of crypto despite understanding it intellectually.
This transition mirrors other historical shifts in value perception. When paper money first replaced gold coins, many resisted the change, insisting that value couldn't exist in mere paper promises. Today's movement from government-issued currency to algorithmic scarcity follows a similar pattern of initial resistance followed by gradual normalisation.
What makes the current transition unique is its complete divorce from the physical realm. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and thousands of other digital assets exist exclusively as information, secured through cryptography, distributed across thousands of computers worldwide, and accessible only through digital keys. This represents not an incremental change but a quantum leap in how we conceptualise ownership and store value.
Decentralisation: redefining trust and authority
Perhaps crypto's most revolutionary aspect isn't its digital nature but its decentralised structure. For centuries, we've outsourced trust to centralised institutions, for example, banks to protect our deposits, governments to manage currency supplies, and credit agencies to verify our financial identities.
Cryptocurrency proposes an alternative: what if trust could be encoded into protocol rules, distributed across networks, and verified by mathematics rather than human authorities?
When Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin, it wasn't just a new asset class - it was a fundamental challenge to the monopoly on money creation. By solving the double-spend problem without requiring a central authority, blockchain technology essentially digitised trust itself.
This decentralisation has profound implications across the financial landscape:
- Banking without banks: Cryptocurrency enables people to become their own financial institutions: storing, transferring, and managing wealth without intermediaries who charge fees and impose conditions.
- Censorship resistance: When value exists on distributed networks, it becomes extraordinarily difficult for any single entity to freeze assets or block transactions, creating new forms of financial freedom.
- Global accessibility: Traditional financial systems reflect geographic and political boundaries. Decentralised networks operate independently of these constraints, allowing anyone with internet access to participate in the global economy.
In emerging markets particularly, this shift from institutional to algorithmic trust has accelerated rapidly. When Venezuela experienced hyperinflation exceeding 1,000,000% in 2018, many citizens turned to Bitcoin not as a speculative investment but as a practical necessity, literally a more stable store of value than their national currency. Similar adoption patterns have emerged across countries with unstable monetary policies or restrictive capital controls.
Some may view decentralisation as more than just a technological preference and more of a direct response to institutional failure. For example, when central banks and governments repeatedly mismanage monetary policy, people naturally tend to seek alternatives that can't be arbitrarily inflated or confiscated.
Scarcity, security & the psychology of hodling
Unlike fiat currencies that can be created indefinitely by central banks, Bitcoin introduced the concept of absolute digital scarcity: only 21 million will ever exist. Again, this fixed supply fundamentally changed how people think about money's relationship to inflation and time.
The term "HODL" (originally a typo for "hold") has evolved from crypto-community slang into a philosophy reflecting a significant psychological shift. Hodlers view cryptocurrency not as a short-term trading vehicle but as a long-term store of value, for some: digital assets worth preserving across generations.
Economist Saifedean Ammous, author of The Bitcoin Standard, argues that Bitcoin marks a return to "hard money" principles. He suggests that for most of human history, money was tied to inherently scarce resources like gold, which couldn't be artificially increased. In contrast, the widespread use of elastic fiat currencies in the 20th century is, in his view, a historical outlier. Bitcoin, with its fixed supply, reintroduces the idea of money that resists debasement.
This scarcity-based mindset has also impacted saving behaviours, particularly among younger generations. While traditional financial advisors typically recommend diversified portfolios with 3-6 months of emergency savings, many crypto adopters maintain much larger reserves, viewing fiat currency as an inherently depreciating asset and cryptocurrency as a hedge against monetary expansion.
The psychological security derived from mathematically guaranteed scarcity creates powerful emotional attachments. For many hodlers, their relationship with cryptocurrency transcends normal investment dynamics - it becomes a vote of confidence in a different economic model. This faith often persists through extreme market volatility, confounding traditional economic rationality models.
