Author: Mark Hampton

What if buying a piece of real estate wasn’t a complex and time-intensive process? Dealing in real estate typically involves interacting with an intermediary, swimming through paperwork, and paying steep fees and commissions.

Even with the latest advancements in technology, many jurisdictions still require real estate buyers and sellers to show up in person to execute their documents. Most often, this is due to notaries being required to see people physically sign documents, and while some notaries can do this task virtually, not all have the same capabilities.

Now, with the help of cryptocurrency (specifically NFTs and smart contracts), the trajectory of real estate transactions is rapidly changing. We’re talking about taking out the middleman and obtaining and transferring ownership with ease. Sales can even be made through sites similar to eBay, but with a new level of added security.

In this writing, we will be specifically focusing on crypto’s effect on the luxury real estate market. But first, let’s start with the basics—how NFTs and smart contracts work.

What is an NFT?

NFTs, short for non-fungible tokens, are cryptographic tokens that can come in the form of many things (e.g., music, drawings, videos).  Each NFT is 100% unique and cannot be replicated or replaced. Many times, NFTs represent digital ownership of something, such as a piece of digital art. In other instances, they can be representative of a physical item, such as real estate property and memberships.

NFTs use blockchain technology to maintain their verifiability and proof of ownership. Theoretically, the actual digital file that an NFT lies on can, in fact, be copied, but this does not mean that someone has taken over ownership. The culprit would need access to the smart contract that’s attached to the NFT as well. Moreover, they would have to be able to alter the smart contract that has been recorded on the blockchain, which is virtually impossible to do.

What is a smart contract?

Smart contracts are self-executing pieces of code built to facilitate a transaction. The transaction automatically resolves after pre-defined conditions have been met. The contracts are coded into the blockchain and maintained by regulators after recording them.

They are binding contracts that do not require the interference of a central authority or legal system. Because of this, they’re much more cost-efficient. After all, attorneys, realtors, and appraisers are never cheap.

How are the two transforming luxury real estate?

As previously mentioned, the two above elements are changing the luxury real estate industry by cutting out intermediaries, but another way is by innovating the use of memberships. If you’ve ever owned a timeshare or had a country club membership, you probably know that ownership is not easily transferred. Moreover, your package typically includes an annual renewal process and membership dues.

Now, with promising memberships such as the Aspen Lakes Membership by RHUE Resorts, assets can be owned in perpetuity without the need for annual renewal. Said assets can even be passed down through family members and friends if desired. Conversely, memberships can be sold in secondary markets such as OpenSea, an NFT marketplace that’s similar to eBay.

Through the NFT membership model, Aspen Lakes Membership purchasers can enjoy:

• Little to no application process or fees
• No annual recurring dues
• Transferability with ease (no middleman required)
• Existing amenities, such as the world-class 18-hole golf course, pro-shop, restaurant, wedding and event center.

Most NFTs are restricted to being purchased with cryptocurrency only which can ostracize certain investors. RHUE Resorts is combating this by allowing the purchase of memberships through cryptocurrency or debit/credit cards. This allows them to appeal to the traditional market while also engaging crypto-enthusiasts.

City DAO

Another example is the crypto project City DAO. The idea here is that a person can purchase a piece of land in Wyoming and sell rights of governance to interested parties. Those who want to be a piece of the government structure must obtain a certificate of citizenship via NFT. It’s important to note that citizens are not the owners of the land. They only make decisions regarding it, which includes policy changes and regulations.

Of course, in this kind of “government” structure, there are only so many memberships that can be purchased.

FlyFish Club

FlyFish Club (FFC) brings an interesting spin to the food industry. The private dining club hosts the world’s very first NFT restaurant that requires an NFT membership for dining access. Said restaurant will feature over 10,000 square feet and be in an “iconic location” in New York City. In addition, FFC NFT purchasers can enjoy “various culinary, cultural, and social experiences,” according to the FlyFish Club website. The project makes several big promises, however, it’s still in its infancy.

Great offerings and optimistic ideas

While NFTs and blockchain are opening doors in several industries, it’s still hard to tell which ventures are going to “stick.” Projects like City DAO have interesting ideas but have yet to provide anything concrete. On the other hand, companies such as RHUE Resorts are established and flourishing, providing luxury in real life immediately.

The blockchain looks to revolutionize numerous industries with the many efficiencies and advantages it has over traditional alternatives. Real estate has shown that it’s ripe for improvement and looks to be the perfect candidate to enter the world of cryptocurrency and NFTs.

Innovations that push boundaries tend to generate buzz before they’re fully adopted by the broader DeFi community. Protocol Monetary Trade Policy is the newest one on the horizon. It’s already considered by some as the evolution of liquidity mining, despite being relatively new in the space.

The policy’s proponents say it will greatly benefit the DeFi ecosystem, but it’s worth examining exactly what Protocol Monetary Trade Policy is, how it compares to traditional DeFi economics, and whether it truly has the potential to revolutionize the crypto-economic space.

What is Protocol Monetary Trade Policy?

Protocol Monetary Trade Policy (PMTP) is a set of monetary policies that use a cryptocurrency protocol’s influence over currency trade or transfers to support the health of the protocol and its core token(s).  In theory, it may eventually eliminate the need for inflation. The policy was invented by a team of crypto economists at Sifchain.

One of the main goals of Protocol Monetary Trade Policies is to help attract external liquidity while increasing total value locked (TVL). It does this by incentivizing a cryptocurrency token such as ROWAN, creating an attractive option to earn rewards in. In turn, this helps to drive external demand to pool assets and encourage the purchase and staking/holding of the specified token.

“Sifchain sees Protocol Monetary Trade Policy as an innovative suite of tools that can provide flexible & powerful utility alongside other features, like margin trading. These policies would allow DAO governance to decide on how to move these various monetary policy levers, which would provide immense value to both traders and liquidity providers.

So far, Sifchain has introduced one of these policies in pool Ratio Shifting. In the future, others can be introduced, but ultimately, the future of the protocol and how these various levers are enabled/disabled/used is in the hands of our community through the DAO voting structure.”

Says Sifchain’s Head of Business Development, Casey Arrington. But how exactly does Protocol Monetary Trade Policy differentiate itself from other economic models?

How Protocol Monetary Trade Policy differs from traditional DeFi economics

A typical decentralized exchange (DEX) has at least one liquidity pool that allows users to swap crypto assets. It uses an automated market maker (AMM) algorithm to maintain fair market value for exchanging token pairs.

Let’s take a liquidity pool with tokens A and B. The pool starts with a 50-50 ratio in value for both assets. This ratio needs to be maintained at all times. Thus, as trading occurs and the proportion of tokens in the pool changes, arbitrage opportunities are created, allowing traders to capitalize on the price discrepancy.

For example, as more people swap asset A for B, there will be more of A in the pool and less of B. This pushes the value of A down, reducing its purchasing power relative to B. On the other hand, the value of B goes up, increasing its purchasing power relative to A.

Protocol Monetary Trade Policy uses real-world economic fiscal policy models at the protocol level of a token to help mitigate the pool imbalances that inevitably arise as users swap tokens. These policies can be used as tools to incentivize and encourage user behavior to help protect the health and price action of a liquidity pool.

One common policy in most DeFi protocols is using inflation, where the protocol mints new tokens to give to users based on certain activities. With pool ratio shifting (and other monetary policy mechanisms), instead of minting new tokens, protocols make an alternative adjustment in other economic parameters to encourage certain behaviors.

The adjustments are decided by members of the DAO. For example, governance tracks multiple metrics, like external liquidity, before making any decisions. If external liquidity is low, they will propose a policy with the goal to draw in external liquidity. The DAO then votes to approve the policy. Once implemented, the purchasing power adjustment goes into effect.

Using a ROWAN (Sifchain’s token) USDT trading pair as an example, if pool ratio shifting from Protocol Monetary Trade Policy is set for a 2% purchasing power increase per day:

• One ROWAN buys 1 USDT in block 1
• One ROWAN buys 1.00005787037 USDT in block 2
• One ROWAN buys 1.00011574074 USDT in block 3

This example shows how the pool ratio shifting tool from Protocol Monetary Trade Policy makes very subtle adjustments to the purchasing power of a token over a period of time. Since you can use fewer assets to buy more, the adjusted assets become more useful than they would have been without the Protocol Monetary Trade Policy.

Sifchain states that, unlike traditional liquidity pools where the cryptocurrencies influence monetary policy primarily through inflationary rewards, Protocol Monetary Trade Policy aims to influence the number of opportunities a token holder has to trade their existing quantity at a specified ratio.

It is important to mention that Protocol Monetary Trade Policy will not fix the price of a token at a certain level. The price will still change depending on the balance of the liquidity pool. Additionally, the aim of these policies is never to restrict the trade of a token; holders are free to trade a token anywhere, on any exchange.

What kind of advantages does it offer to protocols?

One of the biggest advantages of Protocol Monetary Trade Policies is that it helps make it possible to reduce inflation. By increasing the value of a token on an exchange, the policy can help fewer tokens to have the same purchasing power.

Protocol Monetary Trade Policy can also be a helpful tool for attracting liquidity. The subtle increments to the purchasing power of the token make it more valuable to accumulate. Furthermore, there is an increase in the rewards earned from providing liquidity and staking/delegation. This encourages people to pool external liquidity with that particular token.

Because these policies in DAOs must be voted in by community members before they can be implemented, users can directly influence their returns. Plus, they get the opportunity to be part of an evolution in microeconomics. Thus, new users and projects have even more reasons to add their liquidity to the protocol.

