Week in Crypto Q&A with Elena Obukhova | Solana Bugs, Luna2, FOMO Traps, and China Bans

Q. Solana was down yesterday for hours due to a bug. We had talked about your dislike of Solana last week, anything else you’d like to say now?

A.We were discussing the project and its centralized qualities only last week, and I expressed my reservations about it. There's no way a decentralized blockchain can go down for 24 hours like Solana did last September and again this week. I understand that everyone is working hard to create projects and that problems and incidents occur, but it is a huge concern for me that the project was initially designed as a centralized project. That is why I dislike the project's vision and personally don't think it's sustainable or what we are here for in the blockchain industry.

Q. What do you think of the latest tech lawyers offering assistance to victims of a rug pull, Ponzi scheme, or other?

A.Assume they're scam lawyers attempting to assist you in recovering funds from another fraud while also scamming you on the second level. It's kind of shocking if they are lawyers and you can't see any information about them, I would see it as a red flag. At the same time, how are you going to recover your funds from a crypto scam, majority of projects and scams in the industry weren't even registered companies. It's just someone who launched a coin with a whitepaper to get money and disappear. I mean, good luck, recovering funds from them, you will have to spend so much money on lawsuits, and you will never even get to these people. To begin the process and attempt to recover your funds, you must be in the same location as the individual you are attempting to bring to court and know where this person lives in order to present paperwork.

So I'm not sure if this can succeed, apart from large projects that failed and refunded money back to investors to protect their reputation. I remember the situation with Telegram, they tried to go through Ico and they couldn't because it's a registered company and our government didn't really like them having their own cryptocurrency so they had to go through a process of refunding because they care about their reputation. In terms of scams, I would always say if you were scammed you should just move on because in 99% of cases you're not going to recover anything you can try but I wouldn't be that optimistic and that's why research before jumping on board is crucial.

Q.Soros Fund Management CEO warns about FOMO traps, What do you think she means by Fomo trap?

A.Yes traps can have a different nature. So when we have a recession or hyper-volatile market which usually happens when the market is crashing or growing really fast the majority of retail investors are jumping in because they see a good opportunity to quickly get extra funds. However, former traps exist and that's when retail investors feel they're gonna miss out on the next opportunity and instead of making weighted decisions, they're just jumping in, getting liquidated, and losing their funds because they didn't analyze markets.

Fomo also happens when you're scared and see there's some new coin appearing and think it might be a great opportunity to earn money, you see that all your friends are investing. That's usually a red flag, if everyone is doing something on the market, that does not mean it's good, it means everyone is moving all their funds to one place, and then there will be a correction. So you also need to understand that and instead of making rapid decisions without any research, try to think about what your goal is? Is it a long-term investment?. There will be always an opportunity but you need to understand it wisely instead of just jumping on whatever random stuff your friends are.

Q.A new Luna Token has been listed on exchanges, What are your thoughts on a new Luna Token and exchanges offering it?

A.For me, there are a few red flags with the announcement time of Luna2, I feel it's rushed and I'm not sure how much improvement you can do when you're just trying to clean up your mess. We saw that the experiment failed with Luna one and didn't perform well because it wasn't designed to perform well and survive crisis conditions on the market. Did Luna learn a lesson? Maybe that was a lesson for Luna to realize this model is not going to work, even after fixing any bugs and minor adjustments. I could be wrong and Luna2 might be successful.

Before investing I would personally look deeply into their tokenomics, vision, business plans, and related projects to understand what’s happening and whether Luna2 can survive the next crisis. I would say the speedy turnaround suggests Luna doesn’t want to be forgotten and is an effort to satisfy their current community who may want to recover their funds. The timing is crucial for them if they delay for a year Luna could possibly have to start from the beginning. Look at Etherium 2.0, how long does it take? Right? They didn't do it within two or three months they're taking their time to make sure the system will be working.

Q.Thoughts on the South Korean digital assets committee and oversights on crypto?

A.South Korea is a very interesting market, I lived there for almost a year doing lots of business with South Korean crypto companies helping them with tokenomics, stress testing, and business development for South Korean crypto projects. That's where my consulting company FAS initially started. The South Korean market is very closed in comparison, there are a lot of projects that are primarily focused on South Korea and don't really care about global markets due to a lack of access and communication. Sometimes trends that we're experiencing like with NFTs or defi come there later and they also take a different angle. So if we look at South Korea and its demographics, they have a wealthy economy, and a large portion of the population is in a position to invest compared to other locations.

