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Cardano Drops To Lowest Level In Last 7 Days – ADA Bracing For Further Decline?

Cardano, the 8th largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, traded for $0.38 at one point today to drop to the lowest it’s been for the past 21 months.

  • ADA just recorded its 2022 all-time low of $0.36
  • Cardano may be on another bearish run all the way to the forecasted $0.25 mark
  • IOG leans on strong fundamentals to have a bullish rally.

The downward slide continues for ADA, as its price declined further. As of this writing, data from Coingecko shows the asset is trading at $0.36.

It is now down by 6.9% for the past 24 hours and has lost 14.8% of its value for the last week. This development, however, is no longer news.

Veteran market analyst Peter Brandt tweeted last week that ADA, following sell off since the completion of the Vasil hardfork on the Cardano blockchain in September, will be on a decline all the way to $0.25.

Cardano Hits A 2022 All-Time Low

The situation was already bleak for Cardano when it plunged all the way to $0.38 earlier today. But that was shattered when ADA fell to its new 2022 all-time low of $0.36.

It was unfortunate that the altcoin fell below its short-term wedge pattern, pushing itself to a bearish run. Had it moved up in its pattern, the digital asset might have made a recovery from the slaughter of the crypto winter.

Cardano was able to move below its Relative Strength Index (RSI) oversold zone but that action was only brief and bears encountered resistance as traders appeared to have bought the dip.

There’s more bad news for ADA, as demand is not yet back to a sustainable level, primarily because there are expectations of more downward movement due to the current harsh market conditions.

How Bumpy Will The Road Get For ADA?

The cryptocurrency might be down right now and is among the few ones who have managed to attain a record 2022 all-time low, but that doesn’t mean the end for the ADA.

Cardano is leaning on its strong fundamentals to mount a comeback and be on the running for a bullish trading momentum.

According to the weekly development report released by Input Output Global (IOG), 1,117 projects are currently building on the Cardano Blockchain.

Moreover, there is an observed remarkable increase in new users of decentralized apps (dApps) that are built on the network of the “Ethereum killer.”

In terms of users and value, IOG said the non-fungible token of Cardano is also gaining more traction. In April this year, the network’s NFT trading volume was around $27 million.

During a July interview, Input Output Global CEO Charles Hoskinson said:

“One surprising area of growth on Cardano is in the NFT space. About 40% of all the applications that are being deployed are NFT-related… About $270 million a month in NFT volume. So, $3 billion a year.” 

Crypto total market cap at $852 billion on the daily chart | Featured image from Latest Finance News,
Source: TradingView.com

Disclaimer: The analysis represents the author’s personal views and should not be construed as investment advice.

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Bitcoin Price Has Strong Potential To Hit $25,000, Weekly Analysis Suggests

Recently, the market has seen a strong correction due to the Bitcoin price bull run of the past several days. On December 7, 2020, the price hit a low of $19,030.09, which is considered to be a new all-time low.

However, the appearance of a double bottom pattern has led to an optimistic outlook on this correction.

Bitcoin can rebound, as is now more evident. Obviously, there will be some challenges along the way. The Bitcoin price present momentum is one of the cryptocurrency’s major challenges.

The current momentum is merely reversing the past downward trends, thus it may not be enough to break through the $25,000 price level, according to latest analyses.

Bitcoin Price: The Familiar Resistance Level

Bitcoin’s price actually did reach $25,000 in late August, which is a significant milestone. Such a pattern indicates that the current market has the potential to and likely will attempt to break through resistance.

Chart: TradingView.com

Looking at the range during the past four hours, it appears that BTC will be trading between $19,226 and $24,286 for the time being.

This challenge is attributable to the traders’ pessimism in response to the most recent CPI report. The survey revealed an annual inflation rate of more than 8 percent.

This bleak assessment could be followed by a 1% increase in interest rates. Therefore, the bulls must maintain their position inside the range of $19,226 to create momentum.

The prominent oscillator indicator has shown a bullish advance. In contrast, the moving averages exhibited bearish indicators.

Sustainable Momentum A Must For Bitcoin

To continue driving the price higher, the bulls must generate persistent momentum. Once more, sustainability will reduce the probability of a dramatic correction.

The price of Bitcoin should not drop below the 71.60 Fibonacci level. If bears break through to the downside, Bitcoin’s price might fall to $18,000.

This occurrence will further bring the price down. A sustainable momentum for a rally should be one of the bulls’ top aims in order to surpass the $25,000 threshold.

However, given the present pessimism and panic on the market, it may be some time before BTC reaches the $25,000 barrier.

BTC total market cap at $384 billion on the 4-hour daily chart | Source: TradingView.com

Featured image from Business World IT, Chart: TradingView.com

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Stepn GST Token Slides 97% – Despite Fitness App Having 3M Users

Stepn (GST) is competing in the fitness industry using cryptocurrencies and the blockchain.

Stepn is a smartphone software built on Solana and produced by app developer FindSatoshi Lab that allows users to earn money by jogging, running, or walking.

Under the influence of this bearish market, however, the price of GST (Green Satoshi Tokens) has fallen below the $1 critical support level. The coin is currently trading at $0.18, representing a 97 percent decline from its all-time high of a little over $9 on April 28.

To prevent the ecosystem from imploding, the coin must once again attract purchasers like it did during that month.

Suggested Reading | Bitcoin Steady Above $20K After Drop To $17K – A Slow Climb To Green?

Can 3 Million Stepn Users Help Boost GST Price?

The NFT-based exercise app has amassed 3 million active users each month. Given the high number of customers, market experts wonder if this will cause the GST price to rise slightly.

Similar to Fitbit, Stepn is a GPS-based game in which the app counts your activities and steps. To begin running, you must acquire a virtual pair of sneakers. These newly-minted NFTs can be resold on the market for a possible profit to purchase a better pair.

By the way, the Stepn app doesn’t work with a treadmill or any other electric-powered gym equipment: you must use your legs, and run outside of the house.

Two months ago, Web3 employees would boast on Crypto Twitter about making up to $30 just by running. At the time, one pair of Stepn’s NFT sneakers cost a whopping $600 (priced in SOL).

Crypto total market cap at $905 billion on the daily chart | Source: TradingView.com
GST Price Drops Lowers

Those that engage in physical exercise can earn GSTs. Different types of sneakers refund GST at varying rates; the better the efficiency attribute of a sneaker, the more GST the user can earn per minute. At the peak of GST, you might get your money back in approximately 30 days.

Now, GST is only 18 cents, and jogging a few miles with an entry-level footwear NFT will earn you less than $1, which is a far cry from the easy $30 you could earn by running a short distance.

GST was the most popular cryptocurrency earlier this month when the token’s price was closer to $1; however, despite the excitement and a 30 percent increase on June 8, GST’s price fell further.

GST has a market cap of only $23 million and ranks #529 on CoinMarketCap. The market capitalization of GMT is at $365 million, down from $4.17 and over $2.2 billion at its peak on April 28.

Suggested Reading | ApeCoin Shed $2.5 Billion From Its Market Cap In May – Investor Appetite Fading?

Featured image from RationalInsurgent, chart from TradingView.com

 

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The Sandbox (SAND) Blows Up 20% After Collab With Major Entertainment Firm

The Sandbox native token, SAND, jumped from eight-month lows following Friday’s announcement of a collaboration between the metaverse and Lionsgate Studios.

As a result of the news, SAND surged as high as 20% to $0.9715, before reversing course to trade at $0.8647. The move helped SAND overcome a seven-day losing run in the face of gloom in the bear market.

