Global cryptocurrency exchange, Gate.io, has launched a campaign where new users stand a chance to win their share of $1 million in prizes.
Super Mystery Box Giveaway
Gate.io launched its new Super Mystery Box giveaway for new users that join the platform between August 13th and October 31st. Users who successfully sign up to the Gate.io exchange, will be able to pick a mystery box with guaranteed prizes from the dedicated giveaway page.
Since the campaign was launched, over 40,000 new users have participated in the giveaway, receiving prizes such as coins and tokens, USDTest, NFT works, discounted fees and more. New users automatically qualify for the promotion and every mystery box is guaranteed to contain a prize.
Referral Bonus
Users can also benefit from Gate.io’s referral awards programme by sharing their unique referral code with friends, family and even fans. If a new user signs up using your referral code, you can earn up to 40% commission on their trades. There are no limits on how many users can sign up using a referral code, making it an easy way to earn more rewards.
Autumn is approaching fast, but bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are in full bloom. Since July 21st, bitcoin has grown over 50% pulling the rest of the market up with it. As the market sees renewed growth, the crypto space is only going to grow from here.
About Gate.io
Gate.io is one of the leading global cryptocurrency exchanges founded in 2013. Gate.io enables a new generation of global traders with the tools to access the revolutionary age of cryptocurrencies. The “Gate ecosystem” consists of Gate.io, Wallet.io, HipoDefi and GateChain. Gate.io enables blockchain enthusiasts to trade and store assets in over 800 of the leading cryptocurrencies for over 6 million users from over 190 countries. It is a one-stop-shop for spot, margin trading, futures, perpetual contracts, staking, C2C loans, options and DeFi.
Balancer partners with Lido on joint MetaStable Pool incentive program
Balancer is thrilled to announce the launch of MetaStable Pools and our partnership with Lido with joint pool incentives. While Stable Pools are important for tokens with a 1:1 value, MetaStable Pools are great for tokens with highly correlated, but not hard-pegged, prices. Because of this, MetaStable Pools are especially well suited to handle pegged tokens that gradually accumulate fees.
One of the most powerful use cases for MetaStable Pools is “nesting” other pools by holding their Balancer Pool Tokens (BPTs), thereby facilitating cheap swaps between their constituent tokens and those of the nested pool — as though all the component tokens were in a single pool. A MetaStable Pool with StaBAL3-USD (made of DAI, USDC, and USDT) and NewUsdStable tokens could be used to swap between NewUsdStable and any of the nested StaBAL3-USD tokens (DAI, USDC, USDT).
While Stable Pools are well suited for tokens with 1:1 exchange rates, MetaStable Pools work well for tokens that gradually diverge in value. In the above example, StaBAL3-USD is highly correlated with the price of a US dollar, but the pool token grows in value as trade fees accumulate. Similarly, a MetaStable Pool with DAI and cDAI would work well, since the cDAI slowly grows in value as the underlying DAI is lent on Compound.
MetaStable Pools also offer further benefits to traders and liquidity providers. Previously, someone looking to facilitate trades between NewUsdStable, DAI, USDC, and USDT might create a standard Stable Pool with the four tokens. As a MetaStable Pool, however, this pool can piggyback on the deep liquidity of StaBAL3-USD, offering the best prices to traders. This also reduces the fracturing of stablecoin liquidity, which improves prices and increases maximum trade amount. Simultaneously, liquidity providers for StaBAL3-USD do not need to worry about the potential volatility, security, or failure of NewUsdStable since MetaStable Pools prevent the draining of underlying pool tokens.
MetaStable Pools help users of Balancer Protocol list less liquid assets and prevent diluting existing pools.
Balancer Partners with Lido
With the MetaStable Pool launch, liquid staking protocol Lido is launching a pool to facilitate trades between Ether and Staked Ether to offer liquidity for stakers securing the Ethereum Network. We’re excited to increase the number of liquidity pools for the Ethereum staking community and to support growing liquidity conditions for Lido’s stETH token. Furthermore, cooperation with Lido will go a long way in enhancing the productivity of stETH/wstETH.
