• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
MI:33

MI:33

We Protect People and their Products

  • About
  • Media
    • Academic Citations
    • Landmark Cases
    • Press Mentions
    • Speaking Engagements
  • Services
    • Trademark Investigation
    • Event Security
    • Threat Mitigation
    • Due Diligence
  • Contact

etherium

Crypto Mining for Attorneys

Rob Holmes · March 29, 2022 ·

Crypto Mining for AttorneysCrypto Mining for Attorneys is yet another installment in a series to help busy executives take a dive into the new world of crypto in bite-sized chunks. The purpose of this week's entry is to give the reader a basic understanding of Crypto Mining, how it is currently being implemented, and where thought leaders project it going. Here are this edition's nuggets for Crypto Mining for Attorneys.

  • The process of mining is solving math problems to confirm transactions on the blockchain. This work is rewarded in small amounts of digital currency. For example, my basic, run-of-the-mill work PC mines during off-hours and nets me a meager $7/month in BTC.
  • Crypto mining was invented to give users incentive to host transactions on their own computers. While mining, the user is volunteering their computer as a ‘node’, or ‘link’. in the blockchain.
  • It is the redundancy of this process that ensures the unhackability of a decentralized blockchain. Many iterations of the same transaction are confirmed on so many independent machines the information then excludes errors and attempted fraud.
  • The more computing power one has, the more one can mine. Some people use their personal computers and reap very small rewards (better than nothing), and some build farms of mining rigs and reap thousands of dollars a month. A $15,000 BTC mining rig could net $1K per month. Some folks build entire farms of these.
  • Video cards, or GPU’s, have skyrocketed in price since the crypto mining goldrush began. Sort of the opposite of business computing, a mining rig needs very little RAM, and CPU power, but a lot of video memory. This has affected the gaming industry greatly because miners will often pay much more for these cards than gamers.
  • Crypto mining uses so much electricity in its current state, it is not considered environmentally friendly, nor do electrical bills often justify mining. The current state of mining is called Proof of Work, where miners all work at the same time and, the more work, the more transaction verification. This creates more redundancy than needed and more coin doled out for unneeded work.
  • The next generation of mining, called Proof of Stake, promises to be much more efficient. This is where miners wait in line to confirm transactions in an orderly fashion as needed.
  • Etherium 2.0 (coming very soon) promises to be the gold standard for Proof of Stake and, hence, the new standard for crypto going forward. I believe this is true and am banking on it.

Other articles in this series include: Web3 for Attorneys, Blockchain for Attorneys, Crypto Wallets for Attorneys, NFT for Attorneys, Crypto Mining for Attorneys, and Metaverse for Attorneys.

Crypto Wallets for Attorneys

Rob Holmes · March 22, 2022 ·

Crypto Wallets for AttorneysCrypto Wallets for Attorneys is yet another installment in a series to help busy executives take a dive into the new world of crypto in bite-sized chunks. Here is this week’s bulleted list for Crypto Wallets for Attorneys:

  • Cryptocurrency wallets can be physical, software-based, or even hosted. Each has a different level of privacy.
  • Physical crypto wallets are still technically software-based, but the assets only exist on physical media that you hold in your hand. However, providers of physical wallets offer backup software so that your assets can be recovered if the physical media is lost or destroyed.
  • Most software wallets are encrypted and usually stored on a central server so that a customer can recover their assets with a passphrase, and without the need to track the whereabouts of storage media.
  • Wallets are a completely separate ‘place’ than an exchange, where your assets are deposited right after you make a purchase. Think of the most popular exchanges like Coinbase or Crypto.com.
  • Any wallet that is private, and not visible on an exchange is considered a DeFi (decentralized finance) wallet. This includes the wallet products sold by the exchanges themselves.
  • Purchases on the Coinbase or Crypto.com exchanges are not private. That information is easily subpoenaed, similar to the balance of your bank account.
  • In order for your assets to be private, you must move them into a wallet. Exchanges like Coinbase and Crypto.com provide separate wallet products, as do countless other organizations.
  • Think of your wallet as a safe or a safe deposit box. A subpoena can reveal the balance of a bank account, but only the existence of a safe deposit box, not its contents. No one knows about the existence of a safe except people to whom you reveal it.
  • Everyone charges a fee to move from the exchange to a wallet. For example, if you decide to move your $10K in Bitcoin from an exchange, you will likely pay a sizeable fee. Even if the wallet is branded the same as the exchange. To many people, this is called double-dipping.
  • Most wallets are created to support specific blockchain-based assets, including NFT’s. For example, a Bitcoin-specific wallet will not hold NFT’s because most NFT’s are minted on other blockchains.
  • Your crypto assets are only as safe as your passphrase. So you need to memorize them, print them and put them in a safe, or encrypt them. Once someone has the phrase and your wallet address, your assets are as good as theirs. Including the government. If that phrase is hidden, so are your assets.

Other articles in this series include: Web3 for Attorneys, Blockchain for Attorneys, NFT for Attorneys, Crypto Mining for Attorneys, and Metaverse for Attorneys.