The Protocol Monetary Trade Policy also has the potential to start a TVL snowball reaction. As the price of a token increases, its TVL increases, further increasing the price, which then increases the TVL, and so on. This cycle draws liquidity providers, creating more liquidity in the protocol.

Note that members of a DEX or DAO don’t have to do anything to benefit from Protocol Monetary Trade Policy, even though they are encouraged to participate in governance. The policies are automatic. So, as long as you have assets in the pool, you’ll still enjoy the benefits.

Sifchain example

Sifchain recently incorporated the pool ratio shifting tool from Protocol Monetary Trade Policy after their DAO vote passed the policy, making them the first protocol to bring these real-world monetary policy tools to the protocol level.  Members of the community were greatly impressed by its potential benefits and were excited to be a pioneer of this new monetary policy.

Sifchain saw the vision of the policy and one SifDAO member noted that, “Protocol Monetary Trade Policy is like early nuclear research. It can be incredibly strong; we’re just freaking out over the fallout. But this thing can absolutely win the market for us.”

However, things didn’t go exactly as expected. To protect value gains in Rowan and the liquidity on Sifchain, Ratio Shifting was intended to eventually be paired with DEX Liquidity Protection, another key feature in PMTP.  Unfortunately, Sifchain didn’t expect a major sell-off to occur before DEX Liquidity Protection was deployed.  After experiencing some troubles during a bear market, members of the DAO voted for a return to their original policy of balanced pools.

It was also noticed that these policies could best be implemented as an add-on to other features. For example, purchasing power adjustments can be extremely interesting when coupled with the ability to take out margin positions. Margin traders looking for any type of signal to help with their positions would likely welcome purchasing power adjustments as an additional helpful lever.

Still, Sifchain believes that these policies have the potential to change DeFi economics for the better. These policies are especially effective when looked at holistically in a way that can complement each other and handle any type of market. So with some minor finetuning, these policies are likely to be beneficial in the future.

A growing movement

Protocol Monetary Trade Policy is an exciting innovation in the crypto-economic space. Currently, Sifchain is spending a lot of time on community education initiatives. For anything to be successful, including any monetary policy, the community needs to fully understand its power and limitations. Sifchain has learned this with the previous launch of Protocol Monetary Trade Policy. The team is now ensuring that this lesson is carried forward with core features that are top priorities for its’ roadmap, such as margin trading and Omni-EVM.

The recent cataclysmic crash of the Terra Classic (LUNC; formerly LUNA) left several people bankrupt. South Korean officials reported 8 confirmed suicides due to this blow.

Stablecoins emerged as a way for cryptocurrency investors to park their funds to escape from volatility. USTC (formerly UST) was among the largest stablecoins by market cap and the single largest stablecoin on the Cosmos blockchain.

This is not the first time an algorithmic stablecoin fell below the point of recovery. So much so that the head of the IMF even suggested that stablecoins that are not backed by physical assets are similar to pyramid schemes.

However, a crash as biblical as that of UST was a first for a stablecoin. While history seemed to have indicated this to be an obvious outcome, the utility of UST and the communities around LUNC-UST indicated otherwise.

The Death Spiral – Here’s What Went Wrong

Stablecoins are digital assets whose value is pegged to a fiat currency or other asset. USTC is one such stablecoin, pegged to the US dollar by not backed by it.

LUNC maintained USTC’s price algorithmically, using a mint and burn mechanism. When USTC’s demand-to-supply ratio was high, more LUNC was burnt. Contrariwise, more LUNC was minted when USTC’s supply-to-demand ratio was high. This created an arbitrage opportunity for traders which helped maintain USTC’s price at approximately $1.

However, when the selling pressure became too high for the algorithm to keep up, LUNC began to hyperinflate. It thus sent the entire ecosystem into a death spiral, eventually leading to a point of no recovery. Today, USTC costs less than $0.01 while LUNC is over 99% down from its all-time high.

Decentralized Alternatives – The Way Forward

The failure of algorithmic stablecoins doesn’t mean the end of all possibilities. Instead, they provide us with crucial lessons. One of them is avoiding centralization at all costs. So, here’s a list of non-algorithmic, decentralized stablecoins for you to consider while entering the world of crypto.

1. USDr

USDr is a collateralized, fiat-backed stable token receipt by METL, a first decentralized crypto on-ramp solution native to the Avalanche blockchain.

Since METL’s USDr stable token receipt is collateralized with a 1:1 ratio using USD, it will not be affected by unexpected selling pressures like in the case of LUNC and other algorithmic stablecoins.

The USDr token’s issuance mechanism is designed to have users be the actual issuers of the token, so that they interact with the DeFI ecosystem. This allowed METL to bypass any MTL (Money Transmitter Licensing) requirements and receive exemptions in all the states in the US except NY.

METL does not host any wallets and therefore does not take user’s funds on their balance sheet, which again protects them from a bank run. METL is currently building an SDK to let any developer build a FIAT gateway using METL microservices and plug/play it into any DeFI platform that wants native gateway.  METL holds a 20 year patent for this technology issued by the USPTO office.

2. DAI

DAI, a decentralized stablecoin, is a product of MakerDAO, an Ethereum-based peer-to-peer organization facilitating collateralized loans.

Unlike USDC and USDT, DAI is an over-collateralized, crypto-backed stablecoin. This means that the collateral backing this stablecoin is other cryptocurrencies. Moreover, its “over collateralized” nature implies that the value of the collateral backing DAI is greater than DAI’s value. For instance, $1.5 worth of ETH-based (ERC-20) tokens back $1 worth of DAI.

Instead of any centralized, corruptible entity, immutable and tamper-proof smart contracts maintain DAI’s peg to $1 by increasing or decreasing the amount of collateral based on market dynamics.

3. EOSDT

EOSDT is an over-collateralized, decentralized crypto-backed stablecoin by Equilibrium, a cross-chain money market project in the Polkadot ecosystem.

Users can borrow EOSDT by collateralizing their digital assets in a smart contract with a small interest rate of 1% APR.

The stablecoin also has an insurance mechanism called the “Stability Fund” to shield EOSDT and its holders from extreme market volatility.

Further, the price of EOSDT is maintained at $1 by incentivizing arbitrators. This is similar to USTC’s mechanism. However, unlike USTC, EOSDT is not algorithmic and currently has a collateralization ratio of 281%.

4. sUSD

sUSD is a crypto-backed, overcollateralized stablecoin by Synthetix, an ETH-based protocol that facilitates DeFi derivatives trading. sUSD acts as the bridge to trade these on-chain synthetic assets on the Ethereum network.

All synthetic assets on Synthetix are referred to as “Synths” and are denoted by an “s” at the prefix. sBTC, sETH, and sSOL are some examples. Similarly, sUSD is a synthetic stablecoin asset.

5. RSV

RSV is a collateralized stablecoin. However, unlike other tokens mentioned here, RSV employs a hybrid collateralization method. Thus, a combination of fiat and cryptocurrencies back this stablecoin.

RSV is a product of Reserve, a protocol working to offer citizens of countries with high inflation rates a robust inflationary hedge. The Reserve Dollar (RSV) is the stablecoin that facilitates this.

Caution is Wisdom

It’s abundantly clear that you have several alternatives to stablecoins like UST. They are more robust, more reliable, and above all, more decentralized. But despite everything, one can’t stress the importance of due diligence enough in these matters.

You must do your research, thoroughly, before investing in any stablecoin whatsoever. Look closely at the project’s team, their track record, and most importantly, the protocol’s architecture. It’s difficult at times but utterly necessary. Particularly because the crypto domain is still nascent, with much volatility and uncertainty.

New changes are happening every day and you must always be cautious about negative consequences. The storm will, however, be over soon, when the future of finance will shine bright. Stablecoins will define this future, and so can you.

 
Image by succo from Pixabay

Over the last few weeks, the cryptocurrency market has been rocked by extreme volatility. There has been a steep decline in the price of digital assets. Such has been the meltdown in that the entire market cap has fallen under $1 trillion, which surpassed the $3 trillion mark at the peak of the bull cycle.

Being a nascent market means high volatility is a common phenomenon at this stage of growth. That said, this volatility has made crypto so attractive to investors and speculators. However, volatility doesn’t always mean just a significant upside but also a remarkable downside.

And that’s what we are seeing in this fourth crypto cycle, so all this carnage is not unprecedented. In fact, a 70% to 80% drop in Bitcoin and Ether prices from their all-time highs can be seen as a golden ‘buy the blood’ opportunity to plan for the future with a focus on research and only investing what you can afford to lose.

However, we also witnessed this time that the significant drawdown in the crypto prices was exacerbated by the lack of proper risk management practices adopted by some of the biggest names in the industry.

Extreme Market Conditions

One of the biggest centralized lenders in the crypto space, Celsius Network, was among this torrent of bad news as it abruptly froze customer withdrawals, swaps, and transfers between accounts due to what it said were “extreme market conditions.”

This pause in withdrawals resulted in more volatility and raised concerns about Celsius’ solvency. It was a liquidity issue, according to the experts, a classic banking problem.

Just late last year, Celsius Network raised $400 million in a Series B funding round at a valuation of $3.5 billion. Back in October, the crypto lender had $25 billion in assets from more than 1.7 million users, which fell to around $11.8 billion as of last month.

Besides spooking investors and the market, this is catching the attention of the administration and lawmakers during times of economic uncertainty, including high inflation and global market instability.

State securities regulators in Washington, Alabama, Texas, Kentucky, and New Jersey are now investigating Celsius Network’s decision to suspend customer redemptions this week.

It is expected the proposed regulations to regulate stablecoins by the President Working Group could extend to the entire crypto space in order to “mitigate the risks of these assets.”

The PWG report calls for federal regulatory oversight, restricting institutions from lending customers’ digital assets out, and compliance with liquidity and capital requirements.

