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  • BNB is the #1 Coin to Watch for the Week of August 8 – August 14, 2022

    BNB is the #1 Coin to Watch for the Week of August 8 – August 14, 2022

    After a relatively uneventful Week 31 the total cryptocurrency market capitalizations sits at around the same valuation of $1.15 trillion as 7 days before. However, we are likely going to see more market shake-ups as the Ethereum mainnet merge approaches. As we have already mentioned that Ethereum should be on everyone’s watchlist for (at least) the whole month in our recent Top 3 Coins to Watch article, we have selected 3 other coins/projects that could rally in the week that’s ahead of us because of the upgrades, announcements and other project developments.

    3. Optimism (OP)

    Optimism is a popular Ethereum Layer 2 network that approaches solving the scalability issue through the use of Optimistic Rollups technology. This also allows the network to operate with low cost and latency of Ethereum transactions. OP is Optimism’s governance token. Optimism’s governance model consists of two groups – the Token House and the Citizens’ House, which together form the Optimism Collective, a large digital democratic governance community that votes on protocol upgrades, directs incentives to projects, and determines the allocation of treasury funds.

    Buy/Sell OP

    Optimism Foundation revealed that the Bedrock upgrade is coming in Q4 2022

    The Optimism Foundation recently revealed their plans to release the Bedrock upgrade in Q4 2022. According to the Optimism team, the Bedrock upgrade will represent an important improvement to their rollup-based Ethereum Layer 2 network as it will than significantly reduce the time needed for crypto assets to be deposited from layer 1 to layer 2. In addition, Bedrock will bring a 20% decrease in the price of submitting data to layer and add support for other proof systems, such as zero-knowledge proofs. Finally, Bedrock will separate the Optimism’s consensus layer from the execution layer, resulting in a network design like the one of Ethereum after The Merge. You can find an in-detail insight in Bedrock here. The team will also answer Bedrock related questions in a dedicated Twitter Space that will open on Monday, August 8th at 4:30 PM UTC. The announcement was very well received by the market, as OP climbed from les than $1.40 to more $2.19 in a matter of two days. Currently, OP is changing hands at $1.93 but is still up by 17% in the past 7 days. OP’s price performance is even more astonishing when looking at a 1-month scale, as the coin is up by more than 230% in that timeframe. Can the coin surge even higher once the announced improvements get deployed?

    2. Flow (FLOW)

    Flow is a gaming and digital collectables-focused blockchain developed by Dapper Labs, the team behind the cat breeding and collecting game Cryptokitties that seized the attention of the cryptocurrency world (and clogged the Ethereum blockchain) in 2017. Designed to be developer-friendly and as simple for the end users as possible, Flow aims to successfully cater the needs of the world franchise owners and attract many mainstream consumers. Flow already hosts several NFT apps officially-licensed from major sports leagues including the NBA Top Shot and NFL All Day. The Flow network relies on a proof-of-stake consensus model, but it is more scalable as well as environmentally friendlier compared to Ethereum.

    Buy/Sell FLOW

    FLOW price spiked following Instagram partnership announcement

    The price of FLOW jumped by more than 40% on August 4 as the team revealed that Flow will be one of the first blockchains supported by Meta’s applications, most notably Instagram, as they begin to roll-out NFT support. The announcement claims that Instagram has started to gradually deploy digital collections functionality backed by blockchain and NFT technology to its more than 2 billion active users. Furthermore, select users may already be able to connect their Dapper Wallet to Instagram and display their NFTs directly on their profiles. Since this partnership has a huge potential to boost Flow’s adoption, it is not surprising that the market reacted the way it did. Nevertheless, it is a bit more unusual that FLOW did not face a readjustment after the hyped-up traders exit their trades. Quite the contrary, the network’s native token is still trading at $2.65, which is roughly around the top of the initial price spike. In fact, the rally could soon continue as Instagram will add the NFT functionality to more accounts every day. However, the mainstream audience has not showed a huge interest in NFTs just yet and even the crypto community’s affinity to these digital collectibles has rapidly cooled of as the crypto space entered the bear market, so we cannot sure that the Instagram integration will actually drive up the adoption and valuation of these NFT-focused networks.