The pools will be co-incentivised with LDO and BAL rewards to drive further liquidity and offer users with sufficient liquidity rewards to encourage participation.
2,500 BAL per week has been allocated to the pool with an additional 25,000 LIDO per week for the first month. These are live right now, and the first distribution will take place on August 24th via Balancer’s claim portal.
Examples of MetaStable Pools with use cases:
Balancer’s StaBAL USD & NewUsdToken
Swap NewUsdToken and any of the underlying stablecoins (DAI, USDC, USDT)
ETH & sETH
Swap ETH and Synthetic Ether.
cDAI & cUSDC
Swap directly between underlying stablecoins (DAI, USDC)
MetaStable Pools are extremely important for Balancer V2 in that they help to aggregate all of the liquidity to a few pools. Any new stable token can be added to a new pool that uses the BPT of that main stable pool as the other underlying token.
Highly-Correlated vs. Hard-Pegged Tokens
Highly-correlated assets differ from hard-pegged assets in a variety of ways.
Hard-pegged tokens can reliably be exchanged 1-to-1 and the most common are stablecoins. In many cases stablecoins are tied to fiat, but there are other instances as well, such as stablecoins tied to commodities. Tether (USDT), USDCoin (USDC), Perth Mint Gold Token (PMGT) and wDGLD are some examples of stablecoins that are hard-pegged to their underlying assets.
In contrast, tokens like Wrapped BTC (WBTC) and renBTC are ERC20 tokens that are highly-correlated to Bitcoin. Both tokens enable Bitcoin holders to use tokenized Bitcoin in Ethereum-powered decentralized applications like Balancer Protocol and trade on decentralized exchanges.
About Balancer
Balancer Protocol allows for automated portfolio management and providing liquidity turning the concept of an index fund on its head: instead of paying fees to portfolio managers, you collect fees from traders who rebalance your portfolio by following arbitrage opportunities. Developers leverage Balancer as a permissionless building block to innovate freely and create new treasury management systems. Balancer Lab’s mission is to become the primary source of DeFi liquidity by providing the most flexible and powerful platform for asset management and decentralized exchange.
The token of the decentralized prediction market application for p2p rates and bets is migrating from the TRON blockchain to the Ethereum and Tezos platforms. In recent weeks, ECN has managed to get into the top 3 most popular tokens on TRON, according to the Tronscan service, whereas the project’s smart contract comes second in popularity.
Why is the token swap happening?
The ECN token was successfully traded on the JustSwap decentralized exchange, with a daily volume exceeding $1 million. However, on August 10, 3.44% of the circulating offer, some 8 million tokens, ended up in the hands of ‘sniper bots,’ who began selling coins and withdrawing liquidity from the ECN/TRX pool. According to the ECN team, this is due to the low-security level of the TRON network and the JustSwap exchange, which makes it ‘a paradise for sniper bots.’
To avoid a further drop in the price, ECN decided to conduct a swap on the Ethereum and Tezos blockchains. Notably, the token is also traded on the centralized exchange Bilaxy, which will also support migration to other networks.
Despite the popularity of the token in the TRON network and the increasing hype around the project, the opinion of the community is a priority for the ECN project. In this situation, only a token swap can ensure the stability of the coin price and the security of liquidity pools.
About ECN
ECN is a decentralized platform for making bets between users, as well as participating in betting pools with receiving rewards in project tokens. The release of the application will take place in August, and in 3 months since the launch of the token, ECN has managed to achieve significant results:
Over 40,000 token holders;
Over 500,000 transactions;
$3M+ average daily trading volume on JustSwap and centralized exchange Bilaxy;
Partnership with companies Future Tech, Nexchange Group, WWM, The Blockchain Academy.