Need for a Better Solution

Much like a bank, the centralized lender Celsius was using the crypto deposits from over a million retail customers and investing them in the crypto market, including DeFi but did not apply proper risk management or provide any safety measures to its users.

Thus, the market needs a truly decentralized solution that doesn’t obscure how they deal with their funds. Astra protocol is one such decentralized solution that provides a compliance layer for the Web3 economy.

In the DeFi sector, undercollateralized loans have been gaining traction. Still, while they offer the benefit of no central control, they carry considerable risks in terms of a lack of asset liquidity and instant payment. Astra’s truly decentralized project onboards traditional players for funding, allowing for lending on the Astra network, and eliminating the need for these under-collateralized loans.

By converging the power of Web3.0 and traditional financial ecosystems, Astra Network aims to create the next iteration of decentralization and become the largest network in the industry.

Zurich, Switzerland-based Astra basically allows protocols to comply with society’s numerous regulations without giving up the benefits of decentralization or putting investors at risk.

Decentralized Compliance Layer

Amidst the mainstream global adoption of crypto and the regulatory challenges coming its way, Astra has designed its network to be the only fully KYC (know your customer) compliant decentralized blockchain ecosystem which is available worldwide with the protocol performing all compliance practices.

This regulatory compliance is offered across a vast number of DeFi protocols to reassure users that their investments are completely protected while preserving their anonymity.

The Astra network further offers its infrastructure to countries and their treasuries to issue financial products such as regulated and sustainable CBDCs bonds and financial instruments while taking advantage of the incredible yield available through digital assets.

To achieve this, Astra has equipped all DeFi smart contracts with a fully decentralized compliance layer, including KYC & AML capabilities, and leveraging the expertise of trusted legal firms to resolve real-world compliance issues.

To provide the best KYC/AML services available, Astra has developed a unique Decentralized Legal Network (DLN), an ecosystem that contains major, global legal and audit firms.

In terms of consensus mechanism, the system that allows distributed systems to work together and stay secure, Astra is using the environmental-friendly Proof-of-Stake (PoS), which is the perfect fit to build a real-world solution for billions of users through its improved scalability and increased transactional throughput.

A Vast Network

Compliance is not the only feature offered by Astra. The project provides several other services, including enhanced vetting, a dispute resolution platform, AML, and reporting for process feedback and improved procedures.

The demand for these services is increasing rapidly as the crypto market continues to onboard more and more people and capital invested in the sector skyrockets. Not to mention all the challenges faced by the industry, such as lack of certainty for smart contracts, recurring derivative contract disputes, high legal risks in connecting real-world assets to the blockchain, and poor management of claims disputes on-chain.

Astra here certainly has the potential to gain market fit with its customizable services that offer security in retrieving incorrect transactions, create secure escrow accounts to prevent unexpected withdrawals, provide a decentralized legal layer for user protection, and equip insurance protocols with an in-built claim verification tool.

Overall, with its KYC, KYB, and AML services for decentralized organizations, Astra aims to ensure that all DeFi and crypto platforms keep pace with the ever-changing regulatory landscape.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Zignaly, a pioneer in social investment and advocate for blockchain composability, is constantly working to further improve its platform.

The project regularly adds new and innovative features to empower all investors, regardless of skill level, to have equal access to expert-managed, passive investing tools and capabilities.

Last month, the project announced the development of its comprehensive digital asset bridge, aptly labelled “The Bridge“, which makes trading and transferring digital assets from one chain to another as simple as possible.

This month, the project is continuing its efforts to level the playing field for retail investors by pushing its platform further into the DeFi space with the launch of ZIG DAO. The project’s newest endeavour will unlock the power of its platform and community, extending the Web3 investment options that are available on its platform.

The Web3 investment options integrated into the DAO are digital asset investing without the constraint of centralized exchanges, NFTs, metaverse real estate, DeFi staking and LPs, and just about any other available investment that can be offered.

Expanding the Reach of Investors

The project’s latest offering, ZIG DAO, allows the company to extend its offering and provide a community-led and decentralized platform that will power the future of Web3 investments. The DAO will be developed around the project’s community, opening up access to more investment opportunities to ensure that everyone is able to have the opportunity to reach their own investment goals.

Bartolome R. Bordallo, CEO of Zignaly, elaborated on the value that the DAO will add: “We’ve spent five years providing the expert-managed social investing tools that help every user reach their crypto investment goals, and now it’s time to decentralize and expand. With the launch of ZIG DAO, we have extended our mission by introducing a truly decentralized organization that puts the power in the hands of the community. This enables the community to leverage the power of Zignaly while removing any chance of meddling or control from the exchanges or Zignaly.”

The newly-integrated DeFi features will enable new social exchanges of value between users, groups, and organizations. Here are just a few examples of what these features could make possible:

Self-Formed Hedge Funds – If you or your friend have more experience than the other in investing, you can create hedge funds together to share profits.

Decentralized Marketplaces – Access a curated decentralized marketplace with a range of expert traders, fund managers, and digital asset investors with transparent reputation stats and records to collaborate with in a passive investing model, where both sides are incentivized and share the profits.

Digital Asset & Web3 Investment Consulting – Experienced investors can offer their advice to the Zignaly community without marketing their services or having to create their own solution for managing the accounting of what belongs to who.

About Zignaly

Zignaly has become the world’s largest expert-managed social investing platform, assisting over 430,000 users in their operations. Thanks to the proven, vetted professional managers on the platform, digital asset investors have all the tools they need to achieve great returns without having to take on as much risk.

The platform now houses many of the top investors within the space. Expert investors can share their experiences and strategies to help guide the community through the platform, and the platform’s users can invest in these expert traders’ moves, thus allowing them to benefit from the profit-sharing model. The model connects regular digital asset investors with the world’s most successful, proven expert traders and fund managers to create a mutually beneficial profit-sharing model.

Speaking on the platform’s primary goals, Bordallo shared: “Our mission at Zignaly has always been about more than just broadening access to alternative assets – it’s about a passive income revolution for everyday investors. Rather than agonizing over every trade or consulting so-called ‘crypto influencers’ for help reading the tea leaves, Zignaly empowers everyone to profit off of the investment moves made by experts with transparent performance histories.”

However, Zignaly’s offering goes far beyond this model. Some of the platform’s offerings include staking vaults, IDO participation through ZIGPad, NFT raffles, and the revolutionary new Bridge solution they currently have in development. These offerings are made to open the door for investors who are looking for full-fledged portfolio management services, to ensure that everyone, regardless of background, is able to have access to expert-managed, passive investing tools and capabilities.

The Vietnam Blockchain Association has entered into strategic cooperation with the leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance for the growth of the nascent blockchain technology.

Vietnam, the land of the “Ascending Dragon,” has been an excellent market for promoting and applying blockchain technology. The country has been showing a keen interest in motivating research and development in this technological domain.

Earlier this month, both the entities announced their cooperation in the exchange of research/application of Blockchain Technology and Human Resource Training in Vietnam to promote the development of blockchain technology in the country and build a bridge with other significant technology corporations worldwide.

A Game-changing Partnership

The recent announcement has created ripples in the blockchain sector. After all, Binance is unarguably the world’s largest blockchain development technology corporation. This specific strategic partnership will be key to the growth and development of blockchain technology in Vietnam in the near future.

In the recent past, we have seen countries increasingly revising their jurisdictions to welcome cryptocurrency. Digital asset adoption is a reality that can’t be averted. Some countries are indecisive in legalizing it, but overall, there are increasing cases of adoption. Vietnam has been leading in this regard, opening to the limitless and robust crypto sector, bringing a host of possibilities.

“I think that clear and effective regulation is essential for blockchain to be applied in every corner of life, not just cryptocurrencies, DeFi, or NFT,” said CZ (Changpeng Zhao), CEO, and founder of Binance in a conversation with Huy Nguyen, co-founder of KardiaChain

The exchange is currently licensed to operate in Italy, France, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Bahrain.

CZ further ensured that Binance will always comply with the local laws in Vietnam as well and put users in focus which will help “Vietnamese users in particular and users worldwide believe that Binance’s platform is one of the most secure and reliable in the world.”

Digital Transformation

Blockchain technology can actually help bring the fourth industrial revolution to Vietnam. Mr. Ngo Duc Thang, Director of the Government Cipher Committee, has been very particular regarding the development of the crypto sector and has thus signed this strategic partnership.

“In the coming time, the Government will continue to facilitate, encourage and promote early businesses to proactively accelerate the digital transformation process in which blockchain technology is the mainstay,” said Duc Thang.

When it comes to employment generation, the crypto sector can be decisive, creating around 40 million jobs by 2030 around the world. It is also anticipated that 10-20% of the global infrastructure will ultimately rely on Blockchain Technology.

In the coming years, Vietnamese people will witness digital transactions through Blockchain promoted in many fields, including banking services, industrial production, energy, agriculture, healthcare, retail, and consumption. Overall, the entire public sector is expected to benefit from the direct applications of Blockchain Technology and drastically change many aspects of daily life and global business.

Promoting Blockchain Application

The Vietnam Blockchain Union was officially established a few months back under the Vietnam Digital Communication Association. Primarily, the sole purpose was to connect the Blockchain community in Vietnam and also assist in policy development issues and hand-holding in legal corridors.

It is the first legal entity to represent blockchain researchers, business owners, and consultants in the country.

At its Inaugural Ceremony in May 2022, the Association announced a series of Action Programs to promote blockchain technology’s application in a digital economy and leverage Vietnam’s position on the global technology map.

Its mission is to share insights and resources for in-depth research and application of Blockchain, develop products and services, conduct business in compliance with Vietnamese law, and attract investment to blockchain industry activities.