From a psychological perspective, consider this: the willingness to endure 70-80% drawdowns without selling suggests something deeper than profit motivation. For committed crypto holders, their assets represent not just potential financial gain but ideological alignment and identity. They're invested emotionally as well as financially.
Financial sovereignty and the global unbanked
For approximately 1.7 billion adults worldwide without access to banking services, cryptocurrency offers something revolutionary: financial inclusion without institutional permission. This aspect of the crypto revolution rarely makes headlines but represents one of its most profound impacts.
In regions where banking infrastructure is limited, cryptocurrency enables financial activities previously impossible:
- Cross-border remittances: Migrant workers can send money home without exorbitant fees or lengthy delays
- Savings protection: Citisens in economically unstable regions can store value beyond the reach of local currency depreciation
- Microfinance access: Blockchain-based lending platforms enable credit access without traditional banking relationships
The concept of "being your own bank" carries different significance for someone in rural Kenya than for someone in Manhattan. For the latter, it might represent philosophical alignment; for the former, it could mean the first real opportunity to participate in the global financial system.
Even in developed economies, cryptocurrency offers financial sovereignty to those facing exclusion. Sex workers, political dissidents, and others vulnerable to financial censorship have found in crypto a way to operate beyond institutional control, though, of course, this same quality raises legitimate concerns about illicit usage.
Risk, reward, and a new investment ethos
Cryptocurrency has also introduced an entirely different relationship with financial risk. Traditional investment wisdom emphasises diversification, steady appreciation, and risk mitigation. The crypto ecosystem, by contrast, has “normalised” extreme volatility, concentrated positions, and experimental financial protocols.
DeFi (decentralised finance) platforms exemplify this new investment psychology. These permissionless protocols enable users to lend, borrow, and trade directly through smart contracts, often offering yields far exceeding traditional finance but with correspondingly higher risks. The willingness to lock millions of dollars, or just hundreds, into experimental code represents a profound shift in risk tolerance.
What traditional investors might see as reckless, many crypto participants view as rational, given their time horizon and beliefs about technological adoption. If someone genuinely believes blockchain technology will transform finance, accepting short-term volatility for potential long-term exponential growth aligns with that conviction.
The future of value: identity, data, and the Metaverse
As crypto continues evolving, its impact on value perception extends into emerging domains like digital identity, data ownership, and virtual economies. Blockchain technology enables new forms of value representation far beyond simple currency.
The next frontier isn't just about money - it's about tokenising aspects of human activity that were previously outside economic systems. From attention to data to reputation, blockchain enables us to capture, measure, and exchange forms of value that were previously intangible. Enter Web3.
Several emerging trends suggest how our concept of value might further evolve:
- Digital identity as asset: Self-sovereign identity systems enable individuals to control and potentially monetise their verified credentials and reputation
- Data ownership: Blockchain-based systems allow users to control, track, and be compensated for their data rather than surrendering it to platforms
- Virtual property: As metaverse platforms develop, ownership of digital land, items, and experiences increasingly resembles traditional property rights
The integration of AI with blockchain technology particularly suggests radical possibilities. Autonomous economic agents (software that can hold assets, make transactions, and provide services) may create entirely new economic relationships not predicated on human participation at all.
Looking toward 2035-2045, we might see value systems where:
- Human attention becomes explicitly priced and compensated through micropayment systems
- Algorithmic reputation scores function as forms of capital across platforms
- Digital and physical assets become increasingly interchangeable through tokenisation
The distinction between 'real' and 'virtual' value is already dissolving. For digital natives, ownership of a rare game item or social token can feel as significant as physical possessions. As virtual experiences consume more of our time and attention, this trend will likely only accelerate.
Conclusion: the value revolution has already begun
Cryptocurrency's true revolution isn't financial - it's conceptual, transforming how we understand value itself. Beyond creating wealth or challenging institutions, crypto expands money's definition through mathematical scarcity, programmable assets, and community governance.
