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Dogecoin Founder Reacts to Sudden Crypto Market Collapse
NFT Gaming

Dogecoin Founder Reacts to Sudden Crypto Market Collapse

by admin August 18, 2025


Dogecoin (DOGE) founder Billy Markus, known on X as Shibetoshi Nakamoto for his sarcastic and ironic comments on cryptocurrency, has dropped a note on the current market outlook. In a post for his more than 2.2 million followers, Markus captured recent events with different crypto assets and their attempts to hit new levels.

Billy Markus mocks 2025 crypto price trends

Markus used a GIF of “Kermit the Frog” falling from a high rooftop to illustrate the price pattern with different crypto assets in 2025. He accompanied the GIF with the words, “Crypto when nearing ATHs in 2025.”

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The Dogecoin founder’s post suggests he is making fun of the high anticipation most investors in the crypto space feel in bull market cycles. Notably, he is stating that, so far in 2025, crypto assets have consistently disappointed market expectations.

He observed that every time an asset’s price begins to climb toward its all-time high (ATH), instead of breaching the level, it often crashes sharply. Markus has constantly shared his thoughts on staying afloat in the crypto space, especially during rough times.

Markus could be using humor to pass on a message to investors in the crypto market. That is, investors should expect sudden downturns, as volatility is part of the crypto space. In past cycles, there has always been volatility, profit-taking and psychological resistance around ATHs.

Crypto collapse near ATH frustrates investors

Reacting to the post, a user, “Alpha Doge,” agreed with Markus’ stance and highlighted his frustration with the nose-dive pattern each time the price is nearing an ATH.  He believed that crypto assets appear to be deliberately trying to drive investors over the edge.

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Billy Markus’s message and general crypto market outlook highlight the need for traders not to get too comfortable with predictions. This is because crypto remains a volatile asset class.

For instance, Ethereum (ETH), the leading altcoin, has in the last seven days inched close to the ATH of $4,891.70 set in November 2021. However, it only managed to hit $4,761 before it came crashing to its current price of $4,260.93.



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August 18, 2025 0 comments
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93% of Bitcoin Is Mined. What Happens at the 21 Million Cap?
Crypto Trends

93% of Bitcoin Is Mined. What Happens at the 21 Million Cap?

by admin August 18, 2025



How much Bitcoin is left to mine?

Bitcoin’s total supply is hardcoded at 21 million BTC, a fixed upper limit that cannot be altered without a consensus-breaking change to the protocol. This finite cap is enforced at the protocol level and is central to Bitcoin’s value proposition as a deflationary asset.

As of May 2025, approximately 19.6 million Bitcoin (BTC) have been mined, or about 93.3% of the total supply. That leaves roughly 1.4 million BTC yet to be created, and those remaining coins will be mined very slowly.

The reason for this uneven distribution is Bitcoin’s exponential issuance schedule, governed by an event called the halving. When Bitcoin launched in 2009, the block reward was 50 BTC. Every 210,000 blocks — or approximately every four years — that reward is cut in half. 

Because the early rewards were so large, over 87% of the total supply was mined by the end of 2020. Each subsequent halving sharply reduces the rate of new issuance, meaning it will take over a century to mine the remaining 6.7%.

According to current estimates, 99% of all Bitcoin will have been mined by 2035, but the final fraction — the last satoshis — won’t be produced until around the year 2140 due to the nature of geometric reward reduction.

This engineered scarcity, combined with an immutable supply cap, is what draws comparisons between Bitcoin and physical commodities like gold. But Bitcoin is even more predictable: Gold’s supply grows at around 1.7% annually, whereas Bitcoin’s issuance rate is transparently declining.

Did you know? Bitcoin’s supply curve is not terminal in the traditional sense. It follows an asymptotic trajectory — a kind of economic Zeno’s paradox — where rewards diminish indefinitely but never truly reach zero. Mining will continue until around 2140, by which point over 99.999% of the total 21 million BTC will have been issued.

Beyond the supply cap: How lost coins make Bitcoin scarcer than you think

While over 93% of Bitcoin’s total supply has been mined, that doesn’t mean it’s all available. A significant portion is permanently out of circulation, lost due to forgotten passwords, misplaced wallets, destroyed hard drives or early adopters who never touched their coins again.

Estimates from firms like Chainalysis and Glassnode suggest that between 3.0 million and 3.8 million BTC — roughly 14%-18% of the total supply — is likely gone for good. That includes high-profile dormant addresses like the one believed to belong to Satoshi Nakamoto, which alone holds over 1.1 million BTC.

This means Bitcoin’s true circulating supply may be closer to 16 million-17 million, not 21 million. And because Bitcoin is non-recoverable by design, any lost coins stay lost — permanently reducing supply over time.

Now compare that to gold. Around 85% of the world’s total gold supply has been mined — approximately 216,265 metric tons, according to the World Gold Council — but nearly all of it remains in circulation or held in vaults, jewelry, ETFs and central banks. Gold can be remelted and reused; Bitcoin cannot be resurrected once access is lost.

This distinction gives Bitcoin a kind of hardening scarcity, a supply that not only stops growing over time but quietly shrinks.

As Bitcoin matures, it’s entering a monetary phase similar to gold: low issuance, high holder concentration and increasing demand-side sensitivity. But Bitcoin takes it further; its supply cap is hard, its loss rate is permanent, and its distribution is publicly auditable.

This may lead to several outcomes:

  • Increased price volatility as available supply becomes more limited and sensitive to market demand
  • Higher long-term value concentration in the hands of those who remain active and secure in their key management
  • A premium on liquidity, where actually spendable BTC trades at a higher effective value than dormant supply.