    1. Binance Coin (BNB)

    Binance Coin (BNB) originally launched in 2017 as an ERC-20 token sold through an initial coin offering (ICO). In April 2019, the Binance Chain was launched, and all the existing ERC-20 tokens were replaced with the BNB coin, which became the native cryptocurrency of the new blockchain. Binance Chain is still completely centralized, with Binance having complete control of block management. Binance users who utilize BNB to pay for trading, withdrawal and listing fees enjoy discounts. While this used to be pretty much the only use case of BNB, the coin has a far greater utility now as it allows users to pay for gas fees, earn cashback on Binance Visa card purchases, stake BNB and participate in liquidity pools and other DeFi activities. BNB is also used to determine eligibility to participate in Initial Exchange Offerings (IEOs). In addition, the Binance ecosystem keeps expanding, which means that new products and services are regularly added.

    Buy/Sell BNB

    BNB sets a new ATH price in Bitcoin

    BNB was the most successful coin out of the crypto Top 10 last week – while all the other coins ended the week in the red or with minuscule gains, BNB price grew by 11.50%. In fact, on August 7, BNB was changing hands at the price of 0.01398 BTC per BNB which is the highest BNB/BTC exchange rate in the history. This means that BNB is currently trading at its ATH Bitcoin price. By looking at the crypto news headlines we can find a few reasons why the coin is performing so well lately. For example, Binance has recently revealed that it is partnering with Mastercard to launch a prepaid crypto card in Argentina, a 45 million people market. Binance’s Visa card allow its holders spend their cryptocurrency on everyday purchases while earning a crypto cashback of up to 8% at the same time. Binance’s cashback offering is hard to beat and the fact that another popular crypto Visa card provider Crypto.com has been repeatedly slashing rewards is only channelling the cashback-hungry customers to other providers, including Binance. Nevertheless, the growth of Binance’s Visa program is by far not the only reason for the optimistic sentiment on the BNB markets. The BNB Chain’s Total Value Locked (TVL) is also growing. According to DeFi Llama, BSC’s TVL is up by 11.7% in the past 30 days. Finally, Binance is a company with a relatively good reputation that has weathered out the bear market without any major lay-offs or reward cuts. Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao himself recently posted that Franck Muller, a luxury watch manufacturer, is accepting BNB payments. More than anything else, this shows that Binance is a reputable and big enough player in the crypto industry that large companies from other industries are willing to accept Binance’s currency as a form of payment. This is why we believe BNB will not go away easily and will continue to perform well in the future.

  • DeFiChain Community Brings Attractive Rewards For DFI ERC-20 Pairs on Uniswap

    DeFiChain Community Brings Attractive Rewards For DFI ERC-20 Pairs on Uniswap

    Singapore, Singapore, 7th August, 2022, Chainwire

    DeFiChain, the world’s leading blockchain on the Bitcoin network dedicated to bringing decentralized financial applications and services to everyone, is thrilled to announce that its community has voted to offer lucrative liquidity mining rewards for the ERC-20 format of its native DFI token pairs on Uniswap. The proposal put forth by DeFiChain’s Lead Researcher received more than 96% votes in favor.

    DeFiChain has allocated one million DFI tokens from the Community Fund to incentivize liquidity mining for the DFI-ETH, DFI-USDT, and the new DFI-USDC pairs on Uniswap.

    The Community Fund receives a small percentage of the block rewards and has accumulated over 27,092,291 DFI tokens, which are available to anyone interested in developing on the DeFiChain blockchain. However, funds are only released if more than 51% of the nodes agree to the proposal. Masternodes are eligible to sign a message to either agree or deny a proposal.

    With leading exchanges like Bybit and KuCoin now supporting DFI in ERC-20, the DeFiChain community voted to increase the token’s utility in the ERC-20 format. The incentives are aimed at increasing the trading volume of the ERC-20 format of DFI, and boosting the visibility and awareness of DFI in the wider DeFi ecosystem. The increased trading volume should also encourage more adoption of DFI by other exchanges and services.

    Santiago Sabater, the CEO of DeFiChain Accelerator said, “With the new liquidity pools and the various upcoming projects to increase the utility of DFI on ERC-20, DeFiChain’s adoption is growing massively. DeFiChain is opening the gates to offer its decentralized assets such as decentralized stocks, commodities and ETFs to the whole DeFi community on the Ethereum blockchain. This will result in massive capital inflows, pleasuring DeFiChain’s investors while creating new use cases for Ethereum users.”

