El Salvador is the first country to adopt bitcoin as a currency. As expected, that isn’t sitting well with everyone. According to El Salvador‘s Bitcoin Law, you can pay for anything using bitcoin, and businesses are legally obligated to accept it.

The President, Nayib Bukele, said it was a way to move the country forward: eliminate transfer costs for US-based Salvadorans sending money home and attract crypto investors (they're also offering investors tax exemption).

Approval rates indicate not everyone is in: There have been protests to condemn the move. And a poll conducted by Central American University found that 67.9% of 1,281 Salvadorans are either skeptical or don’t know how to use bitcoin.

Market reaction: On launch day, bitcoin dropped by over 12%, its lowest since July. Decrypt Editor Dan Roberts points out that this could be a reactionary effect, and the market will adjust.

Roberts also notes that Salvador’s move might not mean much for bitcoin long term. He said a better indicator of crypto's place in finance is that more traditional investors are getting into it.

NFTs can be anything digital, but they’re popular with art. Artist Beeple and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey started the rave with an art piece (sold $69million) and first-ever tweet ($2million) respectively. But celebrities are taking it to the moon!

Celebrities are keen on NFTs. Issa Rae and 21 Savage's United Talent Agency announced a new client: Larva Labs, the NFT creators behind CryptoPunks, one of the highest-grossing NFTs. Naomi Osaka, Simone Biles, and rapper Doja Cat are also on the NFT wave.

So are media companies: USA’s Fox network (creators of The Simpsons, Family Guy) recently invested $100 million in an NFT project, and Indian media company Zee world, India's biggest media company announced that they're working on NFTs featuring the fan faves from their shows.

Why should you care? NFTs going mainstream gives artists a larger pool of people to sell their art. You could, for example, take advantage of the resell value by exploring NFT Marketplaces for assets, buy and sell at a higher price.

You might also like:

How to buy your first NFT

Artists’ guide to selling NFTs

Influencer marketing is on the rise. People are more likely to trust products used by people they recognize, so it makes sense that brands want to be affiliated with faces their target audience likes. Charles Randell, Chief of UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) reminds that scammers and are no different.

Influencer scam: In counties without laws that prevent false advertising, sponsored posts are sometimes misconstrued as recommendations. Nigerians for instance have been victim to 2 investment scams where hired celebrities communicated their paid posts as testimonials.

How crypto scammers use influencers: many scams are after fast cash and quick gains. Randall pointed that some crypto investment scams are more market influence-focused: paid posts to help "pump and dump new tokens on the back of pure speculation".

How to identify a scam: It's up to us to protect ourselves. For crypto projects, you might be interested in, research the team behind them. If you trust the team, you can probably trust their product.