Metaverse for Attorneys

Rob Holmes · March 15, 2022 ·

Metaverse for AttorneysMetaverse for Attorneys is yet another installment in a series to help busy executives take a dive into the new world of crypto in bite-sized chunks. Here is this week’s bulleted list of Metaverse for Attorneys:

  • Facebook changed their parent company name to ‘Meta’ in anticipation of the mass adoption of the Metaverse. The Facebook product still remains the same. The change is similar to Google’s parent company now being called Alphabet.
  • Metaverses are not new. World of Warcraft and Pokemon Go are examples of popular online metaverses that utilize alternate identities/avatars, maps, and proprietary in-app currencies. Second Life was the first of its kind to allow general gathering, living, partying and real estate without a game plot.
  • Steven Spielberg’s 2018 film “Ready Player One” is the perfect example of what the general online community expects from the Metaverse. The film was adapted from a 2011 novel by the same name. I recommend watching it for insight into this culture.
  • None of the above incorporate blockchain technology. However, Facebook and other global leaders infer their intention to do so.
  • Sandbox and Decentraland are the two most popular blockchain-based metaverses. In fact, major brands like McDonald’s, Gucci and Panera have already spent millions of dollars investing in real estate there.
  • There is no one Metaverse. There are, and will be, many. Just as there have been hundreds of Social Media startups, a few will eventually remain.
  • Sales of real estate in the metaverse topped $500 million last year and could double this year, according to investors and analytics firms. In my experience, land grabs like this over the last two decades have not paid off. Who knows? This time might be the charm.
  • Brands are racing to monetize NFT’s in this space, which will entail both digital items for in-game use and the redemption of physical goods IRL (in real life).
  • Ethereum is the current blockchain on which many of these Metaverses exist. However, there are countless startups that are either competing, or plan to compete, in this space. Metaverses utilize their own currencies called ‘tokens’ which are sort of sub-currencies based on the parent blockchain.

Other articles include: Web3 for Attorneys, Blockchain for Attorneys, Crypto Wallets for Attorneys, NFT for Attorneys, and Crypto Mining for Attorneys.

NFT for Attorneys

Rob Holmes · March 8, 2022 ·

NFT for AttorneysNFT for Attorneys is yet another installment in a series to help busy executives take a dive into the new world of crypto in bite-sized chunks. Here is this week’s bulleted list for NFT for Attorneys:

  • A non-fungible token (NFT) is a micro-transaction stored on a blockchain that can be associated with a property, either physical, digital, or intellectual, in order to claim authenticity.
  • Currently, the most popular form of NFT is digital art. In fact, some NFT’s in this space have been sold for up to $69MM.
  • NFT art has a potential for massive money laundering and terrorist financing, reports the US Department of Treasury. This is not a new phenomenon. Physical art has historically been a method of the same. However, the anonymity of cryptocurrency transaction and blockchain marketplaces provide more shade to crooks than previously imagined.
  • Etherium and Solana are the two most popular blockchains for NFT’s, while the Bitcoin blockchain remains primarily a source of currency trade.
  • NBA, MLB and NFL, have begun trading cards as NFT’s but they are on private decentralized block chains. This means that, although a user can track provenance and prove ownership, there are no open source checks and balances to prevent hacking or cheating by the controlling organization.
  • A purchase on an NFT on a centralized block chain does not guarantee ownership. This is similar to your purchase of a Kindle book. If Amazon changes their terms of service, or decides to eject you from its platform, you relinquish ownership of your purchases from that platform.
  • The video games and metaverses are positioning NFT’s to be the digital asset of the future. This is a good place to leave off. Next letter will be on the metaverse.

Other articles include: Web3 for Attorneys, Blockchain for Attorneys, Crypto Wallets for Attorneys, Crypto Mining for Attorneys, and Metaverse for Attorneys.

Blockchain for Attorneys

Rob Holmes · March 1, 2022 ·

Blockchain for AttorneysBlockchain for Attorneys is yet another installment in a series to help busy executives take a dive into the new world of crypto. The purpose of this week's entry is to give the reader a basic understanding of blockchain technology, how it is currently being used, and where thought leaders project it going.

Here is this entry’s bulleted list of nuggets for Blockchain for Attorneys:

  • The first decentralized blockchain was implemented in 2008 by the same entity that invented Bitcoin. The technology existed previously in separate components, but was never applied together, and to currency until then.
  • The mass appeal of popular blockchains is their decentralization and transparency to the public. This means that anyone with a computer can track or confirm any transaction.
  • Blockchains such as Bitcoin and Etherium are trusted and considered ‘unhackable’ because they are decentralized and transparent.
  • The term decentralization is used because segments are stored on the computers of volunteers throughout the world. The segments are referred to as “blocks”, and the volunteers’ computers are called “nodes.” And, of course, there is no central server.
  • Blockchain is poised to become the new type of payment rail, potentially making centralized electronic payment systems such as credit card companies, PayPal, Venmo and Zelle obsolete.
  • Mining cryptocurrency is fun and can be done using your own PC during off hours. It is not only a way to earn money, but also to participate on the chain as a “node.” However, most folks who mine use a dedicated computer for it.
  • Most NFT transactions occur on the Etherium or Solana blockchains. Digital art is the most frequent media traded as NFT’s currently. This is where Intellectual Property will explode.

Other articles include: Web3 for Attorneys, Crypto Wallets for Attorneys, NFT for Attorneys, Crypto Mining for Attorneys, Metaverse for Attorneys.

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOoew6y4yLg

Join Our List

* indicates required

MI:33

© MI:33 LLC 2001-2022