- ‘Much Higher Potential’—Elon Musk Reveals Why He’s Backing Dogecoin Over Bitcoin And Ethereum Amid Huge Crypto Price Crash
The bitcoin price has fallen sharply over the last month, losing around 25% of its value and hitting the price of ethereum and most other major cryptocurrencies—including the meme-based dogecoin. Elon Musk, the Tesla billionaire who’s helped the “joke” bitcoin rival dogecoin become a major cryptocurrency this year, has outlined exactly why he supports the memecoin over the likes of bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies. Musk, speaking to Time magazine after it named him Time’s 2021 Person of the Year, said he thinks dogecoin is better suited for transactions than bitcoin and has a “much higher potential.”
- Crypto gaming giant Dapper Labs takes its next shot with Genies NFT platform ‘The Warehouse’
Dapper Labs, maker of one of the year’s more mainstream breakout NFT hits NBA Top Shot, has been looking to convince investors that it can court developers to bet on the latter. Today, the startup recently valued at $7.6 billion is showcasing some of the fruits of this pursuit, debuting the product of its partnership with avatars-for-the-stars startup Genies — an ambitious NFT storefront. The new platform, called The Warehouse, is launching today to a small network of invite-only users before gradually going out to a wider audience in the coming months, both startups tell TechCrunch.
- After a big year for cryptocurrencies, what’s on the horizon in 2022?
The year 2021 was marked by several major breakthroughs for cryptocurrencies. For one, new crypto applications like non-fungible tokens (NFTs) gained ground, with sales of these digital assets setting new records at major auction houses. Secondly, Bitcoin made strides towards mainstream acceptance with major websites like Expedia and Microsoft accepting the coin as a means of exchange. We believe there are three main areas where cryptocurrencies will gain steam in the next year: greater acceptance of Bitcoin as a means of payment, increased regulatory scrutiny and a rise in NFT activity.
- Infinite Games: How Crypto Is ‘LARPing’
The global cryptocurrency market cap is $2.3 trillion. El Salvador has made bitcoin legal tender, challenging the role of traditional international money lending banks. At the 2018 “Devcon” Ethereum Developers Conference in Prague, internet guru and self-proclaimed “culture hacker” Stewart Brand shared the book that changed his life: “Finite and Infinite Games” by philosophy scholar James Carse. LARP refers to games where participants physically portray their characters, by wearing costumes, assuming personas and pursuing goals within real-world environments while interacting with other players in character.
https://www.coindesk.com/layer2/2021/12/13/infinite-games-how-crypto-is-larping/
- Digital future: the rise of NFTs
Many people are buying into the world of NFTs to be part of an online community. Owning certain NFTs can give you access to exclusive content and live events. Charles Morin, Co-founder of Jumy, told Euronews: “Since we can trace the full story of the token at every single ownership transfer, the artists get some money out of the royalties.” An NFT is a unique identifier that can prove ownership of digital goods. They make digital works of art and other collectables into one-of-a-kind, verifiable assets that are easy to trade on the blockchain. Expensive NFTs are being used as profile pictures on social media accounts to show wealth, much like business people wear expensive watches.
https://www.euronews.com/next/2021/12/13/digital-future-the-rise-of-nfts
- NFT of Bored Ape accidentally sold for one hundredth its price
Maxnaut, the seller, admitted the error to CNet due to a “lapse of concentration”, saying that “I instantly saw the error as my finger clicked the mouse but… it was instantly sniped before I could click ‘Cancel’ – and just like that, $250,000 was gone.” The Bored Ape Yacht Club has a limited 10,000 pieces, only with minor variations. Their cheapest NFT piece is 52 ether or $210,000. The owner of Bored Ape made a typing error and listed the piece at 0.75 ETH ($2,989) instead of 75 ETH. The report stated the buyer paid very high “gas” fees of $34,000, which determined how quickly the ethereum network processed the transaction, ensuring the sale was made instantly.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2333835/nft-of-bored-ape-accidentally-sold-for-one-hundredth-its-price
- Sportswear Giant Nike Purchases NFT Fashion and Collectibles Startup RTFKT
On Friday, NFT collectibles and fashion startup RTFKT announced on Twitter that the company had been acquired by Nike. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Nike, meanwhile, was exploring blockchain technology as early as 2019, going so far as to patent tokenized shoes. Metaverse fashion is also a rapidly expanding sector. A rival NFT streetwear project, Cryptokickers, signed a first-ever digital shoe deal with former National Basketball Association star Wilson Chandler in April.
- How the Economics of Bitcoin and Ethereum Shape Their Cultures
Satoshi Nakamoto introduces bitcoin with the term “electronic cash.” Originally, bitcoin is presented as a complete money that has both cash-like properties and, as a consequence of its consensus mechanism, gold-like properties. The cash narrative has had mixed fortunes. Many users did not use Bitcoin as intended and opted to use centralized exchanges as their wallets, undermining privacy. Ethereum’s economics are an interesting contrast to bitcoin’s monetary minimalism. It is important to state, especially in today’s needlessly adversarial environment, that Ethereum is not primarily concerned with economics.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/economics-bitcoin-ethereum-shape-cultures-214537278.html
- Daily Crunch: Web3 project tool Thirdweb closes $5M round with help from Mark Cuban, Gary Vaynerchuk
Chinese AI IPO on hold: The SenseTime IPO was set to raise around $767 million in a Hong Kong listing. However, after finding itself on an American technology blacklist as of Friday, the IPO is on hold. There’s a game coming from the image collection, Bored Ape yacht club . If this is a hit, expect many games to be built atop other NFT IP. A $19.7 billion deal between Microsoft and “speech-to-text specialist Nuance,” as TechCrunch put it, has picked up regulatory scrutiny by a U.K. watchdog. This is the prelude to an investigation, but the fact that Microsoft is even getting a second look could chill other large buys by the megacorps of the technology world.
- Switzerland’s Largest Online Bank Swissquote to Launch Its Own Crypto Exchange
Switzerland’s largest online bank, Swissquote, is reportedly launching its own cryptocurrency trading platform. The company sees high demand for cryptocurrency trading. “Our compliance and customer service teams were almost overrun by the crypto rush.” Jan De Schepper, chief sales and marketing officer at Swissquote, told Finews.asia publication that his company plans to open its own crypto exchange before the end of the first half of 2022. Swissquote wants to become “the leading Swiss provider of digital assets,” he said, adding.
