 Welcome to Digital Asset News to get top stories in cryptocurrency and digital assets and break it down to bite-sized pieces. So today we've got some pretty positive news about what's going on in the market. First up, no crypto ban in India. Finance Minister predicts very calibrated stance. When you follow the story, you know that India has been going back and forth about potentially banning crypto and it looks like they're finally getting away from that sentiment. On top of that, we'll take a look at the latest craze as far as non-fungible tokens, NBA top shots and what is going on as far as the prices. I personally don't understand the whole process, but we're going to take a little deep dive into that. And on top of that, we'll take a look at what is going on with the Ethereum Improvement Proposal 1559. Now it's going to reduce fees, but you have to be careful with the fine details. And finally, we'll take a look at personally what I think is long overdue. John McCaffey indicted by the DOJ over alleged cryptocurrency fraud charges. Good riddance. So we'll take a look at all those things, but first let's take a look at what's going on in our market, which is a Sunday, March 7th. It is almost 9 a.m. Houston, Texas time, if you can tell. There's no pool backdrop. We're in our investment property just doing changes so we can rent it out. Hopefully it will be done by this week and back to El Paso. But today, this is what's going on in the market. So first, let's blow this up so you can see what the heck I'm talking about. So, hey, Bitcoin above 50 grand. That's pretty great. $50,592 and a whopping 6%. A lot of good changes going on. India, I think, being one of them, this should be a great week. Ethereum is up 7% to $1651. And probably because of that Ethereum Improvement Proposal, we'll take a look at that. It's good, but it's in the step in the right direction, but not where they actually have to be. Binance coin, third spot, fourth spot for Tether, Cardano in that fifth spot for some reason. They should be much higher, I think, for what's going on, but it is what it is. And then the big gainer for today is Uniswap, sliding into that number 8 spot. I got to tell you, I got to tell you, I thought it would only go up to $20 this year. And we're already at $30. So the video I put out for the 2021 price predictions have all been super conservative. Bitcoin has not reached that 150K, but everything is right on track. And some are vastly exceeding my prediction. So if that's any indication, this should be a pretty great year. And then let's see if anything else. Aave is up 12%. New partnership was announced, which is great. You got 12% for VeChain. Again, another partnership. So that's pretty good. Solana, I need to take a look at D-Dive in that one. Not too much. What do we got here? 9% for Algorand. Yeah, Algorand. That's something that's list on Voyager. I need to take another deep dive in that. Let's see, 14% for Voyager token, seeing at 46, you know how much I like that. So, yeah, things are going pretty good in this market on a Sunday, which is amazing. But again, I think it's one of these stories. So let's just dive into today's top story, shall we? All right. So first up, no crypto ban in India. Finance Minister predicts pretty calibrated stuff. And we were concerned about this because as you know, or as you may have learned beforehand, India had already banned cryptocurrency. They had attempted to ban it, which I thought was always ridiculous. And it was brought forth by the central bankers. They really want to keep control of it. And when we take a look at this article, you're going to see just how much they really try to have their hands around it. And how the people are like, nope, it's not going to happen, which I think is great, especially for this space. So what does the article say? So, yet another crypto ban turns out to be temporary FUD, or fear, uncertainty, and doubt. If you're wondering what the heck that means, that's what it is. And this is from Sitaraman. I think that's how you say it. And he is the finance ministry. And he says, yes, a lot of negotiation discussions are happening with the Reserve Bank, said Sitaraman. So I find this interesting that, you know, the central banks, you would think that they would work for the governments, but it's the other way around. They're kind of like their own separate entity. It's like in the United States, the Federal Reserve is about as federal as federal express. They are their own entity. They do their own things. And it's like the weight of the world isn't really falling down because, you know, they have so much control and power. So it's amazing that people here are rising up and going, look, we know you want to ban it. It went to the highest court in India, the Supreme Court, and it got overturned. So if you want to keep doing this, you're going to have to fight us and we're going to have to come to an agreement. That's exactly what's going on, which I think is great again for this space. Obviously the Reserve Bank will be taking a quorum on how, what kind of unofficial currency crypto will have to be planned and how it has to be regulated. But also we want to make sure that there's a window available for all kinds of experiments, which will have to take place in the crypto world. She wanted to say that regulations won't be as severe as they've been previously reported. Authorities will look inward and take a very calibrated stance in contrast to the mixed