GameStop finally introduces Web3 gaming to its marketplace

Gary Roberts on March 27, 2023

Image source: Protocol

GameStop recently announced the addition of NFTs issued on Ethereum’s Immutable X Layer-2 scaling network to its marketplace.

The additional support allows users to buy and sell Web3 game assets.

Marketplace

Plenty of games now have interactive NFT items available on GameStop marketplaces.

The market offers digital trading cards, customizable bundles, and more.

Immutable X-based game titles include:

Gods Unchained
Illuvium
Guild of Guardians

In July, GameStop launched its long-awaited NFT Marketplace.

However, the platform only offered digital artwork and collectibles at launch.

Many in the Web3 space were curious when the company would include interactive game NFTs, given the company’s direction and plans for the market thus far.

Immutable X

GameStop’s partnership with Immutable X was announced in early February.

The companies announced a $100 million token incentive fund for Web3 game developers.

Additionally, GameStop participated in a $500 million investment and grant fund for NFTs and game makers on Immutable X.

The platform is built on Ethereum.

While Ethereum transactions require high gas fees, Immutable X allows faster and cheaper gaming, app and NFT interaction.

The platform offloads transactions to the second level of the blockchain, speeding up the transaction.

Immutable, the company behind the platform, achieved encrypted “unicorn” status in early 2022.

Tencent and Animoca are investing in the company’s Web3 gaming vision.

The two investors are bringing the startup to a $2.5 valuation through a Series C funding round of $200 million in March.

The platform

GameStop announced that its marketplace had completed beta testing.

As a result, it is encouraging merchants to use its NFT platform.

A representative said that the market returns users 1% of their daily trading volume in Immutable IMX tokens.

The market also offers rewards for staking tokens.

In addition, the marketplace commission is 0.2% for an indefinite period.

NFT

GameStop’s NFT, before the launch of Immutable X, only saw a total volume of over $29 million from nearly 24,000 retailers.

Meanwhile, OpenSea generated $309 million in trading volume last month.

Although GameStop NFT has more trading activity than Coinbase NFT, they still do not have a significant share of the NFT market.

Adding Web3 games to the platform could affect the change.

Reference:

GameStop adds Web3 gaming NFTs to marketplace with Immutable X

Chainspace NFT project bridges Bitcoin and Ethereum

Larry Jansen on March 27, 2023

Chainspace – Since the Ordinals project inspires a fresh wave of innovation, Bitcoin NFTs have emerged as the most popular subject in the Web3 community.

Chainspace, an experiment integrating Bitcoin and Ethereum via lo-fi video rendering from an app connected to the two chains, is one of the most well-known projects today.

The project

Chainspace is a digital artifact that “emits infinite art,” according to its pseudonymous inventors Timshel and el-ranye.

There are 800 total on-chain apps in the project.

Each online application manipulates the image from the computer or mobile device’s camera in a manner akin to a Snapchat filter.

Using an Ordinals inscription, the app is also preserved on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Chainspace transforms the image into ASCII art using detailed selfie camera video.

The end product employs letters and symbols to provide an abstract real-time visual image of the user.

Chainspace portals are distinctive and have various effects; some were influenced by Web3 projects like Loot and Terraforms.

A sense of community

Timshel, the co-creator, is a prominent member of the growing Lootverse gaming scene and frequently takes part in on-chain publishing initiatives.

He said that Chainspace gives Web3 users a method to interact with communities while yet keeping some of their humanity to themselves.

Timshel used a screenshot from Chainspace’s Discord to demonstrate his point.

“This is beautiful because this ‘GM’ [good morning] is much more essential and resonant and human than [a] random Pepe emoji,” said the co-creator.

“There’s something really cool and special to see how people are using this, sharing their feelings, their selves, and their faces.”

Portals

There is no “access pass” to events held on other blockchains provided by the NFT/inscription.

The whole web application is recorded on the Bitcoin blockchain since Ordinals have the capacity to store more on-chain data than Ethereum NFTs.

Each Chainspace gateway functions as an individual, transferrable Ordinals inscription.

