Autor Cointelegraph By Bryan Conover

Party-to-earn: Blockchain breaking down the doors in electronic music community

Party-to-earn: Blockchain breaking down the doors in electronic music community

Uverejnil používateľ | dec 1, 2022 |

Electronic music is big business. According to a report by the International Music Summit, in 2021, the electronic music sector was valued at $6 billion dollars and that sector is poised for significant further growth. That $6 billion dollar figure marks a 71% increase from the industry’s valuation in 2020, which was understandably much smaller due to the effects of the pandemic. While revenue is down from where it was in 2019, barring further massive disruptions, the industry is on pace in 2022 to surpass its pre-pandemic heights.This should be great news for artists and music lovers alike, but there is a caveat. As electronic music continues to flourish, access to festivals and concerts — the heart of the electronic music scene — has become increasingly exclusive. The price of concert tickets is up across the board throughout the entire music industry. Earlier this year, a furor was sparked when tickets to see Bruce Springsteen, an artist with a committed following among working-class people, went on sale for astronomical prices. The high prices were blamed on algorithms used by ticket-selling platforms, but this wasn’t an isolated incident.Take Tomorrowland, one of the biggest electronic music festivals. In 2022, a general admission ticket to the festival cost about $280. These tickets get sold out very fast, leaving only the more expensive packages, which can cost several thousands of dollars. And that base price doesn’t take into account travel, food and all of the other expenses that go into attending one of these events. The total cost of going to one of these events can be anywhere from $1,500 to $50,000. That is simply not something that the vast majority of people can afford.Restoring the Electronic Music Scene to Its RootsElectronic music festivals are about more than just the music. These are events that are supposed to bring together people from all walks of life in a communal setting. The way things currently operate, going to these events is becoming more of a privilege.However, one blockchain project has decided to do something about this and use its platform to bring electronic music back to its roots. Klubcoin bills itself as the “1st cryptocurrency for all clubbers, festival goers and electronic music fans.” The project’s goal is to create a currency that is accepted by everyone in the electronic music scene. By using the Klubcoin currency, music fans get rewards that include access to VIP events, meet-and-greets with famous DJs and artists and more.Klubcoin and the Pary-to-Earn ModelThe model of operation is called “party-to-earn,” and has been positioned as a means of decentralizing the music and festival scene in a similar fashion to how play-to-earn games have shaken up the gaming industry. Klubcoin gives clubbers and festival goers the ability to earn rewards and gain access to exclusive events by doing what they love. Now, fans will not only be able to get into sold-out events for reasonable prices, once there, they will also be eligible for discounts on food and drinks, get cashback on all their purchases and have access to parties and meetups exclusive to the Klubcoin community. By introducing a means of exchange tailored to electronic music creators and fans, the project is aiming to bring those creators and fans back into focus.Klubcoin has already met with some success in its efforts, forging partnerships with some of the biggest music festivals and DJs in the world. The project’s roster of partners now includes Amnesia Ibiza, Bootshaus, Caprices Festival, DJ Mag, Pacha Barcelona, Opium, Motel Particulier and many more. As it progresses, Klubcoin will be looking to integrate into even more festivals and partner with more artists to expand its ecosystem and offer more people alternatives to the current status quo.For music creators, Klubcoin represents a unique opportunity to expand their audience and contribute to a more direct relationship between fans and artists. The sustained success of Klubcoin could have a profound impact on an industry that is becoming increasingly unrecognizable to its original creators.Material is provided in partnership with KlubcoinDisclaimer. Cointelegraph does not endorse any content or product on this page. While we aim at providing you with all important information that we could obtain, readers should do their own research before taking any actions related to the company and carry full responsibility for their decisions, nor can this article be considered as investment advice.

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Unique Web3 tech primed to democratize Internet of Things industry