This philosophical shift fundamentally redefines our relationship with ownership, trust, and economic participation.
As digital and physical value boundaries blur, both opportunities and challenges emerge. Whether you participate or not, understanding these paradigm shifts will be crucial for navigating our economic future where value is increasingly defined by consensus rather than decree.
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When it comes to navigating the cryptocurrency markets, staying informed and staying away from FUD can oftentimes be more complicated than one might imagine. In this article, we're going to guide you through how to recognize FUD in the blockchain space and how to avoid it.
Since Bitcoin entered the scene in 2009, the crypto markets have seen their fair share of ups and downs. Although it's true that each market downturn has been followed by a recovery and considerable development, experienced and novice traders alike may find that times of decline are difficult to navigate. Particularly with the rise in FUD.
Before we cover the tools of the trade to recognize and avoid FUD, let's first cover what FUD is exactly.
What is FUD?
FUD in the cryptocurrency realm stands for Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. This term is used to refer to inaccurate information released by people who wish to manipulate the markets. Releasing FUD content is intended to influence a trader to make decisions that might affect the cryptocurrency's price or their holdings in some way (usually encouraging them to sell).
While commonly used against Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies are also targeted. FUD typically leads to investors selling off their coins, leading to a panic sell which snowballs and results in a significant loss in value for the coin.
Often mentioned alongside FUD is the term FOMO, Fear Of Missing Out. FOMO is centered around the fear of people missing out on profits, leading them to make quick decisions that aren't necessarily the best ones. While FUD tends to instigate selling an asset, FOMO tends to drive traders to buy an asset. Essentially, these two terms are designed to tap into human emotions that lead to quick decisions.
FUD is typically released through a rumor published on a well-respected website, a negative news item, or a well-known figure expressing concerns about a certain asset (commonly done over Twitter ). Content surrounding FUD and FOMO tend to be from organizations or individuals that have something to gain from the intended action. The content is designed to strongly influence the reader.
FUD and FOMO aren't strictly related to the crypto market, such tactics have also been witnessed in the stock market and other commodity trading spaces. The jargon has become synonymous with trading.
How to recognise FUD
The crypto community might seem tight-knit but there are often ill-actors that gain access to the trusted space and infiltrate it with bad news. This is often seen when people use a commonly discussed topic, such as regulation, to build a narrative that isn't necessarily true to influence traders.
Here are several tips to ensure that you don’t fall victim to FUD:
Establish a trading goal
Before you enter the crypto market ensure that you have definitive goals, with accompanying timelines. When faced with FUD or FOMO information, consider if the resulting actions of this news will move you closer to your goal or further away. If you stay focused on your goal you are less likely to be swayed by market sentiment.
Build a trading strategy before entering a trade
A trading strategy generally involves determining a stop loss, entry point, target sell point, and amount of capital. By establishing this before entering the trade, you will have clear objectives to follow and be less likely to fall victim to FUD-centered misinformation.
Stay informed, but verify sources
Keeping an eye on the crypto markets and staying informed is imperative for any trader, especially day traders. Ensure that the places that you acquire your information from are reputable and legitimate, and if something sounds suspicious, verify it through a number of other sources.
Be patient and consistent
Engaging in crypto trading involves making well-informed decisions based on market trends and supporting technology. Rather than seeking rapid financial gains, it's important to maintain patience and consistency in working toward your goals, while staying focused on your intended path.
Navigating FUD
Despite this sounding difficult, FUD is easily avoidable if you stick to these tips above and only seek information from reliable news sources. While Twitter may have quick tips, it's also hard to determine what the author's intentions are.
Consider whether something sounds accurate or not, and always conduct your own research when considering involvement in a new project. From a financial standpoint, participating in digital currency can be a profitable endeavor, so be sure to act responsibly and observe market trends with a critical perspective.