In extreme cases, this could produce a bifurcation between “circulating BTC” and “unreachable BTC,” with the former gaining greater economic significance, particularly in times of constrained exchange liquidity or macroeconomic stress.

What happens when Bitcoin is fully mined?

There’s a popular assumption that as Bitcoin’s block rewards shrink, the network’s security will eventually suffer. But in practice, the mining economy is far more adaptive — and much more resilient — than that.

Bitcoin’s mining incentives are governed by a self-correcting feedback loop: If mining becomes unprofitable, miners drop off the network, which in turn triggers a difficulty adjustment. Every 2,016 blocks (roughly every two weeks), the network recalibrates mining difficulty using a parameter known as nBits. The goal is to keep block times steady at around 10 minutes, regardless of how many miners are competing.

So, if Bitcoin’s price drops, or the reward becomes too small relative to operating costs, inefficient miners simply exit. This causes difficulty to fall, lowering the cost for those who remain. The result is a system that continually rebalances itself, aligning network participation with available incentives.

This mechanism has already been tested at scale. After China banned mining in mid-2021, Bitcoin’s global hashrate dropped by more than 50% in a matter of weeks. Yet the network continued to function without interruption, and within a few months, the hashrate fully recovered, as miners resumed operations in jurisdictions with lower energy costs and more favorable regulations.

Critically, the idea that lower rewards will inherently threaten network security overlooks how mining is tied to profit margins, not nominal BTC amounts. As long as the market price supports the cost of hash power — even at 0.78125 BTC per block (post-2028 halving) or lower — miners will continue to secure the network.

In other words, it’s not the absolute reward that matters, but whether mining remains profitable relative to costs. And thanks to Bitcoin’s built-in difficulty adjustment, it usually does.

Even a century from now, when the block reward approaches zero, the network will likely still be protected by whatever combination of fees, base incentives and infrastructure efficiency exists at that time. But that’s a distant concern. In the meantime, the current system — hashrate adjusts, difficulty rebalances, miners adapt — remains one of the most robust elements of Bitcoin’s design.

Did you know? On April 20, 2024, following the launch of the Runes protocol, Bitcoin miners earned over $80 million in transaction fees within a single day, surpassing the $26 million earned from block rewards. This marked the first time in Bitcoin’s history that transaction fees alone exceeded the block subsidy in daily miner revenue.

The future of Bitcoin mining: Energy consumption

It’s a common misconception that rising Bitcoin prices will drive endless energy use. In reality, mining is constrained by profitability, not price alone.

As block rewards shrink, miners are pushed toward thinner margins, and that means chasing the cheapest, cleanest energy available. Since China’s 2021 mining ban, hashrate has migrated to regions like North America and Northern Europe, where operators tap into surplus hydro, wind and underutilized grid energy.

According to the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, between 52% and 59% of Bitcoin mining now runs on renewables or low-emission sources. 

Regulations are reinforcing this trend, with several jurisdictions offering incentives for clean-powered mining or penalizing fossil-fuel operations.

Moreover, the idea that higher BTC prices will always mean higher energy use misses how Bitcoin self-regulates: More miners raise difficulty, which compresses margins, capping energy expansion. 

Renewable-based mining brings its own challenges, but the dystopian future of endlessly expanding fossil-fueled hash power is increasingly unlikely.



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August 18, 2025 0 comments
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Scientists Pitch Bold Plan to Turn Nuclear Waste Into Nuclear Fuel
Gaming Gear

Scientists Pitch Bold Plan to Turn Nuclear Waste Into Nuclear Fuel

by admin August 18, 2025


Nuclear fusion has seen some exciting advances, and the promise of clean, efficient energy does seem to be creeping closer to reality. But skeptics point to practical issues we may not be trying hard enough to solve—issues that will inevitably weigh down our reactors when they finally arrive.

A new proposal by Terence Tarnowsky, a nuclear physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, focuses on one key part of the problem: finding a supply of tritium, a fundamental ingredient for fusion. Tarnowsky, who will present his roadmap next week at the ACS Fall 2025 conference, suggests tapping into the thousands of tons of nuclear waste, including spent reactor fuel, using the sleeping atoms within to support tritium production. With the right adjustments to an accelerator-like apparatus, this strategy could reliably create a self-sufficient source of the precious isotope.

In a successful fusion reactor, tritium and deuterium—two lightweight hydrogen isotopes—fuse and release a gigantic load of energy in the process. By contrast, current nuclear plants run on fission, or the splitting of heavy atoms such as uranium, which also generates a hefty amount of power but produces long-lived radioactive byproducts. This waste material just “[sits] around the country,” presumably for a million years, and costs hundreds of millions of dollars each year to manage, Tarnowsky explained to Gizmodo during a video call. 

Meanwhile, the promise of fusion is shadowed by an inevitable shortage of tritium, an extremely rare and unstable hydrogen isotope. “There are only tens of kilograms [of tritium]—both natural and artificial—on the entire planet,” Tarnowsky said. And it doesn’t help that nuclear experiments worldwide are burning through those tiny supplies at an alarming rate. “So, where is this tritium supposed to come from?”

Breeding tritium in labs is a viable option, but again, there’s a very good reason we haven’t found the perfect recipe; it’s a “tricky fuel to deal with,” Tarnowsky said. 

“If you breed tritium now, it’s not like you can stash it in a container for 30 years from now, because it decays to helium-3 very quickly,” he explained. “And it also has the chemistry of hydrogen. Hydrogen likes to get out of things; it likes to get stuck in walls. So it’s a hard thing to deal with.” For context, the half-life of tritium is 12.3 years, meaning it decays to half of its original amount in that time.