“The Ordinals innovation and the idea of inscribing up to now 4MB of content onto a single Satoshi on Bitcoin – it just immediately clicked to me,” said Timshel.

“It opened up a whole blossom of ideas in my head about things you can do that are higher fidelity that what’s possible on ETH, but still create a token on ETH that’s tradable and ownable.”

Cross-chain

Timshel’s remarks allude to the Ethereum element of the Chainspace equation.

The suggestion, however, seems to be layered heavily.

On Thursday, there will be an Ethereum NFT mint.

A unique Ethereum NFT that can be created using Zora and exchanged on various exchanges serves as the representation for each portal.

Via a smart contract, the Ethereum NFT is connected to the Bitcoin-based Ordinal on-chain.

Iain Nash, a software engineer from Zora, created the code that powers decentralized applications and NFT projects, and it is stored in the smart contract.

The artworks created using Ethereum that can be found on markets like OpenSea are really images taken from the Ordinal Inscription.

NFT purchasers can opt to trade in Ethereum and acquire possession of the Bitcoin Ordinal since the NFT and Inscriptions are coupled.

Swapping

Timshel and el-ranye can currently manage a manual procedure.

When additional Ordinals infrastructures go live, they want to create a simpler automated procedure.

Timshel said that Chainspace is “200% on-chains,” i.e., it is entirely based on the Ethereum and Bitcoin blockchains.

The exchange of the Ethereum NFT for custody of the Bitcoin Ordinal is a one-way transaction, though.

Users are not able to hold both versions at once or switch between them.

Timshel cautioned that the condition of Ordinals, which has generated debate among some Bitcoin enthusiasts, partially determines the capacity to trade.

Accessibility

In order to make it clear that NFT collectors are not purchasing an exclusive pass, chainspace portals are open to the whole public.

Any user may use any of the portals to take a still photo from the video feed and then use it anyway they see fit.

On Thursday, 620 NFTs will go for sale from Timshel and El-Ranye, giving active Discord users precedence on the allowlist.

Thereafter, they will be able to purchase an Ethereum NFT for 0.33 ETH ($550), and an additional 100 NFT will be given away as an airdrop to Web3 builders who took part in or had an effect over Chainspace.

Meanwhile, the team has exclusive access to 60 NFTs.

Image source: CNBC

Dogecoin suffers major losses in overnight plummet

Anna Evans on March 27, 2023

Image source: Marca

Dogecoin (DOGE), the cryptocurrency industry’s top meme coin by market capitalization, plunged more than 9% overnight.

Liquidations

The meme coin is now trading around $0.088 after its latest decline.

In addition, the Bears have controlled the token over the past week.

To further elaborate, Dogecoin has been down nearly 16% over the past seven days.

After Ethereum and Bitcoin, DOGE has generated the third-highest liquidations in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Coinglass reports a total of $6.34 million in DOGE settlements.

Most of the liquidation took place on the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, and about half of the liquidation ($3.79 million) was cleared in the past 12 hours.

Losses

The cumulative losses have yet to impact gains made in late November following speculation that Elon Musk would integrate Dogecoin into Twitter.

During a recent presentation, Musk shared user metrics for the site with new updates like encrypted messaging and long-form tweets.

However, the last box next to “Payments” is left blank, fueling speculation that Musk has big plans to launch a cryptocurrency, especially Dogecoin.

Despite speculation, there is no indication that he will go ahead with the plans.

Other drops

While Dogecoin suffered the most significant losses among the top 10 largest cryptocurrencies, it wasn’t the only one to lose points.

Over the past 24 hours, Bitcoin and Ethereum are down -0.7% and -1.5%, respectively.

Bitcoin is currently trading for $17,028.75, while Ethereum is selling for $1,252.90.

Ethereum led liquidations during the same period, posting $12.57 million in leveraged positions.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin traders lost $9.25 million in the latest bearish momentum.

Other notes

In the crypto space, people are focused on Tuesday’s meeting with the House Financial Services Committee.

Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX and Alameda Research is expected to testify and explain how his cryptocurrency exchange collapsed in November.