I remember in 2017, there was a ban on ICOs and restrictions on cryptocurrency tradings, which didn't really stop a highly educated society from looking for loopholes. But I got lots of requests as people were looking for someone who didn’t have a South Korean passport to buy Bitcoin at a lower price outside of South Korea, then move it back to South Korea and sell that exchange at a premium, because there were restrictions of course price was affected. I think a similar situation will arise with the new regulations the government wants to introduce as with the ICOs soon after the government lifted restrictions. You can understand why they are trying to introduce these regulations in order to sustain their national currency and keep funds within South Korea. How well it’s going to work, I don’t know?

Q.Why did China ban bitcoin mining and should banning it be possible?

A.I already mentioned it’s really hard to ban something crypto-related. I always doubt these bans China announce because when I lived there for four years consulting start-ups, I realized China was very keen on new innovations and cryptocurrencies. In 2017 they were motivating businesses to enter the crypto market with one of the highest numbers of crypto start-ups coming from China. For that reason I can’t see them just banning crypto, I think it was good market manipulation in an effort to get rid of certain operations and they could have gotten more access to the miners and commanded data and revenue sharing in return for allowing miners to continue their operations. In China, there were many instances where a start-up became successful developing a strong market share to only have a large Chinese tech company put in an offer to buy, and if denied they would just replicate the entire model thus start-up would not survive. So my point is if China wants to ban something it's going to be banned.

Cointelegraph About Supermoon Camp: Supermoon Camp and The Mansion on the Moon getting ready....

Supermoon Camp is hosting its third crypto pop-up event in Austin, Texas this June 9 to 13. This time, the Supermoon team is hosting its exclusive event, The Mansion On The Moon, which takes place on June 12. Continuing the Supermoon Camp, twenty prominent crypto enthusiasts will meet in the Supermoon mansion for five days while attending DCentral and Consensus events and afterparties with the goal of building strong relationships and innovative projects.

Selected Supermoon Camp guests and members have secured access to exclusive private events and afterparties, VIP access to the Mansion on the Moon’s private mansion afterparty, the opportunity to speak on the Supermoon Station podcast and co-publish an article with the Supermoon team at major crypto outlets.

The in-house Supermoon Camp production team will be livestreaming all Austin activities and interviews with leaders in the field and their upcoming projects in the Web3 space. Diversifying its media this quarter, the Supermoon Station will break down everything crypto during Consensus Week with a focus on decentralization, innovation, current events and more.

As the Supermoon Camp community continues to grow, so too does the scale of Supermoon events, with the addition of its private Minimoon networking events, gathering 300 to 400 influential people from the crypto space to create an environment for high-quality networking.

Computecoin Network has joined Supermoon as a diamond sponsor and the main sponsor of the first Minimoon event, The Mansion on the Moon. Computecoin Network is a Web3 infrastructure with Web2-compatible APIs and end-to-end developer tools offering seamless transition for developers into the Web3 and Metaverse economy.

Supermoon Camp’s other sponsors include Parallell.io, Phlip.io, Flashback.one and Fintech Advisory Services, all of which will be taking part in the upcoming Austin camp. To add to the excitement, Supermoon Camp has an exclusive membership NFT that will be announced this week, with the first members to be announced at The Mansion on the Moon event in Austin.

Published at Cointelegraph.

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This Week in Crypto Q&A with Elena Obukhova | Featuring Crypto Taxes, Solana, Stolen NFT & More

Q.In terms of businesses, NFTs, and influencer marketing do you think it opens up a whole new realm of possibility in terms of royalty split for creators with smart contracts?

A. Yes, royalties are a really useful tool for business creators, and leveraging NFT technology allows multiple parties to include their royalties in a smart contract. So, anytime a secondary sale transaction or any other transaction occurs in the future, they will continue to profit from this collaboration.

So, yes, NFT technology provides these opportunities, and while we all talk about it in the crypto field, the majority of people outside of crypto have no idea. So it is highly advantageous in our business connections, artwork, music, industry, and many other uses. Personally, I'd like to hear royalties discussed outside of the crypto realm, for those who don't understand why there's such a buzz around NFT technology and what it is.