Tarnowsky’s proposal combines previous theories with recent technological advancements. Simply, the idea is to employ a particle accelerator to trigger the decay of uranium and plutonium atoms inside nuclear waste, resulting in a series of neutron bursts and other nuclear transitions that would eventually produce tritium atoms. The waste would be covered with molten lithium salt to shield the process from overexposure to harmful radiation, according to Tarnowsky. 

With the right design, Tarnowsky surmises this method could “produce more than 10 times as much tritium as a fusion reactor at the same thermal power,” as noted in the press release. That said, he admits that this roadmap would require bold commitments from both the public and private sectors. 

Fusion economy is irreversible in some ways, Tarnowsky said. It’s certainly not something where one “can flip a switch and have a backup system running if something goes terribly wrong with tritium breeding,” Tarnowsky said. “You need to plan ahead by a very long time frame.”

But the longer we wait, the more we’re essentially digging ourselves into a hole, he said. “Every year we continue to operate our nuclear power plants—in a very safe manner!—we also make more spent fuel every year, [which] increases about 2,000 metric tons per year. So the liabilities are getting worse every year.”

All that said, Tarnowsky remains hopeful for the future of nuclear fusion—and, really, completing our transition toward clean energy. 

“I’d say, you know, 10 years ago, this kind of technology being proposed in this space would not have received this much interest; people were wary about nuclear power plants,” he said. “And then they went to burn dirty coal. Well, what are you going to do? But we’re having this conversation now, and people aren’t just reacting with fear.”



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August 18, 2025 0 comments
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Make-A-Wish launches initiative to "empower the games industry" to grant wishes
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Make-A-Wish launches initiative to “empower the games industry” to grant wishes

by admin August 18, 2025


Make-A-Wish International has launched Infinite Wishes, a new global initiative that aims to unite the video games industry “to help grant life-changing wishes for children living with critical illnesses.”

Announced in a press release on August 13, 2025, the Infinite Wishes initiative was launched “in response to a dramatic rise in gaming-related wishes,” which range from children wishing for a custom-built PC to wishing to meet developers.

Infinite Wishes aims to provide “a flexible, inclusive framework for the industry” to allow game companies to help grant these gaming-related wishes, and “to make a meaningful impact, no matter an organization’s size or budget.”

The initiative offers tiered partnership levels and non-financial participation offers, allowing companies to get involved in a way that suits their goals and resources.

“Infinite Wishes is about creating pathways for the games industry to do great things, whether that’s funding wishes, hosting a livestream, or simply sparking a new idea for impact,” said April Stallings, charitable gaming and creators community manager at Make-A-Wish International.

“We know how passionate and talented this community is. This initiative is about giving teams a purpose-driven outlet to rally around – one that lifts spirits, sparks creativity, and changes lives.”

To help guide the programme, Make-A-Wish International has assembled a Games Industry Advisory Committee, consisting of representatives from Square Enix, Bethesda, Bandai Namco Entertainment, Raccoon Logic, 2K, Deviant Legal, Modoyo, Stream for a Cause, and Dames4Games. While inaugural members include Raptor PR and PlaySafe ID.

“There’s never been a better time for the games industry to show its heart, said Wouter Van Vugt, EMEA communications and community engagement senior director at Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe and chair of the Make-A-Wish Games industry advisory committee.

“Through Infinite Wishes, our industry has the opportunity to channel our collective goodwill and reach into something that delivers lasting, real-world impact for children who need it most. The opportunity to help fulfil a child’s wish is one of the most powerful things we can offer.”



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August 18, 2025 0 comments
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Ripple CTO Unveils Behind-the-Scenes of New XRP Project
GameFi Guides

Ripple CTO Unveils Behind-the-Scenes of New XRP Project

by admin August 18, 2025


David Schwartz, Ripple’s longtime chief technology officer, has been running a new experiment on the XRP Ledger, and over the weekend he decided to show what has been going on under the hood. 

This time the focus was far more practical: a hub server he has been running that could soon become part of XRPL’s production infrastructure.

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The update came with several charts — bandwidth, latency, peer counts, even disconnection rates — all pointing to a network holding good over a full day of monitoring. There was a single bump in latency, something Schwartz noted only affected a few weaker links, and a small data dropout that he dismissed as a monitoring glitch.

Here’s the past 24 hours. All good. There is one spike in latency that only affected a few links that were already poor. The tiny drop in network b/w appears to be a monitoring dropout and doesn’t show on the switch port’s monitoring. I think we’re nearly production ready. pic.twitter.com/1GNCqF8EBc

— David ‘JoelKatz’ Schwartz (@JoelKatz) August 17, 2025

Everything else looked clean enough for him to suggest that the system is “nearly production ready,” words that carry some weight given XRPL’s history of uptime and stability.

What is it for?

For Schwartz, the server is designed to help important XRP Ledger nodes stay more reliably connected, making the network less prone to sudden drops or sync issues. Yes, it had been some time since he last handled live infrastructure, but the work was both fun and useful, he says.

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For a blockchain that has been running since 2012, reliability may not sound like the most exciting breakthrough, but it matters. The closer the ledger gets to enterprise and payments use cases, the more every connection counts, and adding a layer that quietly strengthens the backbone could end up being more important than headline-grabbing features. 

Schwartz’s update does not announce a launch date, but the takeaway is simple: the groundwork for XRPL’s next phase is already being tested.





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August 18, 2025 0 comments
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Product Reviews

The best gaming monitors in 2025

by admin August 18, 2025


If you want to get the most out of your games — whether you’re into competitive FPS titles, sprawling RPGs or story-driven adventures — a good gaming monitor can make all the difference. Smooth gameplay, low input lag and crisp visuals are just the start. With the right screen, everything from your aim to your immersion gets a serious upgrade.