    The liquidity mining rewards will be distributed in the following manner: 

    • DFI-ETH pair at 0.5 DFI per Ethereum block
    • DFI-USDT pair at 0.25 DFI per Ethereum block
    • DFI-USDC pair at 0.25 DFI per Ethereum block

    In total, one DFI token will be distributed per Ethereum block. Just like DFI emission rate on DeFiChain mainnet, block reward is scheduled to reduce by 4% every 7 days (in blocks) starting 9AM UTC on August 22. Before that, rewards will only be distributed at a constant rate of 1% of the above rates. It is estimated to allow the reward to sustain well over a year.

    A smart contract will be published on Ethereum mainnet that allows the rewards to be paid out in accordance to the schedule. Upon publishing of the smart contract, DFI will be placed in the smart contract in tranches, for safety reasons.

    An accompanying decentralized app will be launched for liquidity providers to take part in the liquidity mining program.

    About DeFiChain

    DeFiChain is a decentralized Proof-of-Stake blockchain created as a hard fork of the Bitcoin network to enable advanced DeFi applications. It is dedicated to enabling fast, intelligent, and transparent decentralized financial services. DeFiChain offers liquidity mining, staking, decentralized assets, and decentralized loans. The DeFiChain Foundation’s mission is to bring DeFi to the Bitcoin ecosystem.

    Contacts
    • Benjamin Rauch
    • press@defichain-ac.com
  • Robinhood’s Crypto Division Fined $30 Million for Breaching Anti-money Laundering Regulations

    Robinhood’s Crypto Division Fined $30 Million for Breaching Anti-money Laundering Regulations

    Key takeaways:

    • The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has imposed a $30 million fine on Robinhood’s crypto division
    • According to the NYDFS, Robinhood did not adequately comply with the state’s anti-money laundering and cybersecurity regulations
    • Robinhood will also have to hire an independent consultant who will thoroughly evaluate the company’s compliance measures

    The New York State’s Department of Financial Services has mandated the crypto division of foremost retail investing platform Robinhood to pay a fine of $30 million. 

    This decision was announced by the agency in a statement on August 2. 

    According to the statement, the investment platform was found guilty of violating the state’s anti-money laundering and cybersecurity regulations.

    The violation of the regulations was first discovered by the agency during a supervisory exam. This discovery led to an enforcement investigation during which credible evidence of the breach was found. 

    Further details released by the agency indicate that Robinhood’s Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money-laundering compliance programs also lacked the manpower size required for its adequate operation. 

    Another discovery during the investigation is that Robinhood’s cybersecurity program failed to properly address the company’s operational risks.

    Other infractions discovered by the agency was that Robinhood had no dedicated phone number for its customer’s complaints.

    Aside from paying the multi-million dollar fine, the company was mandated to hire an independent consultant. 

    The consultant will be responsible for evaluating the company’s compliance measures with the state regulator’s rules and its remediation efforts. 

    Speaking on the fine, Superintendent Adrienne Harris noted that the regulator will continue to investigate violations of the law.

    “DFS will continue to investigate and take action when any licensee violates the law or the Department’s regulations, which are critical to protecting consumers and ensuring the safety and soundness of the institutions.”

    Robinhood lays off workers 

    Robinhood announced in a blog post that it will lay off about 23% of its workforce because of the current macroeconomic conditions.

    “We will be parting ways with many incredibly talented people today in an extremely challenging macro environment,” the company’s co-founder Vlad Tenev wrote in the post. 

    The firm had made a smaller staff cut in April when it sacked roughly 9% of its workforce.

    Tenev tied the new decision to “reduced customer trading activity and assets under custody.”

    During the second quarter, the crypto market recorded an historic sell off. The value of Bitcoin and other flagship digital assets dipped to new lows as institutional investors like Tesla sold their holdings.

    The move is also coming at a time when the market crash has forced other crypto-related firms like OpenSea, Coinbase, Kraken and several others to cut staff while others like Celsius, Voyager and Three Arrows Capital have gone bankrupt. 

  • World Series of Trading Event Sets New Record amid Crypto Market Dip

    World Series of Trading Event Sets New Record amid Crypto Market Dip

    Key Takeaways

    • The World Series of Trading (WSOT) competition records massive success in terms of participants and prize money
    • Traders gained profits as high as 10,000% and the prize pool was up to $8 Million
    • Bybit continues to partner with UNICEF for the event, donating up to $40,000 for STEAM education program targeted at a vulnerable female student population in the Pacific and East Asia
    • The competition is described as a sign of hope for the crypto industry, amidst the market dip of 2022

    The World Series of Trading (WSOT) competition, which was held on July 17, hit new records despite the continued market dip being faced by the crypto sector this year, 2022. The world’s largest crypto trading competition, which saw traders gain profits as high as 10,000%, lasted for 20 days with a prize pool of up to $8 Million. The high numbers in profit simply added to the intensity of this year’s WSOT competition, making it even more interesting.

