What are NFT games?

We are all accustomed to regular games and know that in many of them you can upgrade your character and improve your gaming skills by purchasing additional items or features. That is, the player makes a “donation” and receives in-game add-ons. But at the same time, from a legal point of view, it cannot be said that he owns them in full. In fact, the developer company is the owner of these add-ons, and the player takes them for use. For example, if the player’s account is blocked, he will lose all the items that he bought and used in the game.

NFT games combine the usual classic designs and unconventional mechanisms. They give the user high opportunities in the matter of control of game assets and additions. NFTs serve to ensure that a certain addition is the only one and protected from hacking.

How NFT games work

NFT games on the blockchain are different from simply storing crypto collections in a wallet. An NFT game for earning uses tokens in its rules, mechanics, and player interactions. For example, a game can represent a unique character or avatar as a non-fungible token. Digital items that an NFT player finds during tasks can also be tokens.

This system gives the user ownership of the game add-on, which can be acquired in three main ways:

1. create or bring out a new character;
2. purchase virtual items on trading platforms;
3. unlock or earn the add-on.

Any of the described methods of obtaining a game asset grants the owner exclusive ownership of it. In the future, such NFTs can be sold, bought or exchanged, making a profit from this. In addition, NFT games without investments can be used to earn money. We will tell you more about this below.

Pros and Cons of NFT Games

Among the advantages of such entertainment, it can be noted that NFT games not only provide an opportunity to have a good time, like classic virtual games, but also serve as a possible source of income for their users. You can install many NFT games on Android or IOS, which simplifies the process of playing and earning, since it is always at hand on your smartphone.

The downside of such games is the risks associated with investing . It is important to remember that, in addition to earning NFT game cryptocurrency, there is always the possibility of losing your funds. This is due to the volatility of NFT prices, which means that with a certain change in market demand, the user may miss out on profits or even lose assets if he bought a game add-on at a high price.

NFTs and Online Casinos in Metaverses: What the Future Holds

Metaverses — digital worlds that can be accessed using VR headsets — could be a whole new way of interpreting reality. In them, you can buy virtual real estate, communicate with other users, and move around just like in the real world — albeit only on the surface. This level of interaction also means visiting casinos, where, of course, you need to bet something to play. That something could be NFTs. In the metaverse, you can place bets using NFTs or even buy an entire casino and set up your own business. However, since NFTs are a way to monetize digital assets in metaverses, the latter can lead to certain problems.

For example, one of the first metaverse casinos, Flamingo Casino Club, received cease-and-desist orders from five US states for fraudulent use of NFTs. The site claimed to be part of the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Casino — which turned out to be a lie — and promised users passive income from the casino’s profits when they purchased certain NFTs.

The possibilities of NFTs for metaverse gambling are endless, but there are legal hurdles. How will such casinos be regulated and monitored? What is the point of using NFTs for anonymous betting if licensed establishments require players to verify their identity? However, with the expansion of the role of NFT in the industry, appropriate legislative frameworks will certainly be developed that will create conditions for the safe and legal use of digital assets in online gambling

NFT-slot and its possibilities

A unique development based on DApp technology. It is presented as a decentralized application based on the blockchain platform. Its modules are distributed over several servers. NFT-slots are located in gaming machines, which makes them completely impartial due to the lack of centralized access to program codes.

The peculiarity of the application is the absence of the possibility of making adjustments to its work in order to reduce the performance of the emulator. As for the advantages of NFT machines, they relate to:

• guaranteed honesty of the game process – the devices work in the mode of complete independence;

• absolute confidentiality. The technology involves replacing the notorious data of each player with an abstract sequence of bytes;

• complete security. Hacking blockchains is impossible, and so far no one has succeeded.

Additional benefits include payment of winnings. Slots work is organized through special smart contacts, cryptocurrencies. All payments are made automatically by the blockchain platform, which minimizes any involvement in the process of the online casino itself.