In a new paper, Microsoft researchers have shared a concept of an innovative system to prevent piracy, named Argus
Argus is a bounty-incentivized anti-piracy system built and optimized for use on the Ethereum blockchain
It is yet unclear when the new system will be released
Microsoft’s research department has released a new paper in collaboration with Alibaba and Carnegie Mellon University in which the effects of using blockchain technology to fight piracy were studied. The proposed blockchain-based system named “Argus” uses Ethereum blockchain and anonymous reporting methods.
Argus incentivizes piracy reporting by introducing a reward system
Microsoft suite of productivity tools is perhaps the most pirated piece of software in the world. As such, it comes as no surprise that the Redmond-based tech giant is willing to consider every option to prevent its copyrighted software products from being stolen.
In a recently released paper named Argus: A Fully Transparent Incentive System for Anti-Piracy Campaigns, Microsoft researchers have laid out a plan on how to tackle piracy with the use of blockchain technology.
Overview of the Argus system. Image source: Argus Paper
The so-called Argus Contract is the basis of the whole system and is “created by the owner of a copy-righted content.” In the image above we can see how the different roles (owner, licensee, informer) interact with the contract.
Each time an owner distributes content to licensees, the new copy is “embedded with a unique string”, a watermark, which can’t be removed without damaging the original content. Via a special process, called the oblivious transfer (OT), new content copies are retrieved without the owner or licensee knowing which of the marked copies is retrieved.
If a copy of the content is leaked, the informer can report it by using the Proof of Leakage function, after which the unique watermarked string is extracted. The reward function of the Argus contract incentivizes informers to share the information about possibly pirated intellectual property. The licensee of the allegedly pirated copy is then accused and has a certain amount of time to appeal, before the status on the Ledger’s Clock changes to ‘Guilty’.
“With the security and practicality of Argus, we hope real-world anti-piracy campaigns will be truly effective by shifting to a fully transparent incentive mechanism.” – Argus researchers on prospects of the new anti-piracy system
We have to note that the procedure described above was a heavily shortened and simplified version of the whole process. Check out the original paper for more in-depth explanations.
The transparency aspect of distributed ledger is paramount
The researchers note that Argus “is superior to existing solutions in terms of the trust assumption and the assured properties,” and that it “could enable a paradigm shift for anti-piracy incentive solutions.” The team that worked on the Argus paper is especially excited about the prospects of applying public blockchain, which is “logically sound” and an “economically practical” approach to fight piracy.
The team working on Argus was led by three main assumptions. In order for Argus to succeed, it must have robust watermarking capabilities, must have clear financial incentives for informers and has to be built on a trusted blockchain.
The blockchain-based system was optimized to use as little gas fees as possible. The researchers have found a way to reduce the cost of piracy reporting, which would otherwise be equivalent to thousands of ETH transactions, to “an equivalent cost of sending about 14 ETH-transfer transactions”.
It is yet unclear whether Microsoft is going to use the new system any time soon. In theory, it should work with all kinds of various content types, from images to video and software.
Microsoft is not alone in trying to utilize blockchain as a tool to protect intellectual property rights. Last month, Tech Mahindra, a subsidiary of the Indian multinational behemoth Mahindra Group, launched a ‘Blockchain-based Contracts and Rights Management System’ built on IBM’s blockchain.
Cryptocurrencies are hot right now, especially among speculative speculators. The financial press is now paying close attention to what was formerly considered a speculative investment. Every day, CNBC and other financial networks discuss Bitcoin. There’s even a ticker on the wall that shows the current price. All of this adds up to investors’ familiarity with Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency movement. Many individuals are unaware that Bitcoin isn’t the only digital currency available. If you don’t want to be limited by the big names, there are plenty of other smaller options. You should be aware that each cryptocurrency is unique, and you should seek financial advice before investing in these risky investments. If you’re ready to invest in cryptocurrency, take a look at these 10 low-cost alternatives.