messages coming in from across the world. So the rest of it's just fluff and that is the real main thing. But if you have to take a look and just step back and see what is going on with central banks and how they're controlling things with the coronavirus, with COVID-19, there's only so many tricks that they have in their handbag. They can print money all day long. They can mess around with the interest rates and raise them or lower them, stocks and bonds. And right now, things just aren't working out the way that they usually do, especially with what is going on because the world was really in a shutdown and he couldn't really produce goods and services. That kind of puts a big monkey wrench into it. Now that we have cryptocurrencies or assets where there are fixed supplies, there are fixed amounts, that it is decentralized and people are finally waking up to go, and you know what, why do we need you when all of you guys are really doing is manipulating the different situations? Now to say that the Reserve Bank is like totally evil, just partially. No, just kidding. But you know what I mean. So with these types of things, I think it's great that people are finally waking up and going, you know what, we don't need you to be in control of everything. We can do this just fine. We have a decentralized manner. We have a new way of doing things. So let's just do that. And if you want to, you know, try to ban this again, it's not going to happen. You need to come to the table and sit down and we need to discuss the right way to do things. Anyhow, let me know what you think in the comment section. I think this is great news for the market and it's probably why we've seen a little bit of a rally. So that's what's going on there. Let's move on to our next piece. So next up, the NFT craze. I don't get it. I mean, I get it. I understand, you know, it's like trading cards and you actually own these actual non-fungible tokens. They're on the blockchain. You can prove it. That's great. But what I do not get is the crazy prices right now. I think they're super overinflated. I think people are just buying things up because it's an NFT and I don't see it as sustainable. Anyhow, this is what's going on. So this is from NBA Top Shots, which is Tim Draper's thing. Tim Draper, once again, proving that he knows where to put his money. You know, little things like Uber and Netflix and PayPal and stuff like that. Guess it's okay. Anyhow, Dallas Maverick star, Luca Duncic, I think I'd say it, set a record on February 28th. His autographed NBA rookie trading card sold for $4.6 million. Pretty good. Make it the most expensive basketball card ever sold just a month prior. The 52 Mickey Mantle card became the highest selling sports card ever at $5.2 million. That's just a card. Just a very small card, $5.2 million. What is Mickey Mantle? So yeah, I can see that. And then for the younger generation, who's Mickey Mantle? Doesn't matter. Somebody wants it and that's really how it all goes. If you're selling something and there's something you want to pay for it, then you put that price up there. Now in February, a highlight clip known as a moment showing a LeBron James dunk sold for more than 200,000 NBA Top Shot. That is the blockchain backed non-fungible token by Tim Draper. And this is all it is. It's just LeBron James coming down and dunking on somebody. That's it. 200 grand. $200,000. And I mean, it looks really cool. That's for sure. You can put a lot more data points than you can on an actual card. So I guess that's something. But again, I don't know if I'd pay 200,000 for it, but it doesn't matter what I pay for it. It's what a buyer will pay for it. So if I look at it and go, I'm not paying for that. Same thing with like a Rembrandt or a Jackson Pollock Panic. I'm not going to pay millions of dollars for that. I don't see the point over somebody does and that's all that matters. So there's a furor around digital collectibles like those sold by Panini Americana or America and platforms like Draper's NBA Top Shot where users buy and sell short video highlight clips called moments featuring NBA players. Okay. So that's the whole thing. But this is how crazy it is. I want you to focus on this. A viral animation of a flying cat recently sold for $580,000. So how great is this viral cat NFT look? Let me show you. This is what it is. That's it right there. The flying cat with a popped heart body and rainbow shooting out of its rear end, $580,000. Again, I don't get it, but it doesn't matter what I get. It's what people are paying for it. And that's what matters. And then this is from my friend Alex Becker. He was talking about NFT punks. And he says, floor for punks just took a massive dump from 44K to 26K. People are selling for hard losses. Me thinks I'll be able to get my punks back here soon at a great price, getting giddy. So you have to appreciate the investor and Alex Becker. He was talking about that when he came on the show. And I was like, I still don't understand it. But he likes them. And again, there's a market for everybody. And if you want them, then sure. But I still think of it like this. NFTs, to me, they're going to be big for a while. There's going to be a small amount that will rise to the top, just like cryptocurrencies and digital assets. Nobody's going to... When Ethereum came out, it was a scam. Everybody called it a scam. But then it became the big play. And that was the number two by market cap. And then of course you