These days, there’s a lot more to consider than just refresh rate or screen size. You’ll find ultrawide gaming monitors, widescreen displays, models with USB-C support, and monitors that can bring out the best in your CPU and GPU. Some even match the style of your setup, pairing perfectly with gaming headsets and accessories for a clean, cohesive look.

Whether you’re shopping on a tighter price range or splurging on high-end picture quality, we’ve rounded up the best options to suit different setups and play styles — so you can level up your experience without the guesswork.

Table of contents

Best gaming monitors for 2025

AOC

Screen size: 27-inch | Resolution: 2,560 x 1,440 | Refresh rate: 180Hz | Panel type: VA | Response time: 1ms GtG | Aspect ratio: 16:9 | Brightness: 1000 cd/m² | Weight: 11.9 pounds with stand | Display type: VA panel with Mini LED backlight | Response time: 1 ms GtG | Connector type: 1 × DisplayPort 1.4, 2 × HDMI 2.0

The Q27G3XMN offers a nearly unbeatable mix of features, performance and affordability. It’s a mini-LED monitor with HDR performance that’s not as good as the OLEDs on this list, but far better than anything you’ll find on an edge-lit LCD. With a 180Hz refresh rate, it’s also fast enough for all but the most fast-paced competitive esports games. Best of all, it’s priced affordably at under $300. For those reasons, unless you have a bigger budget or more specific needs, the Q27G3XMN is going to be the best bet for most people.

Pros

  • Relatively affordable
  • True HDR performance
  • Fast enough

Cons

  • Expect some smearing
  • No USB ports

$298 at Amazon

AOC

Screen Size: 23.8-inch | Resolution: 1,920 x 1080 | Refresh Rate: 180 Hz | Panel Type: VA | Response Rate: 4ms (gtg) | Aspect Ratio: 16:9 | Brightness: 250 cd/m² | Weight: 6.9 pounds with stand | Display type: VA panel with W‑LED backlight | Response time: 1 ms MPRT | Connector type: 1 × HDMI 2.0, 1 × DisplayPort 1.4, plus 3.5 mm audio out

Today, there are only two reasons to buy a 1080p monitor: Either you want the fastest possible display, or you want to spend as little as possible and get as much performance as possible. If the latter is true, I would go for the AOC 24G15. For $110, you’ll get a 24-inch screen with a high contrast VA panel, 180Hz refresh rate and 1ms response rate. If you’re patient, I’ve seen the 24G15 go on sale for as little as $90.

One thing to note: AOC also sells a 27-inch version of the 24G15 for about $30 more. I would avoid that model; it won’t look good due to low pixel density.

Pros

  • Affordable
  • 180Hz refresh rate
  • 1ms response rate

Cons

  • Low resolution
  • Epect some smearing

$109 at Amazon

Alienware

Screen size: 26.7-inch | Resolution: 2,560 x 1,440 | Refresh rate: 360Hz | Panel type: QD-OLED | Response time: 0.03ms (GtG) | Aspect ratio: 16:9 | Brightness: 250 cd/m² | Weight: 9.4 pounds without stand | Display type: QD‑OLED | Response time: 0.03 ms GtG | Connector type: 2 × DisplayPort 1.4, 1 × HDMI 2.1, USB 3.2 Gen 1 hub including 1 × Type‑C (downstream)

If you want a gaming monitor that basically does it all, the Alienware AW2725DF has a lot going for it. This QD-OLED features a 360Hz refresh rate and 0.03ms response. It also carries a Vesa DisplayHDR True Black 400 certification, so expect near-flawless HDR performance. It even has a HDMI 2.1 port if you want to use it with an Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5. From a performance standpoint, the only downside is that it won’t produce true blacks in rooms with too much ambient light. However, this is true of every QD-OLED monitor on the market right now.

At close to $1,000, it’s also expensive. But for what it’s worth, the OLED market is incredibly competitive at the moment. I’ve seen the AW2725DF go on sale a few times over the past couple of months, dropping to as low as $700.

Pros

  • 360Hz refresh rate
  • Fantastic HDR performance
  • Three-year burn-in coverage

$698 at Amazon

Dell

Screen size: 34.18-inch | Resolution: 3,440 x 1,440 | Refresh rate: 165 Hz | Panel type: QD-OLED | Response time: 0.01ms (GtG) | Aspect Ratio: 21:9 | Brightness: 250 cd/m² | Weight: 13.8 pounds with stand | Display type: QD‑OLED ultrawide (curved 21:9) | Response time: 0.1 ms | Connector type: Built‑in USB 3.2 Gen 1 hub, standard DP and HDMI inputs

For those looking for a more immersive gaming experience, an ultrawide monitor is the way to go. And right now, one of the best 21:9 displays you can buy is the Dell AW3423DWF. It offers an excellent 165Hz refresh rate, 0.01ms response time and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro support. The panel is also DisplayHDR TrueBlack 400 certified, making it great for watching movies and playing single-player games. The only feature that would make the AW3423DWF better is had Dell included an HDMI 2.1 port, but since ultrawide gaming isn’t really a thing in console gaming, the omission is not a deal breaker.

$571 at Amazon

LG

Screen size: 31.46-inch | Resolution: 4K and 1080p | Refresh rate: 240Hz and 480Hz | Panel type: WOLED | Response time: 0.03ms (GtG) | Aspect ratio: 16:9 | Brightness: 275 cd/m² | Weight: 19.8 pounds with stand | Display type: WOLED dual‑mode OLED (4K UHD or FHD) | Response time: 0.03 ms GtG | Connector type: DisplayPort and HDMI ports (DP for 4K 240 Hz or HDMI for 1080p 480 Hz), G‑Sync/FreeSync compatible

If money is no object and you play a mix of immersive games and competitive shooters, the LG 32GS95UE-B is the monitor for you. It offers something no other monitor on this list does. The 32GS95UE-B4K is both a 4K, 240Hz display and an FHD, 480Hz one. Moreover, it can switch between those two modes with the press of a button.

