Autor Cointelegraph By Martin Young

Nigerians' passion for crypto is stopping short at the eNaira

Nigerians' passion for crypto is stopping short at the eNaira

Uverejnil používateľ | okt 26, 2022 |

Nigeria’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) is not getting the warm reception expected from its crypto-savvy population.According to a Bloomberg report, less than 0.5% of Nigeria’s 217 million population are using the government-issued digital currency — the eNaira — a year after its launch.This comes despite Nigeria being identified by Chainalysis as the top country in Africa for crypto adoption and ranking 11th globally, while a KuCoin report found that 35% of the Nigerian population aged 18 to 60 had owned or traded cryptocurrencies this year.Bloomberg noted that Nigerians have been confused due to a lack of clarity from the state which cracked down on crypto last year. In February 2021, the Central Bank of Nigeria banned banks from servicing crypto exchanges in an effort to sever fiat on and off ramps.Educating people who are generally wary of the state and ruling elite has also become a challenge for the central bank, according to the report. The #Nigerian eNaira is a central bank digital currency (CBDC) that launched 1 year ago, however only 0,5% of Nigerians are using it. According to TripleA, more than 10% of the population own #Crypto.Nigerians want Crypto, but they don’t want Government backed Crypto. pic.twitter.com/WaM8nmHxRg— Crypto Rand (@crypto_rand) October 25, 2022Furthermore, the naira has been devalued around six times since 2015 and economists expect a further 20% loss in value next year, as the economy has been further compounded by galloping inflation, which could make the push for a CBDC a hard sell to many of the country’s citizens. According to the director at Lagos-based emerging and frontier markets investment bank Renaissance Capital, Adesoji Solanke, “the eNaira does not address any of these basic use cases, so no surprise at its low adoption rates so far.”The disappointing figures are now prompting the Nigerian central bank to ramp up efforts to increase its adoption, including offering a 5% discount to drivers and passengers of motorized rickshaws that ply the city streets, according to the report. Related: Nigeria becomes the most crypto-obsessed nation after April crashIn August, Nigerian Central Bank governor Godwin Emefiele announced the eNaira project entered its second phase in August with an adoption target of eight million users. At the time, he added that the CBDC has had about 840,000 downloads, with about 270,000 active wallets. By August there had been around 200,000 transactions worth 4 billion nairas — approximately  $9.5 million at the time.According to the Atlantic Council’s CBDC tracker, Nigeria is one of eleven countries to have fully deployed a central bank digital currency, the other ten are in the Caribbean.

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'Well worth the fight' — Ripple counsel confirms Hinman docs are in their hands

'Well worth the fight' — Ripple counsel confirms Hinman docs are in their hands

Uverejnil používateľ | okt 21, 2022 |

San Francisco-based fintech firm Ripple has inched closer to victory in its ongoing battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).On Oct. 21, Ripple General Counsel Stuart Alderoty confirmed on Twitter that they finally have the elusive documents after “18 months and 6 court orders,” though noted they remain confidential at the SEC’s insistence. “It was well worth the fight to get them,” he exclaimed, adding: “I’ve always felt good about our legal arguments, and I feel even better now. I always felt bad about the SEC’s tactics, and I feel even worse about them now.”The fought-over documents relate to a 2018 speech by former SEC Division Director William Hinman regarding the status of Ethereum, with the financial regulator seemingly pulling out all the stops to keep the documents under wraps.In late September, U.S. District Court Judge Analisa Torres overruled the SEC’s second attempt to withhold the documents. At the time he stated that ETH was not a security and Ripple considers this a key argument in its case against the regulator which has accused it of conducting an unregistered securities sale of its native token XRP.Over 18 months and 6 court orders later, we finally have the Hinman docs (internal SEC emails and drafts of his infamous 2018 speech). While they remain confidential for now (at the SEC’s insistence), I can say that it was well worth the fight to get them.— Stuart Alderoty (@s_alderoty) October 20, 2022Partner at Hogan & Hogan Jeremy Hogan commented that these are the briefs “where we’ll really see how strong each position is,” while posturing how the SEC will respond. He added that the briefs will be made public on Oct. 24. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse vented on Twitter claiming that the SEC’s behavior was shameful and shocking.“The SEC wants you to think that it cares about disclosure, transparency and clarity. Don’t believe them. When the truth eventually comes out, the shamefulness of their behavior here will shock you.”Related: Ripple boss tips when SEC case will end as Hoskinson hits back at XRP armyXRP prices don’t appear to have reacted to the latest development. Over the past 24 hours, the token has lost 3.2% in a fall to $0.446 at the time of writing according to CoinGecko.However, Ripple momentum has been strong over the past month or so as the case inches towards closure, but XRP is still down 87% from its January 2018 all-time high of $3.40.