VeChain
As of Aug 13, 2021, the price of a coin was $0.087.
If you’re looking for a low-cost cryptocurrency, VeChain might be the finest option. Despite a phenomenal 4-year rise of 4,500 per cent, VeChain is currently trading at $0.08 per coin. The VeChain Thor Blockchain’s currency, VeChain, is used to move value around the network. Using distributed ledger technology, VeChain Thor Blockchain was designed for supply chain management and corporate activities.
As of Aug 13, 2021, the price of a coin was $0.28.
Dogecoin began as a joke, but it has since grown into a serious business for people who profit from it. Although the currency’s price remains relatively reasonable at $0.28 per coin, it has risen from $0.10 per coin at the start of 2021. Unlike many other cryptocurrencies with practical functions, Dogecoin is a joke about Bitcoin. Speculators and discussion boards have driven up the price of cryptocurrency due to the buzz around it. People who are making real money and are shopping for “cheap” bitcoin are unlikely to care about this.
Dogemama is one of the newer, smaller cryptocurrencies that could be classified as the “mother of all memecoins”. Dogemama is a token as well as a platform where users can passively earn Dogecoin, Shiba, Baby Doge, and many other memecoins through staking Dogemama tokens on the Dogemama family portal. Right now Dogemama which is currently in its pre-sale phase, is expected to have its price skyrocket in the coming weeks when it is listed on public exchanges.
Chainlink, another Ethereum token, is said to fuel Chainlink’s decentralised oracle network, according to Coinbase. External data sources, APIs, and payment systems can all be accessed securely using this network. Chainlink claims to be increasing the possibilities of smart contract software by allowing real-world data and off-chain computations. It also preserves the advantages of blockchain technology, such as security and dependability. The price of Chainlink varies, but it is now almost$ 30 per coin.
As of Aug 13, 2021, the price of a coin was $180.30.
Litecoin is one of the earliest cryptocurrencies, having been launched two years after Bitcoin. Litecoin, according to its creators, enables near-instant, zero-cost payments anywhere in the world. The Litecoin network, like blockchain technology, is protected by mathematics. Because blocks are generated often, Litecoin can manage bigger transaction volumes than Bitcoin.
The coin’s current value was $1.47 as of Aug 13, 2021.
Even after a 2,800 per cent gain in a year, Cardano is still a cheap cryptocurrency, trading at less than $1.50. Cardano is a cryptocurrency platform based on the Ouroboros proof-of-stake consensus algorithm, according to Coinbase. This protocol allows transactions to be verified without consuming a lot of energy. Cardano is built using the Haskell programming language. The source of the symbol is Ada Lovelace, a 19th-century mathematician and symbol for the Cardano token (ADA). Ouroboros, according to its creators, enables Cardano network decentralisation and the potential to grow up to global needs sustainably without compromising security.
The coin’s current value was $15.03 as of Aug 13, 2021.
Polkadot is a cryptocurrency that has a one-of-a-kind moniker. It acts as the Polkadot blockchain’s token. According to its developers, the Polkadot token serves three key functions: it governs the network, operates the network, and constructs parachains by bonding Polkadot currencies. To new investors, this may appear to be a difficult sector, yet everybody can understand the 1,300 per cent gain in Polkadot coins since August 2020. At $15, Polkadot tokens are still reasonable.
As of Aug 13, 2021 the price of a coin was $0.275.
Stellar has its payment network, and its currency is Stellar Lumens. Anyone can join the network. It was, however, created for use by financial organisations that conduct massive transactions. These types of transactions may be completed relatively fast and at low-to-no cost on the Stellar network, which is a significant benefit over traditional or competing blockchain networks. Even though the price of Stellar Lumens is continuously rising, it now trades at below $0.3 per token.
Tether is an Ethereum currency with a value of one US dollar, according to Coinbase. Tether is one of the most cost-effective cryptocurrencies, with a token price of $1. Because the Tether token is pegged to the US dollar, its price is unlikely to fluctuate like that of other cryptocurrencies.