Unique Web3 tech primed to democratize Internet of Things industry

Uverejnil používateľ | nov 22, 2022 |

We live in houses that are capable of monitoring and controlling a wide range of internal processes — from heating and cooling to security and surveillance mechanisms. Our cars keep track of external conditions and are well on their way to driving themselves. Our phones are constantly gathering valuable data and recording our activities — both on our devices and in real life.Smart homes, smart cars, smartphones — all of these and much more are part of the rapidly expanding Internet of Things (IoT), which serves as the foundation of the machine economy. The IoT is what connects all of our smart devices and machines, and while the industry has produced remarkable achievements that have improved lives around the world, it is also an industry that has been centralized for decades.That centralization has left smart device users with little control over their personal data. W3bstream, a leading project in MachineFi — the decentralized machine economy — has the potential to challenge the current IoT monopoly, benefitting billions of smart device users worldwide.The booming IoT industryMckinsey predicts the IoT is on pace to add anywhere from $5.5 to $12.6 trillion to the global economy by 2030. A huge chunk of that growth is attributed to IoT solutions in the retail, home and health sectors. There are many potential benefits to enhanced connectivity among our devices and the things we interact with, from health and safety improvements to time-saving advantages.However, for all of the promise of the IoT, the proliferation of smart objects and the increasingly important role they play in our lives is raising significant questions tied to privacy concerns and the dangers of concentrated power.One of the reasons that the IoT industry has proven to be so profitable is the increasing value of consumer data. While the IoT has brought improvements to human safety, longevity and quality of life, there are also downsides due to the sacrifices that come at the price of convenience. The privacy debate has been roiling for some time now in the tech sector, as a number of companies have gone to great lengths to acquire user data. The intrusiveness of these companies and the subsequent liberties they have taken in profiting off of the data they collect has drawn the ire of consumers across the world.Despite the concerns that many share regarding privacy overreach, given how thoroughly embedded into our lives services provided by companies like Google and Amazon are, there has been a general sense that little can be done to change the tide and give users control over their data. However, there is an alternative approach to IoT development that has the potential to recalibrate the industry’s power dynamics.W3bstream and the fight for the future of the IoTMachineFi Lab, the core developer of the IoTeX Network — a project that is working to merge blockchain technology with the IoT — has recently announced the rollout of a new product called W3bstream. W3bstream is a chain-agnostic system that has been developed to disrupt the monopoly that has been formed around user data and smart devices.The project has taken a leading role in the nascent MachineFi industry, which has emerged as more efforts are being made to decentralize the machine economy. Key to MachineFi is infusing the principles of Web3 into the IoT, so that users will be able to maintain control over their data and protect their privacy, while still enjoying the benefits of the vast interconnected network of devices and services.Beyond just protecting the end user, W3bstream will give users the option to profit from their own data, reshaping the current state of the industry. The key to being able to do this is the platform’s decentralized approach, which takes the ownership possibilities opened up by blockchain technology and applies it to the full spectrum of the IoT.The strong technological underpinnings of the platform allow it to penetrate into all industries that use and create smart devices. The full range of devices that can operate on W3bstream include sensors, smart TVs, smart homes, self-driving automobiles and even smart cities. Via the platform, Web3 tech can be implemented by connectivity services, supply chain operators, healthcare providers, manufacturing companies and environmental protection agencies, among many others.The benefits without the compromisesThe incentive to introduce Web3 paradigms to these sectors lies in the benefits it will bring to billions of people. Just like in the current iteration of the IoT, people will be able to use their devices to monitor and improve key activities and aspects of their lives. However, in the Web3 model, people also stand to get rewarded for participating in the collection of data, all while being able to maintain their privacy.The way this works is through data pools to which participants can contribute without having to reveal their names or any other information they wish to remain private. In the health sector, this could greatly advance research efforts without participants having to cede unnecessary personal information to third parties that may use the information to profit. Instead, the process would be much more democratic and streamlined to focus on scientific advancement and communal benefit rather than perpetuating revenue flows for corporations that have accumulated sprawling control over various facets of modern life.In addition to the advantages this kind of platform presents for end users, W3bstream is also remarkable for the ease it has introduced into the process of application building. MachineFi Lab’s one-of-a-kind data compute infrastructure enables developers, smart device makers, and businesses to build Web3 applications in less than 50% of the time — and at half the price — it takes to build similar applications with other comparable software.Currently, there are about 42 billion smart devices in use around the world. As substantial a figure as that is, this is still just the beginning of the machine economy; by 2025, people will own about 75 billion smart devices and machines. The more developed this industry becomes, the more difficult it is going to be to make substantial changes. W3bstream and other MachineFi projects are trying to lay the foundation for a democratized IoT now while it is still possible.

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Southeast Asia and DeFi’s Big Bet on the Unbanked