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US regulator touts to ‘aggressively police' crypto in new report

US regulator touts to ‘aggressively police' crypto in new report

Uverejnil používateľ | okt 21, 2022 |

The U.S. commodities regulator certainly doesn’t want to look like it’s going easy on crypto, revealing it was behind 18 separate enforcement actions targeting digital assets in the 2022 fiscal year. In an Oct. 20 report from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), a total of 82 enforcement actions were filed in 2022’s fiscal year, imposing $2.5 billion in “restitution, disgorgement and civil monetary penalties either through settlement or litigation.”The CFTC said that 20% of the enforcements were aimed at digital asset businesses, with chairman Rostin Behnam stating: “This FY 2022 enforcement report shows the CFTC continues to aggressively police new digital commodity asset markets with all of its available tools.”One of the more recent CFTC enforcement actions that gained notoriety in the crypto world was a $250,000 penalty against bZeroX, its successor Ooki DAO, and its founders in September.The action sparked fierce criticism from the community for going after the members of a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), with CFTC commissioner Summer Mersinger labeling the move a “blatant ‘regulation by enforcement.’”The CFTC also highlighted actions taken during the year against the operators of the Digitex Futures exchange for illegal futures offerings, manipulation of its native token DGTX, and failure to provide a customer identification and anti-money laundering program.It also took action against Bitfinex for engaging in “illegal, off-exchange retail commodity transactions in digital assets with U.S. persons,” and operating without registering as a futures commission merchant (FCM).Meanwhile, the report pointed to action against Tether Holdings for making “untrue or misleading statements” and “omissions of material” in connection with its USDT stablecoin Tether was ordered to pay a civil monetary penalty of $41 million. It also targeted South African Pool Operator and CEO Cornelius Johannes Steynberg with fraud charges for accepting around 29,400 BTC worth over $1.7 billion from approximately 23,000 non-eligible contract participants from the United States in late June.Related: CFTC action shows why crypto developers should get ready to leave the USThe crypto industry had previously favored the CFTC for being easier on digital asset regulation, however, chairman Rostin Behnam has vowed to come down hard on the asset class saying: “‘Don’t expect a free pass,” earlier this month. Both the CFTC and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are currently wrangling for control of crypto asset regulation. A bill submitted by senators Cynthia Lummis and Kirsten Gillibrand in June propose that the CFTC oversees crypto regulation which would be much better for the industry as the assets would be considered commodities rather than securities which have much more stringent rules.However, Congress is unlikely to turn its attention to digital asset regulation until sometime next year as confirmed by Congressman Jim Himes this week.

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Nifty News: Top 10 CryptoPunks wallet lays dormant, house sells on OpenSea, and more

Nifty News: Top 10 CryptoPunks wallet lays dormant, house sells on OpenSea, and more

Uverejnil používateľ | okt 19, 2022 |

Dormant PunksNonfungible token (NFT) sleuths have dug up an old wallet from 2017 that minted 141 CryptoPunks for 0.02 ETH, which was around $7 at the time when the project launched. According to the Twitter user Nansen Intern from the analytics platform the wallet is now valued at 11,300 ETH, or around $14.7 million at current prices.The wallet has shown no activity since then leading to speculation the owner lost the seed phrase. The wallet is placed in the top ten in terms of CryptoPunks holders and many collectors are reportedly monitoring it in hopes of snapping up a bargain.1/ This wallet minted 141 Punks for 0.0207 ETH, estimated to now have a value of over 11 thousand ETH However, the wallet has had no activity since, for both NFTs and crypto (other than receiving fake tokens)Lost their seed phrase? pic.twitter.com/Piqe6Epl1W— Nansen Intern (@nansen_intern) October 17, 2022CryptoPunks was one of the first collections to launch on Ethereum with 10,000 unique NFTs. CryptoSlam reports that it has been the third-highest collection for secondary sales over the past month with a trading volume of $22.8 million,According to OpenSea, which recently allowed users to submit bulk listings, rare CryptoPunk #9476 sold for a whopping $480,000 (370 ETH) on Oct. 17 proving that the pixelated punks remain popular.Street Machine streets aheadNFT project Street Machine has surged in popularity and price despite a broader downturn in the market.The cyberpunk anime series is a story-based collection designed by award-winning video game artist SpenzerG who was behind the popular PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) online shooter.It is inspired by sci-fi, cyberpunk, and anime pop culture, centering around a sprawling story with an online graphic novel theme.The collection launched on OpenSea on Oct. 7 and has since surged in volumes and average prices. There are 8,000 story character NFTs in the collection and the floor price is currently 0.473 Ether (ETH), approximately $620.According to OpenSea, the average price at launch was just 0.04 ETH — around $50 — but by Oct. 18 it had increased 900% to 0.44 ETH (around $570) with daily volumes topping 250 ETH, or around $325,000, late last week.The team behind the collection aims to emulate the popularity of Yuga Labs’ flagship Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) with branding, merchandise, and commercial rights for holders.Extremely excited to introduce u to a few of our wonderful community leaders including 3 Street Council and 4 Street Watch members who will be welcoming you in later! We selected these members for their energy, NFT and crypto experience, and love for anime! Say hi to…pic.twitter.com/pDADEO0uUK— Street Machine (@STMachineNFT) October 18, 2022