“I still do not have access to much of my data – professional or personal,” he said in a Twitter conversation with House Chairwoman Maxine Waters.

“So there is a limit to what I will be able to say, and I won’t be as helpful as I’d like.”

“But as the committee still thinks it would be useful, I am willing to testify on the 13th.”

The Federal Reserve also meets this Wednesday.

The market expects the central bank to raise rates by 50 basis points.

Previous rate hikes were 75 basis points, suggesting the Fed is on track to slow its attack on inflation given recent data points.

Reference:

Dogecoin plummets 9% as crypto markets flash red

Cool Cats NFT project set for major changes in 2023

Larry Jansen on March 27, 2023

Cool Cats: In late 2021, the NFT market saw a massive boom, with several projects surging in popularity.

Many of the NFTs were quickly used as profile pictures on social media.

Among the most popular NFTs were Cool Cats, reaching unprecedented heights.

However, the prices dropped sharply last year, and collectors’ gripes started mounting.

Recently, the Cool Cats founders announced a new path to move the project forward with revitalized branding.

They also hinted at future expansion beyond Ethereum, suggesting customizable, full-body avatars.

“With our new strategic direction and rebrand, we want to convey to the community and the broader Web3 space that Cool Cats is here to stay,” said CEO Stephen Teglas.

“We’re not just building for the next year, or the next five years – we’re planning for the long term.”

What’s coming?

Cool Cats and Cool Pets NFT holders are set for a freebie as they will soon receive a free Fracture NFT via airdrop.

Project co-founder and Head of Content Robert Mehew described the free NFT as dynamic tokens enabling a new storytelling experience through digital collectibles.

The Fracture NFTs will evolve throughout missions (or Journeys) holders complete within the “World of Cooltopia” narrative.

They eventually reveal potential rewards.

However, the upcoming Explorers NFTs represent a broader expansion of the Cool Cats project later in 2023.

It includes customizable full-body avatars that users can put up across multiple blockchain networks.

The NFTs can also be used in various supported apps and platforms.

Functionality

Although the project has yet to release the full extent of the Explorers functionality, it follows the same vein as the Ethereum NFT project Doodles did with Doodles 2.

The project bridges to a different blockchain (Flow) and turns old profile pictures into fully customizable avatars that can change the NFT’s virtual apparel.

Additionally, a Cool Cats representative said the Explorers NFTs would work across multiple layer-1 blockchains and layer-2 scaling networks.

The blockchains include some that aren’t compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine or EVM.

The platforms will be released throughout the year.

Cool Cats previously used the Ethereum sidechain network Polygon to drop special edition NFTs and launch a mobile game.

“Our goal is to remove as much fraction as possible,” a representative said, addressing the movement of avatars across various blockchains.

The Cool Cats also plans to work alongside community members and develop assets that can be utilized with the Explorers project.

Rebranding

The recent announcement coincided with the Cool Cats project rebranding in social media and marketing materials.

The rebranding is related to a new narrative content focusing on the project’s main character, Blue Cat.

“Our new logo features a forward-facing cat, a nod to our focus on building for the future,” said Colin “Clon” Egan, the co-founder and Creative Director of Cool Cats.

Progress

In late 2021, Cool Cats prices joined the broad NFT market surge, pushing the floor price to almost 14 ETH (around $48,000) in October.

Last year, the project signed with Creative Artists Agency, a major Hollywood agency, in an effort to explore media and licensing deals.

However, Cool Cats prices crashed due to a number of factors, including:

Leadership departures
Mixed reception to Cooltopia
Complaints of the founders not doing enough to support the project

Before the announcement, the NFTs floor price was a meager 2 ETH, according to NFT Price Floor data.

The price was worth less than $3,200 due to the depressed Ethereum price.

According to CryptoSlam, Cool Cats generated over $377 million worth of secondary market trading volume.

Meanwhile, the Cool Pets spinoff contributed over $105 million.

In 2021, the project collaborated with Time Magazine to produce limited-edition NFTs.

They recently announced a marketing deal with Ledger, the hardware wallet maker.