Lionsgate is one of the biggest private studios in the United States, and it owns Rambo, Hellboy, and The Expendables, all of which will soon be featured in The Sandbox.

all hell breaks loose. lionsgate has entered @thesandboxgame pic.twitter.com/c1QcA2x3Y6

— Lionsgate (@Lionsgate) June 15, 2022

Suggested Reading | Bitcoin At $20K Could Be ‘New Bottom,’ Commodity Expert Suggests, And Here’s Why

The Sandbox (SAND) Soars 3.78%

At the time of writing, SAND was trading at 0.873, up 3.78 percent from its daily high of $0.9753. The 24-hour trading volume on the Sandbox was $269.75 million.

As of Friday, the circulating supply of SAND is 1.25 billion and the maximum supply is 3 billion.

Based on their increased production in the horror and action domains, the metaverse has devised a comprehensive transition plan, and Lionsgate will contribute to adapting its characters and captivating stories to web3-compatible platforms.

The Sandbox is a play-to-earn blockchain game that enables users to create a digital world on the Ethereum blockchain using non-fungible tokens.

The Sandbox allows players to create their own avatars to access the different games and destinations available. On the blockchain, it is the DeFi version of Minecraft.

Lionsgate is one of the biggest private entertainment studios in the United States. Image: Deadline.

SAND is an ERC20 utility token that enables the purchase and sale of LANDS and ASSETS within The Sandbox’s metaverse. It is also The Sandbox DAO’s governance token.

The Sandbox Guns For Over $4 Billion Valuation

The Sandbox, which is owned by blockchain gaming behemoth Animoca Brands, reportedly seeks to attract funds at a valuation of more than $4 billion.

The Sandbox reports that this deal will make Lionsgate the first major Hollywood studio to enter the metaverse.

This will not be The Sandbox’s first significant partnership, as it has already hosted material from Snoop Dogg, The Smurfs, and Adidas and sold LAND to financial institutions such as HSBC.

SAND total market cap at $1.06 billion on the daily chart | Source: TradingView.com
Crypto & Metaverse Going Stronger Despite Market Turmoil

Lionsgate’s Executive Vice President and Global Head of Live, Interactive, and Location-Based Entertainment, Jenefer Brown, commented on the innovative partnership:

“We’re thrilled by the new possibilities our strategic relationship with The Sandbox will offer our community.”

The bulk of cryptocurrencies have not been left behind as crypto markets continue to undergo a precipitous downturn.

In fact, cryptocurrencies with metaverse support, such as The Sandbox and Decentraland, have been in a stronger position as Metaverse and NFTs continue to gain popularity.

Suggested Reading | Ethereum Drops Below $950 On Uniswap Overnight – Here’s Why

Featured image from Actu Crypto.info, chart from TradingView.com

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Shiba Inu Kicks Off Metaverse Project; SHIB Rallies 14% In The Last 7 Days

Despite the backlash it receives from cryptocurrency analysts, the Shiba Inu meme coin continues to make a loud noise, and on March 30, it revealed additional details regarding its own metaverse, which will be appropriately named SHIB.

The project currently has more than 3 million followers on Twitter, which the development team attributes to a new degree of achievement.

The team says that by launching its own metaverse venture, it will help position Shiba Inu for advancement.

Shiba Inu Marks Territory In The Metaverse

SHIB: The Metaverse is a virtual world with about 100,595 plots of virtual land and four unique districts.

In a tweet, SHIB said:

“We would like to extend a warm welcome to SHIB: The Metaverse. An immersive experience that has the potential to expand into a large setting in which the Shib Army may learn, share, and benefit.”

In a blog post captioned in the announcement, the Shiba Inu team describes SHIB: The Metaverse as the fulfilment of the community’s history, visually portrayed in a layer of stunning graphics that highlight its inventiveness and cohesion while providing a place to call home.

Using the name “SHIB: The Metaverse” to honor the Metaverse would not only establish the project’s identity, but it would also allow the community to focus on its basic ideals.

SHIB Price Action

As this developed, the profitability of the second-largest meme cryptocurrency, Shiba Inu (SHIB), has climbed to 46% from 35% earlier in March, according to IntoTheBlock data.

The meme coin is currently trading at $0.000027, down from March 28 peaks of $0.0000296. SHIB has increased by 14% in the last week, according to CoinMarketCap data.

Suggested Reading | Fiat – Not Crypto – Still The Top Choice For Financial Crimes, US Treasury Says

SHIB total market cap at $15.024 billion on the daily chart | Source: TradingView.com
Whales Hoard Billions In SHIB

Meanwhile, unidentified whales acquired billions of Shiba Inu tokens this month, despite a 30% run, according to WhaleStats.

The first whale, who accumulated 420 billion SHIB, engaged in two significant transactions. Three hours before the second transaction, valued $7.3 million, the first transaction was worth $4 million.

The second whale, who bought a lower quantity of Shiba Inu tokens, completed a single transaction valued at around $1.3 million.

Shiba Inu Maintains No. 15 Spot

The joke cryptocurrency remains in 15th place in terms of market value, having increased to $15.8 billion, according to Coingecko.

Shiba also announced the launch of a new domain, SHIB.io, which will serve as the home for the Shiba Inu Metaverse and the community’s future expansion.

Suggested Reading | Bitcoin Helps Market Hover Past $2 Trillion As BTC Nears $48,000

Featured image from Coingape, chart from TradingView.com

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Fed Chair Powell Says Crypto Requires New Rules, Citing ‘Threats’ To US Financial System

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell emphasized on Wednesday that technology transformation is here to stay in the financial sector and that new regulations will be required.

Powell revealed some insight into how the United States would govern the market during a presentation at the Bank of International Settlements Innovation Summit on central bank digital currencies.

The digital age was not taken into consideration when establishing our current regulatory structures, the Fed official said.

“There will be revisions to current laws and regulations, as well as the creation of wholly new rules and structure, if central banks, stablecoins, and digital currencies are to be implemented,” he said during a roundtable discussion on CBDCs at the BISI Summit.

Is There A Threat?

Powell noted that emerging forms of digital money, like cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, pose threats to the US financial system and will necessitate the adoption of additional consumer protection measures.

Powell reaffirmed his position that cryptocurrency should adhere to the “same activity, same regulation” premise.

He proposed regulating stablecoin issuers, such as banks, in October 2021.

“Stablecoins function similarly to money market funds. They’re similar to bank deposits… and it is reasonable for them to be controlled similarly, same activity, same regulation,” he concluded.

Powell Says DeFi Can Improve Finance Sector

Despite this, the Fed chairman acknowledged that distributed technology and DeFi have the potential to improve the payment system’s efficiency and foster a more competitive financial sector.

This is an impressive recognition from the director of one of the country’s premier financial institutions. Other agencies and their personnel have embraced crypto and blockchain technology as well, albeit they all appear to advocate for some level of regulation.

Crypto total market cap at $1.94 trillion on the daily chart | Source: TradingView.com

Suggested Reading | Fiat – Not Crypto – Still The Top Choice For Financial Crimes, US Treasury Says

Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency that are typically backed by the dollar or a commodity such as precious metal.

CBDCs are digital representations of dollars or other fiat currencies that governments issue. The Fed is exdigital currencies but has not yet decided whether to issue them. In January, it published a study on stablecoins.

Biden’s Executive Order

US President Joe Biden signed an executive order earlier this month directing the Treasury Department and other federal agencies to conduct a study on the impact of cryptocurrency on economic stability and national security.