There is only one drawback of the technology – it is a longer processing time. This is due to the fact that the software modules are located on different servers and communication requires additional time. The disadvantage is easily eliminated due to the use of powerful processors.

The principle of operation of NFT machines

NFT machines or unique blockchains work according to a certain principle, which includes the following important stages:

• RNG formation of a sequence of random numbers. This applies to the bookmarking of numbers on online casino roulettes, the distribution of cards in poker or the symbols used for drum slots;

• transfer of data to the “cloud”;

• processing of the received sequence of numbers and placing the results represented by the hash function in the blockchain;

• extraction of storage data converted into roulette numbers, symbols or cards when starting machines.

The use of technology completely excludes influence on the game process of third parties. In this case, the online casino is an intermediary, receives a profit, but does not have access to blockchains, where winnings and results of rounds of future periods are stored. What the casino is capable of is tying its own bonuses in the form of free spins and cash prizes to specific NFT slots. NFTs and cryptocurrencies are rapidly gaining popularity in the world of online casinos, offering players innovative ways to bet and win. However, we should not forget about other convenient and reliable payment methods, such as the Portuguese Multibanco system, which has long won the trust of users. It is important to choose casinos that accept multibanco (casinos que aceitam multibanco) to ensure fast and secure transactions. This way, you can enjoy the game not only using NFTs, but also traditional, time-tested payment solutions.

Currently, not all game platforms use such technologies, and the NFT slot market is at the stage of active development. Assiduously penetrating the world of gambling, the technology has many advantages for players. Firstly, it increases the level of trust in online gambling establishments. Secondly, it provides transparency to both the game process and payout processes. Thirdly, for large online platforms and sites starting their activities in the field of gambling business, this is an ideal opportunity to increase their reputation and confirm the honesty of transactions.

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Nevertheless, every year it becomes more and more difficult for single miners to make a profit by “mining” the most popular cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoins or ether. Therefore, it makes some sense to pay attention to less popular types of virtual currency.

Mining Prospects
It’s important to understand that as virtual money grows in popularity, it becomes more problematic to make a profit from mining. This is due not only to an increase in the number of participants, but also to the arrival of significant financial resources in this segment of the market. As a result, mining individually is simply becoming unprofitable and unprofitable.

Another potential danger is the fact that some recently emerged cryptocurrencies do not provide for the possibility of mining. For example, Ripple or IOTA are among such virtual currencies, showing a steady growth in recent years.

How much can I earn?
It is almost impossible to give an unambiguous answer to the question about potential earnings from mining. This is explained by the fact that it is determined taking into account a lot of difficult to predict factors, including the current rate of a particular cryptocurrency and the dynamics of its change, the amount of investment in mining, the number of participants in the “mining” process, etc.

One should understand the following: the growth of the overall capitalization of the virtual money market leads to a constantly increasing average payback period of the investment. For example, not so long ago, investments in bitcoin mining were returned within 2-3 months, bringing further profit, and the entry threshold was quite low. Today, in order to start effectively mining the most popular cryptocurrency, a serious amount of money is required, amounting to at least several thousand dollars. In this case, the payback period is 9-12 months, and in some cases even more.

Is it possible to mine without investment?
Nowadays, it is quite difficult to talk about serious mining without investments. However, many companies providing cloud mining services are trying to increase the number of customers through a variety of advertising campaigns. In some cases, users are offered an opportunity to “mine” cryptocurrency for free for a certain period of time.

There are also so-called cryptocurrency cranes, which are advertising sites that offer satoshi, i.e. a small portion of bitcoin, as a reward for visiting them. This way of earning cryptocurrency is hardly a full-fledged mining, nevertheless, the number of such resources increases every year, which shows their demand in the market.

Investment risks
The cryptocurrency market is one of the most unstable. Even bitcoin, the value of which has grown tremendously, has fallen in price many times. There is no guarantee that it will pick up again after another crash, which could happen at any time.

Possible problems and pitfalls
The main potential problems of any cryptocurrency are two factors. First, the unclear legal status, which in addition varies from country to country. In today’s global financial market, this is a serious obstacle to further growth.