Whether you're trying to navigate the world of Crypto Twitter or preparing for Web 3.0, understanding the lingo is imperative to understanding the information available and fitting in. You might be very familiar with the English language, but don't let that fool you, crypto slang on social media is a language of its own.
While you might be familiar with concepts such as mining and smart contract, here we upgrade you to the next level of crypto jargon content. Below we run you through the 20 biggest acronyms and terms you need to learn when embarking on your Crypto Twitter journey. Good luck!
20 Top crypto terms and acronyms
Apeing In
Apeing in refers to buying a token or more commonly an NFT right after launch without doing the necessary research. Also sometimes expressed as "I aped", this is usually a result of being fearful you're going to miss out on potential gains. Always DYOR.
Bag Holder
This term refers to an investor that is holding a cryptocurrency or NFT that they cannot sell for a higher price, and cannot sell at the current price (as it is too low). While this isn't entirely negative, it's not very positive either. Bag holders will simply need to wait out the market dip.
BUIDL
First made famous by Ethereum founder, Vitalik Buterin in 2018, buidl is an obvious typo of the word build and refers to "build useful stuff". The concept revolves around developers utilizing blockchain technology, to hopefully, provide a solution to the industry as a whole.
BTFD
Standing for Buy The F** Dip, BTFD has been described as a "prominent investment lesson". Buying the dip is when investors accumulate cryptocurrency during a bear market when the prices are trading at less than their value. Quoting Warren Buffet, "be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful."
DAO
DAO stands for decentralized autonomous organization and acts as a form of venture capital funding, replacing a board of directors with open-source coding. Operating entirely automatically, everyone is granted ownership and is involved in the decision-making. DAO essentially describes the structure of Web 3.0 companies.
dApps
You may be familiar with this term already, decentralized applications are any digital apps built on top of a blockchain network. Instead of operating off of a centralized computer system, dapps harness the power of blockchain and are maintained and operated by the network on which they're built.
Ethereum, Solana and Cardano are popular platforms on which developers built their dapps, with no limit to what industry these dapps can be built for, from payments to entertainment to supply chain management.
Diamond Hands
This term refers to an investor who will never sell. Diamond hands push through the losses, gains and volatility, resisting the dips and the peaks. These are hardcore hodlers who strongly believe in a project's vision.
DeFi
Another term you're likely to have come across is decentralized finance, DeFi. DeFi is a sector of the crypto industry that provides traditional financial products and services only using blockchain technology, like lending, borrowing and providing liquidity. The aim of DeFi products is to remove the centralized nature of banking and make things more accessible to the masses. PancakeSwap, Aave and The Graph are examples of DeFi platforms.
Degen
Degen is short for degenerate risk-taker, someone who makes highly risky bets without due diligence. While this is typically frowned upon in the real world, in the crypto world this is a badge of honour. Being a degen and making money fast is the ultimate flex. We still recommend that you DYOR beyond just the project's website.
DYOR
Possibly the most important phrase when it comes to investing in cryptocurrencies and NFTs: always do your own research. Never follow anyone's advice blindly, no matter how much money they've made, instead always look into a project before investing in it. DYOR takes a firm stand in reminding you that you are accountable and responsible for your investment choices.
GMI
A term of endearment in the crypto space, GMI stands for Gonna Make It, used to reassure someone that they're on the right track. Often thrown around on Twitter and Discord, GMI offers someone an affirmation in their decisions.
On that note, NGMI stands for Not Gonna Make It. Usually used when someone makes a mistake or does something crazy, or when someone makes ignorant comments about the crypto space when they know little about it. It can be brutal out there, but DYOR and you'll be ok.
Genesis Collection
Similar to how the first block on a blockchain is referred to as the genesis block, a genesis collection is the first NFT collection created by an artist. Buying items from a genesis collection is a symbol of early support and usually comes with some added benefits. Following the transaction for the digital currency, holders might be treated to early releases, insider info or concert tickets.
