Autor Cointelegraph By Felix Ng

Mainstream media on the Merge: Risky move or climate nirvana?

Mainstream media on the Merge: Risky move or climate nirvana?

Uverejnil používateľ | sep 7, 2022 |

Mainstream outlets are starting to pick up on the significance of next week’s Ethereum Merge, describing it as a “major overhaul” that could either accelerate crypto adoption or send disastrous shockwaves across the market should it fail. The Merge has been in the making since the original Ethereum white paper and involves moving from an electricity-intensive proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism to an efficient proof-of-stake (PoS) without any significant disruptions to the blockchain.American business publication Forbes called the no-downtime upgrade akin to “[changing] the engine of a spaceship mid-flight,” and Swan Bitcoin CEO Cory Klippsten made a similar comment to the Wall Street Journal, stating the upgrade is like “trying to fix an airplane in mid-flight.”Some outlets stressed the upgrade could be fraught with risk, sharing concerns that one wrong move could “prove disastrous” for the future of the network and the decentralized applications (DApps) on the Ethereum blockchain.Source: Evening StandardBritish newspaper the Evening Standard suggested crypto traders have been “holding their breath” ahead of the upcoming Merge, as a failed upgrade could put the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem “at risk.” The Ethereum network is responsible for the majority of the $150 billion stablecoin market cap, and around $33 billion in total value locked by Ethereum-based decentralized applications (DApps), according to Defillama. Dr. Anna Becker, CEO, and co-founder of EndoTech told the Standard that it will be “quite troublesome for the industry to survive” if something were to go wrong which leads to a halt of the blockchain. “Ethereum is the infrastructure for many companies to manage their blockchains, so if something goes wrong we have the halt of the industry […] it will be quite troublesome for the industry to survive this period.”The Washington Posts suggested that as the proof-of-stake mechanism is “less battle-tested” than proof-of-work, the security of whic has been proven over more than a decade, “new vulnerabilities could be found.”Source: Australian Broadcasting CorporationJournalist John Quiggin from the Australian national broadcaster ABC added in his reporting that given that the new model has only been tested on “experimental blockchains,” there is a chance the Ethereum experiment “could fail,” — potentially if larger ETH stakers find a way to manipulate the system. One point that has seen consensus among outlets is that the Ethereum upgrade will make the blockchain vastly more environmentally friendly than before — reducing energy consumption by more than 99% according to the Ethereum Foundation. Some argue that this could place pressure on other proof-of-work cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin to eventually follow suit. “At a time when the world is desperately trying to reduce energy consumption, Bitcoin uses more energy each year than medium-sized nations such as Argentina,” said Quiggin, adding: “If the Ethereum switch succeeds, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will be under immense pressure to deal with this problem.”Quiggin noted that last year, electric car manufacturer Tesla announced it will no longer be accepting Bitcoin for payments until at least half of the cryptocurrency is mined using renewable energy, while the New York Legislature passed a bill earlier this year to scrutinize Bitcoin miners using carbon-based power.Related: Hive Blockchain explores new mineable coins ahead of Ethereum merge“One thing is clear: as the need to slash global emissions becomes ever more pressing, cryptocurrencies will run out of excuses for their egregious energy use,” he concluded. Ether (ETH) is currently the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, sitting at $187.5 billion, compared to Bitcoin (BTC)’s $360 billion market cap, according to CoinMarketCap.Source: Forbes

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Not quite to the moon: Aussies offered NFT that could send them to space

Not quite to the moon: Aussies offered NFT that could send them to space

Uverejnil používateľ | aug 31, 2022 |

Australians may not ever see their nonfungible tokens (NFTs) take them “to the moon,” but they might be able to get to the next best place — the edge of space.Crypto Competitions, an Australia-based Web3 sweepstakes startup, has recently signed a partnership with stratospheric exploration company World View, offering its NFT holders a 1-in-7,000 chance to win a priority seat in a World View space flight in 2024. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Harls Cannard, managing director of Crypto Competitions, said the sweepstakes was a way to celebrate the launch of his Web3-powered marketplace, which uses NFTs and prizes as an incentive to join its discount rewards program. “Everyone in crypto talks about like, when are we going to get a Lambo, and when are we going to the moon?”Canard said he thought the space flight was a “great way to launch,” even if it wasn’t necessarily sending someone “to the moon.” Source: Crypto CompetitionsHe explained that his Web3 company wanted to use blockchain to power its space flight sweepstakes project as the technology allows the draw to be “safe, secure and transparent.”“Because in a lot of lotteries and systems like this, you never actually know your odds of winning. You can’t verify your details to know if your name is actually in that barrel or in that draw. So we’re creating more of a trustworthy and transparent system of generating winners.”Crypto Competitions’ model bears resemblance to traditional NFT lotteries which uses an NFT to represent a sweepstake “ticket.”However, it puts a unique spin on the sweepstakes process, as it employs a gradual elimination process to determine a final winner. “We start with 7,000 NFTs that have been purchased. Then we begin to remove people that have entered […] On the final day, there might be 10 people left with 10 NFTs in the draw.”Canard explained that at each step, eliminated NFT holders or new buyers would be encouraged to participate in the secondary sales market for the surviving NFTs.“We’re creating secondary resale market value for the actual NFT.”Canard said his hopes for the company’s space flight project will showcase the capabilities of its blockchain technology.“I’ve been doing this in the Web2 space for the last four years and I’ve seen a massive gap in the market in Australia and internationally and so that’s why.”Related: Iconic brands including Nike, Gucci have made $260M off NFT salesCrypto Competitions is a Web3 company that offers a membership platform that gives members access to discounts, coupons, and rewards in over ten countries. Canard said in the future, he plans for the adjacent NFT sweepstakes product to include prizes such as Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs and more “life-changing” giveaways and experiences.