Second, the main condition for the popularity of cryptocurrency is trust in it. This criterion is hardly stable and objective. Therefore, any problems that arise can easily bring down even the most promoted cryptocurrency.

Energy Inefficiency
The arrival of major players with serious financial resources to the cryptocurrency mining market has drastically reduced the efficiency of “mining” most types of virtual money. Naturally, the profits made in the process often do not recoup the funds invested, including electricity costs, which constitute the main share of costs, in addition to the purchase of equipment.

The disparity between early and late miners

Every year, the rewards for mining are decreasing. This is due to a very rapid increase in the total computing power of the participants in the process, resulting in a noticeable increase in the amount of resources spent on “mining”, which is torn between electricity consumption and hardware capacity. It makes sense that early mining was much more efficient and profitable than late mining, a trend that continues even now.

What cryptocurrency to choose for mining?

Finding an answer to the question which electronic currency is the most profitable to mine is quite difficult. The fact is that the cryptocurrency market has only been formed in recent years. It is constantly changing, in addition, new types of virtual money regularly appear. All this makes a more or less accurate prediction of further developments in the market extremely unlikely.

Nevertheless, every year it becomes more and more difficult for single miners to make a profit by “mining” the most popular cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoins or ether. Therefore, it makes some sense to pay attention to less popular types of virtual currency.

Mining Prospects
It’s important to understand that as virtual money grows in popularity, it becomes more problematic to make a profit from mining. This is due not only to an increase in the number of participants, but also to the arrival of significant financial resources in this segment of the market. As a result, mining individually is simply becoming unprofitable and unprofitable.

Another potential danger is the fact that some recently emerged cryptocurrencies do not provide for the possibility of mining. For example, Ripple or IOTA are among such virtual currencies, showing a steady growth in recent years.

How much can I earn?
It is almost impossible to give an unambiguous answer to the question about potential earnings from mining. This is explained by the fact that it is determined taking into account a lot of difficult to predict factors, including the current rate of a particular cryptocurrency and the dynamics of its change, the amount of investment in mining, the number of participants in the “mining” process, etc.

One should understand the following: the growth of the overall capitalization of the virtual money market leads to a constantly increasing average payback period of the investment. For example, not so long ago, investments in bitcoin mining were returned within 2-3 months, bringing further profit, and the entry threshold was quite low. Today, in order to start effectively mining the most popular cryptocurrency, a serious amount of money is required, amounting to at least several thousand dollars. In this case, the payback period is 9-12 months, and in some cases even more.

Is it possible to mine without investment?
Nowadays, it is quite difficult to talk about serious mining without investments. However, many companies providing cloud mining services are trying to increase the number of customers through a variety of advertising campaigns. In some cases, users are offered an opportunity to “mine” cryptocurrency for free for a certain period of time.

There are also so-called cryptocurrency cranes, which are advertising sites that offer satoshi, i.e. a small portion of bitcoin, as a reward for visiting them. This way of earning cryptocurrency is hardly a full-fledged mining, nevertheless, the number of such resources increases every year, which shows their demand in the market.

Investment risks
The cryptocurrency market is one of the most unstable. Even bitcoin, the value of which has grown tremendously, has fallen in price many times. There is no guarantee that it will pick up again after another crash, which could happen at any time.

Possible problems and pitfalls
The main potential problems of any cryptocurrency are two factors. First, the unclear legal status, which in addition varies from country to country. In today’s global financial market, this is a serious obstacle to further growth.

Second, the main condition for the popularity of cryptocurrency is trust in it. This criterion is hardly stable and objective. Therefore, any problems that arise can easily bring down even the most promoted cryptocurrency.

Energy Inefficiency
The arrival of major players with serious financial resources to the cryptocurrency mining market has drastically reduced the efficiency of “mining” most types of virtual money. Naturally, the profits made in the process often do not recoup the funds invested, including electricity costs, which constitute the main share of costs, in addition to the purchase of equipment.

