Streaming media company Netflix has revealed plans to slash spending by $300 million this year, as part of a cost-cutting measure.
Reports reveal that the streaming giant is looking to cut costs, as it plans to crack down on password sharing broadly in the U.S. The company has further urged its workforce to be cautious with spending, including in relation to hiring, while noting that there would not be a hiring freeze or additional layoffs.
In the company’s First Quarter Q1 report for 2023, Netflix beat estimates but reported a lighter-than-expected forecast last month. The company brought in $8.16 billion revenue during Q1 2023, while Wall Street expected a slightly higher figure of $8.18 billion. However, the firm reported higher-than-expected earnings of $2.88 per share in Q1, while analysts anticipated $2.85 per share.
Netflix also started the year by adding 1.75 million subscribers, bringing up the total number of global subscribers to 232.5 million. The subscriber growth represented a 4.9 percent year-over-year increase compared to the disastrous first quarter of 2022,
The company saw modest growth in the U.S./Canada region, adding 100,000 subscribers during the quarter, while the Latin America region underperformed for Netflix as it lost 450,000 subscribers during the first quarter.
As Netflix turns its focus to revenue numbers for its quarterly earnings, the company is forging ahead with its account-sharing crackdown, which rolled out in markets like Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain earlier this year. The company will also crackdown on passwords in the U.S., beginning in the second quarter, Netflix said in its letter to shareholders.
With its recent tests and pilot programs, Netflix has revealed how it will crack down on password sharers–namely, a combination of asking users to verify their accounts plus options for account holders to pay extra to share their accounts with others outside the household.
Netflix says it will use a combination of IP addresses, device IDs, and account activity from devices signed into the Netflix account to determine if an account is being used in the primary account holder’s household.
Analysts disclose that Netflix may see a $3 billion increase in revenue after the Password Sharing Crackdown. For the past year, Netflix has been adamant about cracking down on password sharing, and over the last few months, it is becoming more and more of a reality.
The company is also continuing to focus on its advertising business and will host its first Upfronts presentation on May 17 at the Paris Theater in New York. The video streaming industry is turning to advertising as inflation and consumer fatigue compound the headwinds facing subscription-based models.
When compared with stable currencies, most crypto projects often fall flat due to instability, making investors more careful about which tokens to put their hard earned capital into.
Recently, analysts have repeatedly recommended Aave(AAVE), Flow (FLOW), and Tradecurve (TCRV). According to them, Tradecurve might see a gain of 50x by the end of its presale which is about to complete stage 1 in less than 6 days! Analysts believe that Tradecurve’s pioneering nature has put it on track to become a top 10 cryptocurrency over the coming years and surpass gains of 70x once it launches.
Aave (AAVE)
AAVE (AAVE) is a promising investment option, according to investors. Its v3 protocol is life after a $16.28 million retroactive funding was approved, and it’s currently performing well.
Aave (AAVE) price is rising due to staking and sharing protocol fees, which increases demand for the token. A recent announcement from Aave (AAVE) reveals that JP Morgan Chase completed its first DeFi transaction using the platform.
The current Aave (AAVE) price is $74.17, and its market cap is $1.04 billion. Aave (AAVE) is ranked #47 by CoinMarketCap and has a circulating supply of 14,093,193 Aave (AAVE) coins. Despite the recent dip of 2.29%, Aave’s (AAVE) strong fundamentals and partnerships make it a valuable investment option.
Flow (FLOW)
Investors consider Flow (FLOW) a promising investment for various reasons. One key factor that makes Flow (FLOW) an attractive investment option is its market capitalization, which currently stands at $945.94M. A high market capitalization indicates that the market highly values the asset, showing investors have confidence in the project’s long-term viability.
Another reason why investors are interested in Flow (FLOW) is its trading activity. Within 24 hours, 7.31 million Flow (FLOW) tokens were traded. This means that the Flow (FLOW) market is active and liquid, which makes it easy for investors to buy and sell the token at any given time. Although the trading volume has decreased by 2.80%, this is not necessarily an indicator of poor performance, as the market is volatile.
The current price of one Flow (FLOW) is $0.91, which is relatively low compared to other cryptocurrencies with similar market capitalization. This means that investors can acquire a significant amount of Flow (FLOW) for a relatively low price, potentially leading to higher returns on investment if the price increases.
Tradecurve: One platform for all blockchain functionalities
Tradecurve is a next-gen trading exchange platform that allows users to trade cryptocurrencies, stocks, forex, and commodities all from one account. The platform’s goal is to remove the barriers to entry and introduce a truly borderless trading exchange.
Tradecurve has unique features like its hybrid exchange, which allows users to deposit crypto and use it as collateral to trade derivatives without needing to complete strenuous KYC requirements. It also offers high leverage starting from 500:1, algorithmic trading, negative balance protection, exclusive deposit, and level-up bonuses.
Tradecurve’s native token is known as $TCRV, and token holders can receive trading fees and subscription fee discounts for signal and AI trading bots. Holders can also stake their tokens to receive a passive income, access exclusive rewards and bonuses, and level up to various VIP statuses.