“We ultimately believe that scaling Cool Cats’ brand awareness and onboarding more members into the brand is one of the most effective ways for us to deliver on the expectations of our community,” said Stephen Teglas.

Image source: Daily Coin

Coinbase joins ‘on-chain’ movement to advance in Web3

Anna Evans on March 20, 2023

Coinbase – The beauty of Web3 is that, like technology, it is always evolving, and those within the space are aware that they have yet to reach its full potential.

Developers can utilize a suite of products and services to take advantage of Web3.

Coinbase is looking to bring in new users and familiarize old ones to its new Base roll-up as they are looking to bring more revenue.

The company believes they can do so through the development of various new on-chain products and services.

The news

Coinbase was founded in 2012 as a simple market to allow people to buy and sell Bitcoin.

Since then, a lot has changed, and the decade-old firm is eager to stay relevant and keep up with the times.

In February, Coinbase announced the launch of Base, its native layer-2 scaling solution.

Base is built with the OP Stack, which uses a lot of Optimism’s technology.

The platform’s decision to build Base is particularly interesting for a highly-centralized, highly-regulated, publicly traded company based in the United States.

OP Stack

The OP Stack is an open-source set of tools that allows anyone to create their own rollup chain, from fully-centralized crypto projects to companies trading on the Nasdaq.

Rollups are elements of scaling solutions that batch transactions on separate networks before compressing them into a single transaction and finally execute it on the Ethereum mainnet.

It allows the mainnet to remain at a low cost and works fast for other projects.

Additionally, the OP Stack is customizable and modular, reminding users of the term “appchain,” where everything can be fully adjusted based on the project’s needs – from the data later to the consensus mechanism.

The arrangement

According to their arrangement, Coinbase is going to be the sole “sequencer” for layer-2.

A sequence node is a node or set of nodes that executes the batched transactions on the mainnet.

The sequencer from Optimism is a significant revenue generator for the Optimism foundation.

Each time Optimism executes a transaction and an execution occurs on the mainnet, Optimism receives a piece of the profit.

Due to its nature, it’s highly encouraged to get activities on the roll-up.

Coinbase is also looking to take the same sequence of actions.

On-chain native

Coinbase protocols lead Jesse Pollak appeared at ETH Denver last week, saying that the decision to go ‘on-chain native.’ is part of a greater plan.

He covered topics like the company’s innovation strategy and plans to quickly iterate on products like Coinbase NFT and the layer-2 blockchain Base.

“Coinbase, recently, with things likeUSDC, Coinbase Wallet, cbETh, and our dApp Wallet, has started to build what we call ‘on-chain native’ products,” said Pollak.

“It’s still a very small percentage of our overall portfolio.”

Base falls into the small, but rapidly-developing toolbox.

Meanwhile, the cbETH asset is another example of Coinbase shifting to an on-chain direction.

The asset is also called a liquid staking derivative or LSD, a staked version of Ethereum.

When users stake their Ethereum through Coinbase, they get cbETH in return.

Like other LSDs, they can also be reused in the DeFi space.

There is currently more than $29.5 million in cbETH earning interest on the open source protocol Aave.

White-label solution

On Wednesday, Coinbase rolled out a white-label wallet solution for brands eager to develop a crypto wallet.

According to the company, the goal is to make the wallet setup as easy as coming up with a username and password to avoid the technical nature of common digital wallets.

“It’s basically eliminating this huge source of friction for getting Web3 adopted,” said Patrick McGregor of Coinbase.

“Effectively, we’ve created a system to give wallets to literally every human on the planet.”

McGregor hinted that some “household names” would soon join the action.

Regardless, the Coinbase-native layer-2 solution and on-chain products clarify several points.

The company is preparing a mass audience to move their activity off the exchange by generating new, on-chain things for Coinbase users.

However, it doesn’t necessarily take from the company’s pockets due to the fees.

Image source: Tech Crunch

Report: Bitcoin takes a major dip, trading for less than $19,000

Greg Jackson on March 20, 2023

Image source: Coin Gape

Since the crypto crash months ago, many cryptocurrencies have suffered significant drops in value, especially Bitcoin.