Biden’s directive comes as many Democratic legislators, notably Massachusetts’ Elizabeth Warren, have expressed worry that cryptocurrency could be used to circumvent US sanctions against Russia.

As part of the executive mandate, the Treasury is leading a report on a CBDC in consultation with the Departments of Justice, Commerce, and State, as well as the Office of Management and Budget, Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence, to determine whether the US should pursue a digital dollar.

Suggested Reading | Bitcoin Breaks Past The $40,000 Barrier Again – Can It Sustain The Momentum?

Featured image from CryptoSlate, chart from TradingView.com

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Fiat – Not Crypto – Still The Top Choice For Financial Crimes, US Treasury Says

Fiat, a government-issued currency, is still the best choice of financial criminals.

Concerns have always centered on the possibility of crypto assets being used for nefarious reasons, however the US Treasury department just released something that dispels these anxieties.

Despite widespread fears that cryptocurrency could be used for criminal purposes, a newly published report by the US Treasury indicates that the bulk of financial crimes are still committed using fiat money.

The US Treasury presented a three-year report on money laundering, proliferation financing, and terrorist financing early this month. And they were all based on digital assets.

And crypto detractors may believe this is all about digital assets being widely employed in these sectors.

Related Story | Shiba Inu Exodus: 32,000 Holders Lose Interest In The ‘Dogecoin Killer’

It’s Fiat, Not Crypto

Nevertheless, fiat currencies and traditional money are still more often utilized in this circumstance, thus they are more likely to come into play.

The Treasury’s findings include a detailed discussion of virtual currencies, stating that both their user base and market capitalization have expanded dramatically since the previous risk assessment in 2020.

However, these reports found that criminal flows via fiat currency and established networks continue to outnumber those involving cryptocurrency.

Crypto total market cap at $1.805 trillion on the daily chart | Source: TradingView.com

The US Treasury disclosed the following:

“The use of crypto assets for money laundering continues to be significantly less prevalent than the use of fiat cash and other more traditional means.”

Crypto Still A Good Choice For Crime

According to the National Money Laundering Risk Assessment, “virtual assets” are an ever-evolving domain within money launderers’ expanding armory for concealing their finances.

It singled out DeFi and “anonymity augmenting technology” as possible perpetrators.

Throughout the pandemic, virtual assets have apparently been used extensively in phishing assaults and ransomware scams.

Related Article | Bitcoin Breaks Past The $40,000 Barrier Again – Can It Sustain The Momentum?

Shady operators may use pledges of profit from the unpredictable cryptocurrency market to entice victims into disclosing personal information or infecting their devices with viruses.

The attackers may then demand payment in crypto following the attack, which is both pseudonymous and irreversible.

In a recent Chainalysis Crypto Crime Report, many criminals use over-the-counter brokers to launder their cryptocurrencies.

OTC brokers are individuals or businesses that assist transactions between buyers and sellers who do not wish to (or are unable to) conduct business on a cryptocurrency exchange.

A Staggering Amount

Meanwhile, a United Nations report says that money laundering costs the global economy between $800 billion and $2 trillion per year.

This equates to between 2% and 5% of gross domestic output. Today, almost 90% of money laundering remains undetected.

However, technological advancements have led in the development of more effective tools. Criminals continue to use these advancements to move dirty money.

Simultaneously, government agencies and fintech firms utilize technology to identify transaction characteristics and assist in exposing fraud.

Featured image from India Today, chart from TradingView.com

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Former Facebook Employees Get $200 Million To Create Blockchain System For Aptos

Silvergate Capital purchased Diem’s tech assets for $182 million earlier this year, ending the grandiose ambition of Facebook to create a blockchain payments network.

The transaction demonstrated how Facebook, now Meta, is left with few regulator-approved ways to become a key participant in the blockchain ecosystem.

Some ex-Meta workers are taking up the open-source Diem blockchain mantle in an attempt to accomplish the idea of a decentralized network that they claim is created to support billions of users. It is geared to cater to substantial corporate clients early on.

Blockchain System For Aptos

Aptos, a project founded by ex-Facebook employees who just left the firm in December, has already received unicorn money from Andreessen Horowitz and other prominent web3 investors.

Aptos CEO Mo Shaikh said in a recent blog post:

“We are the founders, researchers, designers, and builders of Diem, the first blockchain developed for this purpose… while the rest of the world never saw what we produced, our job is far from done.”

Aptos has revealed that it has secured $200 million in funding for its objective of developing a blockchain scalability system with participation from Tiger Global, Katie Haun, Multicoin Capital, 3 Arrows Capital, FTX Ventures, and Coinbase Ventures.

Silvergate Capital is another notable investor in the first round, while the Aptos team insists that they would not license or use any of Silvergate’s Diem IP as they build up their blockchain.

Related Article | Gloomy Crypto Future? Book Author Warns We’re In The Biggest Bubble In History

Crypto total market cap at $1.78 trillion on the daily chart | Source: TradingView.com
Layer 1 System For Aptos

The Aptos blockchain will be a Layer 1 system, which means it will not be built on top of current blockchains such as Ethereum or Solana but will instead develop its decentralized network.

Along with the investment announcement, Aptos announced the official launch of its “devnet,” which will enable developers to explore and build on the Aptos blockchain before a public release, which the team believes will occur in Q3 of 2022.

Aptos’ goal is to create a more scalable blockchain with faster transactions and lower fees than today’s mainstream networks. The creators aspire to produce a more stable and predictable network for corporate customers interested in adopting blockchain technology.

No Direct Link With Facebook

While Diem supporters such as Andreessen Horowitz may gather behind a team attempting to take up the task of what Facebook was trying to establish with Diem and Libra, some in the crypto community remain wary of accomplishing a vision of web3 imagined by Facebook.

“To be clear, we have no official connection with Facebook and no funding from them,” Shaikh said.

Meanwhile, another challenge/opportunity that Aptos faces is how soon it can recruit developers. The company seeks to attract developers by using Move, an open-source programming language created by Meta.

Related Article | Abra CEO Predicts Ethereum Could Reach $40,000 – But Some Fintech Analysts Don’t Agree

Featured image from SiliconANGLE, chart from TradingView.com

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New Crypto Security Solution Protects Bitcoin, Other Digital Assets From Theft

When people evaluate the unpredictability of the cryptocurrency market, they can see why crypto security is so important.

Online crypto wallets and exchanges have been hacked in large numbers in the last 24 months.

“The value of cryptocurrency taken from victims climbed by 82% to $7.8 billion in 2021,” Chainalysis’ most recent Bitcoin Crime Report shows.

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies are increasing in value, and these findings demonstrate that cryptocurrencies operate in a chaotic environment that the traditional financial system ignores or refuses to recognize.

Crypto Shield: For Crypto Security

Because cryptocurrencies lack regulation, they cannot be insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) like regular bank deposits.

Boost Insurance and its InsurTech partner Breach Insurance have introduced Crypto Shield, a cryptocurrency insurance solution.

According to ZDNet, the service would be used whenever cryptocurrencies are stored through exchanges such as Coinbase or Binance in the United States and other countries.

Total crypto market cap at $1.734 trillion in the daily chart | Source: TradingView.com

Related Article | A Crypto War Is Raging – Crypto Donations Fuel Russia-Ukraine War

Retail wallet owners may use Crypto Shield to protect their bitcoin against theft. People who Crypto Shield insures may be compensated for the value of their coverage if the custodian is hacked or falls victim to a social engineering attack, leading to the loss of assets.