Southeast Asia and DeFi’s Big Bet on the Unbanked

Uverejnil používateľ | nov 7, 2022 |

In one of the more striking early scenes from P.T. Anderson’s 2007 film, There Will Be Blood, there is a gas explosion that destroys the drilling rig set up by oil tycoon Daniel Plainview. Noticing one of his employees observing the situation dejectedly, Plainview rebukes the man, saying: “What are you looking so miserable about? There’s a whole ocean of oil under our feet. No one can get at it except for me!” Access to and possession of that oil would catapult Plainview, like it did many of his real-world counterparts, to the highest stratosphere of wealth. These days, rather than turning paupers into princes, oil more often serves as a means of transforming princes into the owners of the world’s biggest sports teams. But one can be forgiven for seeing parallels in the mania of that time and today’s focus on what is currently one of the most dynamic aspects of global finance, namely the race to reach the unbanked. An economic force unrealizedWhile western countries are rife with banking services that cater to all demographics, in emerging markets the situation is quite the opposite. Southeast Asian economies number among the world’s strongest and yet banking penetration levels in these countries are shockingly low. A recent report from Bain and Company estimated that around 70 percent of the adult population of Southeast Asia is either unbanked or underbanked. This is a whopping figure, especially considering that the six leading countries of Southeast Asia combine to have a population of around 570 million people and a collective GDP projected to reach $4.7 trillion in the coming years. Reaching these people with adequate services represents an ocean of opportunity, which has triggered a race of sorts to do so.  Ending the reign of cashCash is still king in these countries, but how long can the dam hold? In the Southeast Asia region, 50% of people are unbanked, meaning they do not have access to even the most basic banking services, like a savings account. Without a bank account, individuals are unable to receive any banking services including lines of credit. This is particularly problematic for medium and small-sized businesses, which constitute the majority of businesses in Southeast Asia. The above-mentioned report notes that millions of these kinds of businesses struggle to overcome substantial funding gaps due to the limited options available to them. Integrating the Southeast Asian demographic into the fabric of global finance has become something of a white whale for today’s leading financial players as well as its would-be Daniel Plainviews. There is a demand that if met would lead to rapid economic development in these countries, the only question is how to do it. The Bain and Company report deals specifically with the suitability of digital finance platforms as a means of banking penetration. The demographic subset most likely to benefit from the proliferation of digital finance platforms is the underbanked according to the report, while the unbanked are likely to remain on the outside looking in. DeFi, the king killerBut, there is one sector of digital finance that many believe is currently being overlooked in what it has to offer here. The establishment of above-the-board DeFi lending and borrowing platforms that operate with established stablecoins pegged to Southeast Asian fiat currencies could be decisive in opening the doors for more people to receive adequate banking services and establishing small and medium-sized businesses as a bedrock of the local economy. Bluejay Finance, a DeFi project that specializes in developing and launching stablecoins for the Southeast Asian economy, has set its sights on using the possibilities inherent in DeFi to usher in a new economic era in the region. The Bluejay approach to real-world asset lendingBluejay is in the process of building a real-world asset lending ecosystem that is backed by stablecoins pegged to local, Southeast Asian currencies. The Bluejay protocol not only issues these stablecoins, but backs them with liquidity from its own treasury. Because the protocol includes liquidity support, Bluejay can stem volatility by correcting liquidity imbalances thereby eliminating dramatic price swings. Most DeFi platforms that offer similar services operate via stablecoins pegged to the US dollar. This raises additional and significant risks for users in regions like Southeast Asia, especially now given all of the volatility in the foreign exchange market. When a borrower has USD-denominated debt and the dollar rises against the borrower’s local currency, that debt increases. By building up a foundation of localized stablecoins, Bluejay is lowering the risk level for users while also establishing convenient onramps. By lowering volatility, Bluejay is able to open up access to reliable stablecoin yields for its users, while also earning on swap fees which are redirected to the protocol’s treasury. Those returns to the treasury further strengthen the platform and allow Bluejay to increase the liquidity it provides its stablecoin offerings and continue to roll out additional stablecoins pegged to different currencies. The end goal for the project is the creation of a robust, stablecoin-powered ecosystem to facilitate real-world asset lending.Protocol ideal for tech-savvy, underserved demoWhile the Southeast Asian demographic is markedly underserved in the banking sector, it is decidedly tech-literate. This has been proven by the popularity of digital finance applications that have tried to fill the gap left by traditional banking. But these kinds of platforms can only offer a fraction of what a fully-fledged DeFi platform like Bluejay can. Regarding the project’s vision, Bluejay Finance CEO Sherry Jiang had this to say: “We’re in a critical moment right now in the DeFi industry where we need to start creating real sustainable use cases. There are enormous opportunities for this within real-world asset lending and payments, especially in Asia where there are massive infrastructure challenges in finance that just aren’t as painfully felt in the west. Large pain points and business opportunities also mean a real yield of 10%+ that can be returned to investors in a way that doesn’t rely on reflexive or “ponzinomic” dynamics. Bluejay Finance wants to be that base stablecoin layer by creating on-chain representations of Asia-based currencies.”In addition to its potential as a catalyst of economic renewal, there is something to be said for the approach. The Daniel Plainview paradigm of singular, centralized possession and control is no longer adequate. Perhaps nowhere is this more acutely felt than in the out-of-joint world of global finance. That approach has failed Southeast Asia and millions of people around the world. Bluejay and a number of other DeFi projects have set their sights on replacing that with something more balanced and reflective of the needs of those it serves.Material is provided in partnership with BluejayDisclaimer. Cointelegraph does not endorse any content or product on this page. While we aim at providing you with all important information that we could obtain, readers should do their own research before taking any actions related to the company and carry full responsibility for their decisions, nor can this article be considered as investment advice.

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