    WSOT 2022 – A Record-Breaking Competition

    Crypto users and investors now equate the World Series of Trading competition to be the world cup in the crypto trading world. It attracted up to 70,000 users with versatile skills in crypto trading. This year’s event also saw the prize pool doubled when compared to that of 2021. Last year’s event also saw only half of this year’s participants.

    In this year’s competition, the prize pool was segmented into three, where the largest chunk of the prize pool ($6 Million) went for the Squad Race event.  The Speed Zone Loot Events and Solo race each went for $1 million. There were also enough bonuses throughout the course of the competition. Bybit awarded participants over 1,000 NFT prizes as a bonus, some of which included the popular Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFTs and the CloneX NFT.

    The success of the World Series of Trading competition, amidst the backlash of the 2022 crypto bear market, reinforces the resilience of the cryptocurrency universe. It is also expected to have a positive impact in the industry.

    WSOT 2022 attracted a highly diverse audience.  The event saw participants from more than 1000 squads spread across 182 regions contesting for the big prize.  Of the 3,241 members, the Korean Titans were the largest team to play. Some of the other teams with many members include the Satto Squad and Sniper Squad.

    Changing the World with Crypto Competition

    Since the World Series of Trading Event entails smartness, bravery and keen knowledge of crypto trading, Bybit aligns with relevant bodies when hosting it. The dynamic exchanges is still in partnership with UNICEF, using the event to promote the education and enlightenment of women in both the Pacific and East Asia. This time, a donation of up to $400,000 in BTC was made to the relevant UNICEF department.

    According to reliable information, the donation will go towards facilitating the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) education program, mainly targeted toward young girls in a mountainous province in Vietnam.

    Looking Ahead

    Co-founder and CEO of Bybit, Ben Zhou, has expressed appreciation for the success of the World Series of Trading (WSOT) competition. He described the remarkable increase in the number of participants and its massive success as a sort of hope for crypto users, traders and investors amidst the continued market dip in 2022.

     In his words:

    “This competition demonstrated the unwavering faith of crypto enthusiasts all over the world; it’s a beacon of hope in the bear market.”

    With the conclusion of the competition phase of WSOT 2022, the afterparty is the next. It is also expected to be better than previous ones, in all ramifications. 

  • 1inch Integrates with Wirex

    1inch Integrates with Wirex

    Under this partnership, the 1inch Aggregation API will be added to Wirex’s non-custodial wallet to power token swaps.

    The 1inch Network is thrilled to announce another exciting integration – with the fiat/crypto payment platform Wirex. Thanks to this integration, the 1inch Aggregation API will be added to Wirex’s non-custodial wallet to power its token exchange functionality.

    The integration will allow Wirex users to exchange their tokens at the most favorable rates thanks to 1inch’s Pathfinder, a complex search algorithm for swapping routes. 

    “The Wirex integration is a natural step for 1inch, which always strives for universal application and mass adoption of its products and solutions,” says Sergej Kunz, 1inch Network co-founder. “And Wirex is one of the crypto space’s leaders in terms of tech advancement and user base.”

    “This partnership will certainly benefit the Wirex community, enabling users to swap their tokens at the best available rates on multiple blockchains,” he adds.

    “The 1inch Aggregation API will allow users to have even easier access to the benefits of DeFi,” comments Pavel Matveev, CEO and co-founder of Wirex. “Now users can comfortably and profitably swap multiple tokens, saving substantial amounts of money and time.”

    Wirex’s non-custodial wallet was launched in December to build on the success of an app that boasts over 5 mln users. The wallet takes advantage of keyless technology with biometric access and multi-party computation tech for improved security. 

    The 1inch/Wirex partnership comes at a time when Wirex is actively expanding into new blockchains, including Avalanche, Polygon, BNB Chain and Fantom – all of which are already available on 1inch.

    Stay tuned for more exciting news about 1inch integrations and collaborations!