Tradecurve’s native utility token $TCRV has also been audited by Cyber Scope, whilst a team KYC was carried out by AssureDeFi further providing security and transparency to investors. The project has a detailed roadmap, with plans to launch the exchange at the end of the presale and to list $TCRV on multiple exchanges. TCRV is built on the Ethereum blockchain, providing decentralisation and allowing users to control their assets and hold their keys.
With an initial starting price of $0.01 and the potential for a 50x gain during presale and 100x on launch, $TCRV is expected to offer investors a higher ROI than Aave (AAVE) and Flow (FLOW) with over 90% of its stage one presale tokens selling in under 6 days putting it on track to become a market leading cryptocurrency with real world usage.
For more information regarding Tradecurve’s presale see links below:
Since its beginning, the cryptocurrency sector has made significant progress, and various projects have opened up new markets. One such project will be Yachtify which is currently in its presale phase but projected to bring 400% gains to early investors! Some analysts predict that this rising presale star may outperform Theta Network (THETA) and Render Token (RNDR) in 2023. Let’s find out why!
Theta Network (THETA) Continues Trading In The Red
Not even the recent collaboration with The Squad to bring about the MetaCannes Film3 Festival helped the Theta Network (THETA) to see a price increase. Theta Network (THETA) has lost 14% of its value in the last month.
Currently, Theta Network (THETA) is trading hands at $0.9094, a fall of 5.60% in the past 24 hours. Additionally, Theta Network (THETA) is trading below its moving averages, and the technical indicators are showing strong sell signals.
These bearish charts have made experts predict that Theta Network (THETA) may see further price drops to its support level of $0.80 by the end of 2023.
Render Token (RNDR) On A Breakdown
Render Token (RNDR) has also seen better days, as it went down by 21.5% in the last week. This price decrease can be attributed to the recent general downturn in the crypto market, plus no real exciting developmental news has hit the Render Token (RNDR) fanbase.
Currently, Render Token (RNDR) has a value of $1.89, down 12% in the last day alone. With all Render Token (RNDR) technical indicators showing strong sell signals, many investors are dumping the Render Token (RNDR) as analysts forecast it could slump to $1.60 soon.
Yachtify (YCHT) Presale Brings Excitement Among Global Investors
Yachitfy will bring something never-before-seen – an exclusive yacht club built on the Ethereum blockchain where users may purchase, sell, trade, or auction fractionalized NFTs backed by luxurious real-world yachts, jet skis, and speed boats!
Every investment choice will be minted into an NFT (100% asset-backed), then fractionalized on the Yachtify platform. With the help of fractionalization, more investors can essentially become fractional owners of a real-world high-end yacht by buying a fraction of an NFT, which may go for as low as $100!
Yachtify will also rent out or sell real yachts, which will be stored in safe ports worldwide, to high-net-worth individuals. All of the income that will be generated will then be redistributed among those who hold the NFT that represents the yacht – the higher percentage you own, the more passive income you will gain!
Currently, Yachitfy is in Stage One of its public presale and has a value of just $0.10 but do not hesitate! Experts are incredibly bullish about this project, seeing it rising to $0.50 by the time its presale finishes. Additionally, the Yachtify team will lock liquidity forever while SolidProof has already performed an audit of the token smart contract – no chances of rug-pulls or scams present!
Sign up for the Yachtify presale now if you would like to obtain discounts on trading, storage, and maintenance fees, plus earn a 30% bonus with every purchase!
There are some nice questions in my piece explaining why lending rates are high in Nigeria.
Question: My bank in Lagos has increased the lending interest rate on my existing loan. Is that legal?
My Response: Yes, it is actually legal and it is universal. Sure, for years, Nigerian banks were simply quoting absolute percentages on consumer lending. However, in the last few years, as our fiscal policies become exceedingly convoluted, you quote thus, “Prime lending rate + bank interest rate”. The first component is a number determined by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the rate it lends to commercial banks. The second is what the bank has as its own interest rate. While the bank’s rate can be constant, the prime lending rate varies, as determined by CBN.
So, if your loan document has a clause which allows a bank to adjust the total interest based on the prime rate, and if the prime rate goes high, your interest rate goes up. Of course, if the prime rate drops, your interest rate should also drop (Good luck on that one though). (This type of loan is called a variable rate loan as the interest rate varies due to many factors including the prime rate. It is different from a fixed rate loan whose interest rate does not change.)
The real problem in Nigeria is that we do not have a standard loan sheet which brings clarity to consumers on what they’re accepting and agreeing on. That disclosure document should be pushed in the National Assembly.
Note: this practice is universal. See this credit card offer from Capital One Bank in the United States. Notice that “This APR [annual percentage rate] will vary with the market based on the Prime Rate.” So, as the prime rate set by the US Federal Reserve (US version of the Central Bank of Nigeria) varies, your interest rate moves.
So it’s been a fairly phrenetic week. Two things happened which gave me pause to write this piece.
The first was a discussion with contact in DRC who was looking to ‘explore synergies’. The second was with a fairly new blockchain enthusiast.