HODL
While we're familiar with what HODL refers to (holding onto a cryptocurrency for a long time in order to tap into possible future gains), many might not be aware that it has been gifted an acronym of its own. We say gifted because the term originated from a typo in a Bitcoin forum. HODL has affectionately been expanded to Hold On for Dear Life, encouragement for when markets dip and weak hands consider selling.
Metaverse
A hot topic at the moment, but do you know what it means? The metaverse refers to an alternative reality that exists in the digital realm. This digital space allows users to work, play, socialize and do business, interacting with others as they do. The metaverse can be described as a combination of VR (virtual reality), AR (augmented reality) and 3D worlds.
NFT
This is a big one. It stands for Non-Fungible Tokens and refers to anything that someone can create store and sell on the blockchain but is not fungible. Each NFT is unique and cannot be used interchangeably like most other cryptocurrencies. Also note that an NFT is a token standard and can be built on various blockchains, while ETH for instance is the native token to Ethereum and cannot be used by other blockchains.
Shill
Shill refers to someone promoting a particular cryptocurrency to create excitement for it, usually to their own financial benefit. The purpose of shilling a coin is to generate hype that will hopefully lead to mass buying. Most platforms frown against shilling as it's essentially part of the same family tree as pump and dumps.
Paper Hands
The opposite of diamond hands, paper hands are quick to sell, often too early. Giving in to pressure and volatility, paper hands sell when the financial risk is too high (as opposed to waiting out the dip).
P2E
P2E stands for play to earn and is a concept in gaming where players can earn an in-game asset that holds value outside of that ecosystem. Axie Infinity, for example, is a game in which users can earn AXS, which is traded on many big exchanges. Gods Unchained and Evaverse are other P2E games.
RUG
Sometimes referred to as a "rug pull", rug is used to describe a situation where the founders of a project run away with the raised funds. These scams are not uncommon in the unregulated world of cryptocurrencies, however, they have become much fewer and far between since the earlier days. Their actions often send the crypto price plummeting to zero and cause huge losses among investors.
With rising inflation rates and economic downturns around the world, there's plenty of speculation that we're headed for another global recession. While the media tends to paint the darkest picture, it's always worth being prepared. In this article we're providing five action points you can do now to ensure that your finances remain recession-proof.
The National Bureau of Economic Research defines a recession as “a significant decline in economic activity that is spread across the economy and that lasts more than a few months. It's worth noting that these are a natural part of the economic cycle and are completely unavoidable. The best thing you can do is be educated and prepared with a reliable plan in place to overcome any economic downturn.
According to a study conducted by Empower and Personal Capital, 74% of consumers in the U.S. are concerned over an impending recession. While some analysts believe the recession has already started, Goldman Sachs has predicted there is a 30% chance of one materializing while UBS has forecast "no recession".
Whichever side of the fence you sit on, it can't hurt to be prepared. While it sounds dark and gloomy, we're here to help you prepare for a recession.
Anxious about an incoming recession?
Here are 5 steps to get yourself recession ready
1. Try to eradicate debt
The first step of most financial plans, paying off high-interest debt is a valuable practice. The recent increase in interest rates by the Federal Reserve has seen credit card rates rise over 17% for the first time in two years. Analysts are predicting that these interest rates will continue to rise in the coming months. Avoid credit card debt and the high-interest rates associated with them.
If you are carrying high-interest-rate debt, your best port of call would be to strategically manage this, with the intention to pay it off as soon as possible. With recessions oftentimes come job cuts, and if this happens to you paying off your debt now will be a worthy exercise. Known that in times of recession, interest rates will increase.
2. Lessen your expenses
Consider your monthly living expenses and what you spend money on and see where you can make cuts in order to prepare for the "worst case scenario". Consider what would happen if you were to receive a lower salary, if you were to lose your job, or if you were suddenly faced with an emergency (more on emergency savings next).