NFT house sells for $175,000Nonfungible tokens are not just for digital art as an entire house has been sold on OpenSea as an NFT. The South Carolina property was listed on Roofstock, a real estate technology company that combines NFTs with physical property.Related: A slice of the punk: CryptoPunk NFT to be split into thousands of piecesThe three-bedroom home sold for 175,000 USD Coin (USDC) on Oct. 15. Tokenizing property has gained traction over the past year or so as it “creates frictionless transactions, simplifies the process, and makes information more readily available,” according to Roofstock chief blockchain officer Geoffrey Thompson.A crypto-themed house with NFT art included has also been listed on social media for $1.2 million, according to Newsweek.Decentraland Festival with Ozzy OsbourneMetaverse platform Decentraland is set to host its second virtual music festival in November. The free event will be presented by Kraken and will showcase 100 artists including rock legend Ozzy Osbourne, DJ Dillon Francis, and rapper Soulja Boy.It’s the second year of the Metaverses’ music festival, it’s inaugural festival in 2021 attracted 50,000 virtual party-goers over four days and featured around 80 artists.More Nifty News:Anime-themed NFT project Azuki hasreleased a Physical Backed Token (PBT) which is an open-source token standard that connects physical items to digital tokens on Ethereum. According to the Oct. 17 announcement, the PBT intends to enable decentralized authentication and tracking of the full ownership of physical items.The Solana-based Magic Eden NFT marketplace has shifted to optional royalties where buyers can set which royalties they want for a project. This could result in creators not receiving royalties when their artworks are sold and has split the community as reported by Cointelegraph on Oct. 17.

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Japanese gaming giant's hiring spree ahead of NFT marketplace

Japanese gaming giant's hiring spree ahead of NFT marketplace

Uverejnil používateľ | okt 14, 2022 |

Japanese gaming giant Konami is seeking to expand its crypto-versed talent pool while it ey the development of Web3 and Metaverse “experiences” and a nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace.The gaming giant is the latest in a lengthening list of big names signaling interest in expanding its Web3 offerings by seeking to acquire new talent. On Oct. 13, the company announced that it was recruiting a “wide range of talent” for “system construction and service development” relating to future Metaverse and Web3 platforms.Konami stated that it has been conducting research and development to incorporate the “latest technology” into its games and content, adding it also has plans to launch an NFT trading platform where players can trade their in-game digital items. The company is well known among traditional gamer circles as the publisher behind the Metal Gear Solid franchise, Castlevania, Dance Dance Revolution and Frogger. Konami is looking to fill several positions including system engineers, programmers, project managers, designers, and directors for its venture into Web3. The successful applicants will work on a “unique digital item distribution platform” that conforms to Japanese guidelines for blockchain games.This is not Konami’s first foray into nonfungibles, in January the firm launched a collection of NFTs to celebrate the anniversary of its Castlevania franchise. Related: Disney seeks corporate lawyer for ‘emerging technologies’ and NFTsHowever, major moves into NFTs by some traditional gaming companies have been met with backlash, the most notable example being Ubisoft’s Quartz platform which came under fire earlier this year. Last month, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot walked back the company’s enthusiasm for NFTs, saying it was merely in “research mode” all along.Some gamers saw gaming companies’ moves into the NFT space as a money grab. There were also environmental concerns over the proof-of-work mining process used to mint them, though much of these worries can be dismissed since Ethereum, the industry standard network for NFTs, has transitioned to proof-of-stake.NFT sales have slumped in 2022 in line with the wider crypto bear market. In recent months, NFT sales on the world’s largest marketplace OpenSea have plummeted as much as 99% from their record highs of more than $400 million earlier this year.

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