    Buy/Sell 1INCH
  • Impel Adds Bitcoin to ISO 20022 Financial Messaging on XDC Network

    Impel Adds Bitcoin to ISO 20022 Financial Messaging on XDC Network

    Dallas, Texas, 2nd August, 2022, Chainwire

     

    New Cross-chain Interoperability via WanBridge Provides More Robust Options for Instant Settlement 

     

    Impel is pleased to announce today that bitcoin (BTC) has been added to its ISO 20022 financial messaging API as optional collateral for making payments. This addition enables BTC to be used in the instant settlement process for traditional banking services and other organizations that utilize the new ISO 20022 messaging standard. It offers the opportunity for improved customer experience, increased security, and significant operating cost savings.

     

    The technology industry’s future lies in the broad range of techniques that allow different blockchains to communicate with each other. The transfer of digital assets and data between one blockchain to another is referred to as cross-chain compatibility. Interoperable bridges play a crucial role in providing these robust options for desired digital assets to be used for payment.

     

    Through its collaboration with DIMO and Wanchain, Impel’s userbase can move BTC from its native network to the XDC Network as a wrapped digital asset called “XBTC,” referred to as an XRC-20 token. Both DIMO and Wanchain aim to make the blockchain ecosystem completely interoperable, one bridge at a time. “We see this bridge between the Bitcoin and XDC Networks as an important step in creating real-world interoperability in the blockchain ecosystem,” said Bhavesh Thakkar, Co-Founder, and CEO at DIMO.

     

    Wanchain’s WanBridge uses an advanced version of the Lock-Mint-Burn-Unlock method to transfer digital assets between blockchains. No intermediaries or relay networks are involved, as assets are transferred directly from the source chain to the destination chain. For example, when moving BTC to the XDC Network, it is locked on the Bitcoin Network by the bridge’s nodes before the XBTC is minted on the XDC Network. The $XBTC can then be used as collateral for ISO 20022 payments.

     

    The bridge, operated by a group of permissionless, decentralized nodes, is required to stake sufficient funds and is elected monthly. Collectively, the nodes use a combination of Secure Multipart Computation (sMPC) and Shamir’s Secret Sharing (SSS) to generate signatures, securing these cross-chain assets. This is an approach far more secure than the current multisig standard. Additionally, no single node or entity will have direct access to these wrapped assets, which are secured by a shared pool of digital assets to overcollateralize the cross-chain assets.

     

    Access the WanBridge here: https://bridge.wanchain.org/#/

     

    “Impel offers no-brainer solutions via an API for any organization in the world that needs to use the ISO 20022 compliant financial messaging standard,” said Troy S. Wood, CEO and Founder of Impel. “Plus, we sweeten the deal with the option of adding collateral to the message’s payload for instant settlement.”

     

    Impel’s ISO 20022 financial messaging is a standard that is already widely adopted in more than 70 countries, and it is one the United States aims to implement by 2025. Impel’s platform offers optional instant settlement using $XDC, the native coin on the XDC Network, XRC-20 tokens, such as $XBTC, and the wrapped stable coin USDC ($XUSDC).

     

    Impel’s service offerings are built and operate on the XDC Network, a Layer 1 blockchain protocol that is a highly optimized, bespoke fork of Ethereum. The network offers significant benefits, such as near-zero gas fees, and it reaches consensus through its delegated proof-of-stake (XDPoS) mechanism, thus using virtually no energy and allowing for fast processing at two second transaction times and over 2,000 transactions per second. The XDC Network provides cross-chain interoperability with its smart contracts. As an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible blockchain, project migrations to the network are seamless.

     

    Security is important at Impel, and financial transactions are routed through a highly secure API, utilizing a Layer 2 solution that prevents data exposure to unauthorized parties. It was developed by a team with decades of information technology experience in providing secure technology infrastructure for banks and fintechs.

     

    Impel will not charge implementation, annual membership, or per-usage fees for its financial messaging service. The only cost for banks and financial institutions is the XDC Network’s near-zero gas fee to send messages and payments, which is only a fraction of a cent ($0.00001) or less per transaction. Notably, financial transactions can be rolled up into just one message, meaning that multiple messages can be sent in one transaction allowing for customization that meets the demands and desires of the involved parties.

     

    Impel offers a self-paced ISO 20022 financial messaging demo that allows anyone to create and send transaction requests over the XDC Network’s mainnet, with the option to add collateral, such as $XDC. $XBTC, or $XUSDC to the message’s payload. The demo is available on Impel’s website: https://impel.global.