got other ones like BitConnect, which was a total scam. You've got other ones that like Tomato Coin, which it doesn't matter. It's just like one of those coins that are like in the number 500 range that no one will ever use. And I think it's the same thing with non-plungable tokens or NFTs. I think there's going to be a ton of them that people are going to buy up. And they're just going to sit there and do absolutely nothing. And there's going to be a select few that are huge. Now, here's the question. Can you find those select few? I can't. I have no way of doing it. I just don't know it. So I'm going to leave that to people smarter than me and have an eye for that. I just don't have it. And that's why I talked about Jackson Pollock painting. Some people pay $100 million. I just won't. And that's what makes sense to me. Anyhow, let me know what you think about in the comments section about NFTs. Are they here to stay? I think they're going to be huge anyhow. Even Mark Cuban talks about it. So we'll see how it goes. But that is what's going on with that. Move on to our next piece. Oh, actually, before I go on to that, I'm going to talk about one thing, which was this part here. When I talk about how people are buying up and, you know, you have some that sell for $500,000, $200,000, that's not the bulk of it. That's like the rare stuff. This is where the money is made. Top Shot Success has been driven by more than just six-figure sales. As a platform has performed more than half a million transactions at the $9 range. So what are you looking at there? $10, roughly $10, half a million transactions. So you've got $500,000 times 10. You're looking at $5 million. And that's where the money is. It's just these small transactions that people buy that probably won't go anywhere. Anyhow, let me know what you think in that section. Let's move on to our next piece. So next up, people have been talking about this like it is the greatest thing of all time. Sure. We'll see. So three notes on EIP 1559 and how it affects Ethereum. So the London hard fork, the developers released several improvements and this one is called EIP 1559 or the Ethereum improvement proposal. And it's not going to make everybody happy. I'm going to explain why. The biggest change coming through EIP 1559 is adjusting how users pay transaction fees. The current fees are issued to miners who validate transactions and include them in future network blocks, right? This is why these miners are so happy with Ethereum. I was watching Bosscoin and he says like, you know, the biggest transaction you can ever get as far as a miner is with Ethereum. So why wouldn't you just mine Ethereum? And he's right. So with the help of EIP 1559, the current auction system for fees will be replaced by a standard rate known as a base fee. However, it can increase or decrease depending on the overall network activity. So again, the miners can dictate the fee, but if it's heavy transaction flow or heavy flow on the network, it's still going to be high. They need to come out with a Ethereum 2.0 like yesterday. And I know everybody wants things yesterday and as fast as possible, but this really has to happen quick. However, for miners, this means they can no longer dictate the fee. Sure. Will fees even decrease? This won't solve the scalability issue. This is just about fees. The scalability issue hopefully will solve. We solved with ETH 2.0, but it will keep overall costs down slightly. I guess any improvement is good, right? Whether it will ever be low fees is a different matter altogether. As the base fee can still, depending on the network congestion, it's not unthinkable. Users will pay even more in gas fees than they do to pay. Until Ethereum 2.0 kicks in fully, these network costs will remain problematic for everyone. And here's the problem. Several mining pools have uttered their criticism. Some pools even openly opposed the upgrade. If more than 50% of the network doesn't agree with this upgrade, it will not be activated. And the coming weeks and months will prove rather interesting in this regard. So here's what I'll just say like this. If these miners come in and they say, you know what? It's not going to happen. We want to keep these fees super high so we can make a lot of money. Sure. You can do that. But what's going to happen to the network as time goes on? When Cardano really starts to get its legs underneath it, and developers can actually start to build on it, which they can now with the very hard fork. What do you think is going to happen when businesses come in and go, I want to use the Ethereum blockchain? Oh, you can do it. But there's this little thing called a gas fee. And right now it's like crazy high. There's super amounts of congestion. But if you just wait six months to two years, we'll get Ethereum 2.0 out and everything will be solved. They'll like see it. And that's just how it is. I mean, especially in tech, geez. I mean, look at what's happened in the last six months. Where we've come from and how far we've come. Imagine businesses going, I want to get in on this. Oh, but you got to wait until it's Ethereum 2.0 comes about. I think this is a huge problem. Do I think Ethereum will go away? No. I own Ethereum. I own a lot of Ethereum. I just own way more Cardano. And I think that's things will go in that direction. Now, do I think that there's room enough for both? I do think there's room for both. And they're both going to be successful. Just the Ethereum