As of Aug 13 2021, the price of a coin was $229.11.
Monero, sometimes known as a privacy coin, is a type of cryptocurrency. Monero’s primary goal is to protect the privacy of its users. No one can track or trace transactions on the Monero network. Monero is a cryptocurrency that can be used to open a bank account. No one can see your balances or trace your transactions. Monero issues new coins and secures transactions via a proof of work consensus method, according to Coinbase. Monero is only $230 per coin, which is a bargain when compared to the thousands of dollars required to purchase a single Bitcoin.
Solana was sent to new highs after the Degenerate Ape NFT sale garnered a massive amount of interest
Since its ICO sale in March of 2020, the price of SOL is up by more than 270x
The Degenerate Ape NFT sale lasted all but eight minutes before the characters were sold out. The price of the most expensive one reached 100,001 SOL, which is more than $6 million USD
Solana (SOL) continues to reach new milestones. The massively popular blockchain project that started in March 2020 is having a stellar year. After the most recent price surge, which can mostly be attributed to an NFT sale of so-called Degenerate Apes, the price of Solana has set a new all-time high of $64.43.
What is Solana?
By straying away from complex layer-two solutions and employing the innovative proof-of-history mechanism (PoH), Solana is capable of outperforming the throughput of competitive networks while having extremely low fees of just one-thousandth of a penny per transaction.
Solana’s blockchain is optimized for 50-65k transactions per second. Low transaction fees and very high transaction throughput make Solana network a suitable candidate for issuing non-fungible token (NFT) projects, hosting decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and all kinds of decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.
A quick recap of Solana’s price history
At the time the Solana ICO token sale took place in the middle of March of last year, the price of Solana was just $0.22. By the end of 2020, the SOL token was already trading at $1.70.
What followed was explosive price growth, which was abruptly stopped just before reaching $60 USD on May 19, when the whole crypto market suffered a cumulative loss of approximately $300 billion, while the price of Solana dropped by 65%. Since then Solana did manage to slowly recover a decent amount of its single-day loss in the following months.
This week, more precisely today, a quick and unexpected surge sent the price to before unseen territory. On a tailwind of a massive amount of interest garnered by the NFT sale of “Degenerate Apes”, the price of Solana reached new highs. SOL gained almost 40% and managed to climb to $64.43, before dipping down to $61.29 at the time of this writing.
The sale of Degenerate Apes reinforced the notion that the NFT sector has a lot of room left to grow and is still far from reaching its full potential.
Launched on Solanart NFT marketplace, the Degen Ape sale lasted all but 8 minutes before items were sold out. The price of certain NFTs reached 100,000 SOL or more than $6 million USD.
Unique Degen Ape characters. Image source: Solanart
The Degen Ape Academy is committed to donating a portion of the NFT proceeds to charitable causes. According to the Academy’s website, a percentage of overall sales will be reinvested back into the community vault for future academy and project endeavors.
As a part of its long-term roadmap, the Academy is planning to have “every single ape as a playable driver in a student only kart racing game”.
Switzerland-based blockchain firm bitcci has embarked on what promises to be a transformative effect on the sex industry. The company’s core aim is to introduce a modern culture that promotes inclusion, compliance, safety, and freedom for all parties involved.
bitcci AG is a group of publicly stock companies seeking to build new nightclubs and develop IT portals, apps, blockchain-based payment solutions within the sex sector. The company was launched in 2017 by CEO Christoph Elbert, who built it from scratch with an initial investment of 500 USD.
What bitcci brings to the table
Straight out the door, bitcci users can experience the best security, features, and compliance while interacting within its ecosystem. bitcci intends to build a series of nightclubs called bitcci nightclub network (bNN) by purchasing lands across Europe.
bNN are standardized physical saunas that will initially spread across Europe and provide members with premium, next-generation services. Meanwhile, the company has released the ICO of its payment token bitcci Cash token. This token will be used for paying for services and features within the bitcci ecosystem.