Yes, the 1080p output looks muddy stretched across a 32-inch screen, but for a feature that extends the versatility of an already incredible monitor, that’s a small sacrifice. At $1,400, the 2GS95UE-B is the most expensive monitor on this list. But if you’re in the market for a 4K display, chances are you’ve already spent a lot of money building a PC that can drive that many pixels.

Pros

  • Dual 4K and 1080p modes
  • Up to 480Hz refresh rate
  • OLED

Cons

  • Very expensive
  • Low pixel density at FHD

$1,099 at Adorama

How we test gaming monitors

While I’ve not used every product recommended in our list, I have extensively tested dozens of gaming monitors in the past, including models with WOLED and QD-OLED panels. In the case of the Alienware monitor I highlight above, I bought one for myself with my own money. Separately, I spent dozens of hours over a two-year period researching computer monitor options to write the current version of this guide.

Factors to consider before buying a gaming monitor

LCD vs OLED

When shopping for a gaming monitor, you first need to decide if you want to go with a screen that has an LCD or OLED panel. For most people, that choice will come down to price; OLED gaming monitors are more expensive than their LCD counterparts. Even if money isn’t a concern, the choice might not be as straightforward as you think; both LCD and OLED panels come in a few different flavors, and knowing the differences between each type is important to making an informed decision.

LCD monitors come in three different varieties: twisted nematic (TN), vertical alignment (VA) or in-plane switching (IPS). For the most part, you want to avoid TN monitors unless you’re strapped for cash or want a monitor with the fastest possible refresh rate or fast response rate. TN screens feature the worst viewing angles, contrast ratios and colors of the group.

The differences between VA and IPS panels are more subtle. Historically, VA gaming monitors featured slower pixel response times than their TN and IPS counterparts, leading to unsightly image smearing. However, that’s improved in recent years. VA panels also frequently sport better contrast ratios than both TN and IPS screens. They’re not dramatically better than their IPS siblings on that front, but when contrast ratios aren’t an inherent strength of LCDs, every bit helps.

On the other hand, IPS panels excel at color accuracy and many offer high refresh rates and response times that are as fast as the fastest TN panels. The majority of LCD gaming monitors on the market today feature IPS panels, though you will frequently find VA screens on ultrawide monitors.

What about OLED?

If you can afford one, an OLED screen makes for the best monitor for gaming. The ability of organic light-emitting diodes to produce true blacks is transformational. Simply put, every game looks better when there isn’t a backlight to wash out shadow detail. Plus, you can experience true HDR with an OLED screen, something that LCDs aren’t known for.

Today, OLED screens come in two different flavors: WOLED and QD-OLED, with LG producing the former and Samsung the latter. I won’t bore you with the technical details of how the two panel types differ from one another other than to note both technologies broadly offer the same set of shortcomings.

Most notably, OLED monitors don’t get very bright. At best, the most capable models peak at around 250 nits when measuring brightness across the entire screen. I didn’t find this to be an issue in my testing, but your experience may vary depending on the ambient light in your gaming setup.

If brightness is important to you, note that due to manufacturer tunings, different models can perform better than others, even if they feature the same panel from LG or Samsung. It’s worth comparing monitors in the same class to find the model that’s right for you.

Separately, almost all OLEDs feature sub-pixel layouts that produce text fringing in Windows. The latest generation of OLED panels from both LG and Samsung are much better in this regard, to the point where modern OLEDs are good enough for reading and image editing. However, it’s still worth going to your local Micro Center or Best Buy to see the model you want in person, as the text fringing issue is hard to capture in photos and videos.

Another (potentially more serious) issue is burn-in. Organic light-emitting diodes can get “stuck” if they display the same image for long periods of time. Every OLED gaming monitor you can buy today comes with features designed to prevent burn-in and other image quality issues. Provided you don’t use your new OLED monitor for eight hours of daily productivity work, I don’t think you need to worry about burn-in too much.

Screen size, resolution and aspect ratio

After deciding where you fall on the LCD vs OLED debate, you can start thinking about the size of your future gaming monitor. Personal preference and the limitations of your gaming setup will play a big part here, but there are also a few technical considerations. You should think about size in conjunction with resolution and aspect ratio.

A 1440p monitor has 78 percent more pixels than a 1080p resolution screen, and a 4K display has more than twice as many pixels as a QHD panel. As the size of a monitor increases, pixel density decreases unless you also increase resolution. For that reason, there are sweet spots between size and high resolution. For instance, I wouldn’t recommend buying an FHD monitor that is larger than 24 inches or a QHD one bigger than 27 inches. Conversely, text and interface elements on a 4K monitor can look tiny without scaling on panels smaller than 32 inches.

You also need to consider the performance costs of running games at higher resolutions. The latest entry-level GPUs can comfortably run most modern games at 1080p and 60 frames per second. They can even render some competitive titles at 120 frames per second and higher — but push them to run those same games at 1440p and beyond, and you’re bound to run into problems. And as you’ll see in a moment, a consistently high frame rate is vital to getting the most out of the latest gaming monitors.

If your budget allows for it, 1440p offers the best balance between image quality and gaming performance. As for 1080p resolution and 4K, I would only consider the former if you’re on a tight budget or enjoy competitive gaming shooters like Valorant and Overwatch 2. For most people, the user experience and productivity benefits of QHD far outweigh the performance gains you get from going with a lower resolution screen.