Crypto Shield, which became online on February 15, is primarily concerned with bitcoin theft and crypto security. Shield protects 20 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Tether, Solana, Dogecoin, and stablecoins.

Bitcoin & Ether Latest Price Movement

This week has started slowly for major cryptocurrencies. As February ends, both Bitcoin and Ethereum show negative patterns.

Bitcoin is now valued at $39,398.04, with highs of $39,537.5 and lows of $35,000 for the month. It has increased in value by roughly 0.60% since February 26 and is now unstable.

While Ethereum is presently trading at $2,800.62 as of this writing, it has only increased 1.55% in the last 24 hours. It has a recurrent low of $2,681.79 and a recurrent high of $2,855.22.

Both cryptos have lower return yields than two months ago, which is due to theft-related issues and the Ukraine-Russian war in the crypto-market. Bullish tendencies are still probable as the year progresses.

Breach And Boost Collaborate On Security

Meanwhile, Boost and Breach collaborated to find and gain reinsurance coverage from Relm Insurance, assuring organizations’ participation in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

“My team and I are thrilled to join forces with Breach’s concept for the first crypto-insurance for retail wallet holders,” Alex Maffeo, CEO and Founder of Boost, said.

“Our objective is not simply to make insurance more simple and accessible for end-users, but also to aid creative businesses like Breach in developing new insurance products for neglected areas,” Maffeo said.

Related Article | Cryptocurrency Prices Soar On Possibility Of Russia-Ukraine Talks

Featured image from Changelly, chart from TradingView.com

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Axie Infinity Sets Record-Breaking $4 Billion In NFT Sales

Axie Infinity, the Ethereum-based video game, continues to amaze its fandom over the last year.

Despite some hiccups, the play-to-earn game is relentless. In fact, it just made quite a bit of a noise this week after the Sky Mavis project snagged nearly $4 billion in all-time NFT revenues.

The in-game currency of the P2E pet training universe, AXS, has appreciated by 2,544% against the US dollar during the last 12 months.

On the other side, Smooth Love Potion (SLP) has had a less lucky year, with its value decreasing by 70% year to date.

Metrics show that there are currently 53,502 AXS token holders and 45,276 Axie owners out of 166,870 Axies.

Axie Infinity: Price Analysis

According to 24-hour Axie NFT sales numbers, the project has received $2.2 million in transactions from 17,731 buyers.

While Axie is third all-time in terms of sales, it is fourth in terms of 24-hour sales and fifth in terms of the previous seven days.

Last month, Axie placed eighth out of 10 projects in terms of 30-day NFT sales.

According to the most recent market figures, the average selling price of Axie Infinity as of Monday, Feb. 21, 2022, is $55.53, up 7.1% from the previous day’s low of $50.30 to a high of $56.14.

AXS total market cap at $3.17 billion in the daily chart | Source: TradingView.com

Additionally, on Nov. 6, 2021, Axie Infinity reached an all-time high of $164.90. In comparison, it reached an all-time low of $0.123718 on Nov. 6, 2020.

Despite the fact that cumulative Axie Infinity NFT sales have surpassed the $4 billion mark, sales fell 40.58 percent last week.

Axie Infinity has processed $19,815,670 in orders via the Ronin blockchain in the most recent weekly data.

Related Article | Axie Infinity Smooth Love Potion (SLP) Explodes With 300% Gain This February

Metaverse Real Estate Prices Up

Last week, Axie NFTs had a total of 267,906 transactions, including 91,940 buyers.

Meanwhile, the value of metaverse properties has surged in tandem with rising interest in blockchain-based virtual world projects such as Decentraland, The Sandbox, Illuvium and Axie Infinity.

Land in the Metaverse, as well as flats, penthouses, and mansions, have been selling for between $4 and $7 million.

The Webbland Project, which advertises itself as an interconnected pixel metaverse, has generated $3.6 million in revenues over the last seven days, an increase of 126.24% over the previous week.

Webbland is similar to The Sandbox and Decentraland in that it allows users to own land, equip it with NFTs, complete quests, and explore.

Webbland has surpassed Farmers World to claim the 33rd rank in terms of seven-day sales in the recent week, falling just short of Sheet Fighter.

Related Article | Binamon NFT Game, on the Way to be the Next Axie Infinity on Binance Smart Chain

Featured image from CoinGecko, chart from TradingView.com

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Decentraland MANA Token Flexes Muscle — Can It Break Past Its No. 29 Spot?

The value of the popular Decentraland currency MANA has hit $3.27 today, Feb. 16, which market observers say is 10% higher than the past 24 hours.

The data is based on a detailed real-time forecast and a technical analysis. As of this writing, the market capitalization of the cryptocurrency is at USD1,349,167,774.

MANA is now the 29th most valuable cryptocurrency in terms of market value.

Decentraland is offered on 204 crypto exchanges around the world. Its native crypto has been the most popular on exchanges including Binance, CoinTiger, and Upbit in the last 24 hours.

The MANA/USD, MANA/KRW and MANA/USDT pairs have been the most successful Decentraland pairings in the last 24 hours as well.

With the market capitalization mentioned above, MANA is one of the most well-known coins in the metaverse.

MANA Geared For Mainstream Adoption

Decentraland is a vast virtual world that allows users to produce and experience a wide range of content on individual parcels of land, sell items, procure pieces of art, and much more.

MANA may expand its features in order to deliver smooth services, and the token’s social media popularity may aid in the token’s advance to a more significant level.

MANA total market cap at $6.043 billion in the daily chart | Source: TradingView.com

Related Reading | Decentraland Users Will Have More Power With New DAO

MANA’s value may rise or fall depending on whether the market is bearish or bullish in the coming weeks and months. Some analysts expect its value to drop $1.8 in the coming weeks. However, they believe it will set multiple records this year.

There’s been a growing trend in Decentraland throughout the last four months. MANA’s crypto-skills and trustworthiness are seen to be in high demand, and this trend is seen to continue.

Decentraland’s trading volume is on a steady ascent, which has a big effect on its price.

MANA: Rising Price Stability  

MANA’s technical indications suggest that it is faring well in different market aspects alongside its corresponding value.

The coin has been trading above its estimated value for several months, and the moving average convergence/divergence (MACD) line on several charts is within the neutral zone.

Its RSI of 52 indicates that it is presently in the neutral zone as MANA is currently trading at approximately $3.27 per coin.

Analysts see the price of MANA rising in percentage as the midyear unfurls. According to Wallet Investor’s forecast, it is seen to trade at around $8 by the end of 2022 if bullish trends continue.

Related Reading | Shiba Inu Enters The Metaverse, But Will This Help Its Price?

Featured image from GDA Capital, chart from TradingView.com

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The People’s Bank Of China’s Report On Blockchain Tech And Their Upcoming CBDC

Apparently, the People’s Bank Of China is considering using blockchain technology to power the Digital Yuan CBDC. The coin, also known as Digital renminbi or digital RMB, has been in beta-testing for a while now. However, Di Gang, deputy director of the Digital Currency Institute of the People’s Bank of China, recently presented an extensive report on blockchain technology. It was at “the 18th annual global meeting of the International Finance Forum (IFF) on Dec. 5,” and Chinese journalist Colin Wu translated the main points for us to analyze. 

Related Reading | How Samsung Will Help The Bank Of Korea With CBDC Development

Before we do that, let’s consider this. Their CBDC is a completely centralized affair. Why would the People’s Bank Of China use a blockchain? In other words, why would China need a blockchain for its CBDC if its aim is not decentralization or censorship resistance? A centralized database is orders of magnitude more efficient than a blockchain. And it doesn’t need mining to validate transactions, nor PoW or PoS to reach consensus. Let’s dive into the report and see if we can find answers to these questions.