Regarding bitcci Cash token, bitcci achieved a major milestone by selling out the private presale for the token in just 15 days. The company also raised 1 CH million within the opening weeks of July 2021.
Another major highlight is the deployment of its club management software – “bitcci Club. The software is successfully running within the systems of the four largest sauna clubs in Switzerland.
bitcci also complies with the latest data regulatory standards with its bitcci.id and bitcci connect. The two platforms work in tandem to ensure that workers are verified, their data recorded for authorities to monitor effectively.
bitcci.com portal and App are also expected to launch in Q4 2021 and usher in a new wave of communication and added features for users. For example, users can use communication tools like voice calls, video calls, and webcam features to optimize their sexual adventures.
The blockchain company believes that bitcci portal and App will house over 1 million sex workers by 2022. The ID cards of the workers can be scanned using the bitcci ID and identity confirmed within seconds. bitcci is also well connected and currently a member of the Crypto Country Association.
Future developments
bitcci has earmarked more innovations and product launches in the coming months for its ecosystem. Its marketing campaign starts on August 21, 2021, and the brand intends to place 200 street banners within the crypto valley region in Switzerland.
The bitcci ICO is still ongoing, with 50 billion tokens allocated to be sold during this period. In addition, the highly anticipated bitcci.com and bitcci App are under development and will be launching in Q4.
bitcci is an ideal project for crypto lovers that want a sustainable platform that sticks to its ideals. The adult industry has significant potential, and bitcci provides an enabling environment for changes to occur and transform the entire sector. To learn more about bitcci and its ICO, visit thewebsite.
We made it! Or should we say: the cryptocurrency markets have made it. We are talking about reclaiming the total market valuation of $2 trillion, which happened on August 13, of course. Even though the total market valuation of the sector dipped below $2 trillion a few times throughout Week 32, the markets have always recovered, and the positive sentiment appears capable of driving the market capitalization further up. This time the main “culprits” for the market capitalization pump were not Bitcoin and Ethereum (although they did contribute their significant share), but large market cap altcoins including ADA and XRP, both of which are featured in the article below. ADA price grew by more than 50% in Week 32, while XRP price drew an even steeper line on the charts as it is up by 65% in the seven days.
1. Cardano (ADA)
Cardano is a decentralized blockchain platform focused at creating a smart contract-enabled environment on which developers can build decentralized applications. Cardano utilizes a Proof-of-Stake consensus model and aims to provide a more sustainable, scalable, and transparent operation compared to other smart contract blockchains. The project was started in 2017 by Charles Hoskinson, a mathematician, who was once part of the Ethereum developer team. The team raised $62.2 million for project’s development through an ICO. The development of the project is now overseen by three main organizations, the IOHK, Cardano Foundation and Emurgo. Hoskinson and IOHK stive to follow the principles of academic peer review in the project’s development process. The native asset of the Cardano blockchain is called ADA, but previously this year, the project rolled-out an update, which allows users to issue other tokens on Cardano blockchain as well.
ADA Climbs above $2 following the Alonzo Upgrade announcement
Although the price of ADA has been climbing already before the revelation of the date of the Alonzo Upgrade, the official announcement that the Cardano developers are targeting to launch Alonzo upgrade on September 12, provided the kick that was needed to push ADA above $2. The date of the upgrade was delivered in the form of a video announcement from Cardano’s Nigel Hemsley. Later that day, IOHK confirmed the date mentioned in the video on Twitter:
It’s happening.
We’re targeting 12 September 2021 for the ‘Alonzo’ upgrade, bringing smart contracts to Cardano via a hard fork combinator (HFC) event.