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Mystery of the whale wallet holding 50% of Axie Infinity’s SLP supply

Mystery of the whale wallet holding 50% of Axie Infinity’s SLP supply

Uverejnil používateľ | aug 31, 2022 |

For nearly a year now, a mysterious Axie Infinity wallet has been quietly amassing billions of Smooth Love Potion (SLP), the in-game cryptocurrency powering one of the industry’s most popular play-to-earn (P2E) crypto games. Today, the anonymous whale wallet now holds a little over 22 billion SLP — more than 50% the total circulating supply of the token. The problem? No one knows who it belongs to and what their intentions are. The wallet in question was brought to Cointelegraph’s attention by Axie Infinity player and tech co-founder Michael Benko, who first caught wind of this mysterious wallet on Aug. 25. Should we be worried?Benko told Cointelegraph he became concerned about the wallet given the amount of SLP it had gathered in a relatively short amount of time, which could potentially wreak havoc on the game’s ecosystem.“The significance of a wallet holding so much SLP, if it’s an individual person, gives that person a huge amount of control over an economy, especially in an economy where it’s so hard to mint a token.”Launched in 2021, Axie Infinity is a blockchain-based game in which players purchase NFTs of cartoon creatures which they breed and fight against other players in turn-based gameplay. SLP is earned by players for completing daily quests, battling other players in the “Arena” mode or playing against AI in the “Adventure” mode. The SLP can be used for breeding Axies, crafting in-game runes and charms (power-ups), and can be sold on exchanges. Benko noted that as per the latest season update, an average Axie Infinity player can generate between 10 to 70 SLP per day, depending on how good they are at the game. “So it is a concern, if someone’s sitting there with 22 billion SLP […] they could really keep the price flat or keep the price down when it actually should, by natural market conditions, be going up.”The cryptocurrency is currently priced at $0.004, down 99% from an all time high of $0.40 on Jul. 13, 2021, according to Coingecko.Who owns it?Theories explaining the existence of the wallet have only led to dead-ends so far. Benko initially theorized that the wallet was “some system Axie Infinity had to automatically distribute SLP to players who earned it.”However, Sky Mavis co-founder and COO Aleksander Larson told Cointelegraph that neither Sky Mavis nor Axie Infinity hold any of the game’s cryptocurrency, stating: “All tokens in existence have been created by players.”Yield Guild Games co-founder Gabby Dizon — one of the major DAOs for players of Axie — said YGG didn’t own the wallet and suggested it could be a wallet used by an exchange to hold liquidity. Related: Axie Infinity looking to ‘double-down’ on Korean market: KBW“Don’t think this is ours as we typically use all of our minted SLP for breeding,” said Dizon, adding that “the most likely explanation is that an exchange is holding it for their liquidity.”Benko however noted that while many SLP transactions saw Binance as a sender or recipient for many transactions, upon looking at the transactions, he doesn’t believe that it is a wallet owned by the crypto exchange.“Binance seems to have an official wallet [already] and this doesn’t seem to be that wallet.”Cointelegraph reached out to Binance for comment but has not received a response at the time of writing. If you have any theories on who is behind the wallet contact felixng at cointelegraph.com

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Moonbirds will store NFT art ‘in chain’ — Raises $50M in Series A funding