What Does The People’s Bank Of China Think About Blockchain Tech?

The report begins with stats and a survey’s results:

“According to Di Gang, 2021, the results of blockchain research conducted by relevant consulting organizations for ten countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Germany, China and Japan, show that 81% of the institutions surveyed believe that blockchain technology is widely scalable and is being adopted by the mainstream, with the percentage of financial institutions agreeing with it being as high as 84%, and all the global financial institutions surveyed have made blockchain an an imperative strategic priority.” 

Notice that they talk about belief and about making blockchain a priority, but not about actual usage among traditional financial institutions. The report does go on to say that “A research institute in September 2021, research on the use of blockchain by the global TOP 100 listed institutions shows that 81 institutions are using blockchain technology,” but no source is given. Where are those projects? Are they still in development?

Then, Di Gang claims: 

“Blockchain landing achievements are increasing and playing more and more value advantages; on the other hand, blockchain technology has realized landing in cross-border payment, supply chain finance, agricultural finance, trade finance, inclusive finance, social city, “three rural areas”, people’s livelihood, etc.”

Are these crypto-projects, government-related, or traditional finance projects? The report doesn’t specify, so we can’t know their characteristics. Then, Di Gang says “Some large international financial institutions are also actively expanding blockchain application scenarios, including trade finance, information sharing, foreign exchange trading, equity trading, etc.” Why do those institutions need a blockchain to do all that?

Does The Digital RMB Or Digital Yuan Need a Blockchain?

Apparently, it does. And the Numerical Research Institute is already working on an implementation:

“First, a unified distributed ledger was built in the digital RMB system based on blockchain technology. The central bank acts as a trusted institution to upload the transaction data onto the chain to guarantee the authenticity and reliability of the data, and the operating institutions can conduct cross-institutional reconciliation, collective maintenance of the ledger, multi-point backup, etc.”

The Institute wants to build a “blockchain platform for trade finance, with the goal of penetratable information, transferable trust and shareable credit, and to complete the construction of a blockchain-based trade finance ecosystem.”

Relationship betwwen the US Dollar and the Chinese Yuan via FXCM | Source: USD/CNH on TradingView.com
Technical Challenges In Blockchain Technology

The People’s Bank Of China identified the following difficulties with blockchain technology:

  • Problems with performance and scalability.
  • Not Enough privacy protection. “Innovation from the theoretical level is still needed, as well as from engineering technology,” Di Gang said.
  • It needs to “further strengthen security technology innovation.”
  • “In terms of regulatory auditing, Di Gang believes that there are still many nodes inside the blockchain that are anonymized and dense, which are difficult to supervise by decentralization.”
  • There’s technical friction between blockchain technology and traditional technologies.
  • Someone needs to build an interoperability standard system.

So, essentially the same problems every crypto company already identified plus one, “regulatory auditing” which is “difficult to supervise by decentralization.” Is it fair to say that this is what this report is really about? 

Related Reading | Central Bank of France Tests Blockchain-Backed CBDC Targeting Debt Market

The People’s Bank Of China Will Release Their CBDC For The Winter Olympic Games

Apparently, the PBOC’s plan to further test the Digital RMB during the Winter Olympic Games is still a go. Di Gang said:

“The digital RMB has been piloted since the end of 2019 and is now being piloted in 10 regions and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games scenario, and in July this year, the PBoC released the White Paper on the Progress of R&D of China’s Digital RMB, and as an important part of the digital RMB R&D pilot and the Winter Olympic Games preparation, the pilot of the digital RMB Beijing Winter Olympic Games scenario is also is advancing in a steady and orderly manner.”

And that’s where China currently stands regarding blockchain technology and their CBDC.

Featured Image: glaborde7 on Pixabay | Charts by TradingView

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Solana, FTX, Lightspeed Ventures To Launch $100M Web3 Gaming Fund

More paths open up for Web3 gaming as a $100 million investment fund is launched by the large blockchain venture firms Solana Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and FTX. A lot of enthusiasm surrounds the future of the GameFi industry as it grows exponentially.

The fund aims to invest in “the intersection of blockchain and gaming”: technology companies, gaming studios that incorporate the Solana blockchain. Gaming could be a great gateway for Web3 to bring in “next billion users”, said one of the partners.

The CEO of FTX Sam Bankman-Fried said in Tweeter that this partnership might build “the biggest growth area in the sector: web3 + gaming + NFTs.”

Related Reading | FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried Reveals Reason Behind Billions Of Dollars Tether Purchase

Recently, Lightspeed and FTX announced their first investment for the gaming studio Faraway by leading a $21 million Series A funding round alongside other important partners such as a16z, Pantera Capital, and Sequoia Capital. Faraway will now integrate Solana blockchain into “Mini Royale”, the studio’s top game.

Faraway CEO Alex Paley commented on their goals for the project:

 Blockchain technology will unlock the potential for truly player-driven, open economies and will usher in the next wave of gaming and virtual worlds, (…) Our goal for both current and future games is to create extremely fun and social games with open economies, giving players true ownership over their in-game assets and a true voice in how the game evolves over time.

Web3 Gaming  And Solana See Growth

Web3 gaming has seen great growth in popularity, parallel to Solana’s token impressive gains in 2021. The new digital era is allowing further monetization and experiences in the gaming ecosystem by integrating DeFi and NFTs.

Related Reading | Why Billionaire Chamath Palihapitiya Invested In The Solana Ecosystem

The merge of the blockchain and gaming comes with great potential for revenue alongside the possibility of creating strong communities and new features for them.

“High-performance blockchains like Solana are now capable of delivering the kind of web2 experiences gamers expect while providing the advantages of decentralized Web 3 systems.” Said Amy Wu, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners in a public statement.

She further commented to Cointelegraph about her views on the metaverse:

the metaverse is a potential digital world where people build identity, reputation, make friends, play, and transact in. (…) If it becomes even a fraction as meaningful as our offline lives, it’s incredibly valuable. Hence why Web 2 companies like Meta and native Web 3companies alike are trying to build this. People spend hours a day in games like Fornite and Roblox, so I believe the metaverse will be born out of a social game.

Anatoly Yakovenko, CEO of Solana Labs, also commented in the fund’s public statement:

In the last few months we’ve seen talented game builders leave their jobs at Riot, EA, Scopely, and other established gaming firms to build Web 3 games on Solana. We are excited to collaborate with Lightspeed and FTX to support and accelerate this new wave of builders.

Newzoo projected that the gaming market will generate around $218,7 billion by 2024. They also reported a growth in player rates from 20210 to 2021 of +5.4%.

Solana’s price at $246 in the daily chart | Source: SOLUSD TradingView

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Crypto Pioneer Backed By a16z, Alchemy Raises Value to $3.5B

Alchemy, the pioneer of crypto infrastructure, raised its value to $3.5 billion with a $250 million Series C round of funding led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). Alchemy is the leading platform for blockchain and Web3 developers. Currently, they intend to reinvest in the ecosystem’s expansion.

Alchemy has seen exponential growth in the past six months with revenues rising over 15 times. They pin their success to their main goal: “make building on the blockchain and Web3 so easy, anyone can do it.”; which turned out to have bigger demand than they expected, boosting their rapid growth.