     

    About Impel
    Impel is a fintech innovator that uses blockchain technology to deliver financial messaging, instant settlement, and a bridge to the R3 Corda platform to future-facing banks and fintechs. Created to provide a cost-effective alternative to legacy solutions like SWIFT and SEPA, Impel’s service offerings run on the XDC Network using a decentralized, enterprise-ready hybrid blockchain to securely and quickly send financial messages and payments using $XDC or XRC-20 tokens. Leveraging outstanding security, Impel offers real-time payment settlement, instead of the current 2+ day standard via the central banking system. Impel’s financial messaging meets the ISO 20022 standard, with no cost other than the XDC Network’s near-zero gas fee to send messages or payments. Utilizing a bridge to the R3 Corda platform, $XDC or XRC-20 tokens move to and from the public Corda Network and can be used as a settlement vehicle inside the Corda ecosystem. Financial institutions can use Impel as a catalyst to strategically transform their businesses and unlock value-added opportunities enabled by the new standard. Learn more at https://impel.global.

     

    Contacts

    CEO and Founder

    • Troy S. Wood
    • Impel
    • media@impel.global
  • APENFT Foundation Announced The Second Call of its $100 Million Art Dream Fund.

    APENFT Foundation Announced The Second Call of its $100 Million Art Dream Fund.

    Singapore, Singapore, 2nd August, 2022, Chainwire

    APENFT Foundation announces that the second call of its $100 million Art Dream Fund will launch on August 1st, and registration will close on October 30th. The theme for this year’s call is “Post-Human Era.” This theme seeks to explore whether the future of humanity can transcend traditional self-centered humanism and how people should position themselves in a complex ecosystem consisting of non-human animals, plants, and cyborgs. Winners will be eligible to win from a prize pool of over $100,000. In addition to prizes, creators will also enjoy the opportunity to build their art studios in The Sandbox, a metaverse set to launch by APENFT and TRON. Creators will also be able to get involved in annual online and offline exhibitions curated by APENFT, workshops, artist residencies, and other educational events. 




    TRON x APENFT exhibition hall in The Sandbox

    This call is open to creators of any age, nationality (not eligible for residents of UN- and OFAC-sanctioned countries or regions), and profession. It welcomes digital artworks submitted by individuals and teams in various mediums, including video, animation, virtual reality, augmented reality, sound art, and data-driven art, among others. 

    “The most essential quality that distinguishes us from other calls is our core values—great inclusiveness and openness—which are also the values that govern the world of NFTs; here, every good work has a chance to be seen,” emphasized Sydney Xiong, Director of the APENFT Foundation. “We’ve always been committed to nurturing and supporting young artists and creators who are open-minded, daring, imaginative, and able to inject fresh vitality into the art sphere.”  

    The same openness and inclusiveness permeate the review process of the Art Dream Fund. This year’s review panel comprises more than ten artists, curators, auction experts, art professionals, and financial practitioners. We can expect this diversity in panel selections to introduce opinions from diverse areas such as art, finance, technology, and design, allowing for a more comprehensive assessment of submissions. Expert juries include Philip Tinari (Director of UCCA Center for Contemporary Art), Jonathan Crockett (Chairman of Asia at Phillips), Josh Baer (Art advisor), Sylvain Levy (Renowned collector), and Conlan Rios (Founder of Async Art); the Nomination and Selection Panel includes Cheng Ran (Contemporary Artist), Laura Shao from Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Kenny Schachter (art writer), Ciara Sun (Co-founder of C² Ventures), Claire Huang (Async Art Advisor & Columnist), Mimi Nguyen (Lecturer at the University of the Arts London). Together with community members, the Nomination and Selection Panel will designate 50 contestants for the final based on their votes.

    Themed on “Second Life,” last year’s open call received over 500 artworks, among which Infinite Falling by WMD Studio won the first prize, and submissions of Verdi Jackson, Kong, Allyn Belfred, and Chengcheng Shi won the innovation prizes. In January 2022, all winning artworks were sold at an auction event at the online exhibition co-hosted by APENFT and LiveArtX in Cryptovoxels. This year, on top of the three existing awards, APENFT teamed up with Async Art to set up the “Async Visual-Audio Award” for programmable art to encourage experimentation and innovation in interactive art forms. As Conlan Rios, Founder of Async Art, expressed, 

    “Async Art provides tools for everyone to create visual-audio interactive NFTs, without the necessity of mastering coding and programming knowledge. Through Async Visual-Audio Award, we invite artists to join us to turn the existing concept of art on its head and pave the way for a whole new category of programmable media. This is just the start, but we believe these simple building blocks will open up a world of possibilities for the creators out there, and we are really excited to see the genius ways people might use it.” 

