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CRYPTO-NITE

What is Theta and why is the price going up?

THETA is the latest digital token shaking up the cryptocurrency market, and its price has surged today.

But remember, investing cryptocurrencies and decentralised finance tokens is extremely risky and you are not guaranteed to make money.

Theta was set up to create a new, more efficient way of streaming videos online
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Theta was set up to create a new, more efficient way of streaming videos onlineCredit: Alamy

Make sure you understand the risks of investing, and only spend money that you can afford to lose. 

Cryptocurrencies and decentralised finance tokens are extremely volatile, so your cash can go down as well as up in the blink of an eye.

Some products and cryptocurrency services are extremely complex, and you should only invest in things you fully understand. 

Five risks of investing in cryptocurrencies

INVESTORS have been warned about the risks of backing cryptocurrencies, which are extremely volatile...

Consumer protection: Some investments advertising high returns based on cryptoassets may not be subject to regulation beyond anti-money laundering requirements. 

Price volatility: Significant price volatility in cryptoassets, combined with the inherent difficulties of valuing cryptoassets reliably, places consumers at a high risk of losses.

Product complexity: The complexity of some products and services relating to cryptoassets can make it hard for consumers to understand the risks. There is no guarantee that cryptoassets can be converted back into cash. Converting a cryptoasset back to cash depends on demand and supply existing in the market. 

Charges and fees: Consumers should consider the impact of fees and charges on their investment which may be more than those for regulated investment products.  

Marketing materials: Firms may overstate the returns of products or understate the risks involved.

 

Here's everything you need to know about Theta:

What is the Theta Network?

The Theta Network is a video delivery platform powered by blockchain technology.

Blockchain technology, which can seem very complicated, is a kind of database used to record transactions.

Theta allows users to watch video content and earn crypto token rewards by opting-in to volunteering their spare computer bandwidth to other users.

Theta’s goal is to improve video streaming and delivery by improving the mechanics behind the system and ultimately lowering the cost.

It hosts two types of tokens - Theta and TFUEL.

What are Theta and TFUEL?

The Theta Token allows investors to take a stake in the network and contribute to blockchain production.

This means users are able to validate transactions, produce blocks and vote on changes to the network, earning them a proportional amount of the new TFUEL that is generated.

The supply of Theta is fixed at 1billion and will never increase.

Theta's price has spike and fallen back rapidly since it was launched
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Theta's price has spike and fallen back rapidly since it was launched

TFUEL is the second token, which is used for payments on the networks.

Users can earn TFUEL for every video stream they relay to other users. 

Hargreaves Lansdown investment analyst Susannah Streeter said: ‘’The Theta network aims to use the decentralised nature of blockchain technology and encourage viewers to share the excess capacity of their devices to form a new video streaming and delivery service. 

“Those who offer up their spare computing and bandwidth resources can earn TFUEL tokens.

“The idea is that advertisers can also fund campaigns with tokens and viewers who earn tokens could award them to their favourite content creators.

The Theta token is slightly different, more like owning a piece of the overall direction of the network.”

Why is Theta up?

TFUEL is up by 2.44% to $0.537 and Theta Token has jumped 14.86% to $9.27, according to CoinMarketCap.

But it is still down on the all-time high of $13.41 that it reached in April.

Experts said there was no one reason that Theta’s price has spiked this afternoon, saying it is down to the volatility of the crypto sector.

Ms. Streeter warned “traders should proceed with caution".

She said: “Many buyers of these tokens are only interested in speculating over future price rises, rather than believing in Theta’s underlying case”.

Bitcoin's price also surged today after Elon Musk said his electric car company Tesla will use the cryptocurrency when it is greener and cleaner.

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