“Hopefully, the Association will utilize its resources for technology and science projects in blockchain so Vietnam can create outstanding products, become an active player in the global blockchain market, and nurture the industry talents for the future,” said Nguyen Van Tung – Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology at the ceremony.

There is no denying the fact that the future of digital communication will include Metaverse, Web 3.0, Artificial Intelligence, and Blockchain. The formation of the Blockchain Union has highlighted the motive of the Vietnamese Government to explore the usage of Blockchain in work processes, increasing productivity and promoting growth all along.

Various Vietnamese institutions are currently engaged in research and application of Blockchain in technology products and services. KardiaChain’s co-founders -Huy Nguyen and Tri Pham (also founder of Iron Sail), both hold positions in the VBA and are looking forward to connecting more organizations and individuals to the digital economy.

Binance Will Play a Pivotal Role

In this strategic partnership, the role of Binance is going to be pivotal. In no time, Binance has become the largest online exchange in the world in terms of the daily trading volume of cryptocurrencies. Binance also provides supporting services for users to earn interest and transact using cryptocurrencies.

Binance has multifaceted utilities. Binance Info, Binance Chain, Trust Wallet, Binance Research, Binance Academy, and Binance Launchpad are some of the exclusive branches it provides to crypto users and enthusiasts. It focuses on increasing the freedom of money globally. With such a rich core team and technical expertise, Binance has been a perfect fit for Vietnam, leading the country with a new vision and motivation in the crypto sector.

At present, every year, crypto users are growing at a rate of over 100%. This is much higher and way ahead of the adoption rate that the world of the internet witnessed in the 1990s and early 2000s. Even if this rate of cryptocurrency adoption slows down to 80%, cryptocurrency will still hit 1-billion users by 2024. Overall, Vietnam is indeed on the right track, leading other countries in the crypto world.

In this fast-paced growth, the Vietnam Blockchain Association will play an important role too. The Association is promoting personnel training and attracting international investment into Vietnam.

“In its role, the Association connects and gathers the Blockchain community in the country and a bridge to bring Vietnamese products to the world and attract more international resources to Vietnam,” said Phan Duc Trung, the Vice President of Vietnam Blockchain Association.

 
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Luxury brand Lacoste has joined the web3 ecosystem with the launch of UNDW3 – pronounced underwater. The company announced this forward-looking move through a press release. The UNDW3 universe will let the Lacoste community participate in furthering the brand’s fashion-sport vision.

According to the press release, UNDW3 allows Lacoste community members to own the brand in a creative way. In preparation for UNDW3’s launch, Lacoste rolled out its Discord server on June 6. The Discord channel will help keep each community member informed about developments in Lacoste’s web3 universe.

Eager to see what the Lacoste web3 ecosystem comprises, over 30,000 people subscribed to the Discord channel within the first 48 hours of its launch.

Lacoste plans to drop its first non-fungible token (NFT) collection on June 14. The collection will comprise 11,212 pieces, with each NFT going for 0.08 Ethereum (ETH), approximately $100-$120. The NFTs will feature unique images of the Lacoste crocodile emerging from the water.

The number of NFTs represents the iconic L1212 polo shirt, which Lacoste founder René Lacoste invented.

According to Catherine Spindler, Chief Brand Officer at Lacoste,

“UNDW3 attests to our desire to accompany the phenomenon of decentralization driven by Web3 and bears witness to our ambitions in this area as well as to the power of our brand: to bring together our communities and connect cultures around the crocodile, a true rallying sign throughout the world, by proposing an experiential, interactive and co-creative universe, in the image of Lacoste’s creativity and avant-gardism.”

The first step in a long journey

By holding the Lacoste NFTs, collectors will get access to the brand’s web3 universe – a long-term collaborative community. Additionally, collectors will be able to access a pioneering ecosystem as well as digital and physical benefits in the Lacoste world.

With its foray into the web3 ecosystem, Lacoste demonstrates its mission to connect various communities and cultures. Specifically, the initiative seeks to bring together NFTs, Lacoste fans, and pop culture enthusiasts. It is worth noting that UNDW3 is Lacoste’s initial step into the web3 ecosystem.

Through UNDW3, Lacoste has become the latest fashion brand to join the emerging web3 ecosystem. In the past, brands like Gucci, Philipp Plein, and Louis Vuitton launched NFTs, signaling a growing web3 interest among fashion houses.

Image by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay

With a market value of over $40 billion, the NFT industry is among the fastest-growing sectors in the world. The industry started with digital artists selling standalone pieces of their art, and today it has grown into an industry swarming with thousands of projects that have the potential to transform the world’s major industries.

In a few short years, the NFT market entered a neck-to-neck competition with the global art industry and is on its way to disrupting the gaming, fashion, global supply chain, and metaverse sectors. Even in the realm of finance, financial NFTs are finding creative ways to solve some of the most pressing problems of digital assets.

NFTs are now entering and disrupting the $34 trillion global real estate market. With the ability to represent unique ownership and allow immediate transfers, NFTs in real estate are transforming real estate transactions into an open market for worldwide and instantaneous transactions. In this regard, LiquidEarth, is creating the first-of-its-kind real-estate NFT marketplace and peer-to-peer lending platform.

How NFTs Transform Real-Estate

NFTs are the by-products of blockchain technology, similar to cryptocurrencies, but what makes them unique is their non-fungibility. On Ethereum, NFTs follow the ERC-721 standard and are minted through smart contracts. These smart contracts assign a unique hash code to each NFT that acts as an identifier and cannot be replicated.

NFTs can have only one owner at any given time and the hash code makes it possible to trace the owner at all times. It’s these features that are utilized in the LiquidEarth real estate NFT marketplace.

LiquidEarth is a platform that tokenizes real-world assets as unique tradable NFTs that represent true ownership of the property, and up to date appraisal value. The platform is among the first in the industry to integrate real estate with NFTs to enable seamless buyer-seller interactions. This integration digitizes property ownership which retains all the legal rights and protections offered by traditional ownership. The issued NFT can then be redeemed for the actual deed and other closing documents of the underlying property.

Platform users can buy and sell property instantly using a range of cryptocurrencies including USDC, Ethereum, Algorand, Avalanche, and others. This means the whole process of buying and selling property becomes simpler and faster. Moreover, purchasers who were previously confined to buying real estate within their geographical area can now easily purchase properties across the globe. LiquidEarth has a goal of bringing in over $100 billion into the crypto markets through real-estate NFTs.

Over time, buying and selling property in the form of NFTs is also more affordable and sustainable to buyers and sellers. LiquidEarth users can save up to 4% of the property’s value while purchasing it as an NFT.

To prevent property theft, loss, or fraud, there are multiple security measures in place in the marketplace including KYC/AML, and a clawback mechanism to return the NFT to the true owner.

LiquidEarth is rolling out some innovative features this year. Users will get access to the first-ever real-estate backed NFT leverage platform that allows them to borrow against their NFT or their crypto holdings to buy NFT properties on the marketplace. The company will also introduce staking economics to encourage users to stake their NFTs and earn tokens. Users will be able to sell or trade their NFTs while they are still staked on the platform and accruing value.

LiquidEarth is the first of its kind in the real-estate industry and can prove to be the next step in the evolution of the world’s biggest asset class.

Market Integration

At over $325 trillion, the value of real estate assets across the globe have not been integrated with the crypto industry. With the introduction of NFTs, one of the most valuable and stable asset classes is poised for a complete change of course. Companies like LiquidEarth are opening new dimensions altogether in the real estate market by integrating with the crypto market.

By allowing seamless interaction between buyers and sellers, the project aims to change the very makeup of real estate by bringing in new participants via instantaneous real estate transactions. These innovative assets will create new opportunities and a level playing field where buyers, sellers, and agents can buy and sell properties with ease.

Image by Sebastian Wagner from Pixabay

It’s no secret that art museums have seen better days. As far back as 2001, attendance at U.S. museums was already in stagnation, and the trend has only continued to deteriorate in the years since. In 2016, total visitors to art museums across Britain’s leading museums and galleries fell to just under 50 million—a 20 percent drop from the peak of 63 million in 1992.

In the wake of covid-19 restrictions, the world’s busiest art museums saw the most significant drop set at 77%, from 203 million worldwide in 2019 to a paltry 54 million in 2020.

And it’s not just attendance that’s down. Funding for arts and culture has been in decline for years, as government support has dwindled and private donors have shifted their philanthropic priorities.

In the U.S., federal funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has declined by more than 60 percent since its peak in 1992. State arts funding has also fallen sharply, down 27 percent since 2008. As a result, many museums have been forced to make cutbacks, from reducing staff and programming to scaling back exhibitions and even selling off artworks from their collections.

The situation is even direr in other parts of the world. In the United Kingdom, government arts funding was slashed by 30 percent between 2010 and 2015. And in Australia, arts funding has been cut by more than $10 million.

These trends have put immense pressure on museums to find new sources of revenue. But in a time of declining attendance and diminishing government support, that’s easier said than done.

A Rising Tide of NFT-Based ART

Meanwhile, the NFT market has seen explosive growth in recent months, with the total value of NFTs sold rising from just over $12 million early in 2020 to more than $80 million by the end of 2020. And in 2021, the market continued to accelerate, with more than $5 billion worth of NFTs sold in the first two months of the year.

According to reports, while the NFT market has cooled off over the past few months, trading NFTs spiked over 200 times at the end of 2021 to more than $17 billion.

One sector that has been quick to cash in on the NFT hype is the art world, as auction houses sold NFTs representing simple artworks for millions of dollars with no exchange of any physical objects. Online-only auction houses have conquered the world of NFT art, with examples including Christie’s sale of Beeple’s NFT artwork for $69 million, making it the most expensive digital work ever sold.

