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Inflation. Pick up any news, western countries, Asian countries, or India

And you will get to know that inflation is rising everywhere,

So the question arises that why is it rising?

and what is the government doing to stop it?

and also a basic question like what inflation actually is?

so we will try to understand all this in simple words.

when the prices of things start to increase, then it is called Inflation.

Now if the price of a certain thing is 100, then it becomes 110 the next year and 121 on the next,

then the inflation is 10%

Now this 10% inflation means that the product is getting costlier,

If you think the other way,

Early, you would have got the product in 100 rupees only,

but the next year, the shopkeeper would demand another 10 rupee note,

and 21 rupees, which means your 100 rupees value is going down.

and we should take at inflation like this, you would get to know about this later in the article,

You must have listened a lot about cryptocurrency and blockchain in the year, blockchain is basically a decentralized public ledger, in which, if one block is changed then, it reflects everywhere, and manipulating it is not easy, that's why it is considered highly transparent and secure.

Now blockchain is considered to be related to cryptocurrency only, blockchain has many other uses, other than cryptocurrency, which are being implemented slowly, and another problem is created.

Besides this, whenever bitcoin receives bad press, then people discard blockchain as a technology. Hence we will talk about the uses of blockchain apart from cryptocurrency.

Now first of all we will see what are the other use cases, the first is Web 3.0

During Web 1.0, most of the people were consumers, and creates were very less, and a less amount of creators were controlling the whole thing,

This thing was democratized in Web 2.0 which means more creators came to the internet and the development too shifted to the web from the desktop, Tools like Figma, which work on UI UX, or the tools like Canva on which you can make designs.

And now Web 3.0 will take it one step forward, it will be more decentralized and the devices will work like A global brain, and will be more contextually aware, and the restrictions in web 2.0 like people were censored, or tried to be controlled centrally, are now reduced and the internet is being made more democratized, and the reason for all this is the usage of blockchain technology.

The second is Finance, it is used in Cryptocurrency, but it can be used in Insurance as well at every stage, whether it is Claim Dispute, Health track, Product Management, or sales and distribution. Insurance procedures can be made more efficient, Fast, and secure by the blockchain method

The third is smart contracts, When 2 people came into a contract then there are any disputes, problems, transparency mistakes, etc. Now through smart contracts, when 2 people come into a contract, then that contract is digitalized, and that contract will be executed when the conditions are met, and the regulators can track the contract. The people in the contract will remain anonymous, but the regulators can track the contracts, so it will be more transparent and clear.

Blockchain can play a major role in this also, the Efficiency of the supply chain can be increased by using blockchain, there are many articles written on this that how blockchain can be used in more than 10 ways in the supply chain. You can see this in this infographic.

Next is buying and selling Metal, if you ask your parents then they will say to invest in gold as its rates increase with time. But that whole process is very complicated, now all these problems can be solved by using blockchain. You can now digitally buy, track, sell gold through blockchain. And this can be done very fastly, nobody can steal that, and then it is available publically on the ledger, and it is more transparent, and the blockchain plays a major role in this also.

And blockchain can even be used in the covid testing process, Maharastra hired an Indian startup, which helped the Maharashtra government in rewarding tokens related to covid testing through blockchain. Hence this amazing technology can be used in so many fields.

Now because blockchain has so many features, and we see it related to cryptocurrency only, that's why there is so much excitement related to crypto in the market. Big companies like Paypal, J.P. Morgan, Citibank, Walmart, Facebook, etc, these are running some crypto initiatives.

And there are 15 million people in India who have invested in crypto. Their investment was around 900 million till last year, and now it has risen to 6.6 billion.

Cryptocurrency is a very high-risk and high-reward game, and you should only invest in it if you can be ok with losing all that money because this is a very highly volatile currency.

As I told you earlier that there are many uses of the blockchain but its association with cryptocurrency is so much that, people start to discard blockchain if any bad press is heard about cryptocurrency, and that's why we should talk about the big problems faced by crypto. The biggest problem is Pump and Dump schemes. Some people come and tell you to do certain things, that they have to take a certain coin up, or "To the moon". When this coin goes up, some people invest in it already, because they have designed this scheme which is a sort of scam, and then when other people invest in it, the people who have invested in the starting withdraw their money when it goes up, and then the coin's value goes down, these coins are called Shit coins.

Due to investing in Shit coins, many people lose a lot of money, and then these people say that cryptocurrency is bad and blockchain too. Because they did not invest by themselves, and they invested due to someone else saying, and are troubled when they lost their money, Hence never take anyone's opinions as financial advice and do some research by yourself.

