광고

Last month I sent money to my mum in India.

It arrived in four minutes. The fee was less than a cup of coffee. Here is exactly how I did it.

I grew up in the UK and now live in the United States. My mum is in India. Sending money across those distances used to feel like a punishment. Not because the process was hard exactly, but because every single method I tried took a cut of the money before it arrived. Bank wire. PayPal. Wise. Western Union. Each one had its own fee, its own exchange rate markup, and its own waiting period. None of them felt like they were designed with the person sending the money in mind gokentrader.

After years of just accepting this as normal, I found a way to send money internationally that costs almost nothing and arrives in minutes. It uses a type of digital currency called a stablecoin, and once you understand how it works, you will wonder why nobody told you about it sooner.

What Is a Stablecoin and Why Does It Matter Here

Before I explain the process, it helps to understand what a stablecoin is because this is the part that confuses most people at first.

You have probably heard of Bitcoin or Ethereum. These are types of cryptocurrency, which means digital money that exists on the internet rather than in a physical form. The problem with Bitcoin for everyday use is that its value changes every single day. Sometimes every single hour. That makes it unreliable for sending a set amount of money to someone.

A stablecoin solves this problem. It is a type of cryptocurrency that is designed to always be worth exactly one US dollar. It does not go up. It does not go down. The most widely used stablecoin is called USDT, which stands for Tether. When you send someone 500 USDT, they receive the value of 500 US dollars. Every single time. No matter what the rest of the crypto market is doing that day.

This stability is what makes USDT perfect for sending money to family, friends, or anyone else abroad.

How the Process Works

The tool I use for this is a self-custody crypto wallet on my phone. Self-custody simply means that the wallet belongs to you and only you. No bank, no company, no third party holds your money. It lives in an app on your phone and you are the only one who can access it.

Oppi Wallet is the one I personally use. It is free to download on both Android and iPhone. Setting it up takes about ten minutes.

When you set up the wallet, the app gives you twelve words in a specific order. These twelve words are called your seed phrase. Think of them as the master key to your wallet. Write them down on paper and store that paper somewhere physically safe. Do not save them on your phone. Do not share them with anyone. These twelve words are how you recover your wallet if you ever lose your phone, so keeping them safe is the single most important step in this whole process.

Once the wallet is set up, you add USDT to it. You can do this by buying USDT directly inside the app using your debit card or bank account. No separate exchange or extra website needed.

How to Actually Send the Money

Once you have USDT in your wallet, sending it to someone is genuinely simple.

Ask the person you are sending money to for their USDT wallet address. A wallet address is just a string of letters and numbers, similar to an email address but for receiving crypto. They can get one by downloading any crypto wallet app.

Inside your wallet, tap send, paste their wallet address, enter the amount you want to send, and select the TRC20 network. TRC20 is the technical name for the Tron blockchain network, and it is worth knowing because it carries the lowest fees of any network available for sending USDT. The fee for sending any amount on this network is typically under one dollar.

Confirm the transaction. The money arrives in their wallet within minutes.

That is the entire process. No bank involved. No waiting days. No percentage taken off the top.

What the Person Receiving It Can Do With It

This is the part I find most impressive about the setup today.

The person receiving the USDT does not have to convert it to cash straight away. If they also have a wallet with a virtual card feature, they can spend the USDT directly for everyday purchases anywhere Mastercard is accepted. The virtual crypto card inside Oppi Wallet is free and works instantly for online shopping, subscriptions, and bill payments without needing to convert to local currency first.

If they do need local currency, they can sell their USDT inside the wallet and transfer the local currency amount directly to their bank account.

Why This Is Better Than the Alternatives

Traditional bank wire transfers typically charge a flat fee on the sending side, another fee on the receiving side, and then apply a currency conversion markup on top of both of those. You often lose between three and five percent of the total amount just in transfer costs.

Services like Wise are better than banks and are genuinely a good option. But they still charge a percentage fee and still apply an exchange rate margin, which adds up meaningfully over regular transfers.

Sending USDT on the TRC20 network costs under one dollar regardless of how much you are sending. Whether you send fifty dollars or five thousand dollars, the fee is the same. For anyone who sends money internationally on a regular basis, whether to family, to a contractor, or for any other reason, this saving adds up to a significant amount over the course of a year.