The growing popularity of NFTs has also led to a new breed of crypto art platforms specifically designed for trading NFTs. These platforms include Rarible, OpenSea, and SuperRare, which have all seen a surge in activity.

The Solution: MIDA’s Token Economy

One of the critical advantages of NFTs is that they can be easily traded and sold online without the need for a central authority, such as an art gallery or auction house. This has led to the rise of a new breed of online-only art markets that are specifically designed for trading NFTs. Art institutions and museums can borrow a leaf from the digital art world and establish their foothold in this emerging digital economy by creating their own NFTs and increasing their sources of revenue.

MIDA is one such platform that is designed with the best tools to connect these art institutions and museums with the safest and most efficient digitization methods.

MIDA is a decentralized web3 company that works with European Art Institutions to bring a new revenue stream to art museums through its token economy. Thanks to MIDA, art museums can mint unique  NFTs out of authenticated art pieces, creating a parallel metaverse-ready art market.

Using $MIDA (the platform’s utility token), users can help fund museums and art institutions that suffer from a lack of funding and even give creators and emerging artists better visibility.

MIDA ($MIDA) Tokenomics

With a total supply of 100 million $MIDA tokens, a whopping 20% is allocated for the platform’s development, showing how the team behind MIDA is highly committed to the project’s success.

The tokenomics is also fair, with an 18% allocation to the platform’s liquidity pool.

Users will be able to earn an APY by participating in liquidity farming with $MIDA, where major liquidity providers will be rewarded with airdrops of exclusive NFT artworks from emerging creators.

In addition, the platform comes with a social token called STENDHAL(SDH) that is used to show appreciation on creators’  NFTs on the social layer of MIDA. While SDH doesn’t have any economic value, it will help buyers gauge the popularity of the NFTs and measure engagement.

Conclusion

The NFT market is still in its infancy, and there is a lot of speculation as to whether the current prices are sustainable in the long run. However, what is certain is that the way we trade and consume art is changing, and Art institutions need to adapt to this new digital economy.

MIDA provides the perfect solution for art museums and institutions to mint NFTs and creates a new revenue stream for an already existing market.

Given the advantages that MIDA offers and the world renowned masterpieces involved, the team behind the project aim to see widespread adoption with an outlook of a full token release schedule spread out into the next 48 months.

The Into The Cryptoverse US Report by KuCoin — a global cryptocurrency exchange — revealed striking statistics regarding the positive dynamics of blockchain and digital currency adoption in the United States. Findings show that adults and younger generation users are leading the integration of cryptocurrencies into daily financial operations, the report indicates.

The survey provides important data related to US user investment sentiment, which has added up to 5% of new adults to the industry compared to the fourth quarter of 2021. Over 8 million new users have entered decentralized space, constituting a total of 50 million users across the US, or as much as 27% of adults aged 18-60. The figures indicate that such a number of users have traded cryptocurrencies in the past six months or are intending to do so.

Demographic shifts have also been identified, as up to 35% of investors are women as of the first quarter of 2022, a 5% increase over a quarter. During the same period, as much as 47% of female investors were surveyed, which is still 17% lower than male users.

Overall interest in cryptocurrencies is also on the rise in the United States. A total of 59% of those surveyed stated that they are willing to increase their investments, largely due to the narrowing generation gap, which has seen a 7% increase in 42–50-year-old users.

The growing yields of digital currencies are largely at play in such increases, as the share of users earning in excess of $100,000 a year has grown by as much as 7%. The growing degree of crypto education is a contributing factor, as evidenced by the survey, which revealed that up to 58% of crypto investors were familiar with digital assets by the first quarter of 2021, with up to 71% of young users claiming to receive information from social media.

Investors in the United States are turning to digital currencies as a means of improving their quality of life and earning potential, as evidenced by 37% of respondents. Millennials, Generations Z and X are among the leaders of such opinions. As many as 48% of US crypto investors consider cryptocurrencies to be “the future of finance,” which is the top reason to invest across all age groups.

The growing number of users entering decentralized space is being determined by diminishing incomes and increased popularization of digital currencies through social media and online educational efforts. The KuCoin Into The Cryptoverse US Report is an important source of statistical data on blockchain penetration, which is in line with earlier releases related to Germany, Africa and Brazil.

In the 2021 bull run, cryptocurrencies that played on the dog theme dominated the market. It all started on April 2nd, when Elon Musk tweeted “Dogecoin might be my fav cryptocurrency. It’s pretty cool.” In the weeks that followed, Dogecoin – cryptocurrency’s original meme – skyrocketed from a meager $0.05 to a high of $0.75 on May 7th. That means a DOGE holder who had $100 of Dogecoin on April 2nd would have had $1500 less than a month later.

With the Tesla CEO incorporating DOGE into its accepted payments for merchandise sales and supercharging stations and suggesting that people who subscribe to Twitter Blue should be able to pay with Dogecoin, DOGE itself (approximately $0.08 at the time of writing) still has massive upside potential. But many feel as though they’ve missed out on the asset’s heyday. They’re looking for the next 10,000x that only comes from early adoption. These five dog-themed coins have the potential to do just that.

1. Baby Doge ($BABYDOGE) is a deflationary token designed to become more scarce over time. They charge a 5% fee for each sale of the asset and redistribute that fee to Baby Doge Coin holders – meaning the longer you hold, the more you can earn. It’s worth noting that Musk himself tweeted about Baby Doge on July 1st 2021. Currently, Baby Doge sits at $263 million market cap.
2. Dogelon Mars ($ELON) is a dog-themed project that seeks to outpace Dogecoin’s success. As the website says, “I am Dogelon. Dogelon Mars. Join me and together we will reach the stars.” The page refers to Musk’s vision of colonizing Mars – though the controversial billionaire has yet to mention the asset. ELON is currently ranked #126 on CoinMarketCap with a market cap of $267 million.
3. Mini Doge ($MINIDOGE) started as a deflationary meme coin, but it’s since evolved into a Web 3 ecosystem complete with a play-to-earn adventure game that allows holders to earn NFTs and more tokens as they go. Mini Doge has a market cap of only $2.3 million.
4. Pulse Doge Win ($PULSEDOGE) is a community meme token that was built on Binance Smart Chain with the intent of bringing adoption to PulseChain – a new layer 1 blockchain set to launch later this year. The website claims that those who hold PulseDoge on BSC at the time of PulseChain’s launch will receive an equal 1:1 airdrop on PulseChain. This means that if you buy the token now, you’ll get double for your money. PulseDoge has a $7.5 million market cap.
5. Dogechain ($DC) is an up-and-coming layer-1 blockchain designed to give DOGE more DeFi utility. For a limited amount of time, $DOGE holders will be able to freeclaim $DC tokens when they bridge their DOGE over from centralized exchanges or other chains. Staking bridged $DOGE will yield $DC tokens over time, while staking $DC will allow users to earn yield, prizes, rewards, and voting rights on the Doge DAO. This means that buying $DOGE now could yield exponential gains when $DC launches. Additionally, the DogeChain team has been conducting a grand-a-day giveaway for the entire month of May. There are still a few days left to get involved.

2021’s epic bull run is over, but there will be another bull market, and people love their dogs. Dog-themed projects will continue to dominate the memecoin space for the foreseeable future. Will you 1,000x?

Taki, a blockchain-based social media platform that rewards users for their engagement with quality content, has announced a milestone of reaching approximately 600K users on the product waitlist.

With the IEO launch of the $TAKI token, TAKI DAO raised $360K USD from individuals around the world. This, along with the fact that trading started at 10x the IEO-price of $0.04, is a strong indicator of community excitement. Trading volume peaked at $58M before settling down with three exchanges adding the token by the IEO day’s end.

Earlier this month, Taki raised $3.45MM USD through 11 marquee global web3 investors, including Solana Ventures, CoinDCX, OKX Blockdream Ventures, Alameda Research, Formless Capital, Gemini Frontier Fund, and Coinbase Ventures.

While expressing excitement over the achieved milestones, Taki’s co-founder Sakina Arsiwala said, “Taki wants to empower creators and give them a platform to bring forward their content and earn an income. With this IEO launch, users can better  understand our vision and gain more confidence in Taki’s future growth.”

The success of Taki’s IEO is a testament to the growing interest in cryptocurrency and blockchain in India.

What is Taki?

Taki’s rapid growth and adoption can be attributed to its unique value proposition, which is to establish a first-of-its-kind engage-to-earn crypto economy.

Users can engage with their favorite content creators, create their own content, and earn TAKI tokens along the way.

Taki was founded to be easily accessible and serve as a gateway into Web3 while addressing the fast-growing demand for alternative social media engagement channels, especially given the rise of censorship across centralized social media platforms.

With Taki, users not only have the freedom to engage with the content they love, but they also get cryptocurrency rewards for producing their own content.

Powered by the RLY protocol and built on Solana’s blockchain, Taki can get accessed through a mobile app that is capable of some of the fastest transaction throughputs in Web3.

Taking into account the interest shown by the over 600,000 users on its waitlist, Taki is already proving to be more than just an alternative, but a next-generation social media platform for all.

According to the platform’s co-founder Arsiwala, “The platform is designed in a way that anyone can use it, even those who are not well versed with crypto. This is where the $TAKI token will play its charm.”

Arsiwala added that, “With $TAKI token, creators, users, and crypto-enthusiasts will be able to monetize their engagement and content on the platform.”

Moving towards web3 Social Media

Over the years, there has been a growing shift towards decentralization as users become more aware of the benefits of web3 applications. At its core, web3 products such as Taki enable users to both have more control over the content they produce and also get rewarded for engagement.