This article tells that what you should look for before investing in a cryptocurrency, and which coins are shitcoins from which you should stay away, there's a channel named Coffeezilla on youtube, which uploads content related to this. You will get so much information through that channel too, hence you should check out that too.

The second biggest concern is Environmental concern, whenever crypto is mined then there is so much energy consumed. Now the crypto enthusiasts say that they are using renewable energy for this, and they have employed their serves where they require less energy. But when a big country like china crackdowns on this mining and when Tesla denies accepting cryptocurrency as payment because, they think that their mission is of energy consumption and so much energy is consumed here, then this thing is legitimatized and many concerns are made.

The third is regulations, because there are no regulations in the cryptocurrency hence many problems are also created, that their legitimacy is questioned somewhere. Hence they need regulations, but most of the time these regulations go against them, now the whole concept of cryptocurrency is based on decentralization.

But the currency which we use nowadays which is called fiat money is a centralized system controlled by banks or the government. Hence the concept of cryptocurrency is opposite to that of banks and government. Now the regulations are decided by the government only, hence when government takes any new regulations then the crypto enthusiast doesn't like it, and this dispute can have a very big implication in the future.

If the government changes some things in the regulations which the crypto enthusiast like, then the regulations are good for them because the legitimacy is always questioned for a thing that has no regulations. But if the regulations cames which is not liked by the crypto enthusiast then it will be a problem for them, the pump and dump scheme was one thing but, some ransomware is now left in some computers by companies, they have to pay millions of money just to get out of the ransomware.

Now that money was taken in the form of cryptocurrency because it is more difficult to track when criminals start to use this, then a large problem is created, that if criminals are using cryptocurrency then the same problems can be seen in blockchain too, then the blockchain is also said to be discarded, and due to this, because the larger population does not understand this technology, this is not right, but this bad press creates a big challenge for this technology, that is how this all should be avoided and people must be told that this technology is so amazing, and how it can change our lives.

That's it for today's article I hope you liked it. you can also subscribe to our weekly newsletter where you can get links to interesting articles. You can give us suggestions to improve it. So I will meet you there, and also in the next article, till then take care of yourselves.

Until now, you would only have gained popularity creating such memes. What if? I told you that you can actually earn money by creating memes.

What would you say about that?

For example, this Neon cat meme was published on YouTube in 2011 and has garnered over 185 million views. The meme’s creator recently sold it for Rs. 40 million.

Many of you might ask – How was a meme sold?

The answer to that question is – NFTs. Many are trying to google about it. The NFTs have revolutionized the concept of digital art.

This is digital artist Beeple. He recently sold his art collection for Rs. 5 billion. This is the third-highest price paid to any living artist.

Beeple stated that "this is a new chapter in the history of art. The craze for NFTs has reached India too."

Recently, musical artist Nucleya launched a 12-second clip as an NFT.

What’s NFT?

And how do digital artists earn money with it? We’ll talk about that in this article.

The craze for NFT started in 2017 due to a game called CryptoKitties. CryptoKitties is a game where players can buy, breed, and sell virtual cats. These cats are similar to Pokemon cards.

The only difference is that they are digital.

For example, this cat, known as CryptoKitty #896775 or Dragon was sold for Rs. 13 million.

NFT stands for Non-fungible token. Non-fungible things are unique and can’t be replicated.

For example, the value for this Rupee note is 2000. If you exchange this note with another note, its value won’t change. It’ll remain 2000.

But this painting is unique. You can’t replace it with anything.

What’s a token?

The token is a digital asset. Assets can either be physical or digital. Rupee note is a physical asset, while bitcoin is a digital asset. So, NFTs are non-fungible digital assets.

And Elon Musk wanted to sell this song about NFT as an NFT.

Many private companies are using this craze for NFTs to earn profit. These companies sell digital collectibles. We used to play with collectibles like Pokémon cards and WWE cards in our childhood. They are selling digital versions of these. For example, NBA has licensed the website NBATopShot.com, where it sells the highlights of the NBA as NFTs. You can buy LeBron James’ slam dunk from the website.

Somebody paid Rs. 15 million for this clip.

NFTs are special because they are certified on a digital diary known as Blockchain. We discussed Blockchain in a previous article. Simply, Blockchain is a digital ledger or a diary where you can note the ownership of digital assets. To prove that you’re the owner of your car, you need to show the document of car registration. Blockchain works similarly. But the document of car registration can be replicated. But it’s difficult to replicate such a thing in Blockchain. That’s why it’s easier to verify the ownership of an NFT on Blockchain. There’s a need for clarification here.