has to do their thing quickly. So let me just think in the comment section, is this a great thing that's going to happen? Is it going to solve all the problems or is just a temporary band-aid on a much larger issue? Let me know what you think of the comment section. Let's move on to our last piece, which is John McAfee. John McAfee, when I got in 2017, I love this guy. Some great, great information. And he told us that Bitcoin is going to be so awesome. I couldn't wait. And then, of course, he came out and said, I lied. I just did that to get these suckers in. Real good way to, you know, build trust. Good job, John. So John McAfee, indicted by the DOJ, what's going on here? Well, I'm biased towards John McAfee. I don't like him. And I feel like the things that he did were pretty dirty. And I'm glad this is coming about. So if you want to know my stance, that is my stance. Anyhow, DOJ also charged McAfee's alleged partner, Jimmy Watson, reportedly served as an executive advisor to McAfee's alleged crypto squad. McAfee and Watson have been charged with conspiracy to commit commodities and securities fraud. Not a good start. But I don't think John is in the United States on how this works, as far as like extradition and things like that. I think he's in, who knows where he's at. He could tell you he's in New Jersey, but he could really be in, I don't know, something. Who knows? But that's what's going on. Manhattan, U.S. And this is how it gets break down, broken up pretty easily. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss discussed how McAfee's Twitter account held a strong amount of evidence. As alleged, McAfee and Watson exploited a widely used social media platform and enthusiasm among investors in the emerging crypto market to make millions through lies and deception. The defendants allegedly used McAfee's Twitter account to publish messages to hundreds of thousands of his Twitter followers, telling various cryptos through false and misleading statements to conceal their true self-interested motives. Strauss and U.S. prosecutors claim the ostensible McAfee team allegedly took in over 13 million from investors. So good for them. That's pretty much it. So there's a lot more to this story and there's a lot more articles that you can research. Just take a look at John McAfee, ICO. Just search that in Google and you'll see what you need. I'm glad this is actually coming. It was a long time coming. And what can I say? I think a lot of people lost a lot of money and he's one of the primary reasons why there is such distrust in this space. And that's why, like on this channel, if I have a sponsored video like this one is today, you will see that little placard come up and say this is a sponsored video. And speaking of which, I want to say this is one of the most popular sponsors, CryptoTrader.Tax, which is not an ICO. I get these requests for branding on my channel like every day. It's like at least 10 every day. And I don't do them because I don't know them. And I just reserve purse. I don't like to do that type of thing. But with CryptoTraderTax, I mean I use this. I use this in my second year. And I trust them. And before, just fill this out, first name and email. They draw a lucky winner every week. If you don't want to wait for that, just go in the description. There's a 20% off for all Dan users. And like I said, from the time that I signed up to do my taxes, to send it off to my CPA last year, 30 minutes. Very simple. And it has an API integration with most, not Voyager. Unfortunately, it kind of sucks, but they're working on it. And that is what I'm using. On top of that, I also want to thank Friends of the Show, which also do I trust from time to time. I trust. If you were looking for a Roth IRA, these are the guys. These are the ones that I've been using for the last six or seven months. I actually maxed out 2020 and I maxed out 2021 up to $7,000. And I put it most into Ethereum and Polkadot because they're going to allow staking in my Roth IRA, which will be tax-free. So if you're looking to do a traditional IRA to move it over, or have an old employer plan like a 401K, 403B, military TSP of 457, then you can move it over to a crypto IRA. And that's what I have. Again, you can take a look in the description. They have a 30-day free for all users or viewers of Dan. And that is it. So again, I don't think, I don't see why people would do a pump and dump type of thing because here's what it comes down to. This is the thing. Trust is a commodity you can't buy. So why would you go and back of people and just go, yeah, just do this for a quick buck? I don't understand why people did that because it's like if you have a great product and you want to bring it to people then just bring it to people and just have them decide what they want instead of having like these crazy pump and dumps like McAfee. I guess people just get greedy. That's just what it comes down to. So anyhow, that's it for today's video. Hey, if you made it all the way in, thanks for coming all the way here. I appreciate it. If you liked the video, give it a thumbs up. That always helps the channel tremendously. Also consider subscribing as a lot of things we talk about are time sensitive, especially like these these types of stories and that is it. So if you like these videos and we put two more up and left and right, I'll let YouTube do their magic and that is all for today. So thanks for stopping by. I appreciate it. And I'll see you on the