This is in stark contrast to the current web2 social media landscape, which is dominated by a handful of centralized platforms that have been known to censor content and throttle user growth.

The Taki team believes that now is the time for a shift in how social media platforms operate.

Taki is governed by a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization), which ensures that decisions are made swiftly and in a decentralized manner. This decreases the chances of centralized censorship taking place.

According to the team, creators will see their content distributed across multiple platforms instantly, with rewards going directly into their wallets within minutes.

As noted by Arsiwala, “Taki wants to empower creators and give them a platform to bring forward their content and earn an income.”

Conclusion

Despite regulatory uncertainty concerning crypto by the Indian government, the Indian population remains one of the most crypto-savvy demographics in crypto and blockchain worldwide.

After the ICO boom of 2017, India’s government has refrained from terming crypto as legal. Even so, the country has moved forward to introduce a 30% tax on cryptocurrency transactions, which could be a sign of good things to come for the overall crypto community in India.

Given the growing demand for web3 applications in the country, Taki is progressing on its mission to be a gateway for crypto-enthusiasts in India and around the world.

In late March, Ronin bridge, an Ethereum sidechain built for the widely popular play-to-earn (P2E) NFT game Axie Infinity to handle surging demand from gamers, was hacked for over 173,600 Ether (ETH) and 25.5 million USD — a combined value of over $600 million.

The company’s official report regarding the hack noted that the hackers managed to get access to validator nodes, which resulted in the compromise of five validator nodes, a threshold also required to approve a transaction.

Currently, the Ronin chain consists of nine validator nodes, and the hacker managed to get access to four of them and a third-party validator run by Axie DAO. This Axie DAO node was the root cause of the exploit last year. The DAO gave its access to Sky Mavis, the developers behind the game to sign off on transactions on its behalf. Because the access was never revoked, hackers leveraged it to their benefit by turning it into backdoor access, leading to a multi-million dollar hack.

In the aftermath of the exploit, the Ronin bridge was closed, and all the deposits and withdrawals were halted for investigation purposes.

In response to the hack, Axie Infinity co-founder and COO Aleksander Leonard Larsen said at the time that they would be adding several new validators to the Ronin Network to decentralize the network further. The game developers also promised to increase the number of validator nodes from nine to 21 in the future.

The Inevitable Future

In the end, Sky Mavis managed to raise $150 million from crypto exchange Binance and other investors to reimburse the affected users.

But not every project can afford to bail out its users, and according to data from Dune Analytics, funds worth more than $21 billion are locked on Ethereum bridges.

Moreover, bridge hacks are becoming quite common in the cryptocurrency industry. Data from Chain Analysis suggests weakness in bridges has led to more than $1 billion stolen in cryptocurrency over a year across seven different incidents.

While many believe bridges are the single most significant potential point of failure in crypto, others say that’s not true. “Bridges are an incredibly critical piece of infrastructure at this point,” Kanav Kariya, president of Jump Crypto, said in an interview after the $300 million hack of Wormhole bridge. “We are strongly moving toward a multi-chain world.”

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has warned that bridges have “fundamental security limits,” although he is optimistic about a “multi-chain blockchain future.” Meanwhile, popular commentator “ChainLinkGod” has asserted that “the implementation and adoption of cross-chain smart contracts and token bridges are inevitable,” and “given that it’s going to happen regardless, the goal shouldn’t be to avoid cross-chain, but have protections in place.”

A Decentralized, Non-custodial Bridge

This is why DotOracle, the first decentralized, non-custodial liquidity bridge on the Casper Network is more secure. After all,  the more decentralized a blockchain bridge, the more secure it is.

To ensure the decentralization and security of the bridge, the DotOracle bridge will have about 15 validator nodes which will be further increased in phase 2 after the mainnet version becomes stable.

DotOracle is a decentralized network of independent nodes designed to be censorship-resistant. It can continue providing its service as long as two-thirds of the network nodes are online.

The project is primarily building a decentralized oracle and cross-chain liquidity network (bridge) on the Casper Network, the future-proof, proof-of-stake blockchain built off the Casper CBC specification.

Casper is designed to fast-track enterprise and developer adoption of blockchain technology today and to meet user needs in the future.

Transferring Assets Securely

DotOracle offers fast asset transfer confirmation with a highly secure distributed consensus protocol PBFT. Meanwhile, the non-custodial service is provided through the Elliptic Curve (EC) Multisignature scheme, which means users have complete control over their assets during the transfer.

Another feature of DotOracle is bonded network with slashing, meaning any nodes must deposit an amount of DTO token to the DotOracle smart contracts. A violation of the mechanism leads to the burning of the token deposit, which discourages validator misbehavior.

This robust penalty slashing mechanism is implemented to incentivize every node to follow the protocol to be rewarded in DTOs by providing proper service to users.

DTO is a governance token with a total supply of 100 million. Validators are rewarded in DTO for providing the service to DotOracle. Anyone can operate a node, but to become a validator node, one must deposit a minimum of 500,000 DTO to DotOracle smart contracts.

Recently, DotOracle launched the testnet of its multi-chain bridge that aims to transfer digital assets back and forth between different blockchains in a fast, decentralized, secure way.

This coming quarter, the team will launch its mainnet that will allow you to transfer assets between all the chains supported by DotOracle Network, including Casper Network, MoonBeam Polkadot, Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Polygon, Fantom, Avalanche, Tomochain.

These days it seems that everybody and their mother is either launching an NFT project or aping into one. Many well-known artists are getting wealthy off of their collections and sewer traders. NFT art is a very community-driven, and creative pursuit.

With so many different collections taking off, wouldn’t it be cool if you could have your image and likeness represented in the most exciting revolution since the beginnings of the Internet?

Onliners Metaverse allows you to do just that with the platform designed to allow you to turn yourself into an NFT.

Why Onliners Metaverse Is a Total Game-Changer for Collectors and Enthusiasts Wishing to Be Immortalized in Digital Art Form

For decades if not centuries, the prevailing view of life as a creator is that of a starving artist. One who only creates art for the sake of self-expression and storytelling. Some of the world’s most renowned artists only make money off of their work posthumously. That is to say, their artwork only goes up in value once they pass away. Pablo Picasso was famously broke for nearly his whole career as a living artist.

Thanks to the Web 3.0 revolution, however, NFTs are doing away with the idea of being a starving artist. Just to put it in perspective, over 250,000 people trade NFTs on OpenSea, the industry’s leading marketplace. That’s not counting other competing marketplaces like LooksRare or Immutable X.

Perhaps 250,000 active users don’t seem like a lot when considering that traditional marketplaces like eBay see millions of users each month. The truth is however the popularity of NFTs is exploding. Just in the third quarter of last year alone, the NFT market reached an overall value of close to $11 billion.

Onliners Metaverse’s Unique Features Are Going to Make the Project One-Of-A-Kind

Onliners Metaverse’s goal is to take the personalization of your image and likeness to a whole new level.

The initial release features different attributes you can attach to your NFT with customization options. You’ll be able to go through a wide variety of digital characters that will help you come up with your own avatar.

The collection itself will include no fewer than 8,000 pieces available for minting.

Traits inherent in digital assets, artists, gamers, students, businesses, music, events, developers and all other walks of life will be included in the collection.

The Five Stages of the Onliners Metaverse Roadmap

If you have any experience operating the NFT world, you probably understand the importance of community and how it drives the success of a project. That’s why Onliners Metaverse’s roadmap considers building the community the first stage. Here are all five stages:

• The Onliners Community
• Onliners Treasure Vault
• Onliners Season 2
• Onliners Charity

Let’s go over the remaining four stages.

Onliners Treasure Vault

The treasure vault holds onto 15% of the royalties collected through different plans offered to provide the community with even more support. The vault will allow the project to initiate giveaways that get more people involved as the price increases in the NFTs might make users feel like they can’t be a part of the community. Onliners doesn’t want that.

Onliners Merchandise

Offering merchandise to the community is a popular way to expand the brand presence of an NFT project. Bored Ape Yacht Club does it and so do many others. In this case, the community gets to be a part of extending Onliners’ branding. They get to vote on the merchandise that gets manufactured and sold to enthusiasts.

Onliners Season 2

The second season of Onliners features animations and varying traits made in the likeness of users. First dibs go to long-time community members or those who hold bigger bags of tokens.

Onliners Charity Initiatives

Many NFT projects promise to support worthy causes. Onliners wants to give back to those in need through well-known NGOs, providing computers and learning tools to those underserved individuals. The goal is to donate a minim of $50,000 as the project continues to achieve its milestones.

Onliners Charity

As the project progresses, they want to give back to those in need. The Onliners Team will donate $50,000 to known NGOs to allow those in less fortunate countries to purchase necessities like learning tools and computers.

Mangata Finance, the Polkadot-based DEX, is all set for launch on June 6th.

Recently, it had a successful crowdloan that was closed in just under an hour that secured it a slot on Polkadot’s innovation network Kusama. Over $2 million in value was bonded through the crowdloan, a process of staking Polkadot (DOT) tokens to support a specific project in the Polkadot Slot Auction, in return for which participants receive rewards from the projects.

The project also raised $4.2 million in equity, which came shortly after the launch of its first blockchain on the Kusama network, which raised the Polkadot startup’s valuation to $60 million. New investors including Signum Capital, IVC, Figment, ZMT Capital, AngelDAO, and Paribu Ventures joined the returning investors Altonomy, Polychain, and TRGC in this strategic round.

“Altonomy believes in Mangata’s efforts around connecting major blockchains, improving security for traders, and helping reduce fees by eliminating gas from the equation, which is why we returned for a second round of funding,” said Altonomy Director Ricky Li.