The reason why users and investors are in such high anticipation and why they almost went ecstatic following the announcement lies in the scale and importance of the “Alonzo Purple” upgrade, which will deploy fully functional advanced smart contract solutions to Cardano blockchain. This is expected to additionally boost the Cardano’s use cases and adoption. The high expectations from smart contract implementation are also one of the main reasons behind the amazing price performance of ADA, which grew in value by more than 10x from the beginning of the year. Despite lacking smart contract support, the project has already found multiple real world use cases. One of the largest and most publicized Cardano’s projects is the blockchain-based tamper-proof platform for storing records of educational performance developed in cooperation with the Ethiopian government.
ADA, which currently trades at $2.17 per coin has a market capitalization of $68.1 billion, which makes it the fourth largest cryptocurrency by market cap. However, it is very likely that ADA will soon overtake BNB and claim the third place on the crypto “leaderboard”.
2. XRP (XRP)
XRP is a cryptocurrency that was launched in 2012 by Chris Larsen, Jed McCaleb and Arthur Britto. Ripple’s network uses a unique Ripple Protocol consensus algorithm (RPCA), which is neither proof-of-work nor proof-of-stake, to facilitate fast and cheap transactions. The maximum supply of XRP is 100 billion coins and all the coins were created at launch. Back than 80% of the total XRP supply was given to fintech firm Opencoin, a company that renamed to Ripple Labs in 2015. As of today, Ripple Labs still hold more than half of the total XRP supply. However, most of the company’s XRP holdings are locked in escrow and can only be accessed periodically. In 2020 Ripple became entangled in a lawsuit in which the U.S. SEC claims that the company sold unregistered securities. Ever since December 2020 the legal battle between Ripple and the SEC is one of the key factors influencing XRP price.
XRP breaks $1 as new lawsuit development tips the balance in Ripple’s favour
The evolution of events with regards to the ongoing U.S. SEC vs. Ripple lawsuit remains one of the key factors behind XRP price movements and the latest news from the courtroom floors seem to be more in Ripple’s favour than in SEC’s. Recently, the Court has approved Ripple’s request that the Commission reveals the documents and principles, which it applies in cryptocurrency related cases. The SEC on the other hand, is building their case on weaker and weaker grounds. They have requested Ripple’s internal communication data from messaging platform Slack and from the few documents they have received, they concluded that the Ripple employees demonstrated “desire to create speculative trading in XRP,” in the messaging thread. In addition, the SEC is accusing Ripple of disclosing incomplete communications data and withholding evidence. Several hearings have been scheduled in the following few weeks and the XRP price is undoubtedly going to move in accordance with the events in the courtrooms. The lawsuit, which will likely drag out until the end of the year, will influence not only Ripple but the cryptocurrency industry as a whole by setting the precedent case for cryptocurrency regulation.
Despite the lawsuit which is making it hard to do business in the U.S., Ripple is still present and active on other markets. Last week the company announced that their network will be used to process transactions between a major South Korean remittance service provider GME Remittance and Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), Thailand’s leading bank by market cap.
The aforementioned news has poured enough water to Ripple’s mill to trigger a small bull run. On August 11 the price of XRP surged above $1.00 for the first time in more than two months. At the time of writing, XRP is trading at a price of $1.28. Can more positive news push its value above $1.50?
3. Flow (FLOW)
Flow is a gaming and digital collectables 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’s franchise owners and attract many mainstream consumers. The Flow network relies on a proof-of-stake consensus model. Compared to Ethereum, Flow blockchain is more scalable as well as environmentally friendlier, but these advantages are only made possible because the developers opted for a more centralized approach.
Can Flow reach mass adoption by providing the perfect solution for the development of NFT-based games and digital collections?