One Important Thing to Know

Crypto regulations vary by country. In most countries, sending and receiving USDT is completely legal and straightforward. However, rules differ by location and change over time. Always check the rules that apply in your specific country and the country you are sending to before getting started.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not financial advice. Always do your own research and consult a qualified financial advisor if you are unsure about anything related to your personal financial situation.

Getting Started Today

Download a self-custody wallet. Add a small amount of USDT to start with. Ask whoever you want to send money to for their wallet address. Send it and watch how fast it arrives.

The era of paying a percentage of your own money just to move it from one country to another is genuinely over for anyone willing to spend one afternoon learning how this works.

My mum got her money in four minutes. The fee was eighty cents.

I have not used a bank wire since.

광고

The gaming business is utilising the potential of Web3 and fusing it with money in a concept known as GameFi. For gamers and developers, GameFi is a cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) accumulation system. These kinds of games are typically hosted by metaverses, or virtual worlds.

A decentralised GameFi ecosystem allows for interaction between gamers and creators. Players are delighted to work with artists to produce captivating and immersive experiences. The distribution of value produced by “in-game tokens” and NFTs to different stakeholders is referred to as tokenomics imbx.

GameFi has been progressively destroying the traditional gaming industry since Axie Infinity’s stratospheric growth. It attracts players since it gives them the opportunity to have fun and gain money. What distinguishes GameFi from the traditional videogames we’re used to playing? Let’s investigate how the GameFi will serve as a portal to the Metaverse & Play to Earn Games.

What is GameFi?

The phrase “GameFi” is created by fusing the words “game” and “financial.” Games on the blockchain where players can win money are referred to by this phrase. The GameFi ecosystem uses blockchain, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and cryptocurrencies to create a virtual gaming environment.

Completing chores and engaging in player combat are the two most frequent ways to earn in-game prizes. They can sell and buy their assets outside of the game on cryptocurrency exchanges and NFT markets.

In-game items typically provide players an advantage and enable them to reap higher rewards. Avatars and aesthetics in some games, on the other hand, are merely cosmetic and have no bearing on gameplay or monetary benefits.

Players can receive rewards by completing tasks, fighting other players, or building commercial structures on their piece of land, depending on the game. Some games enable users to make money without actually playing the game by staking or renting their gaming assets to other players. Think about a couple of GameFi’s most popular features.

Working of GameFi: Explained

In GameFi, the reward can take many different forms, such as bitcoins or in-game things like virtual homes, avatars, weapons, and clothing. Each GameFi project is anticipated to have an own model and gaming ecosystem. The majority of in-game items are NFTs that may be exchanged on NFT markets. As a result, they might be purchased and sold. However, players must first transform the in-game assets into NFTs in order to be able to purchase or sell these items.

The majority of the time, the in-game items will give players benefits that enable them to increase their income. Video games frequently have avatars and cosmetics, however they aren’t always useful.

Players can earn prizes in various ways, depending on the game:

• Fulfilling tasks.
• Engaging in combat with other players.
• Constructing structures that can be sold for money.

Gamers can make money without playing the game by staking or leasing their gaming assets to other gamers.

The Gateway to Metaverse Virtual Reality

The GameFi idea has become considerably more complex by incorporating the idea of a metaverse.

A growing number of NFT games follow in the footsteps of the sandbox game Decentraland and Upland, which created the on-chain metaverse by providing virtual territories as NFTs.

The ownership of virtual land parcels, or SPACEs, is central to the cooperative space-themed RPG The Big Game, which uses the Binance Smart Chain. Players can create personal time travel devices and use new game features while on adventures thanks to metaverse game development.

The MMORPG Ember Sword is also developing a game in which there are four different sorts of land plots in the gaming world. These plots construct dwellings, exchanges for trading game resources, and refinement facilities. A property’s owner is entitled to half of the nett income generated by the asset.

Key Functions of GameFi

Play-to-Earn (P2E) Model

The distinctive P2E gameplay paradigm is the foundation of our GameFi activities. It is a significant change from the conventional pay-to-play model for video games. Before a player can start playing in a pay-to-play setting, they must make a payment. In video games like Call of Duty, licences and recurring subscriptions are frequently required.