Just a few years ago, 4K was not a viable resolution for PC gaming, but then NVIDIA came out with its 40 series GPUs. With those video cards offering the company’s DLSS 3 frame generation technology, there’s a case to be made that the technology is finally there to play 4K games at a reasonable frame rate, particularly if you exclusively play big, AAA single-player games like Alan Wake 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 or enjoy strategy games like the Total War series. However, even with frame generation, you will need a GPU like the $999 RTX 4080 Super or $1,599 RTX 4090 to drive a 4K display. Plus, 4K gaming monitors tend to cost more than their 1440p counterparts.

If you want an ultrawide, note that not every game supports the 21:9 aspect ratio, and fewer still support 32:9. When shopping for a curved monitor, a lower Radius, or ‘R’ number, indicates a more aggressive curve. So, a 1000R monitor is more curved than an 1800R one.

The best gaming monitor

(Photo by Igor Bonifacic / Engadget)

Refresh rates and response times

And now, finally, for the fun stuff. The entire reason to buy a gaming monitor is for its ability to draw more images than a traditional computer monitor. As you shop for a new screen, you will see models advertising refresh rates like 120Hz, 240Hz and 360Hz. The higher the refresh rate of a monitor, the more times it can update the image it displays on screen every second, thereby producing a smoother moving image. When it comes to games like Overwatch, Valorant and League of Legends, a faster refresh rate can give you a competitive edge, but even immersive single-player games can benefit.

A monitor with a 240Hz refresh rate will look better in motion than one with a 120Hz refresh rate, but there are diminishing returns. At 60Hz, the image you see on your computer monitor is updated every 16.67ms. At 120Hz, 240Hz and 360Hz, the gap between new frames shortens to 8.33ms, 4.17ms and 2.78ms, respectively. Put another way, although a 360Hz monitor can display 50 percent more frames than a 240Hz screen in a given time period, you will only see a speedup of 1.14ms between frame intervals. And all that depends on your GPU’s ability to render a consistent 360 frames per second.

Ultimately, a fast response monitor will do you no good if you don’t have a gaming PC with a graphics card that can keep up. For example, with a 1440p 360Hz monitor, you realistically need a GPU like the RTX 4070 Super or RTX 4080 Super to saturate that display while playing competitive gaming titles like Overwatch 2 and Valorant.

There’s also more to motion clarity than refresh rates alone. Just as important are fast response times, or the amount of time it takes for pixels to transition from one color to another and then back again. Monitors with slow response times tend to produce smearing that is distracting no matter what kind of game you’re playing. Curved gaming monitor options help with immersion by wrapping the screen around your field of vision, making the gaming setup feel more expansive. Unfortunately, response times are also one of the more opaque aspects of picking the best gaming monitor for your needs.

Many LCD monitor manufacturers claim their products feature 1ms gray-to-gray (GtG) response times, yet they don’t handle motion blur to the same standard. One of the reasons for that is that many companies tend to cherry-pick GtG results that make their monitors look better on paper. The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) recently created a new certification program to address that problem, but the grading system is unwieldy and, as far as I can tell, hasn’t had a lot of pickup from manufacturers.

For now, your best bet is to turn to resources like Rtings and Monitors Unboxed when shopping for a new gaming monitor. Both outlets conduct extensive testing of every screen they review and present their findings and recommendations in a way that’s easy to understand.

FreeSync vs G-Sync

No matter how powerful your system, it will sometimes fail to maintain a consistent framerate. In fact, you should expect frame rate fluctuations when playing graphically-intensive games like Alan Wake 2 and Cyberpunk 2077. For those moments, you want a gaming display with adaptive sync. Otherwise, you can run into screen tearing.

Adaptive sync technologies come in a few flavors. The two you’re most likely to encounter are AMD FreeSync and NVIDIA G-Sync, and each has its own set of performance tiers. With G-Sync, for instance, they are – from lowest to highest – G-Sync Compatible, G-Sync and G-Sync Ultimate.

The good news is that you don’t need to think too much about which adaptive sync technology a display supports. In the early days of the tech, it was rare to see a gaming monitor that offered both FreeSync and G-Sync since including the latter meant a manufacturer had to equip their display with a dedicated processor from NVIDIA. That changed in 2019 when the company introduced its G-Sync Compatible certification. Today, if a monitor supports FreeSync, it is almost certainly G-Sync Compatible, too, meaning you can enjoy tear-free gaming whether you’re using an AMD or NVIDIA GPU.

In fact, I would go so far as to say you shouldn’t make your purchasing decision based on the level of adaptive sync performance a monitor offers. As of right now, the list of G-Sync Ultimate-certified displays is about two dozen models long, and some are a few years old now.

The best gaming monitor

(Photo by Igor Bonifacic / Engadget)

Inputs

Almost every gaming display on the market right now comes with at least one DisplayPort 1.4 connection, and that’s the port you will want to use to connect your new monitor to your graphics card. If you own a PS5 or Xbox Series X/S, it’s also worth looking out for monitors that come with HDMI 2.1 ports, as those will allow you to get the most out of your current generation console.

A word about HDR

As fast and responsive gaming monitors have become in recent years, there’s one area where progress has been frustratingly slow: HDR performance. The majority of gaming monitors currently on sale, including most high-end models, only meet VESA’s DisplayHDR 400 certification. As someone who owned one such monitor, let me tell you it’s not even worth turning on HDR on those screens. You will only be disappointed.

The good news is that things are getting better, albeit slowly. The release of Windows 11 did a lot to improve the state of HDR on PC, and more games are shipping with competent HDR modes, not just ones that increase the brightness of highlights. Thankfully, with more affordable mini-LED monitors, like our top pick, making their way to the market, HDR gaming is finally within reach of most PC gamers.