The disparity between early and late miners

Every year, the rewards for mining are decreasing. This is due to a very rapid increase in the total computing power of the participants in the process, resulting in a noticeable increase in the amount of resources spent on “mining”, which is torn between electricity consumption and hardware capacity. It makes sense that early mining was much more efficient and profitable than late mining, a trend that continues even now.

The post What cryptocurrency to choose for mining? appeared first on Nolex.

Recently, there have been frequent reports that some popular websites have also been found to contain elements of software that allow for mining by using the resources of visitors’ computers. Obviously, such activities can hardly be called legal. Nevertheless, given the complexity of the issue, it is far from easy to fight such manifestations.

What is a mining farm?
A mining farm is a number of computers or servers combined into one system. In this case, at different times and for different cryptocurrencies different equipment is used. For example, for bitcoin “mining” some years ago there were mainly video cards used, then they were replaced by specially developed processors (ASIC). However, some cryptocurrencies, such as the second most popular Ethereum, are still the most effective when using high performance graphics cards.

Mining equipment
Simple mining schemes, which were effective a few years ago, included the following equipment: 2-3 video cards, a motherboard, a processor, RAM and permanent memory, and a power supply. Naturally, in order to connect to the system it was required to install the appropriate software, which is freely available. An important resource, which is consumed in the process of mining in large quantities, is electricity.

Programs for mining
Nowadays, many different programs have been developed that can be used for mining cryptocurrencies. The choice of a particular product is determined primarily by the capabilities of the user’s computer. Obviously, for different configurations and computing power, the efficiency of different programs will not be the same.

The easiest way to mine is to use a cloud pool. In this case, you rent or buy the power of a specialized company along with the software installed on it. However, in most cases, the cost of renting or purchasing resources is quite high.

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Ether mining
In recent years, the rate of Ethereum (in Russia it is called ethereum or, even more simply, ether) has been growing quite rapidly, certainly inferior to bitcoin, but being the second most popular cryptocurrency. Special programs are used to mine ether. It is important to understand that this process today is much more efficient than “mining” bitcoins, as it involves a noticeably smaller number of users. The most effective is the use of equipment in the form of productive video cards.

Ripple mining
Ripple (XRP) is quite different from most cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin. Currently, this virtual currency is popular, on an equal footing with Ethereum. The main feature of Ripple is the impossibility of mining. This is because the developers immediately issued 100 billion units of XRP, keeping about 2/3 of it for themselves, and one third distributed among users. As a result, additional cryptocurrency issuance is not provided, and mining is also not required for the system to function.

Litecoin
The cryptocurrency Litecoin (LTC) was created in 2011 and is a derivative (another name fork) of bitcoin. At the moment, its development is completely independent and has several fundamental differences from the most popular type of virtual money. These include:

Greater efficiency of mining using powerful processors;
The need for a large amount of free memory;
The wide spread of pools, including cloud pools.
LTC is much less popular and in demand than bitcoin. Therefore, mining this cryptocurrency is currently available and quite effective even for individual miners. However, it is much more profitable for the user to become a member of a pool, which significantly increases the profitability of mining.

NEM
The cryptocurrency called XEM was created based on the NEM blockchain technology. It is very popular in the Asian market, especially in Japan. The features of this type of virtual money became the issue of the entire amount of cryptocurrency at once. However, XEM mining is quite possible. It is necessary to generate new blocks needed to conduct transactions, to form appropriate records in databases and to ensure the security of transactions. At the same time, XEM mining is considered one of the most democratic processes, as it does not require large computing power.

Dash
The capitalization of the Dash cryptocurrency, created in 2014, has now exceeded $2 billion. Of course, its popularity today is no match for bitcoin, however, the virtual currency shows steady growth. Almost any computer equipment can be used for mining but the most effective is using ASIC technology and different cloud services.