Bitcoin recently fell below the $19,000 line for the first time since the United States’ Independence Day.

Bitcoin

As of this writing, Bitcoin is trading for $18,745.70.

The last time the top cryptocurrency hit similar lows was on July 4 when it traded for $18,600.

Previously, Bitcoin traded for $18,900 in November 2020 before it hit an all-time high of over $60,000 in 2021.

As a result, investors have been shedding the crypto asset for various reasons.

Bitcoin’s sell-off correlated with the US stock market, and stocks were down following a volatile trading session that came from fears of the Federal Reserve continuing to hike interest rates.

Additionally, the Fed’s monetary policy of hiking up interest rates to combat four-decade high inflation prompted investors to sell risky assets like stocks and cryptocurrency.

Sell-off

According to experts, Bitcoin’s sell-off intensified when news broke out that Russia shut down the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, halting gas to Europe and spooking markets.

On Monday, the Russian government claimed it would restore gas supplies if sanctions were lifted.

Despite the ominous news, Bitcoin fans remain unfazed.

Other cryptocurrencies

Of the top ten cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin suffered the heaviest drops, falling by 5.16% in 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Ethereum, the second biggest cryptocurrency, fell by 7.89%, selling at $1,534.49.

Reference:

Bitcoin falls below $19k for the first time in 2 months

Momoguro makes debut in the NFT space, courtesy of Baobab Studios

Larry Jansen on March 13, 2023

Momoguro – The NFT boom has created a unique space that is bringing in people from all backgrounds to share their affinity for Web3.

Several independent projects managed to garner incredible success, catching the attention of major brands and companies across various industries.

Baobab Studios, an award-winning firm, has explored the VR world, and now it is focused on making its mark in the Web3 space.

The news

Baobab Studios is known for producing short films that have won a total of nine Emmy Awards.

Following its venture into VR, the studio is now shifting its sights on Web3 through a family-friendly project called “Momoguro.”

The project will have an accompanying Ethereum NFT collection.

The Momoguro NFT collection is created by Martin Allais and Nico Cassavecchia.

Allais is a multimedia director and animator while Cassavecchia is a writer and director.

The project

Momoguro is going for an incredible double target: NFTs and an NFT RPG that allows players to venture into the world of Uno Plane.

The project is a colorful fantasy world filled with creatures called Momos that players can fuse to create hybrid characters.

Momoguro is minting its genesis NFTs for 0.22 ETH.

According to the mint site, they are dubbed “Holoselves” that players can adopt for the Uno Plane.

In addition, the Momoguro RPG will be set on a layer-2 Ethereum scaling solution called ImmutableX.

It will utilize NFTs as a core game feature.

Furthermore, the RPG is tipped to launch in the second quarter of 2023.

The studio

Baobab Studios was founded in 2015, and has since produced a series of successful independent animated films.

It is headed by Eric Darnell, who played a role in creating Antz and the four Madagascar films.

The studio has brought in some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including:

Oprah
Lupita Nyong’o
Jennifer Hudson
Ethan Hawke
Kate Winslet
Daisy Ridley

The success of the project has allowed it to progress further, with projects being adapted into books, comics, games, movies, TV series, and more.

Exploration

Baobab Studios has clarified that it isn’t a Web3 company.

However, the studio is exploring the possibilities of NFTs engaging with users to create unique storytelling experiences.

Maureen Fan, the CEO and co-founder of Baobab Studies, released a statement, saying: “We believe stories can transcend mediums.”

“Baobab Studios’ mission is to inspire you to dream and bring out your sense of wonder. Make YOU matter.”

“This begins by creating great characters and stories, like Momoguro, where you can be part of the story,” she added.

“We aspire to bring the Momoguro IP to as many channels, streaming platforms, and widespread media as possible.”

Additionally, the creators behind Momoguro believe the project’s lore brings an important message.

“Community plays a big part in this,” said Cassavecchia.

“Inclusivity is paramount for the franchise, from ethnicities, genders and body-types, Momoguro’s ethos is that everyone is welcomed.”