    Participants will have the opportunity to attend the workshops co-organized by APENFT and Async Art and potentially receive Blueprints-based NFT airdrops. 

    WMD Studio, Infinite Falling (2021), digital animation, source: WMD Studio

    Another highlight of this year’s Art Dream Fund is that during the call and the selection, APENFT will co-host three online forums with ArtReview to discuss NFT discourse in the art world, the influence of the metaverse on art creation, and NFT collection and sponsorship. The dates and guests of the forums will be announced soon. Please stay tuned.

    The open call of the 2022 Art Dream Fund has started, application will  close  on October 30th. For more registration details, please visit: artdreamfund.apenft.io. 

    About Art Dream Fund

    The Art Dream Fund was co-sponsored by H. E. Justin Sun, founder of TRON, and Sydney Xiong, Director of APENFT Foundation, in 2021. It aims to identify, nurture, and support quality NFT artists through the ＄100 million fund. Apart from the funding support for art creation, the Foundation will also advise award winners on marketing, publicity, copyright protection, and legal affairs. The winning artworks will be deployed permanently  onto the TRON blockchain as a TRC-721 token  as well as on the decentralized storage system BFTS. With the help of TRON and the APENFT Foundation, talented artists will stand a chance to take part in online and offline exhibitions, art fairs, auctions at home and abroad, collaborations with renowned international brands, and benefit from crossover marketing.

    About APENFT

    Officially registered in Singapore on March 29, 2021, APENFT is backed by the underlying technology of the TRON blockchain, with additional support from the world’s largest distributed storage system BitTorrent File System (BTFS). At the core of our mission, APENFT aims to facilitate the creator economy while catalyzing both financial and cultural inclusion in the metaverse. Our vision is to integrate both the virtual and the real worlds seamlessly. APENFT Foundation is the world’s first NFT art foundation that realizes crossover purchases. We aim to bridge conversations between stakeholders in the traditional art world and the digital art community emerging around NFTs, promote inclusiveness and diversity, broaden our multimedia audience, and increase all members’ engagement. In the future, our collection will be made available to the entire community through a series of curated online exhibitions in the metaverse.

    APENFT Marketplace | Twitter | Telegram | Discord

    About Async Art

    Async Art is the premiere platform where users can create, collect, and sell generative art & music NFTs. Async breaks down the technology barrier many creators face and allows artists of all backgrounds to participate in the Web3 space. 

    With our Async Canvas tool, users can create interactive, future-facing art and music without any coding knowledge. The platform provides streamlined solutions for audio and visual creators to make innovative NFTs, including 1/1s and an entire collection.. The platform encourages artists to experiment and push boundaries in the NFT space. 

    About ArtReview

    Founded in 1949, ArtReview is one of the world’s leading international contemporary art platforms. Aimed at both a specialist and a general audience, it is dedicated to expanding contemporary art’s reach, and tracing the ways it interacts with culture in general. It also provides the most intimate reading for contemporary art.

    Contacts
    • Miles Wang
    • contact@apenft.io
  • Next Block Expo is Aiming to Become the Biggest Blockchain Festival in Europe

    Next Block Expo is Aiming to Become the Biggest Blockchain Festival in Europe

    First edition will be held in Berlin, Germany, 23-24 November 2022 with more than 5000 attendees. In 4 months from now, the Berlin Station will be the most important place in the European blockchain map, linking together the most important names from blockchain. 

    “We are bringing founders, investors and blockchain experts together to redefine and discover Web3 future” – says Tom Kopera, Next Block Expo Co-founder. 

    The organizers expect more than 5000 participants at the conference plus another 10 000 attending online. Venue can host more than 100 exhibitors and sponsors. Everyone will be able to listen to more than 50 top blockchain speakers. 

    The biggest blockchain festival of Europe is dedicated to web3 startups no matter the stage of development. The event will bring together founders, angel & retail investors, venture capital firms, developers & software houses and all kinds of industry experts. 

    There will be six types of events to attend. The most influential people in blockchain space will share their visions about web3 from the main stage during Presentations time. Round Tables will be an opportunity to understand different perspectives. During Workshops, experts in respected fields will share their knowledge with participants. All exhibitors will be able to submit their projects to the Pitch Contest, where the best startups will be selected by experts. We also plan Hackatons for hard-core developers who want to learn by doing and Side Events organized directly by startups for their communities. 