Moonbirds will store NFT art ‘in chain’ — Raises $50M in Series A funding

Uverejnil používateľ | aug 31, 2022 |

PROOF, the private community behind the Moonbirds NFT collection, has announced it is shifting its blue-chip collection completely “in chain” — allowing images to be fully contained within the underlying smart contract. In a community live stream named “Future PROOF” on Aug. 30, Harri Thomas, director of products at PROOF explained that the new approach will mean that in the future, the viewable image of a Moonbird NFT will be “constructed from the contract itself from art layers, which are going to be stored on the blockchain.”“We’ve talked about putting the birds ‘on chain’, so what I’m here to tell you today is that they’re not only going to be ON chain, they’re going to be put IN chain.”Thomas explained that their Ethereum-based NFTs will be different from most other NFTs which are simply tokens that point to where the images are stored off chain. “This is an unusual approach. Certainly not unique,” explained Harris, adding that another example of an NFT project using the same approach is OnChainMonkey, a 10K PFP NFT collection launched in 2021.Thomas declined to provide a date for when the NFT collection will make this shift, but noted that it is a “primary focus” for the smart contract team, so “hopefully not too long.”Co-founder and chief product officer Justin Mezzell, who was one of the hosts of the live stream added: “It’s cool to enter that rarefied space of a fully in-chain project and making sure that this project is really fully decentralized and viewable for just generations.”The live stream also revealed the first official expansion of PROOF’s Moonbirds collection, known as Moonbird Mythics — is expected to launch in early 2023.The collection will span 20,000 NFTs, and is the organization’s third NFT profile picture (PFP) project.Short Moonbird recap:New collection called MythicsMythics burn oddities or nested moonbirds have a go at it everyday50m$ raise led by @a16z Highrise way to showcase/explore art on any chains $PROOF token incoming (ticker not finalized) pic.twitter.com/bYDmRn6x5i— 0xMaki ⌐◨-◨ (@0xMaki) August 30, 2022$50M in fundingPROOF has just raised $50 million in a Series A funding round led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), along with participation from Seven Seven Six, True Ventures, Collab+Currency, Flamingo DAO, SV Angel, and VaynerFund. “It’s great to have this vote of confidence from some of the most respected investors in Web3, as well as capital to keep delivering great products and services as we mature this business over the long term,” said PROOF founder Kevin Rose. In April, the Ethereum-based Moonbirds NFT project completely sold out its collection of 10,000 computer-generated pixel owl avatars within 48 hours of launch, netting $281 million in sales at the time. Its success despite the bear market earned it a title as a “blue-chip” NFT. Related: Bored Ape prices are down, but the NFT market is headed for new heightsAccording to Open Sea, Moonbirds is ranked at number seven in terms of total volume traded at approximately 169,000 Ether (ETH) and is currently ranked number one in the 24-hour charts at a floor price of 13.8 ETH ($21,445 at current prices). Other announcements made during the Future PROOF live stream included an upcoming launch of a PROOF social platform, the creation of a new decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that will oversee licensing of the Moonbirds name, and a new PROOF token that will have “real utility” — with more details expected in 2023.

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A16z-backed CoinSwitch exchange raided over alleged forex law breaches

A16z-backed CoinSwitch exchange raided over alleged forex law breaches

Uverejnil používateľ | aug 26, 2022 |

Major Indian crypto exchange CoinSwitch Kuber had five of its premises searched by anti-money laundering agents on Thursday over alleged violations of forex laws. According to an Aug. 25 report from Bloomberg, India’s Enforcement Directorate searched CoinSwitch Kuber’s offices as well as the residences of its directors and CEO Ashish Singhal. A source told the publication the crypto exchange is under suspicion of acquiring shares worth more than $250 million in contravention of forex laws, as well as being non-compliant with certain know-your-customer (KYC) requirements. The Directorate of Enforcement is a federal enforcement and intelligence agency operating under the Ministry of Finance. According to its website, the agency’s primary objective is the enforcement of acts including the Foreign Exchange Management Act and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.CoinSwitch Kuber said in a statement: “We receive queries from various government agencies. Our approach has always been that of transparency.” “Crypto is an early stage industry with a lot of potential and we continuously engage with all stakeholders.”Launched in India in 2020, CoinSwitch Kuber is one of the largest crypto exchanges in India alongside WazirX and CoinDCX, with over 18 million registered users. CoinSwitch Kuber reached “unicorn” status last year after raising $260 million in a Series C funding round led by Coinbase venture capital arm Coinbase Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. The company is also backed by Sequoia, Paradigm, Ribbit, and Tiger Global.The actions follow a continued clampdown on the cryptocurrency space in India. Earlier this month, Enforcement Directorate froze roughly $8.1 million in funds from crypto exchange WazirX, alleging that the crypto exchange facilitated transactions by unnamed fintech firms “to purchase crypto assets and then launder them abroad.”Related: The regulatory implications of India’s crypto transactions tax This year has also seen the government introduce two new laws demanding crippling taxes on crypto-related unrealized gains and transactions. In a recent survey conducted with 2042 Indian cryptocurrency investors by crypto exchange KuCoin, 33% of survey respondents noted they were concerned by ambiguous government regulations that could deter potential investors from crypto.

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