According to Crunchbase data, Baobab is supported by the presence of Pixar cofounder Ed Catmull and Twitch cofounder Kevin Lin on its board.

The project has already raised a total funding of over $31 million from Disney, Samsung, and Comcast.

Hollywood studios and NFTs

Baobab Studios isn’t the first Hollywood firm to dive into NFTs or Web3.

Last year, Warner Bros. released an NFT collection around The Lord of the Rings, allowing buyers to swoop in for a digital copy of the first film.

Other studios have also experimented with NFT projects using their biggest properties, including:

Lionsgate
Netflix
Paramount

However, while other projects are looking to generate more revenue, Baobab Studios are more intent on creating a sense of community.

Momoguro has already produced fans during a Twitter Space event.

The project then gained a strong Twitter following with almost 50,000 members joining its official Discord server.

Image source: Twitter

Creator royalties to remain in OpenSea and X2Y2

Anna Evans on March 6, 2023

Image source: Coin Market Cap

Creator royalties have become the hottest topic in the NFT space for the past couple of weeks.

For weeks, it appeared that most of the NFT market favored rejecting creator royalties.

OpenSea, the largest marketplace in the space, also considered making creator royalties optional.

However, creator pushback prompted the marketplace to maintain royalties.

Even rival Ethereum marketplace is saying it will enforce creator royalties.

The news

X2Y2, Ethereum’s NFT marketplace, launched earlier this year and witnessed significant trading activity in the summer.

Over the weekend, X2Y2 announced that it would enforce creator royalties on all NFT collections, from existing projects to newly-launched ones.

The marketplace previously offered a flexible royalty model that gave creators and collectors input on how X2Y2 enforced royalties for projects.

However, only specific types of NFT projects (artwork and access passes) could choose to have royalties fully enforced.

PFP projects or Profile Picture projects were ineligible for the option.

Praise

X2Y2 praised OpenSea for taking a stand for creator royalties on Twitter over the weekend.

The marketplace admitted that many new projects used OpenSea’s blocklist code banning NFTs from being traded on marketplaces without royalties.

“Putting belief aside, if there was anything self-evident in crypto, it’s the ‘code,’” X2Y2 wrote.

“Since [OpenSea] released the OperatorFilter two weeks ago, most of the new projects have sided with it.”

“‘Code is law,’ and we respect the law.”

X2Y2 shared that it removed the flexible royalty setting for new projects using the OpenSea blocklist code.

The marketplace also said it will now enforce creator royalties for existing NFT projects.

“With OpenSea risking its market share and taking a brave move to defend royalties, they have our respect,” X2Y2 wrote.

OpenSea

The top NFT marketplace responded to X2Y2 on Twitter, saying it removed them from its marketplace blocklist.

As a result, NFTs from creators using the OperatorFilter code can now be traded on X2Y2.

“Proud to stand with you – and the many brilliant creators in our community – on this critical measure,” OpenSea wrote.

“We hope other marketplaces will continue to join us. Onwards and upwards.”

Royalties

NFT royalties are fees taken from a secondary market sale.

They usually range between 5% and 10% of the sale price and go to the original creator.

Royalties cannot be fully enforced on-chain with popular NFT standards on chains like Ethereum and Solana.

However, top marketplaces previously respected creator royalties, deeming it a social construct.

Creators and collectors consider royalties as critical components of the Web3 ethos.

Over the summer, market momentum started shifting away from creator royalties.

New trading platforms like SudoSwap and Yawww ignored royalties to move away from market share from top marketplaces.

After Magic Eden’s shift last month, nearly all Solana trades are done on platforms that don’t require royalties.

Earlier this month, OpenSea said it was considering a move away from creator royalties, following moves by marketplaces like X2Y2, Blur, and LooksRare to make them optional.

However, OpenSea faced significant backlash from creators like Yuga Labs.

Streetwear brand The Hundreds canceled a planned NFT drop on OpenSea following its consideration.

Last week, OpenSea changed its mind and announced it would continue with royalties on all projects: old, new, and those using its blocklist product.