Gaming monitor FAQs

Are curved monitors better for gaming?

It depends on personal preference. Many manufacturers claim curved monitors offer a more immersive gaming experience due to the way the display wraps around your field of vision. However, I find the edge distortion distracting, particularly when you increase the field of view in a game.

What aspect ratio should I look for in a gaming monitor?

The vast majority of 24-, 27- and 32-inch gaming monitors feature 16:9 aspect ratio panels, and that’s been the case for many years. In fact, nearly every game made in the last two decades supports 16:9 resolutions, such as 1,920 x 1,080 and 2,560 by 1,440, and if you buy a standard-sized monitor, you won’t need to worry about letterboxing.

In the case of ultrawides, 21:9 is the most common aspect ratio, with some very wide models sporting 32:9 panels. Among games, support for 21:9 and 32:9 resolutions is far from universal, so don’t be surprised if a game doesn’t fill the entirety of your screen.

Is OLED good for gaming?

OLED monitors are great for gaming. Not only do they offer excellent motion clarity and input latency, but they’re also easily the best displays for HDR gaming. If money is no object, and you primarily use your PC for gaming, you can’t go wrong with an OLED monitor.

How much does a good gaming monitor cost?

While you could easily spend more than $1,000 to obtain the best gaming monitor on the market now, the reality is that the budget and midrange categories have never been more competitive. In 2015, I spent $500 CAD to buy a 1080p monitor with a 144Hz refresh rate and TN panel. The budget AOC model I highlight above is not only cheaper than my first gaming monitor, but it also features a faster 180Hz refresh rate and a higher contrast VA panel.



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Dogecoin Price Analysis as Qubic Community Plans a 51% Attack on Dogecoin, $DOGE's Price Action Remains Reactive, and Maxi Doge Soars
NFT Gaming

Dogecoin Price Analysis as Qubic Community Plans a 51% Attack on Dogecoin, $DOGE’s Price Action Remains Reactive, and Maxi Doge Soars

by admin August 18, 2025


Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

Stay Ahead with Our Immediate Analysis of Today’s Dogecoin Updates

Check out our Live Dogecoin Updates for August 18, 2025!

In 2025, Dogecoin stands shoulder-to-shoulder next to Bitcoin. One is the first cryptocurrency, while our doggo friend is widely recognized as the first meme coin.

Launched in 2013, $DOGE is up by over 39,000% today, looking at a price of over $0.22 and a trading volume in the billions of dollars. If anything, Dogecoin proves that ‘anything is possible’ in crypto, and even underdogs can become industry giants.

With endorsements from industry moguls like Elon Musk and official investment vehicles like the Grayscale Dogecoin Trust, $DOGE seems to be going nowhere but up.

Click to learn more about Maxi Doge

Maxi Doge ($MAXI) is Dogecoin’s bodybuilder cousin chugging Red Bull and scalping cryptos at 3AM in the morning.

Embodying full-send chaos and pump potential 2.0, $MAXI is for degen traders who don’t hesitate and keep diamond hands on some of the riskiest plays.

While meme coins are a dime a dozen, Maxi Doge is max-commitment, max cojones, and aiming for legend status in the memecoin land.

Simply put, if rat poison squared took form, it would probably look like Maxi Doge. And this meme coin is still in presale.

If you’re looking for the newest insights on Dogecoin and doge-related projects and meme coins, you’re in the right place.

We update this page frequently throughout the day, as we get the latest and greatest insider insights for Doge lovers and memecoin enthusiasts, so keep refreshing!

Disclaimer: Crypto is a high-risk investment, and you may lose your capital. Our content is informational only, and it does not constitute financial advice. We may earn affiliate commissions at no extra cost to you.

Today’s Dogecoin Technical Analysis 📊

Dogecoin has dropped over 9% in just the past few hours, sparking panic among meme coin enthusiasts.

On the brighter side, though, the token is now approaching a key support zone – the same level that fueled a 16% rally in early August and has previously acted as both strong support and resistance.

On the 4-hour chart, Dogecoin’s price is trading comfortably below the short-term moving averages (10, 20, 50, and 100 EMA), leaving only the 200 and 400 EMAs as meaningful layers of support as far as technical indicators are concerned.

So, if Dogecoin breaks below these zones, it could trigger a deeper correction, possibly toward $0.18864. This would result in another 14% drop from current levels.

However, on the daily chart, Dogecoin has yet to even test its 50 EMA. This suggests that while short-term price drops are to be expected, the longer-term outlook remains bullish. That said, a clear continuation signal will still be needed to confirm the trend.

Dogecoin Under Fire: Maxi Doge is Built to Withstand

August 18, 2025 • 10:00 UTC

Dogecoin slipped over 4% today as the Qubic community voted to target it with a 51% attack like the one it launched on Monero, which caused a sharp decline in its price.

The threat has sparked panic among $DOGE holders, with Santiment’s NPL data showing the largest loss since July 2022, and Coinglass’s long-to-short ratio hitting 0.79, signaling potential for further price decline.

With $DOGE under attack, traders are rotating to new meme coins on presale like Maxi Doge.

Unlike Dogecoin, Maxi Doge ($MAXI) is not a proof-of-work coin, making it immune to Qubic’s mining-based 51% attacks. It also lacks minting or blacklist functions that could be exploited by attackers. What’s more, its smart contract’s been audited with zero critical vulnerabilities found.

As dogens look to camp out while Qubic eyes its next mark, find out how to move your funds into Maxi Doge.