While these can take place at any stage, having a plan will help you to be prepared should you come face to face with this. Monitoring your monthly expenses is, either way, a great opportunity to stay on top of your finances and improve your financial situation.
3. Establish your emergency savings fund (and bulk it up)
If you haven't already done so, establish an emergency fund. Financial advisors define an emergency fund as three to six months' worth of living expenses. This emergency fund is to be used for unexpected expenses like home repairs, a car issue, a medical emergency etc. This is separate from your retirement account, and acts as a cash cushion should you need it.
As you prepare for a recession, it's advised to bulk up your emergency fund to be at least six months' worth of expenses/salary. This personal budget will act as your financial safety net should you need it, a rainy day fund. For bonus points, try to keep this in interest-generating savings accounts.
4. Update your resume
In the unfortunate event of losing your job in a recession, it will bode well to build your resume up before the time so that you can immediately start searching for a new job. During recessions, the job-seeking market tends not to favor job seekers so being prepared beforehand may work out to be to your advantage.
Alternatively, if you were considering advancing your education or going back to school, this could be a prime time to do so. This will not only improve your chances of employment in the future but also allow you time to emerge when the job market is more favorable.
5. Stick to long-term investment plans
In times of recessions it might seem tempting to cut back on retirement savings or pull investments, but try to hold strong. These investments are for the long term and will lose significant value if pulled prematurely, especially in the crypto and stock market.
Focus on managing your emotions and consider the long-term benefits. After the recession moves into its next economic phase would you rather have your long-term investment in place, or have to start again? Especially if your investments are linked to a retirement portfolio. For ease of mind, know that historical data proves that a bull market lasts longer than a bear market.
Whether you're invested in crypto, gold, or the stock market, stick to your long-term strategy and don't be tempted to make decisions based on fear, they rarely turn out to be good ones.
Closing thoughts on surviving economic downturn
Recessions tend to carry a lot of fear mongering news, however, did you know that the recession in 2020 only lasted for two months? While they're times of little to no economic growth, they are just as quickly corrected and allow new innovations, services, and economic activity to ignite. Consider it a breeding ground for new opportunities.
Use the time beforehand to prepare for a recession by managing your expenses, freeing yourself from high-interest rates, and building an appropriate savings account to see you through. If in doubt, consider speaking to a financial advisor who can professionally guide you in building a solid financial plan.
Disclaimer: This article is intended for communication purposes only, you should not consider any such information, opinions or other material as financial advice. This communication should be read in conjunction with Tap’s Terms and Conditions.
We are delighted to announce the listing and support of Chain (XCN) on Tap!
XCN is now available for trading on the Tap mobile app. You can now Buy, Sell, Trade or hold XCN for any of the other asset supported on the platform without any pair boundaries. Tap is pair agnostic, meaning you can trade any asset for any other asset without having to worries if a "trading pair" is available.
We believe supporting XCN will provide value to our users. We are looking forward to continue supporting new crypto projects with the aim of providing access to financial power and freedom for all.
Founded in 2014, Chain provides organisations with the infrastructure they need to build better financial services from scratch. The Chain token (XCN) is a utility and governance token for the Chain Protocol that allows its holder to vote on protocol improvements and various community-driven programs. XCN can be used for premium access, discounts, and payment of commercial fees on Sequence and other Chain ecosystem products.
Get to learn more about XCN in our dedicated article here.
When learning about paper wallets it's likely that you came across this option nestled safely in the “cold wallet” section in the different types of cryptocurrency wallets. While the popularity of paper wallets has somewhat declined, there are still a strong number of crypto enthusiasts that still appreciate the completely offline storage option. Let's explore what is a paper wallet and whether it's suited to your crypto needs.
What is a paper wallet?