Reference:

Ethereum NFT marketplace X2Y2 will enforce royalties following OpenSea’s ‘brave move’

Cryptocurrency rally raises caution in the crypto space

Anna Evans on February 27, 2023

Image source: Business Today

Cryptocurrency: Cryptocurrencies have recently made positive progress with an upswing price, especially Bitcoin and Ethereum.

However, the good news also revives a common debate in such situations: is the market set for a rebound, or are the trends just going to lead to another heavy crash?

In November 2021, Bitcoin hit an all-time high selling price of $69,000.

Since then, the digital coin has been struck with higher interest rates and the collapse of high-profile firms, including FTX and Three Arrows Capital (3AC), among others.

Cryptocurrency movement

The leading cryptocurrency is down almost 67% from the November 2021 prices, but digital assets, including stocks, are off to a good start for 2023.

This month, Bitcoin rose by 38%, selling for $22,893.39 – its highest price since August 2022.

Ethereum’s cryptocurrency (ETH) also rose by 38%, selling for $1,635.68.

So far, cryptocurrency prices have risen in January in anticipation of the economic report that indicated inflation cooling in December.

The reading has also been positive, raising the possibility of the Federal Reserve increasing rates at a slower pace than last year in an attempt to slow down soaring prices.

Warnings

Although it has mainly been good news, many are giving warnings of caution.

Crypto commentators believe the recent surge is too good to be true, labeling the current rally a trap.

Commentators also anticipate the increase will abruptly come crashing down, burning naive traders who believed it was the start of a new uptrend.

Others are also skeptical of the crypto rally.

On Twitter, a popular Bitcoin page held a poll with 18,000 participants calling the rally a bull trap.

Meanwhile, a prominent crypto enthusiast and self-titled crypto analyst, il Capo Of Crypto, agreed with his sentiments.

“I’ve been checking charts all this time, avoiding noise from Twitter,” he wrote.

“The way the upward movement is happening, the way htf resistances are being tested…it clearly looks manipulated, no real demand.”

“Once again, the biggest bull trap I’ve ever seen. But they won’t trap me.”

The self-proclaimed crypto analysts’ suspicions were shared across the space.

It also reached Reddit, with one user pushing against observations with a market bottom in a news article.

“Hard to believe that it was only a week or so ago that everyone and their analyst was solemnly and confidently proclaiming that [Bitcoin at] 12k was inevitable and unavoidable,” said the user.

Jim Cramer

CNBC’s Mad Money host Jim Cramer chimed in last Wednesday, calling the crypto bounce a manipulation.

“The manipulation higher of crypto shows you this is truly a sham market,” Cramer tweeted.

Cramer’s commentary was received with mixed accuracy.

It became the subject of mockery, with memes emerging and a series of parody accounts.

For example, one account goes by the name “Inverse Cramer ETF,” a false Exchange-Traded Fund that offers the opposite of Cramer’s advice.

Several accounts also took a swipe at the Mad Money host’s sentiments, taking his pessimism as a positive sign.

Dan Held, the head of growth marketing at crypto exchange Kraken, mockingly raised a toast, replying, “Bottom is in!”

A positive outlook

While others were wary, other influential accounts were bullish.

PlanB declared that a new bull market in digital assets had started as the Bitcoin pump occurred.

Meanwhile, other community members decided to take it as an opportunity to mock people who are cautious of digital assets dealing with more losses.

Wall Street

The surging cryptocurrency prices have also confused Wall Street.

Last Friday, JP Morgan analysts released a research report that couldn’t fully explain the rally confidently.

However, they acknowledged that market conditions had improved for riskier assets, citing the recent inflation report.

“We don’t have a great answer on the January-to-date rally of crypto, we do think it is emblematic of the underlying conviction many still have in cryptocurrencies,” they wrote.

“The crypto-bulls and whales seem to have been reinvigorated.”

BAYC #1626 burned off Ethereum, likely to land in Bitcoin

Gary Roberts on February 21, 2023

BAYC – Since the 2021 boom, The Bored Ape Yacht Club has been the NFT with the most attention.