They stated that their achievements surpassed their initial vision, and that being already a big picture consisting of creating a platform for the developers’ community managing to do for them “what AWS has done for the web or what Windows and Mac did for computing.”

What we didn’t realize was just how big of a need this was! Today, we power the majority of DeFi and almost every single NFT marketplace that has made that whole industry

The company further explained that their “reliability and scalability” is what the ecosystem’s leading companies “are building their success” on. Meaning that this new round of funding will not only help their growth as a company, but it will turn into new benefits for more than one industry.

Related Reading | Yieldly’s CEO Says Interoperability In DeFi Is More Important Than A Market-Leading Blockchain

Crypto AWS To Reach Full Potential

Alchemy’s potential is so large that one cannot possibly narrow it down to one industry. It is at the core of NFTs, DeFi, exchanges, financial institutions, multinational organizations, and more.

They publicly launched around a year ago and now lead as “the solution of choice” for many of the largest crypto companies we can think of: OpenSea, CryptoPunks, Axie Infinity, as well and the ones that are showing new interest in the blockchain, such as Adobe, and others.

Alchemy’s platform has shown the truth about the blockchain: it goes beyond currencies and trading. The possibilities it has given to programmers around the world are just the beginning of the emerging capabilities of DeFi and NFTs. From investors to gamers and creators, the blockchain’s technology prepares the soil for many generations to come.

Related Reading | 17% Of Ethereum Addresses Hold Majority Of NFTs

Ali Yahya, General Partner at a16z, showed their enthusiasm in their public announcement stating that Alchemy is “one of the fastest-growing companies we’ve ever seen in any category,”. He also deepened an explanation of their work:

In the same way that Apple and Amazon built platforms that help developers build on PCs, smartphones, and the cloud, Alchemy is building a platform that helps developers build on modern blockchains. (…)

The biggest misconception about blockchains is that they are just about money, cryptocurrencies, or finance, the truth is that they’re actually much more powerful and allow for a much broader set of applications.

During the past year, Alchemy’s co-founders have shown a long-term vision and a fierce way to build up their performance and achieve worldwide innovation. Nikil Viswanathan, co-founder and CEO of the company, commented that “Empowering developers is the key to bringing the magic of blockchain to the world.”

With tens of millions of users worldwide, Alchemy powers over $45 billion of annual web3 transactions. Other than a16z, they are also backed by Stanford University, Coinbase, Pantera Capital, the Google Chairman, and others.

Brilliant minds, strong believers. This decade has just begun, but Alchemy has already led the blockchain into a level of development only a few had even dreamt of. 10 years from now the advantages of investments like this one will most likely be part of everyone’s life.

Crypto total market cap at $2.59 trillion on the daily chart. – Source: Tradingview

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Bitcoin Hash Rate Goes On Death Spiral Post China’s Crackdown On Miners

The great Bitcoin miners migration is well underway. And the network’s total hash rate is showing it in a big way. Currently, the number of terahashes per second is at its lowest level in the last twelve months. That means that mining Bitcoin has not been easier in a whole year. Also, there’s less competition. So, it’s good news for all the other miners that are spread around the world. However, don’t expect it to last long.

Related Reading | How China Bitcoin FUD Is Lowering The Cost To Produce BTC

Tons and tons of mining equipment are currently traveling to their new homes. There are reports of a huge operation in Kazhakstan, a neighboring nation of China. There are also rumors of equipment and personnel already settling down in Texas. The US state is making a push to become a Bitcoin mining capital, and apparently, the efforts already bore fruit. 

Back in China, the crackdown is no longer a rumor. It’s a reality. CNBC reports:

China’s crackdown intensified over the weekend, with authorities in the hydropower-rich Chinese province of Sichuan ordering crypto miners to shut down operations.

According to reports, more than 90% of China’s bitcoin mining capacity is estimated to be closed. 

Some experts see this as a good thing. It’s estimated that China controlled between 60 and 70% of Bitcoin mining, and the future looks clearer with them out of the picture. The hash rate will suffer for a while, but there’ll be more decentralization. Also, the carbon-powered-energy consumption FUD will decrease. Even though China’s miners were mostly located in areas rich in renewable energy, Bitcoin critics had a hard time believing reports from that side of the world. 

Total Hash Rate (TH/s) of the Bitcoin network | Source: Blockchain.com

Another China Ban, A Reflection Of 2017

This is not the first time that the Chinese government’s cryptocurrency policy caused havoc on the market. In September 2017, they banned crypto exchanges altogether. Just before that, Bitcoinist reported:

While Chinese exchanges used to represent over 90% of Bitcoin’s trading volume, this changed completely with the intervention of the PBoC which led to the end of margin trading and zero-fee policies and to the temporary halt on withdrawals.

All of these changes contributed to China’s trading volume reduction, which saw its market share fall to 3-5% of the global trading volume.

So, historically, the Chinese government has shown no mercy in closing billion-dollar businesses by decree. It’s also worth noting that most of the banned cryptocurrency exchanges just closed their China offices and moved their operation to other countries. They continue working to this day and, for users not in China, the traumatic move didn’t affect their experience in the slightest. Bitcoinist reports again:

The clampdown led to a staggering drop in CNY trading — which comprised over 90 percent at its peak — as traders made an exodus to over-the-counter, peer-to-peer, and foreign exchanges. As a result, jurisdictions with friendlier laws experienced a boom in trading volume as the market flipped on its head

The current situation with the miners is a reflection of that. The mining business is in the process of flipping on its head. The hash rate will recover.

BTCUSD price chart for 06/25/2021 - TradingView

BTC price chart on Bitstamp | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com

The Hash Rate Will Rise Again

In retrospect, we should’ve seen it coming. Only two months ago, following a suspicious blackout, NewsBTC reported:

According to the Beijing Economic and Information Bureau, there were concerns about the energy consumption related to these activities. PengPai quotes Yu Jianing, rotating Chairman of the Blockchain Special Committee of China, to claim that the country’s environmental requirements could lead to crypto mining being more “strictly regulated”. Jianing said this will be “inevitable”.

Related Reading | Bitcoin Mining In China To Usher Historic Moment, Will BTC Be Affected?

As for the possible reasons, Bitcoin Magazine’s Lucas Nuzzi cites the upcoming Digital Yuan CBDC. He also defuses the FUD by informing us, “Daily Hash Rate is, by its very design, a volatile metric that is not suitable to track lasting changes in the mining landscape.”

We should also take into consideration Nic Carter’s assertion that all of these things are happening while, “Bitcoin continues to maintain 100% uptime, is nothing short of a modern marvel.”

In Bitcoin, everything’s changing while everything stays the same. The hash rate will rise again.

Featured Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay - Charts by TradingView and Blockchain.com
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John McAfee’s Wildest Quotes About Bitcoin And Cryptocurrencies

The highly controversial and highly entertaining John McAfee is dead. As our sister site Bitcoinist informed, “According to a spokeswoman for the Superior Court of Catalonia, former crypto promoter John McAfee was discovered dead in his prison cell near Barcelona, Spain at the age of 75.” A cybersecurity pioneer and an eccentric millionaire, McAfee became obsessed with cryptocurrencies in the latter part of his life.

He went from giving Bitcoin the highest praise to bashing it every time he could. Launched a failed hardware wallet. Pioneered DEXes and briefly operated a trading platform. McAfee ended up promoting every altcoin that had a cheque for him, and virtually none of those succeeded. Quite a colorful crypto career. 