For those needing a recap, a paper wallet is a piece of paper that holds both one’s public and private keys in both alphanumeric form and QR codes. Known as a non-custodial cold storage wallet, paper wallets allow the holders to manage their own private keys and remain entirely offline. A private key is a unique code that grants a user ownership of their wallet and digital funds, akin to a pin code for a bank account.
Creating paper wallets is incredibly simple, and can be completed in a matter of seconds. As a paper wallet "functions" offline, this makes them free from hackers, unlike a software wallet which is operated online. However, the paper wallet still carries its own set of risks in that the piece of paper cannot get damaged or lost. Many Bitcoin paper wallets have been lost due to the paper fading or the information becoming illegible.
The objective of keeping a paper wallet is to keep the private key safe whether its for a Bitcoin paper wallet or one designed to hold any other cryptocurrency. Each crypto wallet will be designed to store one specific cryptocurrency.
The term Bitcoin wallet is a generic term for any type of crypto wallet, whether a paper wallet, a software wallet or any type of online wallet or hot wallet. The only distinguishing factor is that the digital wallet only holds Bitcoin.
Precautions for using paper wallets
While storing the paper wallet securely in a safe location makes the top of the list here, other precautions to take are listed below:
Quality printer
Always use a good quality printer. Ensure that your paper wallet is printed with a high-quality inkjet printed to ensure that the characters on the paper don’t fade or bleed over time. Should this happen you could lose access to your funds.
Don’t share private keys
Never share your private keys with anyone. Paper wallets are designed to show the public key QR code on one side and the private key on the other. When sharing your public key with someone be sure not to accidentally share the private key as then they could gain access to your funds.
Be sure to set up a change address
If you don't set up a change address before sending funds from a paper wallet, the leftover funds will go to waste. A change address is a separate wallet address that picks up the change from a transaction.
If you have, for example, 100 BTC in your Bitcoin paper wallet and only spend 0.50 BTC, the remaining 99.5 BTC will either be sent to the change address or lost from your own paper wallet entirely.
Paper wallets are not designed to be used for sending funds, but instead for receiving and storing funds for the long term. Hot wallets (as opposed to paper wallets) are better suited to users looking to frequently send and receive funds. There are plenty of crypto wallets on the market, ensure that you find the most convenient one for you.
Alternatively, funds can be stored in a yield-generating account where your funds can earn interest. Tap offers a wallet of this nature conveniently located on the app, which allows users to hold several crypto and fiat currencies and earn rewards based on each currency. The longer the funds remain there, the higher the yield.
While paper wallets remain offline, there are still risks associated with them. Be sure to adhere to the above precautions in order to keep your funds safe.
Are paper wallets still relevant?
In the early days of crypto trading, paper wallets were strongly advised due to the offline safety of storing private keys. They began to be popular around the end of 2010 but unfortunately have been on a decline in more recent years as innovation in the industry has picked up momentum. A paper wallet is resistant to online attacks as long as it's made correctly; you can't hack a piece of paper.
In the past, people could create and print paper wallets for their crypto right from their exchange accounts. But now experts believe that hardware wallets are a more secure option, so most major exchanges don't offer this service anymore.
While some die-hard crypto traders still believe in the solid security of paper wallets, there are plenty of more innovative options available on the market today.
UNI is the native token to the Ethereum-based automated crypto exchange, Uniswap. A prominent contender in the DeFi space, Uniswap has become synonymous with decentralised exchanges and the automated trading of decentralised finance (DeFi) tokens.
Covering everything from its growth to rewards to its supply, learn about the leading cryptocurrency linked to the automated market maker.
What Is Uniswap (UNI)?
As mentioned above, Uniswap is a decentralised exchange that facilitates the automated trading of DeFi assets. Decentralised in nature, all trading is facilitated by crypto smart contracts as opposed to employees at a company managing operations, a level up from the decentralised ideology of Bitcoin.
Uniswap was created to provide liquidity to the DeFi industry and allows anyone to create a liquidity pool for any pair of digital assets. After launching in late 2018, the platform experienced an unexpected boom when the DeFi movement exploded. Despite being a technical process, customers and traders around the world joined in on the action.