    The conference will be divided into six content tracks: 

    • DeFi 
    • Blockchain gaming 
    • Metaverse / NFT 
    • Scaling & Infrastructure 
    • Web3 Discovery 
    • Fundraising and investing 

    “It is a unique opportunity to either find partners for your project, talk to investors and venture capital firms, see what is ‘hyped’ and maybe find the next big thing to invest into” – says Tom Kopera. “But most importantly we want to focus on the future of Web3 – we are witnessing a new economy that is a combination of what web3 already created and now traditional sectors are jumping in. So let’s discuss, brainstorm and share our vision of the future”. 

    Next Block Expo is an extension of a previous series of events held under the name Cryptocurrency World Expo over the last six years. 

    More info: http://nextblockexpo.com 

    Resources for participants, sponsors and exhibitors: https://linktr.ee/nextblockexpo

    Follow us on Twitter to be up to date with the news: https://twitter.com/nextblockexpo

    Special individual code: coincheckup25 (can be used 50 times)

  • Volodymyr Nosov Has Announced Collaboration Between WhiteBIT and Bilkent CYBERPARK

    Volodymyr Nosov Has Announced Collaboration Between WhiteBIT and Bilkent CYBERPARK

    On the 25th of April, the WhiteBIT crypto exchange CEO, Volodymyr Nosov, wrote on his Instagram about his visit to one of the largest technology parks in Turkey, Bilkent Cyberpark. Volodymyr Nosov was accompanied by General Manager Faruk Inaltekin and International Projects Manager Okan Yamak.

    Volodymyr Nosov described his impressions of the visit as follows, “WhiteBIT extremely appreciates the potential and expert opinions of specialists, so the idea immediately arose to give life to a project that would allow sharing experience, teaching, and enabling talented youth to engage in the blockchain technologies development based on the Turkish cyber park. We will also be able to share the experience with our colleagues by joining forces to share knowledge between Turkish and Ukrainian specialists. I am sure WhiteBIT will perfectly complement and even give a second wind to Bilkent Cyberpark.”

    Kharkiv-based crypto exchange WhiteBIT opened an office in Turkey shortly before the start of the war in Ukraine. Thus, part of the WhiteBIT team was already working from there. After the outbreak of hostilities, the company organized the evacuation of employees from Kharkiv to safer regions of Ukraine and Turkey.

    So why Turkey? Volodymyr Nosov commented on the WhiteBIT company’s decision, “I felt that we are very similar to the Turks, in particular, in our views on the future. On the one hand, we are united by love and respect for traditions. On the other hand, we aspire to be at the forefront of technology and innovation.”

    Thus, Turkey has become a promising market for the WhiteBIT crypto exchange and Volodymyr Nosov by opening up new partnership opportunities. For example, on the 23rd of April, Volodymyr Nosov published a post on his social media about his meeting with Hasan Onal, General Director of the Department of e-commerce, digital trading, and new generation technologies of Turkey.

    During this visit, they discussed the regulation of digital assets at the legislative level. The WhiteBIT exchange, originating from Kharkiv, may well advise on this issue, as it was directly involved in developing similar legislation on digital assets in Ukraine. Moreover, Volodymyr Nosov himself is an ardent supporter of the mass adoption of blockchain technology, which can be significantly facilitated by the recognition and support of the state.

    All this indicates that we should wait for new announcements from Volodymyr Nosov about upcoming collaborations with Turkish projects and, above all, with Bilkent CYBERPARK.

    About WhiteBIT

    WhiteBIT is a centralized crypto exchange that offers a great variety of both digital assets and national currencies. The WhiteBIT exchange has over 2.5 million users worldwide and is considered the largest crypto exchange platform in Europe. The company was founded in 2018 in Ukraine by a team mainly from Kharkiv. The CEO of the WhiteBIT crypto exchange is Volodymyr Nosov. The WhiteBIT company complies with KYC and AML standards and is among the Top 2 most secure exchanges globally according to an independent Hacken audit, which is why many consider it the best exchange for crypto.

    About Bilkent CYBERPARK

    Bilkent CYBERPARK is one of the largest technoparks in Turkey. It unites 240 R&D companies, 5 research centers, 1 micro-nano chip factory, 4000 approximate employees, and 115 000 m2 indoor space. Bilkent CYBERPARK offers technopark services to companies operating in technology and software development, supports new companies with the potential to produce advanced technology, and cooperates with international institutions.