Iota
The IOTA cryptocurrency, which appeared on the market at the end of 2015, quickly enough became widespread. This is due to the features of this payment system, the main of which are: the absence of commission in carrying out transactions and the speed of their implementation. The operating principle of IOTA does not provide for the possibility of special mining, as in fact the user of the system becomes a miner when carrying out any transaction, because it requires the confirmation of the previous two.

ZCASH
The developers of the cryptocurrency ZCash declare it as the first anonymous virtual monetary unit. This payment system provides a standard possibility of mining, for the implementation of which the appropriate equipment, first of all, a powerful video card, appropriate software and connection to the pool will be required. It is in this case the mining will be the most effective.

Monero
Mining a relatively new cryptocurrency called Monero can nowadays be a very profitable activity even for single users. The fact is that the payment system service does not allow the use of specialized ASIC processors. As a result, even having an ordinary, but rather productive computer, it is possible to mine Monero.

Stratis
The cryptocurrency Stratis (abbreviated as STRAT) appeared in 2016 and is one of the latest such developments, which has already managed to make quite a loud statement in the financial market.

The post Mining cryptocurrencies appeared first on Nolex.

Working Principle
The owner of a computer resource receives remuneration for the processing of information in the form of a commission assigned by the owner of the virtual money, or remuneration in the form of a part of the cryptocurrency emitted in the process of mining. This is the basis of one of the main principles of payment systems, involving the use of bitcoins and some other virtual money. The transactions where the highest commission is set are processed and conducted first. Therefore, transactions with zero fees can take a very long time.

Why does bitcoin need miners?
It is important to understand that the common belief that the need for mining and, consequently, miners will disappear after the last bitcoin is released is extremely far from the truth. As already mentioned, no less important functions of mining are processing information, conducting transactions and securing the functioning of the payment system. Obviously, this kind of work will always be required.

Bitcoin mining
Undoubtedly, the most popular cryptocurrency today is bitcoin, created in 2008-2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto. That is why, more often than not, the decision is made to mine this particular type of virtual money. However, it should be understood that the flip side of the popularity is a huge amount of resources involved in processing the information. Therefore, today, in order to really make money mining bitcoins requires the presence of extremely large computing power.

Mining schemes
The simplest mining scheme involves the installation of special software on the computer, then the connection of its resources to the payment system.

State-owned mining programs
Nowadays, the interest in various cryptocurrencies began to appear in some countries at the state level. It should be noted that in most developed countries this sector of the economy is given to entrepreneurs. However, in North Korea, the mining of cryptocurrencies is one of the important measures to support the national monetary unit.

In recent months, there has been serious interest in virtual money, especially bitcoin, and its mining process among the leaders of the national government. Some high-ranking officials have repeatedly understood the issue of developing state mining programs. However, it is somewhat premature to talk about actually putting these plans into action.

Mining Pools
An important principle behind the most popular virtual payment system is the random distribution of issued bitcoins. In order to make this process more predictable and uniform, special online services have been created, which are called mining pools. Individual users put the available computing power at their disposal. Eventually, the bitcoins received as issue fees are distributed among pool members based on the pool’s rules. The features of the software allow users to work in a pool much more efficiently than on their own, which has led to the widespread use of this type of mining.

Cloud Pools
Today, in order to effectively engage in mining, you need to have serious computing power. Obviously, to acquire such powerful computers requires considerable financial resources, which are unlikely to be available to a single person. As a result, there is a new type of pool, called a cloud pool. It provides purchase or rent of computing capacities from specialized companies possessing the corresponding equipment.

In this case, all transactions are carried out over the Internet, and the scheme of interaction looks as follows. A specialized company receives funds from a client in the form of profit, necessary for its further development and the purchase of new, more powerful computers; the user is left with the result of mining on the most modern and advanced equipment.

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Another lawsuit related to Satoshi Nakamoto began in the United States in November. The missing bitcoin inventor was hiding behind that name. The dead programmer’s sister wants her brother to be considered Satoshi Nakamoto, and has sued another claimant. Given that the inventor of the cryptocurrency is entitled to 1 million bitcoins, now the equivalent of $66 billion, “that’s a score many are willing to start a risky game for.” Other contenders for inventor laurels included a German fraudster, an anonymous writer, one of the pioneers of smart contracts, and even Ilon Musk, to whom the invention was attributed by an enthusiastic intern.