Related Reading | After Trashing Bitcoin, McAfee Is Promoting These Three Altcoins

Of course, you all know what his wildest quote about Bitcoin was. But, what did he think about the big subjects in the crypto space? Let’s pass the mic to the fallen king, and let him rip everything apart using his own words.

John McAfee On Bitcoin

As we already told you, he started with the highest praise possible. To our very own newsdesk, he said:

Bitcoin will become the gold standard. Bitcoin will always be that standard, that you can keep in a wallet offline somewhere and think, this is my retirement income. It is the grandfather; it will always be the best. When people were taught about cryptocurrencies, they were made to say Bitcoin instead of currencies. That’s how prominent it is.

And a few years later ended up bashing it, while showing a fundamental misunderstanding of the technology and its value to the world:

 I am not a Bitcoin maximalist. I don’t know what the maximalists are thinking. I mean, there’s zero privacy in Bitcoin. Bitcoin doesn’t have smart contracts, and Jesus, there’s nothing. It’s an ancient, arcane technology and yet it’s still going to be worth a fortune.”

“As a store of value and cryptocurrency, it’s the standard. However, it does not do much that the world needs from blockchain today. It’s simply a cryptocurrency.

So yeah, even though he saw the store of value aspect, he missed the point entirely about what Bitcoin means for humanity. However, he always maintained the $1M price target for BTC’s price: 

“It can’t be otherwise. Look at the Bitcoin supply and its usage. It is so artificially compressed in value right now. It will simply get out of the artificial constraints to where it should be. I mean, there will only be 21 million coins ever, and seven million of them are lost.”

About Blockchain Technology

He was on point with this one:

Well, in 2014 I decided that the blockchain was probably the most revolutionary software technology that I had seen in my 50 years of doing computer science.

No argument there. And to think, it’s only a little part of what makes Bitcoin special.

He Was All-In On Altcoins

The man, the myth, the legend was convinced that Altcoins were the next step.

The altcoins are obviously where the real action is, and there are some super brilliant people there. Things like DAI, the only real stablecoin. It never varies more than 1% up or down from the US dollar. And I dabbled in it, I’ve been watching it, and it’s astonishingly based on smart contracts.

And he was especially interested in stablecoins and privacy coins:

I think there are two things that will survive no matter what is coming in the cryptoworld. Those are privacy coins, true privacy coins where no one can know anything about a transaction. And stable coins, like DAI, that do not vary in value. From a stable item, or an unstable item like the US dollar. DAI has never varied more than one penny from the US dollar. 

XMRUSD price chart for 06/24/2021 - TradingView

Monero price chart on Bitfinex | Source: XMR/USD on TradingView.com

John McAfee On DEXes

One of McAfee’s last projects was a Decentralized Exchange. He was convinced that the world needed it:

We have to have distributed exchanges as users of cryptocurrencies created by the people like Bitcoin and Monero-based or otherwise that’s going to die. Because as China proved two years ago, in 24 hours, they shut down every exchange in China. Overnight. It’s a piece of cake. We have an address where the office is, we go in and we turn off the electricity, or arrest everybody, or you know, just whatever. Easy. So without distributed exchanges we’re lost, because without an exchange what are all these disparate currencies if we have no way to trade between.

Related Reading | Why The Dark Net’s Most Active Market Ditched Bitcoin For Monero

And about governance and decentralization in general, he thought:

I think developers make whatever decision they want with open source code. So problem is open-source. I mean if you wanna change it and put your name on it, and change the wallet addresses to some wallet belonging to you, please god, do so! That’s your fundamental right, all right?!

If you make it open source, you can’t complain about what people do with than after.

So, do we need governance? No!

And, to close this off and finish his thoughts on governance, McAfee had this beautiful insight:

No, we don’t need that to, we trying to get away from it, we trying to develop a system of mathematics that eliminates the need for trust and the need for control.

Rest in peace, John McAfee.

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Real Estate Mogul Has $100 Million Plan For Blockchain Based Social Media Protocol

Billionaire and real estate mogul, Frank McCourt has recently been working on a new blockchain venture titled Project Liberty. It’s ambitious goal, to bring together the power of the blockchain and merge it into a social media protocol.

With a social media database like this, he believes no social media platform would be able to control everyone’s data. All users would have access to the blockchain and could aptly move records of their social connections between the apps that they want to use, when they want to use them.

Users having complete control over their information would promote competition in the social media market where platforms would have to offer users a better experience and unique features. There would be different pro’s and con’s to each platform. None would dominate completely as social media users could spread out in a wider marketplace operating on the blockchain to accept their previous data, and social connections helping them get set up faster.

Related Reading | The First DeFi & NFT Social Media Project, Torum Announces NFT Launchpad

McCourt is investing $100 Million into the project, proving just how much confidence investors have in blockchain technology and that the applications of the blockchain in general are endless in our tech driven world.

In an article from Bloomberg on Sunday McCourt states,

I never thought I would be questioning the security of our underlying systems, namely democracy and capitalism

We live under constant surveillance, and what’s happening with this massive accumulation of wealth and power in the hands of a few, that’s incredibly destabilizing. It threatens capitalism because capitalism needs to have some form of fairness in it in order to survive

The fairness that McCourt is looking for lies in the inherent freedom of a decentralized protocol and the foundations of blockchain technology. No one entity is in charge of the network and the data. Users on this social media protocol would have access to their data putting the power of making money off people’s data back in the people’s hands.

How Project Liberty Works With Blockchain Technology

The main aim of the project is to build a Decentralized Social Networking Protocol. Much like how Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are stored in a users wallet with a unique key, on this protocol, users social media data would be stored here on the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol. Then, users can choose to transfer that data to the different apps and platforms that they want to use as their forms of social media.

Much like the original goal of Bitcoin and crypto in general, it is important that date like social media information become ingrained in the blockchain as well. That way, it is engrained forever and the people can control their own data how they want. Knowing that it is there, secured in their wallet, and transferable forever to be used how they see fit.

Related Reading | Bitcoin Lightning Network Sees Storm Of Activity And Adoption

This is a huge addition to the blockchain tech world with implications on the market that are far reaching. With a Decentralized Social Networking Protocol, new social media apps and platforms would have a way of aquiring users without having to go through the already major players in the social media industry. Plus the best part, users would always control their data giving and taking away permission from companies as they need.

Additional Blockchain Social Media Protocol

Project Liberty closely mirrors the aims of Bluesky. A project started by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey that also aims to use blockchain technology to give users the power of their own data back. He details much of the goals for the project in this Twitter thread.

It is clear that with big players in the game like Twitter and billionaire Frank McCourt, the marriage between social media and blockchain tech is here to stay. Moreover, it will almost certainly grow bigger over time as more platforms adopt the changes within the marketplace.

Feature Photo by Rodion Kutsaev on Unsplash
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Polygon (MATIC) Releasing Development Kit For Ethereum-Connected Chains

Safe to say, Polygon has been on a tear lately. On the heels of a DappRadar report noting more than 75,000 active users and nearly $1B in value flows through their layer 2 protocol, the Polygon team has announced a new developer SDK for streamlined app creation. In the past month, our team at NewsBTC anticipated continued success for MATIC, and now the protocol is unleashing more developer-friendly materials.

Polygon’s SDK

Polygon-tracked apps continue to grow with regards to DeFi and Exchange-related categories. Today’s announcement will allow developers to continue that growth. Polygon announced that they will be launching a new software development kit (or SDK) for developers to unleash their own Ethereum-connected blockchains. The SDK will include a number of different plug-and-play modules and the team has stated it was designed to reflect a “Polkadot on Ethereum” approach.