The BAYC NFTs remained one of the most popular tokens on the market even after the collapse of the cryptocurrency market last year.

One of the most expensive Bored Ape NFTs changed significantly this year.

BAYC #1626 was permanently taken out of circulation over the weekend.

The news

Many people were astonished by the Bored Ape’s removal, but its owner had a reason.

The Ape’s owner said that they wished to symbolically switch its underlying blockchain from Ethereum to Bitcoin.

In November 2022, the NFT was last offered for sale on OpenSea.

It cost 108 ETH, or about $432,000 at the time or $169,000 at the time.

Burning NFTs

Before being burned, BAYC #1626’s ownership was verified on the Ethereum network, similar to the majority of NFTs.

NFTs can be burned to remove them permanently from circulation, which usually entails sending the NFT someplace it can’t be recovered.

The owner of BAYC #1626, Jason Williams, claimed to have destroyed it over the weekend, making it impossible to ever resell on the Ethereum network.

“Essentially throwing a Lamborghini into a trash compactor – it’s kind of fun,” said Williams.

“Whether putting bloated JPEGs on Bitcoin’s base chain is smart or not is a whole ‘nother [SIC] discussion, but I think it’s going to be a lot of fun seeing how it plays out.”

Ordinals

Jason Williams isn’t entirely certain where his Ape is right now despite burning the NFT, but he believes BAYC #1626 is currently on Bitcoin.

His conjecture can be linked to an Inscription using Ordinals.

Casey Rodarmor invented the game Ordinals.

It is a project that places material (such as pictures and films) on specific satoshis, the smallest unit of currency that can be divided, where they will remain as Inscriptions on the Bitcoin network in perpetuity.

Even if there are almost 100,000 Inscriptions on Bitcoin, there are still markets where individuals may sell them.

Currently, Ordinal’s Discord server connects a lot of buyers and merchants.

The burn took place using a brand-new Teleburn tool for Ordinals, which generates a distinct location with each new Inscription so that digital assets may be burnt.

Teleburn

Users can remove an asset from circulation by assigning it to a Bitcoin Inscription using Teleburn.

The developers of Teleburn can monitor how it moves the token across chains.

For the creation of Teleburn, Rob Hamilton worked with Rodarmor, and he stated:

“The idea is that you are one-way, permanently burning an asset on another chain and pointing it to the ordinal that lives on the Bitcoin chain.”

Last weekend at Bitcoin Park, Hamilton contacted Rodarmor about creating the Teleburn function.

A coworking space in Nashville, Tennessee, called Bitcoin Park was created specifically for the Bitcoin community.

After Hamilton revealed to Rodarmor that Williams intended to fire BAYC #1626, they worked together.

“Let’s go write some code right now,” said Rodarmor, who was excited at the prospect of burning a BAYC NFT.

Potential

They had previously utilized the Teleburn function of Ordinal, as seen in BAYC #1626.

It was initially tested on Casey Rodarmor’s ENS domain.

Later, he and Hamilton managed Jason Williams.

Combining the phrases teleport and burn, Rodarmor initially coined the moniker “Teleburn,” alluding to its fast growth.

Rob Hamilton is certain that Teleburn will take off and become a popular way for individuals to connect their digital valuables.

Additionally, Rodarmor wants to expand the functionality to include assets from other chains, such as Tezos and Solana.

“This has now set the standard of representing an asset across the chain,” said Hamilton.

“It’s going to be the way to actually have skin in the game.”

Additionally, he made mention of how burnt assets are permanently removed from the market.

Reaction

One of the co-founders of Yuga Labs, Greg Solano, commented on the BAYC burn after knowledge of it spread online.

He said that because Williams no longer owns the Inscription on the Ethereum network, it is an unauthorized copy of the original that is tied to BAYC #1626.

“If you transfer your Ape to an address you no longer control (even if it’s the ‘burn’ address), you have effectively given up your license,” said Solano.

He further disputed the notion that BAYC #1626 is no longer present because it is still there on the blockchain.

The Ape, however, is no longer accessible.

Image source: NFT Culture

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