So, the contact in DRC has $10,000. He has some wild and vague notions of what he wants to do with that, but no clue as to how it is going to happen.
His requirements were fairly modest… He just wanted to have his own mix of artists, developers and community managers on tap…
He sort of wanted to be able to release (just 3-5) series of blockchain tokenized products… wasn’t too picky… something like Bored Apes, Cryptopunks and a third one with photorealistic futuristic images…
He wanted his own OpenSea, a Midjourney and a Decentraland. He then wanted a Pinterest style platform called ‘Share it’ where community show case various products from the release series, along with their Midjourney type creations.
He then wanted a modified LinkedIn, with a plugin feature called ‘Side Rap’ which sounded like a cross between WhatsApp and Twitter. Side Rap was more than a ‘DM’ plugin. It was supposed to be the ‘glue’ between his OpenSea, Midjourney, Decentraland and Share it, but anchored in his LinkedIn.
He was a small bit concerned that this might not be possible with $10,000
You think??
So I told him that’s definitely not possible.
He said, well , can you do some analysis, and tell me what it costs?
I told him, oh sure. Such costings to be even 65% accurate will take about 3 weeks sold work to do, and would probably cost you a lot more than even what you have available to invest in your project…
But hey.. I’m only getting 4 hours sleep a day over the next 5 days because of stuff I am doing with 9ja Cosmos, but if I just manage to stay awake, and not sleep at all, and work super fast, I can probably get that estimate to you in 4 days at no cost?
How does that sound?
To this, he simply replied ‘Oh Great’
He then went on to say, well, if the 10k went ‘unexpectedly shorter than planned’ he could ‘simply add in a token’ and spend that. ‘After all, the US prints trillions of extra dollars any time it feels like it’.
Well… my implied sarcasm obviously went way way over his head and the dialogue ended there.
Respect isn’t just about the lack of the use of swear words. He didn’t grasp that.
Now on to the second guy, the blockchain enthusiast.
Within the first few sentences of DM with me, he wanted to know if 9ja Cosmos had a coin or token, or was going to have one soon.
The important thing to note here, is just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you have to.
Since the advent of so many memecoins, Sh**coins, ‘Crypto Shilling’ and ‘Pump and Dump’ cycles, both ‘investor’ and product consumer communities are beginning to view start-ups and newer businesses who have a token in the plan as dubious with a capital D.
What is the real purpose of a token? Why does an ecosystem need one? This is a fair question.
If a business has its own stand-alone PoW blockchain, then we can see it can be difficult to operate in this case without a coin or token. Something needs to exist as a functional entity to incentivize miners to do what they do.
On the other hand, it’s hard to see how a token is an indispensable part of an architecture that isn’t much more than a ‘protocol’ with smart contracts.
It’s just one more distraction from focusing on development and improvement of ecosystem products.
There is absolutely no reason why the business can’t operate on the coin/token of the parent ecosystem.
When a start-up or early business owner insists on having a coin/token when it doesn’t seem operationally critical, then it goes as to what the motivation and agenda is.
The general acceptance of coins and tokens, and growing aversion to them is a bit subjective. Well established cryptocurrency will probably survive, and a small handful doing a lot better than surviving. A tide began to turn around the middle of 2021, and if an instrument existed before 2020, even better.
Already, authorities are starting to put pressure on exchanges on the number and types of instruments they carry.
In Nigeria, ‘419’ is a slang term that can loosely cover a wide range of commercially unethical or criminal behaviour. ‘419’ on Nigerian Statute, is the penal code for ‘Advanced Fee Fraud’ EFCC is a policing authority of FGN with an enforcement mandate on such matters.
Aave (AAVE); Avalanche (AVAX);Bancor Network Token (BNT);Basic Attention Token (BAT);Chainlink (LINK); Chiliz (CHZ); Compound Token (COMP);Cosmos (ATOM);Curve DAO (CRV); Enjin Coin (ENJ); Fantom (FTM);Filecoin (FIL);GALA (GALA); The Graph (GRT);Internet Computer (ICP);Loopring (LRC);Maker DAO (MKR); Republic (REN) ;Stellar (XLM) ;Sushiswap (SUSHI);Synthetix (SNX); Texos (XTZ), and Uniswap (UNI)
The situation for Nigerian entrepreneurs is compounded by the countrys’ poor rating by the ‘Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse’ – Moodys’ S&P and Fitch.
With pressure from regulatory authorities in US going as they are, it is hard to see an easy road for a new Nigerian coin or token to gain a listing on popular exchanges.
Zuga Coin is currently trading at $0.0153696 off a high of $187.70 in 2021, while AFEN is trading at $0.0002352 off a high of $0.08197, also in 2021 (source – Coingeko). A new token born in Nigeria is going to have things a lot harder in 2023.
My take is that in the current climate, unless the mechanics of a blockchain product ecosystem makes it impossible to operate without a coin or token, at present, every effort should be made to avoid having one.
There is no point in an otherwise great blockchain initiative or start-up being weighed down by a token that is doomed to perform like poop.
9ja Cosmos is here…
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