Olaf Carlson-Wee, the founder and CEO of investment firm Polychain Capital, was actually the first one to fund Mangata’s vision of efficient DEXes without MEV.

Leveraging Polkadot Interoperability

The Slovakia-based Mangata is both a blockchain and DEX that will be connected as a parachain in the Polkadot ecosystem. By choosing Polkadot for its multi-purpose DEX, Mangata wants to leverage the key value proposition of Polkadot, which is interoperability.

Polkadot is a layer 1 blockchain network designed to support various interconnected, application-specific chains called parachains. Each chain built within its network uses the Substrate modular framework of Parity Technologies, allowing developers to select specific components that suit their chain the best and optimize their chains for specific use-cases

This entire ecosystem of parachains plugs into a single base platform called Relay Chain. This base platform is responsible for providing security to the network’s parachains and contains Polkadot’s consensus and voting logic.

Mangata is a one-stop-shop for easy and secure trading of Polkadot (DOT) assets while serving as a bridge between Ethereum and Polkadot so that assets can be seamlessly migrated on-demand between the two ecosystems.

It is actually the first parachain to build a specialized ETH <> Polkadot trading UI. Besides connecting these two significant blockchains, Magnata connects other popular layer 1 blockchains; Cosmos, Solana, and Avalanche.

Novel Proof of Liquidity Mechanism

Founded in 2020 by Peter Kris, who previously founded European web3 studio Block Unison, and CTO Gleb Urvanov, a computer scientist, Mangata aims to solve some of the biggest problems in terms of insider trading and institutional adoption that DeFi and the crypto market faces at large. Other barriers to mainstream DEX adoption involve complex structure, price oracle manipulation, and flash loan attacks.

With a team of 14 people, which includes software engineers, product designers, blockchain experts, and business strategists, Mangata believes it is uniquely positioned to deliver on its goal of eliminating these problems.

To advance the adoption of DeFi and crypto, Mangata will be using its funding to offer low fixed fees per operation, capital efficiency via on-chain limit orders, and MEV prevention while providing the first UI to trade ERC20 tokens with native Polkadot assets.

This community-driven DEX is secured through its unique Proof of Liquidity mechanism, which reuses liquidity to ensure chain security. This helps create deeper liquidity pools, increases capital efficiency, and allows stakers to be rewarded twice.

“Mangata’s unique Proof-of-Liquidity mechanism raises the bar on chain security and staking rewards, and our no-gas economy does away with slow, expensive settlements rampant on other blockchains. This latest round of funding will enable us to continue our mission to create a better crypto market for everybody within the Polkadot ecosystem and beyond,” said CEO Kris.

Moreover, the project deliberately does not support smart contracts, self-executing contracts directly written into lines of code, to further shield itself from exploitation by malicious actors or bots.

The first production-ready Layer-1 DEX blockchain also prevents dominant forms of price manipulation and maximal extractable value (MEV). While other blockchains are vulnerable to frontrunning bots, Mangata DEX stops them on the consensus layer with a new block production method, Themis architecture, which makes frontrunning next to impossible.

On top of all these benefits, Mangata’s design eliminates gas from the swaps equation entirely, while other blockchains like Ethereum charge extremely high gas fees, pricing out small users. This allows for faster settlements at no additional cost, as well as new strategies like dollar-cost averaging.

Algorithmic buy & Burn

The way the DEX is designed ensures fixed fees while providing greater control over trading costs and increased opportunities for arbitrage.

Besides addressing the limitations of DeFi, Mangata has also implemented a novel algorithmic buy and burn mechanism that will reflect the protocol’s success in the price of its native token MGX.

The way this mechanism works is 0.05% of the 0.3% commission charged by Mangata X will be used for this algorithmic buy and burn. Meanwhile, 0.2% will go to liquidity providers as LP fees and 0.05% to the Treasury.

MGX is hard-capped at 4 billion, and right at the launch, 1 billion MGX will be released to allow for deep liquidity. Eighty percent of MGX tokens’ supply will actually be distributed to the community, out of which 30% is set aside for validation rewards, and 37.5% is for LP rewards.

Now, ahead of its launch, Mangata is partnering with other DeFi protocols like Acala, Oak Network, Bifrost and Moonriver as it moves forward to make the cross-chain future happen and allow tokens to flow freely from one blockchain to the other.

All in all, Magnata aims to create a high-quality trading system that facilitates community access to early-stage Polkadot projects.

The metaverse isn’t merely tech jargon. It’s a whole new virtual reality, evolving rapidly to change lives and industries. Beginning as a sci-fi fantasy two decades ago, the metaverse has now become intertwined with modern life. The estimations of it being a $1 trillion revenue opportunity is thus no surprise. The excitement also gripped corporates recently, with the Facebook rebranding to Meta and launching metaverse-focused initiatives in 2021.

But above all, the metaverse is Web3’s poster child. It’s critical to the internet’s new era, leveraging technologies like blockchain, crypto, NFTs, and DAOs. Thus, quite naturally, its scope is expanding across domains. The sports sector, in particular, is witnessing a dramatic upheaval, with significant sporting events going virtual. Even VR-based sports gaming is quickly becoming a popular pastime among sports enthusiasts.

Many projects have already launched their NFT-based sports game. One such GameFi protocol is TopGoal. It’s a football fantasy metaverse with a built-in digital marketplace for fans to access official NFT-collectibles of their favorite players, clubs, and moments.

TopGoal’s association with Binance, football institutions, and world-famous players has made it a reputed metaverse project recently. And now, it has announced a strategic partnership with the Kakao-powered public blockchain, Klaytn, to expand its sports gaming ecosystem. Exploring the Asian Crypto Land

TopGoal’s collaboration with Klaytn explores cooperation opportunities in the football industry, leveraging the network’s strong influence across Asia, particularly in South Korea. Klaytn is the dominant blockchain in Korea, facilitating the Bank of Korea’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) initiative. Moreover, the platform is well-known for connecting with the nifty app, KakaoTalk, via its crypto wallet, Klip.

Klaytn adopted a bullish stance towards the metaverse, tailoring its solutions for metaverse-oriented use-cases. These include AAA-grade Play-to-Earn games, NFTs, and additional DeFi services. The platform is well-positioned to thrive in this space, given its governance council members’ expertise in blockchain, social networks, digital assets, gaming, and entertainment.

TopGoal and Klaytn jointly envision a framework to introduce a new dimension to the sports metaverse. The mission is to serve a prolific crypto market with friendly policies, high penetration, and entrepreneurship clusters, hoping to address a wider audience.

The partnership will involve launching co-branded Korean sports players certified IPs as Klaytn-based TopGoal NFT cards on OpenSea. Upcoming NFTs will, in turn, introduce novel utilities for Klaytn users through TopGoal metaverse.

Its extensive expertise in sports gaming, along with Klaytn’s clout throughout Asia, will open a door of opportunities for sports lovers.

Towards a Collaborative Web3 Ecosystem

The metaverse enables a plethora of new possibilities. While sports gaming is one application of this virtual environment, many others are up for exploration in the near future.

Besides prolific innovators, we are witnessing a steady rise in collaborative enterprises like the one involving TopGoal and Klaytn. The continuation of such trends is key to boosting mainstream adoption of the metaverse. And that will ultimately strengthen the foundation of Web3. A better world is thus around the corner.

Image: Pixabay

Asia Broadband, Inc. (OTC:AABB) is a resource company centered around the production, supply, and sale of metals, focusing primarily on Asian markets. They acquire highly prospective gold projects in Latin America and then distribute production throughout their extensive global sales network.

Asia Broadband currently holds over $100 million in assets, a 500% increase from last year. The company is trading in consolidation mode and reached new highs in February, leading to the year-to-date stock being up over 1,500%.

Recently, the company announced it had received $2.8 million. The source of their new capital came from four directors of Asia Broadband for the purchase of preferred shares.

The 28 million non-convertible, preferred shares were issued at $0.10 per share with each share, with 100 voting rights and equal participation with common shares for all future dividends.

Asia Broadband President and CEO Chris Torres purchased $2.4 million of the total preferred share issuance, stating: “Our entire management team is committed to the company’s growth and profitability and we have emphatically demonstrated this with a substantial long-term investment to fuel the expansion of our gold production and digital asset divisions. Our focus and determination to succeed in every area of the company’s business has intensified now with our capital contribution.”

All capital received will be distributed among Asia Broadband’s capital expansion programs.

On top of their dealing with metals, Asia Broadband also has multiple digital asset sectors, including a digital asset wallet and a gold pegged digital asset.

AABB Wallet

Last year, Asia Broadband launched its own digital asset wallet called the AABB Wallet. The wallet was designed to keep your digital assets secure and your data private. The AABB Wallet collects no data, and every transaction made through them is entirely invisible to third parties.

The AABB Wallet is open to trades and purchases for those looking to transfer AABB Gold tokens (AABBG) to other AABB Wallet users. This is done to increase AABB Gold token circulation and generate revenue to support and stabilize the token price once AABBG is openly tradable.

The wallet has many stand-out features that make it a unique option amongst other digital asset wallets. This includes instantly sending and receiving digital assets with no deposit fees and low transaction fees. The iTransfer feature allows users to securely send AABB Gold and other digital assets via email, text, social media, and more.

The wallet will also be releasing a Merchant API feature which will allow B2B and B2C transactions to be made using the AABB Wallet. This feature will allow merchants to establish loyalty programs while also letting customers earn cashback.

Finally, Asia Broadband is developing an online digital asset payment processing solution allowing businesses to accept global digital assets from their site.