Q. From a stolen Bored Ape NFT what steps can be taken to retrieve or how do you see this working in the future?

A.So this is a hard question with numerous aspects. How eager are we to comply with regulations? Do we want additional regulations and processes in place to protect us, or do we want to learn how to defend ourselves and avoid scams like this? I personally believe in the second approach explaining, teaching people, and self-learning.

So, how can we take control of our assets? When you have custody of your NFT, it is very difficult for someone else to take it, but we all use laptops and smartphones, so we are continuously exposed to potential breaches and cyber security threats. We are vulnerable, but we must learn to defend ourselves.

So, if someone believes that regulations need to be improved, we'll have systems in place to protect individuals and say that blockchain transactions are valid evidence of ownership, but they aren't for the time being. They are recorded on the ledger, but most courts will not accept them as evidence to get your asset back. So I expect Seth Green to fail right away, and there may not be enough proof or comprehension from the current system.

Q. What are your thoughts regarding eBay jumping into the NFT space and their projected pricing plan?

A.It's definitely a positive thing first and foremost, it demonstrates the demand for the technology itself. Of course, when we hear huge corporations jumping on the new technological bandwagon, is it simply a marketing tactic pursuing a cooler market? A good example is eBay right now. One of the most common uses of NFTs for companies like eBay is marketing, which is followed by technology exploration. When it comes to businesses that use NFT technology, I believe our sector is becoming smarter.

I previously used my company Flashback as an example. One that uses it for loyalty programs, memberships, and tickets, so we can check the legitimacy of every single ticket and keep organizers and potential guests from being defrauded. As a result, we safeguard both consumers and merchants while providing greater royalty prospects. As a result, it allows users to add royalties and if another secondary transaction occurs, they can still benefit from the collaboration, and it helps them to establish communities.

I met Krissy Mashinsky at the security token summit last week, and she is working on the USA Strong initiative. She saw the changes required in the supply chain business, and she began employing blockchain technology and NFTs to validate merchants and their products. So now you can check to see if the product is manufactured in the United States and view the entire history of the product, and I think this quality control function is a great use case for NFTs.

Q. Do you see Solana as a cryptocurrency people should watch out for? Can you talk about the proof-of-history mechanism?

A.First of all I do not like Solana and do not wish to be linked with it. I dislike Solana for one major reason - centralization Solana is extremely centralized. One example is when Solana went offline for 24 hours in September 2021, despite the fact that a decentralized blockchain cannot go entirely offline for 24 hours. That's when the bulk of people who were so enthusiastic about Solana turned and wanted nothing to do with it. I hope they will make an attempt to restart and nurture their ecosystem in a different way.

At the same time you can't take away from their very fast transaction speed and low commission, which is vital for builders and not seen throughout the blockchain, for example, Ethereum is currently practically impossible to develop any sustainable project in the real-world application.

Q. Turkey is crafting legislation that would establish greater control over the crypto market, potentially imposing a tax on some crypto transactions, what are your thoughts on taxes and what impact it will have on crypto users?

A.I find it ridiculous when governments ask you to use, a minimum deposit to use your national currency now. Turkey had massive inflation and had one of the largest adoption rates of cryptocurrency globally. If you look at the data you will see a correlation between economies where a national currency is experiencing major shocks where people are going through hyperinflation or at least increased inflation, or people are willing to use alternative assets and currencies. Cryptocurrencies are here to save these individuals because it's easier to purchase, transact, and easier to jump on board and get separated from the banking sector.

So whenever there are challenges and barriers for individuals and businesses to transact they are forced to find a better way. Now the Turkish government sees the high volume of funds in crypto while the national currency needs support hence the imposed minimum reserves. It’s clear governments across the world need to find a sustainable way to build economies that are beneficial to both businesses and people.

Q. How should someone new to the space go about researching different aspects of cryptocurrency?

A.First of all I always recommend doing your own research first or listening to different YouTube channels and influencers, who are covering interesting facts and tech details about certain projects. People are obviously biased so whatever the content remember it’s one person's opinion and you must delve deeper to either agree or disagree.

I'm coming from a financial background, so I can analyze different crypto prices, work with tech analysis, and build up different trends to use indicators. But for a more straightforward strategy beginners can look at the projects, their community, websites, or white paper, gathering as much data as they can to compare different opinions and form their own one based on the data you have in front of you.

This is the beauty of cryptocurrency it's transparent.