Following the DeFi phenomenon of increased liquidity mining and yield farming platforms, the automated market maker (AMM) saw a significant increase in the tokens invested in and traded on the platform.
Competing with centralised exchanges, Uniswap provides a trading platform to anyone, without the need for any identity verification or credentials. With no KYC verification, users can swap a wide range of tokens depending on the liquidity pools available.
Who created Uniswap?
Created by Hayden Adams, an Ethereum developer, Uniswap was designed to introduce AMMs to the Ethereum network. Adams worked closely with Ethereum founder, Vitalik Buterin, as he built and implemented the protocol.
Adams states that he was inspired to create the platform following a post by Buterin himself. In a short amount of time, this protocol became one of the biggest disruptors to the financial market.
How does Uniswap work?
A unique element of the platform is the advent of the Constant Product Market Maker Model. This pricing mechanism works in a way that instead of determining the price of a token by connecting a buyer with a seller, the price is determined by a constant equation (x multiplied by y = k).
In order to add a token to Uniswap, users would need to fund it with the equivalent value of ETH and the ERC-20 token in question. Say, for instance, that you wanted to add a token to Uniswap called FIRE. You would need to launch a new Uniswap smart contract for the token FIRE and also create a liquidity pool that holds the same amount of FIRE and ETH.
In this case, x in the equation would equal the number of ETH while y equals the number of FIRE in the liquidity pool. K represents the constant value, using the balance of supply and demand to determine the value. As someone buys FIRE using ETH, the FIRE supply decreases and the ETH supply increases, thus driving up the price of FIRE.
The platform allows any ERC-20 token to be traded, with an easy means of creating the smart contract and liquidity pool necessary. In May 2020, Uniswap V2 was launched which allowed for direct ERC20 to ERC20 exchanges as well as support for several incompatible ERC20 tokens like OmiseGo (OMG) and Tether (USDT).
In order to trade on Uniswap a user will need to have a wallet that complies with the platform, like MetaMask, Fortmatic, WalletConnect, or Portis Wallet.
How does the Uniswap token work?
Launched in September 2020, 400 governance tokens (UNI) were airdropped to each wallet that had made use of the platform before 1 September that year. 66 million of the 150 million UNI tokens distributed were claimed in the first 24 hours.
According to the platform, Uniswap tokens were created to "officially enshrin[e] Uniswap as publicly-owned and self-sustainable infrastructure while continuing to carefully protect its indestructible and autonomous qualities."
Providing both profitability potential and governance rights, holders of the digital asset have the right to vote in how the platform develops, unifying the protocol's authority and cutting out the middleman. This grants holders immediate ownership of a number of Uniswap initiatives including the UNI community treasury, eth ENS, the protocol fee switch, SOCKS liquidity tokens and the Uniswap Default List (tokens.uniswap.eth).
The launch of UNI was seen as a direct retaliation to SushiSwap, another decentralised exchange that cloned the platform and added its own token (SUSHI).
The digital asset is an Ethereum-based ERC-20 token and operates on the Ethereum blockchain.
What is Uniswap Version 3?
More commonly referred to as Uniswap V3, the latest version of the automated market maker was launched on 5 May 2021. This upgrade incorporated better capital efficiency for liquidity providers, improved infrastructure and enhanced execution for traders. Prior to the launch of Uniswap V3, the price of the native token reached its all-time high.
Where can I buy Uniswap (UNI)?
Users looking to incorporate Uniswap (UNI) into their crypto portfolios can do so securely and conveniently through the Tap app. Simply download the app, sign up for an account and complete the quick verification process. Once approved, users can easily load funds (both crypto and traditional fiat currencies) and buy UNI tokens. These tokens will then be stored in the user's secure UNI wallet, and can be used for a number of functions or simply held there.