Suppose, I own an NFT. This doesn’t mean you can’t see or download it.

For example, this video, created by Beeple, is valued at Rs. 400 million. I can easily download it from the internet.

Experts argue that the NFTs aren’t trying to solve the issue of somebody getting a peek at your digital art. Though NFTs can solve this, it focuses mainly on establishing ownership. It verifies me as an owner of my digital art.

Experts suggest that an asset is valued only when we’re 100% certain about its owner. For example, we know that photographs can be easily copied and reproduced. But still many spend millions to buy original photographs. The NFTs can help digital artists receive their due credits and revenue. While earlier, digital artists could only ask for likes and subscribers, now they can actually earn money for their work. And not just for the first sale. They receive a royalty for each time their art is sold. People will receive 10% royalty whenever their artwork is sold.

Second, the NFTs give status to the digital artists. Till now, we were only aware of the artists who created physical paintings. But now we’ll learn about the artists of digital artworks as people are spending a hefty sum on them. By using this reputation, digital artists can earn more money in the future.

What do the buyers get?

They get exclusivity. You would be among the selected few who own this meme. For example, Logan Paul, a popular American YouTuber, created an NFT of Pokémon which is worth Rs. 1.3 million.

This NFT can be bought by only 4 individuals.

Due to the craze of NFTs, several new investors have entered the market with the hope that they would be able to sell the NFTs at a higher price in the future. Any one of us can buy NFTs. You can buy NFTs if you love digital art or if you want to earn a profit by investing your money in the NFTs.

There are third-party websites where you can buy the NFTs using a cryptocurrency known as Ethereum. The speculators (those who are investing in the NFTs to earn a profit) are relying on an economic concept known as Veblen goods. You would’ve come across this during your school time.

Usually, when the price for any good falls, its demand increases. For example, if the price for this T-shirt falls, more people would want to buy it. But this isn’t the case with Veblen goods. Usually, these are luxury items. The higher the price for these items, the more would be the demand. The speculators believe that such would be the case with the NFTs.

Indian artists have been earning profits from the NFTs. In February 2021, Amrit Pal Singh sold two digital arts for Rs. 1.8 million. Siraj Hassan sold 27 artworks from his Caged series. He says that NFTs are extremely beneficial for artists like him. NFTs help artists get better prices and also improve their social reputation. Even a marketplace has been launched in India where you can buy and sell NFTs. We may experience more innovation in this area in the future.

Currently, the NFTs are being used for digital artworks. But in the future, they can also be used for physical assets. For example, Nike has devised a method by which you can verify the authenticity of the sneakers. Nike calls this NFT system – CryptoKicks. There are other applications too. For example, many websites are offering cryptocurrency loans if you deposit an NFT as collateral. This means that NFTs and crypto loans are analogous to a house and personal loan. But there are several major issues regarding the NFTs.

The first is the environmental impact. A month ago, the online art platform ArtStation had to cancel the sales of NFTs due to social media backlash regarding the environmental impact of NFTs.

Second – there are no clear regulations regarding NFTs in India. Mathew Chacko, a legal expert, suggests that we’re yet not certain if Indian law permits buying and selling of the NFTs. That’s why many journalists have suggested that commoners shouldn’t invest their savings in the NFTs.

Third – many believe that the NFTs are yet a bubble meaning many are investing in them but we’re not certain if they’ll last. For example, Vignesh Sundaresan, who brought Beeple's artwork for Rs. 5 billion, suggests that the craze for NFTs may not last very long. But the idea and technologies on which the NFTs depend upon are sustainable. The technology he’s referring to as Blockchain. It has been used in many industries. For example, banks are using this technology to detect fraud. It’s being used to improve the supply chain and also for online voting in university exams.

The most popular application of Blockchain is cryptocurrency. Although it’s risky, according to some it’s the future of finance. That’s why many are investing in cryptocurrency. Though the rewards are lucrative, it’s risky too. Not only because cryptocurrencies are a volatile asset, but because their regulatory situation is quite uncertain in India.

According to media reports, our government is considering putting a ban on cryptocurrency. Experts including those who’ve worked with the government disapprove of this ban because its applications can be used for inclusive finance. It can help reach financial services to those who lack money.

We can only hope that instead of banning the NFTs, the Indian government will regulate them. And the artists who have been obtaining only likes could earn money with their art too.