In the majority of traditional video games, gaming firms are in charge of and hold all in-game assets. As a result, playing them has no financial value for the players. P2P games can give players methods to make money while also letting them keep more of their in-game belongings.

But keep in mind that everything depends on the model and game design that the GameFi initiatives decide upon. Despite the possibility of giving players entire ownership over their in-game goods thanks to blockchain technology, this isn’t always the case. Before participating in a P2E game, research the game mechanics and the developers.

While P2E game development enables consumers to play games for free while still earning money for themselves, other GameFi efforts necessitate the upfront purchase of NFTs or cryptoassets in order to take part. There are always risks involved, therefore it’s critical to conduct thorough research and weigh the repercussions. P2E games with a large time investment but meagre payouts are more likely to cause you to lose your money.

Ownership of Digital Assets

Gamers can profit greatly from their in-game assets because blockchain technology enables the ownership of digital assets.

Avatars, pets, houses, a range of weaponry, and other items are all available for player characters to own. In contrast to the old banking system, the GameFi blockchain allows for this. This strategy ensures authenticity and verifiable ownership of assets.

DeFi Applications

Some GameFi projects can be used to mine DeFi goods and services, like staking and yield farming. In-game tokens are frequently staked by players in order to earn rewards, unlock special goods, or get access to higher difficulty settings.

DeFi components can be added to cryptogames to further decentralise them. Unlike traditional game studios, certain GameFi initiatives allow the public to participate in the selection of their updates. They have the ability to submit and vote on new features thanks to decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs).

NFT Renting Platform

Guilds rent out NFTs to scholars. There are ways to automate the game rental process, which can then be made available as a SaaS to their NFT holders as a game rental option. This SaaS feature is being developed by several businesses.

The inclusion of a renting feature benefits NFT owners of GameFi platforms in addition to the passive income earned. The risk for the NFT owner, though, is that they might not be able to rent out their NFT. An opportunity exists for business to assume this demand risk. Currently, platforms provide NFT owners a fixed return and assume the risk of renting it out (or not).

However, the NFT owner will receive less money from the platform than they would if they were to rent it out this way directly. However, a fixed return lessens the likelihood of experiencing a temporary loss of rental income. These models are also leading to the development of DeFi value propositions for NFT holders.

Gaming Marketplace

Players wanted a means to sort through all of the new GameFi platforms that have appeared in the last year to pick the best ones. Gaming marketplaces analyse the market and evaluate games before putting them up for sale on their platform, choosing only the best ones.

They can rely on each other to support Web2, Web3, and other players. As a result, some of them are marketing themselves as both a marketplace for NFTs and a gaming storefront. An outstanding example of this is a GameFi marketplace like Rainmaker Games.

Gaming Guilds

Consumer-focused firms typically require a distribution network of some kind. Gaming guilds, which function as a distribution network, can distribute GameFi platforms. Why is P2E vital and what is their role in it?

NFTs are purchased by guilds from the GameFi platforms and rented out to players (scholars). P2E games are played by scholars, and the guilds share the winnings. The NFTs guilds acquired provide them with a long-term return on their investment (ROI).

The Future of GameFi

Due of how quickly this market is developing, new models and variations of existing models will unavoidably appear in the near future. GameFi stakeholders are already investigating a few further uses.

Users can choose the best pricing for an NFT mint on some platforms, for instance. Others started out as guilds but have now modified or changed their business strategy to include a video game market.

The area is rapidly changing, and many tests are being carried out. This page goes into great detail on the GameFi ecosystem. There are other aspects of the cryptocurrency business as well. The entire Web3 ecosystem benefits from these stakeholders.

Conclusion

People have been trying to earn BTC by playing easy web games since since Bitcoin was created. The emergence of Ethereum and smart contracts has changed the landscape of blockchain gaming, allowing for much more complex and interesting experiences. Games using bitcoin are still accessible.

Gamers are drawn to GameFi because it combines entertainment and financial gain. We may anticipate more major companies investing in the metaverse as blockchain gaming becomes popularity.