Satoshi number one. David Kleiman.
In November, the civil trial of Ira Klayman v. Craig Wright began in Miami. The defendant, Australian software engineer and one of the pioneers of the cryptocurrency movement, Craig Wright, has been claiming since 2016 that he is Satoshi Nakamoto. He has already spent a serious amount of money on the courts, including declaring as his intellectual property the white paper (a detailed plan for the design and development) of bitcoin in the UK. The plaintiff, the sister of the deceased David Kleiman, is seeking through the courts to establish the fact that Wright was not acting alone, but with her brother.

Clayman and Wright created W&K Info Defense Research LLC to mine bitcoin and manage intellectual property, including the cryptocurrency’s source code, her representatives wrote. At the first meeting, Ira Klayman showed excerpts of Internet correspondence that allegedly confirmed that her brother alone had mined the bulk of the bitcoins. She accused Wright of theft by deception and counterfeiting. Wright, on the other hand, objects that he is Satoshi Nakamoto alone, and that David was merely a friend and confidant. Wright’s attorneys are resting on the fact that their confidant has had an autism spectrum disorder since childhood and no contract could have been made with him. “He wore a ninja uniform in the yard when he was 13, and all the kids called him a freak,” the defendant’s side claims. The main issue, though, remains unresolved for everyone involved in the case. You have to have a secret key to get 1 million bitcoins. There is no other way. The only one hundred percent proof, which Wright hasn’t been able to do since 2016, is to transfer at least a thousand bitcoins from wallets that were reliably owned by Nakamoto. The bitcoin creator is known to have dropped out of sight in 2011 and has never contacted anyone since.

Satoshi No. 2. Craig Wright.
In 2016, software engineer Craig Wright, featured in the previous story, claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto, although the general consensus among crypto activists was that several programmers worked under that name. Since then, Wright has not been able to take any bitcoin from Satoshi’s wallets. Wright claimed his copyright on the white paper and bitcoin source code to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2019. This does not mean that he is recognized as the creator of the cryptocurrency or the owner of the exclusive copyrights to its code. An unlimited number of people can assert their rights under U.S. law. In response, the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA) has filed a lawsuit against Wright, demanding to recognize that he had nothing to do with the creation of the main bitcoin document. These proceedings are still pending. In January 2021, Craig Wright accused bitcoin.org and its anonymous owner under the pseudonym Cobra of violating his copyright in the white paper. The High Court in London handed down a default judgment on June 28 because the defendant, one of the opinion leaders in the cryptocurrency industry, did not defend himself by remaining anonymous.

Satoshi No. 3. Dorian Nakamoto.
This was the first high-profile attempt to expose the bitcoin founder. Newsweek in March 2014 published a piece about Dorian Nakamoto, whom it named the creator of the cryptocurrency. The publication made a lot of noise. Dorian Nakamoto was actually similar: Japanese last name, Asian appearance, which the Japanese last name suggests, libertarian views (like most crypto-geeks), computer engineer.

But these all turned out to be mere coincidences. In an interview, he seemed to say: “I’ve given up on bitcoins,” but later claimed he misunderstood the question. Nakamoto admitted to the Associated Press that he had nothing to do with bitcoin.

Satoshi Number 4: Ilon Musk
In November 2017, on Technoblogger Medium, former SpaceX intern Sahil Gupta made a “throw-in” that Satoshi was probably Elon, as he is very good at both economics and cryptography, knows programming languages very well and is by nature an encyclopedist. Gupta suggested that during the 2008 financial crisis Musk got the idea to solve the problem of trust in banks by creating money that banks don’t need.

Musk, of course, denied the enthusiastic intern’s assumptions, and even admitted that he lost the only bitcoin a friend gave him a few years ago.

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