The idea of Flow emerged when Dapper Labs concluded that it is not the smartest move to rely on the congested Ethereum blockchain as the backbone of their future NFT ventures. The conclusion, which was likely heavily influenced by the past Ethereum gas price surges (for example the one caused by the Cryptokitties hype or the rise of DeFi) led to the creation of Dapper Labs’ own specialized gaming and digital collectables blockchain – Flow. The first organization to build using Flow as the core infrastructure for a game was the NBA. In fact, Dapper Labs was contracted by the NBA to develop Top Shot – the NBA’s NFT-based card game, so the NBA played an important role in Flow’s creation. However, since then flow has established partnerships with several big associations such as the UFC, Warner Music Group, Dr. Seuss, and more. In addition, Dapper Labs, Flow’s developer and parent company, has been funded by Andreessen Horowitz, Google Ventures, Samsung, and a few other important figures from the Big Tech.
FLOW, the native currency of the Flow blockchain, sold for $ 0.10 per token in its ICO, which ended on October 6, 2020. Compared to its ICO price, the FLOW token valuation increased more than 220x against USD, more than 50x against Bitcoin and 24x against ETH. This gaming token, which is currently changing hands at a price of $22, has a market capitalization of $1.27 billion. However, FLOW still has a lot of space to grow, should other well-known brands follow the NBA’s lead.
Ethernity, the groundbreaking authenticated NFT project, is releasing a set of digital art NFTs and trading cards commemorating Manny Pacquiao, the famous boxer turned politician and philanthropist.
The centerpiece of the collection is a close up and highly realistic portrait “PacMan” by Rikognition. PacMan, named after Pacquiao’s popular nickname, is a one-of-one limited edition digital art piece highlighting Pacquiao in meticulous detail.
With its composition, the piece aims to transmit the essence of Pacquiao as a person who overcame incredible odds but never lost his spirit and heart. “The piece is inspired by Pacquiao’s career, in which a moment in time can feel both fleeting yet lasting an eternity. The juxtaposition of animated movement with hyperrealism invokes surreal but grounded action, which is larger than life,” said Rikognition.
Manny Pacquiao is known as one of the greatest boxers to ever hit the ring, winning gold medals in more weight classes than anyone else in history, regularly beating opponents who weighed up to 17 pounds more than him. He is also among the oldest active boxers at 42 years old, continuing his career at the ring for two decades. He is known as a charismatic and charitable public figure devoted to his home country of the Philippines, where he grew up in crushing poverty. He frequently donates to charitable causes in the country and has served in the Philippine senate since 2016, following a local political career.
The auction for the PacMan NFT will last for 72 hours with a starting price of $1 in ETH. As a special bonus, the winner of the NFT will be awarded two tickets to the upcoming match between Manny Pacquiao and Yordenis Ugas (Errol Spence Jr. was originally the expected contendant but he was forced to withdraw due to an injury) on August 21 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Ethernity team will ensure the immediate digital delivery of the tickets to the winner.
In addition to the one-off piece, Ethernity is auctioning a set of trading cards representing Pacquiao in various poses, clothes and card frames. The auction will include 10 Legendary NFTs starting at $1500, featuring Pacquiao with golden gloves and a shimmering border; 25 Epic NFTs starting at $750, with a tri-border matte design and featuring Pacquiao in Ethernity shorts; 100 Common NFTs at $250 showing Pacquiao’s signature form and focus. Finally, a surprise NFT drop will be announced at the time of the auction.
“Manny Pacquiao is a legendary sportsman who fights for more than just money or fame. We are honored to immortalize him in the blockchain through a set of unique and curated art piece NFTs,” said Nick Rose, Founder of Ethernity Chain. “We hope the community will like the unique designs we came up with, and I’m sure everyone will like the surprise we have in store.”
About Ethernity
Ethernity is the groundbreaking authenticated NFT project which auctions verified artwork featuring the top artists and stars from sports, music, film, gaming, tech, history, and entertainment. Each of these digital artworks is represented as a non-fungible token (NFT). The pieces feature well-known public figures and a portion of all funds raised from the endeavor will be donated to charitable causes. Ethernity Chain combines the utility of DeFi and merges it with NFTs to create an exclusive pipeline to rare, collectible content from notable figures and well-established digital artists.