Why Maxi Doge Is Eating Dogecoin’s Lunch

August 18, 2025 • 10:00 UTC

The old alpha $DOGE appears to be skulking back as tokens that solve real problems take the lion’s share.

Trading near $0.22, Dogecoin’s price action remains highly reactive; driven more by sentiment than substance, showing sharp rallies often followed by steep drops.

With no clear roadmap, limited utility, and hype cycles that fizzle fast, $DOGE’s role as a portfolio staple may be fading.

Traders are increasingly looking for tokens with stronger fundamentals, tokens like Maxi Doge ($MAXI): the meme coin built for this new cycle.

Maxi Doge embodies extreme degen culture, featuring a muscular, caffeine-fueled Shiba Inu with a no pain, no gain attitude to life and trading.

While $DOGE struggles to maintain relevance, Maxi Doge is flexing rapid gains through high-intensity presale sessions.

Offering zero-tax trading, dynamic staking rewards, and a community jacked, juiced, and pumped for breakout momentum, $MAXI is where smart degen money is moving now.

Discover the next 1000x crypto.

 

Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.



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Faraday Future Unveils $10B Crypto-Ai Strategy For Ev Growth
Crypto Trends

Faraday Future Unveils $10B Crypto-AI Strategy for EV Growth

by admin August 18, 2025



California-based electric vehicle (EV) startup Faraday Future officially launched a $10 billion strategy that brings together its Embodied AI (EAI) platform and the crypto economy. It announced the launch of the “EAI + Crypto” Dual-Flywheel & Dual-Bridge Ecosystem Strategy on August 17 at an event in Pebble Beach.

Faraday Future is connecting its smart EV operations with a Web3-powered financial system to build a two-way, self-sustaining loop that leverages the long-term value of AI-driven EVs and the high-velocity potential of digital assets. 

A Real-Time Crypto Index and A Treasury to Back It 

In a press release, the firm revealed its plan to launch a “Crypto 10” treasury product, by investing up between $500 million and $1 billion in digital assets, and explore tokenized vehicle sales. It’s starting with an initial $30 million crypto investment, but has a vision to scale up to $10 billion.

“The next decade could be a super long bull cycle for the crypto market,” said Ian Calderon, Faraday’s Co-Creation Officer and founding board member of the California Blockchain Working Group.

Moreover, the company is also launching a C10 Index, a market-cap-weighted crypto basket tracking the top 10 non-stablecoin digital assets, intending to develop a full-fledged exchange-traded fund (ETF). The company also has plans to launch the “EAI Vehicle Chain,” a blockchain-based platform for tokenized vehicle sales and crypto-backed deposits. 

According to the company, the strategy could generate staking yields and other crypto-native returns to help fund vehicle development, share buybacks, and general corporate growth. It’s a financial experiment as much as a technological one.

California State Treasurer Fiona Ma also offered public support, calling the plan a bold and forward-thinking move that could create high-quality jobs, attract global capital, and advance sustainable economic development.

Also Read: Metaplanet Buys 775 Bitcoin, Total Holdings Reach 18,888 BTC



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New York Times Strands word game
Gaming Gear

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answer and Help for Aug. 18 #533

by admin August 18, 2025


Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a fun one, involving a category of well-known words. But one of them still stumped me. If you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story. 

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: If the shoe fits

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Carrie Bradshaw loves them.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

  • PLIE, PLIES, SOOT, FOOL, RAKE, RAKES, ROLE, GOAL, FOAL, LOAF, SAND, SLIP, FOOT, TOOK, NEAR

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

  • CLOG, LOAFER, SANDAL, SLIPPER, SNEAKER, ESPADRILLE

Today’s Strands spangram

The completed NYT Strands puzzle for Aug. 18, 2025, #533.

NYT/Screenshot by CNET

Today’s Strands spangram is FOOTWEAR. To find it, look for the F that is three letters to the right on the top row, and wind down.

Quick tips for Strands

#1: To get more clue words, see if you can tweak the words you’ve already found, by adding an “S” or other variants. And if you find a word like WILL, see if other letters are close enough to help you make SILL, or BILL.

#2: Once you get one theme word, look at the puzzle to see if you can spot other related words.

#3: If you’ve been given the letters for a theme word, but can’t figure it out, guess three more clue words, and the puzzle will light up each letter in order, revealing the word.



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CoinDesk News Image
GameFi Guides

Tourist Wallet Rolls Out, With Crypto Link Still Stuck in Sandbox

by admin August 18, 2025



Thailand introduced its Tourist Wallet for foreign-currency-to-baht QR payments, but the crypto conversion feature is suspended pending a regulatory review through mid-August.

The Bank of Thailand said the Tourist Wallet is meant to solve a practical problem: Cross-border QR links are only live with eight partner countries including Singapore, Malaysia and, soon, China via UnionPay. Travelers from elsewhere still face friction when paying in Thailand, something the new wallet aims to address.

Tourists will be able to top up their wallets with cash at provider counters, foreign debit and credit cards, or overseas bank transfers. Spending caps apply: 500,000 baht ($13,800) a month for merchants with card terminals and 50,000 baht for small shops. Cash withdrawals are prohibited, and accounts can be closed only through redemption.

The crypto angle, however, remains conditional. The country’s Securities and Exchange Commission is testing whether regulated exchanges and custodians can safely let foreign tourists convert crypto into baht balances for use in the Tourist Wallet.

The scheme would require full passport-based know-your-customer identification (KYC), with regulators citing concerns over mule accounts and money laundering. Until the regulatory review process, called a sandbox, closes and regulators publish results, currently scheduled for later this month, crypto holders won’t be able to spend directly.

For now, the Tourist Wallet is a fiat play dressed in QR code convenience, with crypto adoption still pending the outcome of the sandbox process.



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