The SDK is set to include modules like consensus, synchronization, TxPool, JSON RPC and gRPC. An initial version of the SDK will allow developers to create standalone chains with complete interoperability with Ethereum; a following version of the kit will enable dev teams to create layer 2 protocols directly connected to Ethereum mainnet.

Related Reading | How Polygon Became The Indian Tiger Of Blockchain Platforms

The Perspective

Compatibility with Ethereum as the protocol optimizes is clearly top of mind for the Polygon team. While scalability for Ethereum is a major talking point, Polygon is at the forefront of the conversation in terms of protocols addressing scalability concerns, while still looking to implement interoperability. In a statement surrounding the SDK’s release, co-founder Sandeep Nailwal noted that “with advanced ‘layer 2’ solutions, Ethereum 2.0 all coming online now or soon, the need for a comprehensive interoperability framework is stronger than ever. With the Polygon SDK, we are solving pressing needs for Ethereum’s multi-chain future, including ease of deployment and inter-L2 communication”.

 

$MATIC has seen a strong recovery after the recent market-wide slide | Source: MATIC-USD on TradingView.com

Looking Forward

As DeFi continues a high-flying emergence, Polygon looks to continue to be on the forefront. The protocol emphasizes lower gas fees relative to Ethereum, and fast transaction speeds. The aforementioned user growth, along with the protocol’s transaction speeds, have led to increased market attention. The protocol also took a vocal approach in a re-brand from Matic in recent months. Accordingly, billionaire Mark Cuban has is a recent investor, and is quickly implementing it into his NFT portfolio company Lazy.com. Other recent partnerships include computing network Aleph.im, with a focus on security and permanence in the NFT market.

Following the news, $MATIC has continued to show strong growth with prices nearing record-highs, and is looking to crack the top 10 in crypto in terms of market cap.

Related Reading | How Aave’s Integration With Polygon Will Maximize Users’ Profits

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Samsung Adds Support For Hardware Wallets On Galaxy Devices

Samsung Electronics has added new support assets for blockchain users with hardware wallets this week. The move will impact mobile Galaxy owners, allowing them to use third-party hardware wallets with the Samsung Blockchain Wallet app. In their press release, Samsung has sought out to explicitly provide hardware support for Ledger Nano S and Nano X. The company stated, however, that they plan to support more cold-storage wallets moving forward.

Samsung Blockchain

The journey to initiate hardware support, of course, started with straightforward blockchain integration. In 2019, Samsung released Samsung Blockchain and dedicated crypto wallet support, without extensive fanfare. The company rolled out the blockchain software in tandem with the Galaxy S10 release. A major focal point for the blockchain offering is the included software development kit. The kit opened the door for Samsung to support developers in creating decentralized apps. Dapp support is driven through the Blockchain Keystore SDK.

Of course, the other major emphasis of the Samsung Blockchain is security. This comes by way of the company’s self-described ‘Samsung Knox’ and ‘Trusted Execution Environment (TEE)’. Knox is a secure holding space for crypto users that is separate from the main operating system, accessible only via PIN or biometric authentication. Knox is essentially a “secure processor dedicated to protecting your PIN, password, pattern, and Blockchain Private Key”, as the company describes it.

Related Reading | Cardano Turning Down Dapps Due To Sheer Volume Of Applications

Galaxy Support

The update to begin supporting cold-storage wallets will be applicable for Galaxy users running Android 9.0 and above. The company also cautioned that in the initial roll-out, Nano X bluetooth features may be limited.

The Korean-based firm continues to keep promotional activity around new blockchain-related features somewhat under the radar, despite continuous and evolving support.

BTC's consistency has given more companies good reason to integrate | Source: BTC-USD on TradingView.com

Continued Crypto Support

Samsung has continued to release crypto-related support with a relatively quiet approach. In 2020, the firm partnered with crypto exchange Gemini to streamline Galaxy users consumer experience. The company continues to offer consumer and developer assets, such as a dedicated crypto newsfeed available in the Blockchain Wallet app. For developers in particular, offerings include extensive resources, such as APIs that allow dapps to securely sign for transfers of virtual assets.

After initially support ethereum in 2019, and adding bitcoin shortly thereafter, the company now offers over thirty coins, including stablecoins. Samsung continues to stay relatively quiet despite what seems to be continued investment. In a public statement, head of blockchain and company VP Woong Ah Yoon stated that monthly active users of the blockchain app have doubled over the past seven months. Without sharing hard figures, Yoon added the smartphone wallet is currently used to hold hundreds of millions of USD in AUM (assets under management).

Related Reading | Go Phish: How This Bitcoin Investor Lost 17 BTC To An iPhone App

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Treasury Management Firm Says CFOs Avoid Risk, Bitcoin Won’t Become Corporate Vehicle

If you need reassurance on just how early you’re to Bitcoin, head to Fortune.com. They interviewed the managing director of Treasury Partners, Jerry Klein, to find out if corporations are thinking about Bitcoin as a store of value. Short answer, “Not one of our clients has expressed interest in Bitcoin.” Good to know. But let’s explore further.

Related Reading | Stone Ridge’s 10k Bitcoin Bet Shows Changing Sentiment of Corporate America

The article begins with alliteration and dishonesty:

“The lead cryptocurrency so far offers practically no practical uses.”

Is the implication here that, for example, instantaneous wealth transfer is not practical enough? We consulted the linked article to find out exactly what the author meant. It starts with:

“In reality, Bitcoin has flopped as a vehicle for buying things, and it failed in its first big test as a safe harbor during the past year’s stock market crash.”

Oh yeah? Let’s ask the people with strong hands that held on to their Bitcoin until today. Are they not satisfied with Bitcoin’s performance? There’s turbulence, but the harbor is safe. And about the other point. nobody wants to be the next person who pays 10.000 BTC for two pizzas. Bitcoin is and will be in price discovery phase for the foreseeable future. Buying things with it is not a priority.

BTC Price chart, the last year - TradingView

BTC price chart for the last year on KuCoin | Source: BTC/USDT on TradingView.com

But let’s get back to corporate cash

According to Klein, his client’s portfolios usually consist of three kinds of investments: government bonds, money-market funds, and corporate stocks. Klein claims that their priorities are safety and liquidity, and that risk is out of the question. Furthermore, the article continues, “companies want to avoid owning assets that risk even the slightest decline in value.” 

Oh yeah? Isn’t Fiat currency in the United States devaluing at a 15% annual rate? Doesn’t that pose a risk of its own? To drive the point home, let’s quote the pioneer of displaying Bitcoin in the company’s balance sheet. MicroStrategy’s CEO Michael Saylor recently told Time magazine: 

“If you’re going to make a rational investment decision today, whether you’re a real estate investor, a stock investor, a bond investor, or just a wage earner or you’re a treasurer, you have to estimate the rate of monetary expansion for the next eight years. We know there’s a commitment to run deficits, and we know this commitment to stimulus.”

That means the US government is printing money like there’s no tomorrow. And will be for the foreseeable future. 

Related Reading | This is why all companies should buy Bitcoin, says Square’s CFO

You’re early to Bitcoin

Among the crypto community, there is a fear that the arrival of MicroStrategy, Square, and Tesla means that it’s corporations time. That the head-start that Bitcoin gave to the little people is over. Fortune.com’s attitude while handling the subject suggests that the crypto community might be wrong. Big institutions have no idea what’s going on. You probably have more time to stack those Sats. 

And that is a good thing.

Featured Image by Josh Hild on Unsplash - Charts by: TradingView