AABB Gold

The previously mentioned AABB Gold is Asia Broadband’s digital asset and is backed by physical gold. Being pegged with gold allows the asset to benefit from both gold and digital asset features, ensuring it will maintain the potential for price appreciation from both markets.

While AABB Gold is a traditional digital asset, it has the qualities of a stablecoin. The token’s price is supported at a minimum of 0.1 grams spot price of gold and is backed by $30 million in physical gold.

AABB Gold’s most unique aspect that sets it apart from other digital assets is its vertical integration of Mine-to-Token gold-backing. Asia Broadband holds physical gold assets to entirely back the token from the mining production segment of the company.

As the company progresses, it will continue to optimize its capital utilization by implementing its mining production and acquisition strategy in regions of Mexico. Also, the company’s digital asset divisions like the AABB Gold token, AABB Wallet, AABB Exchange and NFTs will continue expanding and developing at an accelerated rate as time progresses.

The gaming industry is diverse and ever-increasing, and recent developments prove that this also applies to blockchain-powered gaming. As the latest estimates suggest, the number of crypto wallets related to gaming witnessed an astounding increase from 29,563 at the start of 2021 to a whopping 754,000 in the third quarter of 2021. With this impressive growth rate, it is no surprise that savvy crypto investors have started to focus on the next big thing in the crypto market: play to earn gaming.

Axie Infinity, for example, touched an astonishing market cap of $7.8 billion, which some experts believe led to a frenzy for P2E games. Other P2E games, such as The Sandbox, saw an upsurge in activity, reaching millions of users globally. So far, most of these popular P2E titles are based on the gold standard of smart contracts, Ethereum.

However, similarly to the DeFi space, users and investors alike have started to voice their concerns about Ethereum’s limitations, namely scalability and high transaction fees. To tackle these issues, P2E game developers turned their attention to Ethereum alternatives that can truly support the growth of this nascent industry.

Boasting a multi-billion dollar market capitalization, Algorand ($ALGO) is undoubtedly among the most prominent Ethereum challengers in 2022. Since its launch in 2019, the ecosystem has seen plenty of migrations from both existing and new projects – including various P2E developers. Thus, without further ado, let’s take a look at everything Algorand has to offer to the P2E industry right now.

Why choose Algorand over Ethereum?

Algorand fans often describe the blockchain as one of the world’s most decentralized, scalable, and secure DLT infrastructures. It has a vast ecosystem of projects, including cutting-edge NFT marketplaces, some of the leading crypto tools and resources available in the market, and projects that are trending in the DeFi economy.

Technologically, Algorand comes with all the Layer-1 features and capabilities that crypto enthusiasts know since Ethereum – including its smart contracts, Algorand Virtual Machine (AVM), atomic transfers, and rekeying features. Among its most stand-out features is the AVM.

What AVM brings to smart contracts is that it interprets TEAL (Transaction Execution Approval Language) programs, consisting of a set of opcodes, to implement the logic of Smart Contracts and Smart Signatures. In a nutshell, it makes the process more scalable, fast and secure, less risky, low-cost, and fast. And with a block time of fewer than five seconds and a transaction fee of less than $0.0013, Algorand is currently among the most efficient Layer 1 solutions on the market.

The atomic transfer features of Algorand help make complex transfers smooth and high-speed. Complemented by a nominal transaction fee, these transfers are significantly low-cost for execution. These atomic transfers are compatible with all Algorand assets and multi-party transfers, which is a substantial advantage for P2E developers and players

Finally, the rekeying feature of Algorand helps solve operational bottlenecks by entrusting users with the option to change their private spending key without changing their public address. Apart from efficiency, rekeying also brings flexibility without losing continuity in the process.

Algorand and P2E

The Algorand ecosystem is growing, and it’s growing fast. According to official numbers, there are now more than 500 organizations worldwide leveraging the blockchain. When it comes to play-to-earn, the Algo Gaming Guild could verify north of 40 projects that are currently building on Algorand. This includes trading card games like Algo Clash, racing games including Drone Racing League, and real-time strategy games such as zCircuit and Cosmic Champs.

While speaking of the utility benefits of Algorand as a platform for P2E Games, Sayan Mukherjee, the Head of Business Development of Zone, an Algorand-based P2E game, says his development team chose Algorand because of two primary reasons.

First, there are speed, scalability, and low transaction costs. “The Algorand blockchain is really fast with immediate transaction finality. It enables us to give a near web2 experience to gamers globally with respect to speed,” Mukherjee says.

Secondly, Mukherjee says, Algorand is carbon negative. “Zone has a massive NFT ecosystem with the AFK Elephants (afkelephants.com), which also act as P2E rewards. Building the GameFi ecosystem on Algorand solves global ESG concerns while the users have a top-notch user experience. It gives the popular gaming term “gg” a new meaning altogether – green gaming!”

Earn vs. Play

Even though the P2E industry is growing every single day, experts have already spotted a bottleneck that could curb the popularity of the space. While gamers usually appreciate economic rewards for their playing time, many have pointed out that contemporary P2E titles are more “earn” than “play.” In other words, they just aren’t fun to play.

Unsurprisingly, the Algorand community has developed high hopes for one of its most promising upcoming P2E titles, Cosmic Champs. The project, which was already named as one of this year’s top NFT games by CoinMarketCap, and praised by the media as Algorand’s “most technically advanced game design,” is on a mission to become a contender for the top P2E release across all blockchains in 2022.

Developed by the gaming studio Mad Shapes, Cosmic Champs, a universe of real-time battle arenas, is the first three-dimensional real-time P2E game to land on Algorand. The studio has significant experience developing 3D mobile games and has been involved in the creation of various successful titles prior to its venture into P2E.

Additionally, unlike most P2E projects, Cosmic Champs is frictionless and immensely user-friendly – players aren’t even required to have a wallet or prior crypto-knowledge. As Matt Blanchard, a co-founder of Cosmic Champs says, “our game will be free to download and free to play. It’s important that the P2E economy has a level playing field that welcomes everybody, anywhere in the world. That’s the key to mass adoption.”

Of course, despite its focus on gameplay, Cosmic Champs still offers considerable economic incentives to its player base. In fact, as a result of better gameplay mechanics, the team expects player loyalty and thus user rewards to be quite competitive, potentially surpassing the earning potential of most of its peers. To reinforce this notion, the developers have added a native token to the game’s NFT rewards, which is scheduled to launch on April 21, 2022.

According to Blanchard, the utility of the $COSG token and a future DAO will not only make users feel actively involved in the governance of the game, but it will also help to further grow the Cosmic Champs game into an entire gaming metaverse. Among $COSG’s use cases are staking rewards, purchases on an NFT marketplace, minting new NFTs, and benefits for the gameplay.

Additionally, Cosmic Champs also allows for fractional NFTs that help maintain high-quality character aesthetics, necessary for the game to succeed in the long run, while helping to mint a significant number of NFTs that set the ground for a thriving user base.

Cosmic Champs is about to take #GameFi on Algorand to a whole new level

High quality, 3D graphics
P2E with their $COSG token
NFT Marketplace
Modelling for multi-games in Multiverse
Built to transition into a community DAO

Read more in their Medium article https://t.co/EC5i8sZI7K

— DA̷REN.Algo (@Bmorecmore) April 4, 2022

Overall, the game is inclusive, engaging, and exciting for casual and novice participants and hardcore gamers. It is a highly democratic arena that allows anyone to play without having the Cosmic Champs NFTs. In the future, by utilizing and expanding on successful DeFi concepts like staking and earning, the project could grow exponentially – and this, of course, also foreshadows a bright future for the whole Algorand ecosystem.

More than 30,000 crypto enthusiasts flocked to Miami for industry’s flagship annual conference

Bitcoin 2022 in Miami was a rousing success as expected, with tens of thousands of crypto enthusiasts and industry luminaries descending on the city for the annual event, and Foresight Ventures was there for every thrilling moment as an event sponsor.

Foresight Ventures had a number of goals it set out to achieve during the conference, including forming new partnerships and playing a part in guiding the next generation of Web3 companies toward success. These goals were all met and exceeded, and the firm has advanced a number of its biggest priorities around finding the next major Web3 disruptors.

Foresight Ventures sponsored one of the conference’s most highly anticipated events, Nolcha Shows: NFT Edition, powered by Tron DAO, a one-of-a-kind event featuring extraordinary and diverse artwork presented through creative programming, engaging activities, and captivating entertainment.

Nolcha Shows featured a dizzying array of NFT art, large-scale sculptures, photography, and paintings by artists including Beeple, Yiying Lu, Zevi G, Kfir Moyal, Mateus, Jason Skeldon, Lawrence Leyderman and more. The event also featured a number of launches and NFT marketplaces, including Courtyard, BitKeep, ChainGuardians, and APENFT. During the show, Foresight hosted an investor meetup with Illust Space, Zebec Protocol, Yield App,Bitget, and many others.

Foresight Ventures also sponsored the Grand Ballroom Seatdrop, through which it built partnerships with some of the top Bitcoin projects poised to deliver some of the industry’s most in-depth research reports over the next quarter. The firm connected with Yale Blockchain’s incubator lead and will be running a hackathon with a group of Yale based startups to empower the student developer community.

Last but not least, Foresight Ventures participated in Cheetah Mining’s investor mixer, helping host more than 100 crypto investors across Bitcoin, Layer2, NFT and Metaverse, etc

The massive annual expo is attended by some of the industry’s biggest names, and each day packed with speakers, meetups, and deep-dives gives way to a series of after-parties that continue the celebration late into the night. It was a whirlwind of an event, but Foresight Ventures made some meaningful inroads with industry peers and will have even more partnerships and event sponsorships to announce in the near future.