Decentral Block Post

The average crypto investor probably isn’t planning on dying of old age anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have a plan in place to pass on their crypto in the event they meet an unlikely demise, lawyers warn.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, Dubai-based crypto lawyer Irina Heaver believes that “billions” worth of Bitcoin (BTC) has been lost due to a lack of proper death-related planning by hodlers.

She noted that many families have been unable to access their loved one’s crypto assets due to private keys being taken to the grave, and emphasized the importance of discussing crypto assets with family and including them in their will.

Heaver said that the typical crypto investor is a “male millennial” between the ages of 27 to 42, which is the age range where arranging one’s financial affairs in case of death is the “last thing” to come up in conversation.

However, the lawyer believes it is “essential” to confirm that the administrator of one’s will is proficient in using cold and hot wallets in order to properly distribute one’s holdings.

While 2022 ended on a grim note with macro headwinds providing little hope of a revival in 2023, the start of a new year has surprised bears with a surge in Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and altcoin prices. The period of sparse volatility in the crypto market appears to be ending with a breakout on the upside.

The increase has been particularly striking in some altcoins such as Lido (LIDO), Solana (SOL), and Cardano (ADA). The primary factors promoting the spike in these coins are the upcoming Ethereum Shanghai update (for LIDO) and the negative funding rate in the futures market, especially for SOL. The negative rates implies that most traders are holding short positions, giving an opportunity for whale buyers to run their stop losses. Funding rates for some other tokens remain exposed to a short squeeze.

Moreover, the new year has also seen the re-emergence of the degen gambling that had taken a back seat after the FTX collapse in November 2022. A meme coin price surge is evidence of the residual degen spirit. Technically, the total market capitalization of altcoins has surpassed a key technical resistance level as bullish momentum builds.

While the sustainability of the bull run is questionable due to the broader trend remaining bearish, the fledgling uptrend could still bring some pain for late sellers. The five primary factors influencing altcoin prices are:

Job market data revives the hope of a soft landing

Defying the Dow’s estimate for 200,000 nonfarm payrolls and market expectations of a slowdown, labor market data from December 2022 showed a 230,000 or 0.2% increase in employment.

While 2022 ended on a grim note with macro headwinds providing little hope of a revival in 2023, the start of a new year has surprised bears with a surge in Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and altcoin prices. The period of sparse volatility in the crypto market appears to be ending with a breakout on the upside.

The increase has been particularly striking in some altcoins such as Lido (LIDO), Solana (SOL), and Cardano (ADA). The primary factors promoting the spike in these coins are the upcoming Ethereum Shanghai update (for LIDO) and the negative funding rate in the futures market, especially for SOL. The negative rates implies that most traders are holding short positions, giving an opportunity for whale buyers to run their stop losses. Funding rates for some other tokens remain exposed to a short squeeze.

Moreover, the new year has also seen the re-emergence of the degen gambling that had taken a back seat after the FTX collapse in November 2022. A meme coin price surge is evidence of the residual degen spirit. Technically, the total market capitalization of altcoins has surpassed a key technical resistance level as bullish momentum builds.

While the sustainability of the bull run is questionable due to the broader trend remaining bearish, the fledgling uptrend could still bring some pain for late sellers. The five primary factors influencing altcoin prices are:

Job market data revives the hope of a soft landing

Defying the Dow’s estimate for 200,000 nonfarm payrolls and market expectations of a slowdown, labor market data from December 2022 showed a 230,000 or 0.2% increase in employment.

Manta Network has recently completed the largest trusted setup ceremony ever, with over 4,000 people participating, according to a press release provided to Cointelegraph. The setup was done in order to help create MantaPay, an app that intends to allow for private payments between individuals.

According to the company, MantaPay will run on the PolkaDot parachain Manta Network, and on the Kusama parachain Calamari. It will use zero-knowledge-proofs (ZKPs) to ensure that only the sender and recipient of each payment will be able to view the payment.

Setting up a zero-knowledge-proofs system requires multiple parties to participate in a ceremony called a “trusted setup.” This process ensures that the shared secret upon which the system relies is eventually thrown away, removing the ability of an attacker to create fake proofs at any point in the future. The more people who participate in a trusted setup, the more secure the resulting system is.

MantaPay’s trusted setup was the largest ever recorded, with over 10,000 registrations and 4,328 contributions. The contributors came from a total of 177 countries, according to the team’s press release. The registration process first began on October 10, 2022, and the first contributions were made on November 28, 2022.

Polkadot Founder Gavin Wood expressed excitement at Manta Network's accomplishment. He argued that similar processes may pave the way towards decentralized web identity systems in the future, stating: