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The fate of ETH miners after The Merge

The Merge: no more Ethereum mining, what will the miners do?

Ethereum mining comes to a stop with The Merge. Will miners be left unemployed by the switch to Proof-of-Stake?

ETH miners’ work to validate transactions and enable the blockchain to function will become irrelevant after The Merge – the upgrade that will lead to Ethereum becoming a Proof-of-Stake blockchain. The blockchain will function through the mechanism of staking. The change of consensus mechanism does not only have an impact on the performance and sustainability of the blockchain – putting a stop to Ethereum mining also means ending an industry worth $19 billion. What will ETH home-based or listed miners do? Here are the main likely scenarios.

The question of repurposing hardware for mining

The miners’ fate will depend mainly on whether they can convert the infrastructure and technical equipment that they used to mine Ethereum for new purposes. Ether miners can choose between two types of hardware, ASIC or GPU. 

ASIC (Application-specific Integrated Circuits) are designed to perform specific functions, in this case ETH mining , and are difficult to use for other activities or to mine other cryptos. 

GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), on the other hand, are more versatile processors used in other contexts, such as the classic graphics cards popular in the gaming industry, the field of artificial intelligence, and generally for any task that requires the processing of a large number of complex calculations. The market for GPUs has exploded and become very competitive since they are used to mine Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies. The demand for this hardware has increased exponentially, and gaming or tech companies have been clashing and competing for GPUs with ETH miners. Last year, the crypto sector contributed about 14% of the total GPU turnover.

There is no certain data on how many people use GPUs vs how many use ASICs to mine Ethereum. According to one estimate, it’s about 90% vs 10%.

After The Merge, the ASICs that were previously used to mine Ethereum will only be able to mine Ethereum Classic – the blockchain that will continue the original 2015 Ethereum project. However, if this activity does not prove profitable, it is likely that all this hardware will be abandoned. On the other hand, however convertible they may be, the demand for GPUs will drop dramatically, reverting them back to their role of typical gaming devices. Let’s take a look at the four possible scenarios for ETH miners.

Mining alternative cryptocurrencies

One possible option for ETH miners is to continue mining, but only on other blockchains. This solution seems particularly attractive to smaller miners, who are sharing on Reddit their intention to continue mining by migrating elsewhere. According to WhatToMine, a site that indicates the most profitable cryptos to mine based on cost, the most attractive cryptos for ETH miners are Ravencoin (RVN) and Ethereum Classic (ETC). The problem is that these alternatives do not have as active and flourishing a market as Ethereum, and the risk is that mining will not be as profitable. Excluding Ethereum, the total market for GPU mining is $4.1 billion as of 9th June, which is about 2% of Ethereum’s market.

Potenza di calcolo: dal mining al cloud computing

For those engaged in large-scale Ethereum mining, The Merge could be a big loss considering the investment in mining hardware, power, and infrastructure such as warehouses and rooms to house the machines. With GPUs, these miners could choose to offer their computing power to cloud computing and data processing giants such as Amazon Web Service or the nascent Web3 realities, for blockchain infrastructure hosting, NFT storage or graphics rendering. After all, the demand for high-performance computing will increase more and more with the development and growth of video games, artificial intelligence and film animation. 

Laying the foundations for Web3

In a nutshell, Web3 refers to the new stage of the web in which the internet will be built on blockchain and decentralised. Web3 will require a basic structure capable of recreating the Internet as we know it now, but on open source protocols. This structure must enable activities such as video streaming, 2D and 3D object-rendering, and mass data storage. GPUs may come in use for this purpose – once Ethereum mining is over, will the miners devote themselves to building the Web3?

Goodbye Ethereum mining, hello staking

Lastly, one of the possible post-Merge options for ETH miners is to convert to staking ETH. Some miners might choose to continue validating blockchain transactions with a different consensus mechanism. Miners who have accumulated ETH over the years could decide to sell their GPUs and become network validators by staking at least 32 ETH or delegating their crypto to another node. In this way, the miners could continue to earn ETH while continuing to work in the second most important network in the entire crypto world. 

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How to stake. All the ways to get rewards from your crypto

How to stake - getting rewards from your crypto

Learn how to stake cryptocurrencies; what staking is for, which service to use and which tokens can be locked up in staking

Staking is a common crypto mechanism that permits the functioning of Proof-of-Stake blockchains. In fact, to achieve network consensus – which is necessary to validate transactions – these particular blockchains do not use an external source such as electricity or computational power, but, instead, they make use of internal resources, i.e. user guarantees. In other words, staking is first and foremost the basis of a blockchain’s validation mechanism. However, staking can also refer to the process of locking up cryptos to obtain rewards, without necessarily becoming a network’s validator. In this article, we will look at how to stake and all the options available to obtain rewards from cryptos.

What is staking for? 

People who choose to stake might have different goals. Some people stake to become a validator, while others lock up their cryptos only to obtain a reward, delegating to other users the task of transaction validating. Let’s take a look at the different types of staking: 

1. Staking cryptos to become a blockchain validator

The validating nodes of a blockchain are responsible for finalising the network transactions. Contrary to what happens in Proof-of-Work chains, no special technical equipment is needed to validate transactions  in Proof-of-Stake chains – it is sufficient to simply stake your crypto. In most cases, it is people or entities that already have some experience in the blockchain field who become validators. After staking a certain amount of cryptocurrencies, you have to open a node. This type of staking requires downloading a wallet that enables staking in the chain you want to become a node of, and staying online 24/7. Some blockchains also stipulate a minimum share of crypto to be staked, for example on Tezos it is 8,000 XTZ, on Ethereum 2.0 it will be 32 ETH. 

2. Delegating your stake

If you do not want to manage a validator node yourself, you can opt to delegate your stake to an existing node. Delegation is a convenient alternative if you want to participate in the consensus mechanism of a blockchain with a lower investment of time and money. When you delegate a node, the amount of cryptocurrency you have staked joins the node’s stake. This way, the validating node will also use your cryptocurrencies to contribute to the functioning of the network. The rewards obtained for the validation work are then distributed proportionally between the node and those who have delegated. You can delegate a node through platforms (decentralised or otherwise) that offer this service. 

3. Staking cryptos to take part in a blockchain’s governance 

In some cases, staking is used to let users participate in the governance of a blockchain. Whoever stakes a certain amount of crypto earns the right to vote on updates, improvements and the direction of the blockchain’s roadmap. This way, staking increases the decentralisation of a project’s decisions.

4. Locking up cryptos to get rewards

Cryptocurrency staking can also mean simply locking up your cryptocurrencies for a period of time in order to obtain rewards, calculated on an annual basis and expressed in APY. These rewards are the equivalent of what in traditional finance is called an annual percentage return. Locked cryptocurrencies cannot be traded or sold, until the end of the staking period selected. How can I take part in this type of staking? This option is particularly suitable for people who are not particularly familiar with the crypto sector because it does not require any technical expertise, all you need to do is find out about the third-party service you choose. Now let’s see where you can stake! 

Where can you stake?

You can choose different third-party services for staking cryptocurrencies – there are decentralised platforms, dapp, exchanges (centralised and not), as well as offline options such as external hardware.  

1. Staking via hardware 

Offline staking is called cold staking. In this type of staking, cryptocurrencies are locked up and stored in cold wallets, i.e. wallets that are not connected to the internet. Cold wallets can be hardware, paper wallets or offline applications. Cold staking is often used when locking up large amounts of crypto, and to avoid the potential risk of cyber attacks. This type of staking is highly secure, but the staking is managed autonomously, without third parties mediating. For this reason, you need to be familiar with the mechanisms. Even if they are offline, cryptocurrencies in cold wallets are always connected to the blockchain and rewards are earned as in online staking. 

2. Staking via a CEX or DEX

Exchanges are one of the most widely used services for online staking. Whether they are centralised or decentralised, exchanges always provide step-by-step guides on how to stake. Each exchange has its own peculiarities and they differ in the range of cryptos supported for staking and APYs. You can choose the one that best suits your needs. On Young Platform, you can stake cryptocurrencies through the Earning Wallet feature. At the moment, you can lock up three different cryptos for a period of your choice and get a reward, which is calculated as a percentage of the amount you decide to stake. 

3. Staking Pools: decentralised protocols and dapps

There are also many decentralised protocols and dapps that offer different staking opportunities. For example, you can lock cryptocurrencies up in Staking Pools, i.e. smart contracts or features that aggregate stakes of different users. Staking pools are usually used by blockchain nodes to increase the size of their stakes and thus the probability of being chosen as validators. Furthermore, DeFi protocols and platforms also offer options for Derivative Staking and Liquid Staking, in which rewards are earned through derivative products.  

Staking NFTs

Staking doesn’t end at coins or tokens – the latest frontier of decentralised finance also includes NFT staking. This works in a similar way to traditional staking – you lock up your non-fungible tokens on special platforms to obtain rewards in crypto. Not all NFTs are suitable for this practice. Moonbirds, by the startup Proof, is a collection that has implemented a staking feature. Staking NFTs allows people to maximise their digital artwork and in some cases participate in the governance of their projects. 

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5 Cryptocurrencies to stake in 2022

5 cryptocurrencies to stake in 2022

Which 5 cryptocurrencies to stake in 2022? Find out the most used! 

Staking is a typical feature of the crypto industry that involves locking up some coins or tokens for a certain period of time to obtain a reward. The actual purpose of this process is to participate in the Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism of a blockchain. In fact, staking helps achieve network consensus and validate all transactions in a decentralised and secure manner. Everyone can stake cryptocurrencies and there are indeed many ways to do it – you can read the guide here. But which cryptos can you lock up? Here are 5 cryptocurrencies to stake in 2022.

1. Ethereum (ETH)

Ethereum is the leading network in terms of staking volumes, and after the definitive switch to a Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism, ETH staking will become an increasingly important and widespread practice. As is often the case, ETH can be staked in various ways and with various aims. You can stake your ETH in four different ways: ‘solo home staking’, ‘staking as a service’, ‘pooled staking’ and ‘centralised exchange’.

  1. Solo home staking

You use your ETH to open a validator node yourself. This is the type of staking that requires more effort, some technical skills and full control of your own funds. It requires a minimum lockable amount of 32 ETH and a constant internet connection.

  1. Staking as a Service

You have 32 ETH available but do not want to manage a node on your own? You can delegate them to an existing validator node. Your ETH remain yours (and thus you earn staking rewards) but at the same time they are used by a node as a stake needed for the validation mechanism. This type of staking is not available directly within the Ethereum protocol, you need to use third party services.

  1. Pooled Staking

You can delegate your staked ETH to validator nodes also through dapps’ staking pools or protocols (decentralised or centralised). The difference with staking pools is that you can also delegate small amounts of crypto less than 32 ETH.

  1. Staking in centralised exchanges

You can stake ETH on centralised exchanges. This is one of the easiest ways to do it, and it’s suitable for inexperienced people as well. On Young Platform, you can try staking ETH through the Earning Wallet feature. 

2. Polkadot (DOT)

Polkadot’s consensus mechanism is a variant of the standard PoS and is called Nominated Proof-of-Stake. On Polkadot, users who own DOT (called nominators) delegate their stakes to the nodes they deem most deserving and earn rewards based on the performance of the validator they have chosen. Validators and nominators receive equal rewards that are not proportional to the size of the stake, as in other protocols. On Polkadot, you can unlock your stake whenever you want, but your cryptos will be unlocked and return to your full possession after 28 days. This ‘nomination’ mechanism incentivises users and validators to behave honestly: users who behave well are rewarded, those who behave badly are turned away and the network remains secure.

3. Solana (SOL)

Among the top 5 cryptocurrencies to stake in 2022 is SOL, the Solana coin. This blockchain also makes use of a Proof-of-Stake mechanism – there are currently 1,746 validators on Solana to ensure the functioning and security of the network. If you want to stake SOL directly on the network, you can check out the rewards on their website. Rewards are calculated and distributed once per epoch (a period of about 2 days) and issued to all validators and delegators in the first block of the next epoch.

4. Avalanche (AVAX) 

As time goes by, Avalanche is seemingly proving to be a viable alternative to Ethereum. Over the past year it has received a lot of funding from VCs and has not been afraid to use it to expand its ecosystem and improve its structure. The rewards for staking on Avalanche average 9.23% per year. In contrast to other platforms, staked tokens are never subject to the risk of slashing, i. e. the loss of the stake as a result of unfair actions against the network. You can check the total amount of AVAX in staking, rewards, validators and delegators.

5. Cardano (ADA)

Cardano has a constantly growing ecosystem and its native dapps are among the most innovative around. The network works thanks to ADA staking, through validator nodes and delegating users. Cardano’s Ouroboros protocol chooses a validator based on the size of the stake it holds. Therefore, nodes with more staked ADA will have more chances to add a new block to Cardano and obtain the rewards. You can work out your staking rewards. Remember, though, that the rewards depend on many factors such as the validators performance, the number of validated blocks and, in general, possible changes in the network. 

The most popular cryptos for staking in 2022

Ethereum, Solana, Cardano, Avalanche and Polkadot are therefore the most widely used cryptocurrencies for staking in 2022. Specifically, Ethereum has a staking marketcap (i.e. the dollar value of all its staked tokens) of 22 billion USD, Cardano and Solana of 15 billion, Avalanche of 6 billion and Polkadot of 5 billion. This tells us about how widely these blockchains are used, but the most interesting data is the estimated percentage of rewards that can be received by staking directly on the relevant blockchain (the data is variable – these percentages are relevant to the time the article was written). Among these 5 cryptos, the highest percentage is achieved by Polkadot (13.98%), then Avalanche (8.8%), Cardano (4.98%), Solana (4.73%) and Ethereum (4.14%).  The list of the top 5 cryptocurrencies for staking in 2022 ends here, now find out about all the relevant opportunities on Young Platform!

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Young Monday: Italy allocates 45 million euros for blockchain, ENS and Lamborghini GT

The Italian government allocates 45 million euros to blockchain

The Italian government allocates 45 million euros for blockchain, NFTs of Lamborghini GT cars and new Ethereum Name Service records

Summer continues and although the market suggests a ‘wintery’ atmosphere, there is no shortage of hot news from the crypto world! The first news comes to us from Young Platform’s home country, Italy. The Ministry of Economic Development has issued a decree to finance artificial intelligence, blockchain and projects related to the internet of things. Blockchain for the country’s innovation! The most interesting NFT news of the week concerns the production and distribution of Lamborghini cars in the GT circuit. Achille Lauro, now accustomed to crypto art, created five non-fungible works of art during his last concert. Finally, we recap the latest Ethereum Name Service records, what is the reason for its remarkable growth in recent days?

The Italian government allocates 45 million euros for blockchain projects

The Italian Ministry of Economic Development has published a decree setting out the terms and conditions for applying for funding regarding the development of technologies related to artificial intelligence, blockchain, and the internet of things. A total of EUR 45 million has been made available for companies and research centres that are working on projects of this nature, each of which will be able to receive an incentive of between EUR 500,000 and EUR 2 million each. Applications to access the Italian government’s fund can be submitted from 21 September, the initiative is designed to innovate ‘strategic priority’ sectors, namely industries, the education system, agricultural businesses, healthcare, logistics, aerospace, the environment and infrastructure, culture and tourism, security and information technology. Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti commented: ‘we support companies’ investments in cutting-edge technologies with the aim of fostering the modernisation of production systems through increasingly interconnected, efficient, safe and fast management models. Blockchain projects take it to the next level!

A Lamborghini GT team authenticates its cars on the blockchain

The components and cars of the GT team Vincenzo Sospiri Racing (VSR), will be registered on blockchain with NFTs. Vincenzo Sospiri Racing is one of the teams supported technically and operationally by Lamborghini Squadra Corse, in fact, there are more than 60 cars made by Lamborghini in the GT circuit. In concrete terms, the components of the cars will be associated with non-fungible tokens made in collaboration with Go2NFT, a platform for creating ‘commercial’ NFTs and digitising physical products. Go2NFT‘s mission is to embed blockchain in the supply chain of businesses. Products from industries to consumers have all the information and guarantees they need stored in an NFT. Once Lamborghini’s components and cars for VSR are made, they will be marketed with an associated NFT describing all product characteristics from the serial number to the paintjob colour. For Vincenzo Sospiri, manager of the racing team, this partnership will allow the quality of the components to be monitored and guaranteed impeccably.

Tracing the origins and ensuring the authenticity and safety of products is a challenges for contemporary brands. Using blockchain will also have an impact on the business model of companies like VSR, because the costs and intermediaries of the processes will change. In February, even Alfa Romeo announced NFT digital certificates for their cars.

A memorable week for Ethereum Name Service

These days, Ethereum Name Service is astounding the crypto world with its numbers! The first figure concerns the registrations of new domains on blockchain, over 126,000 ENS names were created in one week. The surge in registrations occurred over the weekend, between Sunday and last Monday, 64,000 domains were registered. The total growth is +216%. The data was released by ENS developer Nick Johnson in a dashboard. What is the reason for the growth? Probably to the fact that Ethereum fees have dropped to $1.57, a number not seen in two years. In addition to registrations, sales of Ethereum Name Service domains have also been remarkable in the past few days; on 3 July there was the second largest sale ever. The domain 000.eth was sold for 300 ETH (about 115 thousand dollars). During this same period, secondary sales on NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea exceeded 7 million.

Ethereum Name Service has 1.1 million names, 504 integrations and over 400,000 owners, including Vitalik Buterin, Jimmy Fallon and Paris Hilton. After the ’10k club’, the latest trend in domains on blockchain concerns those with non-Roman characters, such as Arabic, Chinese or symbols.

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Happy birthday to Tezos: 10 updates in 4 years!

Tezos (XTZ): NFTs and the new Jakarta update

Tezos celebrates its 4th birthday with a new update. Discover Jakarta and its scalability solutions!

On the 30th of June 2022, Tezos turned 4 years old! This date in fact coincides with the launch of the Genesis Block of the Breitman blockchain in 2018. In 4 years, Tezos has implemented no less than 10 updates in its network. The latest one is called Jakarta and went live on the 28th of June, following Ithaca in April 2022. Check out Jakarta and its scaling solutions to expand Tezos’ NFT ecosystem!

With the new Tezos update comes optimistic roll-ups

One of the reasons to be a fan of Tezos is that it is a blockchain that is constantly being updated. Tezos’ policy is to offer updates on a regular basis to provide the most functional and innovative technologies. The new Jakarta update continues Ithaca’s focus on optimising transaction finalisation. Jakarta was proposed on 16 April and went live on 28 June. The most notable feature of the new Tezos update is the inclusion of Transaction Optimistic Rollups (TORU) that will improve performance in terms of TPS (transactions per second). These rollups will be piloted for one year, and their final stay will depend on usage and feedback from the community.

How do optimistic roll-ups work?

Roll-ups are a Layer 2 scalability solution that allows a series of transactions to be merged off-chain into a single block that is recorded on Layer 1. Optimistic roll-ups are specific roll-ups in which transactions collected together are not verified once they are transferred to the main chain because they are assumed to be valid: “they are called optimistic because they work on the assumption that the validation is correct until explicitly proven otherwise.” The validity of transactions is verified as needed and security is guaranteed by a ‘Fraud Proof’ mechanism. Optimistic Rollups are used by Arbitrium and Optimism, two of Ethereum’s scalability solutions. 

Tezos’ scalability strategy? Everything for NFT!

Tezos‘s latest updates, such as Jakarta, are part of this blockchain’s scalability plan. With the new consensus mechanism (Tenderbake) Tezos has already improved the speed at which transactions are included and transcribed in the chain. But what is all this scalability for? To accommodate the adoption of projects and realities in the Tezos network, especially for those with a non-fungible and collectible token theme. For Tezos, NFTs have always been a focus, the scalability of the blockchain supports the ever-increasing number of transactions that are required to mine and sell NFTs. Scalability promotes mass adoption of Tezos as a network for NFTs!

Although they are not among the market leaders, the NFT marketplaces on Tezos have achieved significant results. Objkt for instance achieved a volume of over 100 million dollars. Not bad for a ‘secondary’ marketplace. Objkt is characterised by its green vocation, in fact it characterises its products with the hashtag #cleanNFT.

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Polkadot and its use cases: the second day of Polkadot Decoded

Polkadot Decoded: What are DOT and KSM for?

What are DOT and KSM used for? The second day of Polkadot Decoded focusses on Polkadot use cases in everyday life

The second and final day of the Dotsama ecosystem conference took place on 30 June. While the first day of Polkadot Decoded dealt with DeFi, gaming and Metaverse, the most talked about topics on the second day were the sustainability and usability of Web3. Let’s take a look at the most interesting speeches that attempted to answer the question: what is the network of DOT and KSM actually for?

Fighting climate change with Polkadot

One of the strands of the second day of Polkadot Decoded was sustainability. In particular, two speeches described the most interesting projects in the green efforts of the Dotsama ecosystem. Climate change is one of the hottest topics of these years and blockchain could be an important tool to combat it. Miroslav Polzer, speaker of the NFT Digital Art 4 Climate project, spoke about the potential of ‘digital innovation’ for a real and measurable impact on climate problems. This digital art project is an initiative to transform art into digital assets freely exchangeable on blockchain, directing the proceeds towards the sustainability goals identified by the United Nations. Digital Art 4 Climate chose to use NFT technology because blockchain has all the credentials to “improve inefficient supply chains, and give a new idea of communication to communities through decentralised technology”. 

Two other natives of this ecosystem expressed their mission to make Polkadot a leader in sustainable innovation. Bitgreen and Sequester together put forward the proposal to convert the micro-fees of parachains into carbon credits. Sequester’s Brendan Edelson explained that parachains are fee-optional. In a nutshell, the relay chain provides Polkadot parachains with its validators for at least 2 years, so theoretically to validate parachain transactions there is no need to pay fees. In reality, there are micro-fees that the parachains have implemented for security reasons. However, these small fees are not a cost to be covered, Sequester’s proposal is to use them to buy carbon credits through Bitgreen’s marketplace.

Adam Carver of Bitgreen cited Polygon as a virtuous example of combating emissions, even though Polkadot already has an advantage in this mission because its energy footprint is minimal, the intention is to make the ecosystem not only neutral but also positive, taking concrete action and becoming part of the solution to the environmental problem. In this project, Sequester will calculate micro fees, exchange them into carbon credits, and issue a certification in the form of NFTs.

The spread of the Web3 depends on its value in everyday life

What is the use of the DOT and KSM ecosystem? Another use case of the network concerns the facilitation of access to Web3, a decentralised reality, without the control of large technology industries. However, Web2 still has one major advantage over the decentralised web: usability. Although Web3 has many plus points, it is still difficult to use and it is reserved for a small niche of experts. However, according to Agyle, the anonymously-identified CEO of the Talisman Wallet Project, the Web3’s lack of usability is only a small part of its deployment problems. One of the main issues with Web3 is that many projects have no real use in real life. Indeed, a favourite argument of blockchain detractors is that ‘it is a technology that solves a problem that does not exist’.

At Polkadot Decoded, Agyle explained that the user experience certainly needs to improve but the real challenge is to give Web3 value and usefulness in everyday life. Because if a tool is really useful, people will also make that extra effort to learn how to use it. If a service is both useless and difficult to understand, it is doomed to fail. What is Talisman’s contribution in terms of usefulness? Talisman aims to be a ‘universal login’ for Dotsama’s multichain system (which is called Paraverse). On Talisman you can manage all the passwords, keys, logins of your apps on the DOT and KSM network.

Web3 Google? On Polkadot!

A simple definition of Web3 is ‘an internet of blockchains’. If we think of everything we do on the internet, searching for information is one of the major activities. The blockchain, however, does not particularly lend itself to being ‘queried’: it records all the data on the Web3, but users would have to go through it block by block to find a specific piece of information. To overcome this problem, the blockchain is integrated with knowledge graphs, which organise all data (on chain and off chain) and make them available for consultation, guaranteeing their reliability. For example, knowledge graphs can be asked about NFTs or smart contracts. OriginTrail, from August on Polkadot, deals precisely with this combination of collecting information on blockchain and organising it with knowledge graphs.

The Web3 content landscape now looks like an iceberg, there is little afloat but in the future there will be more and more data and information to record. In this respect, a project must prepare itself to answer users’ questions. How does OriginTrail work? It has a layer 1 token composed of multiple blockchains (Ethereum, Gnosis, Polygon and soon Polkadot), on which are built layer 2 tokens, composed of knowledge graphs. On this latter structure, it will then be possible to build dapps, which exploit the features of both layers. One of the current applications of OriginTrail is in the field of pharmaceutical supply chains that follow the production and distribution of drugs in order to combat theft.

The PolkaOscars, the final event of Polkadot Decoded

Icing on the cake? At the end of the second day of Polkadot Decoded, a very special event took place: the Polkaoscars! During the ceremony held in Berlin, awards were presented to the content creators who contributed to raising awareness of Polkadot and Kusama’s vision and mission. The prize, a cute figurine, was created in the Metaverse and printed with a 3D printer.

Content creators, ambassadors and community leaders: active members on all social networks to build a solid community that shares the same vision as Polkadot and Kusama. Among the ambassadors is Irina Karagyaur, one of the minds behind the Digital Art 4 Climate project, who encouraged everyone to follow in their footsteps. “We need all of you to grow the ecosystem,” she said on stage.

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Polkadot Decoded: a summary of the first day of the event on Web3

Polkadot Decoded: what happened at the Web3 event

From the first day of Polkadot Decoded, the annual conference dedicated to Gavin Wood’s network, the latest news from the parachains for Web3!

The third edition of Polkadot Decoded is taking place these days (29-30 June 2022) in 4 locations around the world: Berlin, Buenos Aires, Hangzhou and New York. The event is dedicated to the presentation and discovery of the Polkadot and Kusama ecosystems with talks by all those who are building on this network. The talks and topics were voted on by the community, in the full spirit of decentralisation! During the first day, some of the Polkadot and Kusama parachains (the Dotsama ecosystem, to use the affectionate name invented by the community) took the stage to address a topic of common interest: the decentralisation of the Internet. This is what happened at Polkadot Decoded, the Web3 event!

How does Polkadot work?

Before we get into Polkadot Decoded and go over what happened during the Web3 event, let’s review how Polkadot works and how its network is structured. Polkadot, considered one of the most interoperable blockchains in the crypto landscape, is a network composed of a collection of different blockchains. Polkadot’s aim is to make blockchain technology scalable by providing a large set of chains, each of them specific to an application. Polkadot’s network is highly scalable precisely because its chains finalise transactions simultaneously and in parallel. There are two types of blockchain: relay chains and parachains. The former is the heart of Polkadot, providing security and coordinating the entire network structure. Parachains, on the other hand, are the chains with specific applications, connected to the relay chain and customisable. In this system, DOT, Polkadot’s native cryptocurrency, serves to pay fees, participate in governance and connect the parachains to the relay chain according to the bonding mechanism. To become a Polkadot parachain, the various projects participate in auctions. Polkadot’s expansion and development increasingly depends on the wealth and innovation of its parachains. Kusama, on the other hand, is Polkadot’s so-called canary network, i.e. a testing and experimentation chain.

Acala, Polkadot’s defi hub

Winner of the first Polkadot parachain auction, Acala has been online since 18 December 2021. Since its conception, Acala’s network has been conceived as a ‘dapp store of decentralised finance’, and after a few months of operation, its projects maintain this specialisation. Acala is a parachain designed for DeFi, a stablecoin, dapp and liquid staking services have been developed on it. Acala USD (aUSD) is Polkadot’s native stablecoin pegged to the dollar. It is decentralised and backed by cryptocurrencies such as DOT and KSM. aUSD is Acala’s flagship product and aims to become the stablecoin of choice for DeFi in the Polkadot and Kusama ecosystem. Dan Reecer, from the Acala team, explained during his speech at Polkadot Decoded how, in the future, Acala’s role will be the gateway to Web3 and DeFi for the masses and companies. To do this, dapp on Acala will have to respond to the needs and problems of the off-chain world. The network itself will offer decentralised and hybrid services for companies and institutions that want to evolve from Web2. Thus, services designed to meet KYC and AML needs as well. Among the interesting and developing projects mentioned by Reecer are Pike, Alluvial and Project Venkman.

Pike is a lending, yield farming and financial services platform for Polkadot-Kusama tokens. On the other hand, Alluvial provides liquid staking services for companies and institutions, while Project Venkman will enable loyalty programmes on blockchain, converting points into ERC-20 tokens. Project Venkman recently collaborated with actor Bill Murray to produce 1,000 collectible NFTs based on his career.

Astar: shaking up the Web3

On the main stage of Polkadot Decoded in Berlin, Hoon Kim, CTO of Astar, another of the parachains that won the first auction together with Acala, also spoke. Kim started his speech with the assumption that the entire Web3 today is stagnant and not growing for at least 6 reasons:

  1. tribalism whereby each team believes that its blockchain will be the definitive one, capable of rendering the others obsolete;
  2. People stay away from blockchain technologies because they are perceived as too difficult or incomprehensible;
  3. Everyone works on the same things, there are no original, fresh ideas;
  4. Web3 projects are based on often ineffective business models, such as token sales and ICOs, which, according to Kim, are only functional in the launch phase of a project but do not guarantee a constant incentive;
  5. Little interoperability and communication;
  6. Lack of safety standards.

Astar seeks to bring solutions to these Web3 difficulties, specifically in the aspects of interoperability and how to incentivise blockchain projects. In this regard, Astar offers dapp staking in which users can block their tokens on their favourite decentralised applications and earn tokens for developers. The mechanism is similar to the staking of validators in the Nominated Proof-of-Stake. In this way, it is the people who evaluate the best projects, encouraging the growth of useful dapps. According to Kim, usefulness is still not considered a parameter for measuring success. There are too many projects on the Web3 that are photocopies of something that already exists and do not fulfil a real need. With dapp staking, the most appreciated projects can be financially rewarded and continue their work supported by the community.

Web3 and gaming on Ajuna Network

Ajuna is a decentralised gaming platform developed on Polkadot and Kusama. As explained by Nicholas Douzinas, CBO and Co-Founder, Ajuna’s focus is on actively listening to players. If you want to build video games on the Web3, you cannot overlook the potential of the community, which is not made up of passive consumers (as is the case in most traditional video games) but of co-creators. Ajuna, by listening to the voice of users, realised that engagement is provided by a curated user experience and gameplay. The flagship game coming soon to Ajuna is Dotmog, set in the universe of the Mogwais, an ancient alien species.

Momentum: a practical Metaverse for workers

With its founder Chrisel Sieling, Polkadot Decoded was also presented with Momentum, a Metaverse on Dotsama active from the 24th of May 2022. For Sieling, the Metaverse must have a purpose and serve a purpose: ‘the metaverse is bullshit if you are not solving a problem’. The goal of Momentum is to create a digital space in which group work can be done in a simple and intuitive way.

What ‘gaming’ metaverses such as Decentraland or The Sandbox lack is the ability to work together remotely. Momentum offers office features such as video calling, chat and screen sharing. Sieling explained that metaverses exploded along with and after the Covid-19 pandemic, in response to the need to meet and collaborate in 3D from home, but not all of them actually met this second need. Momentum is perfect, however, for hosting hackathons and training programmes.

Polkadot Decoded continues tomorrow, stay tuned to the Young Platform blog for updates and news from Polkadot and Kusama’s Web3 event!

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Young Monday: Bill Murray, GTA, and the strange case of the +800% UST Classic pump

Bill Murray's NFT, GTA 6 crypto, USTC’s price pump

Bill Murray’s NFT extravagances, crypto gossip about GTA 6, USTC’s suspicious pump

The first week of July in the crypto world began with some rumours about the possible crypto capabilities of the new Grand Theft Auto (GTA) edition. There is still nothing certain about the video game that has been in development since the beginning of the year, but a rumour was enough to make fans curious. From a classic video game, we move on to a movie star! The actor Bill Murray has made collectable NFTs to tell some of the absurd stories and events of his life and career. In the past few days, you may also have noticed that the price of USTC, the defunct stablecoin of the Terra ecosystem (LUNA), has soared. What happened? Find out in this edition of Young Monday, with the week’s most interesting news from the crypto world! Spoiler: all that glitters is not gold!

Will GTA 6 be a play-to-earn?

The blockchain gaming industry is giving us truly extraordinary projects and gameplay, and by now all the major blockchains, from Avalanche to Solana, have their own crypto games. The play-to-earn model is also fascinating the off-chain gaming industry. In this regard, rumours have been leaked in recent days by alleged insiders from Rockstar Games about the upcoming release of the new Grand Theft Auto volume. According to the rumours, the sixth GTA video game will be available in 2024 (more than ten years after the last release) with the introduction of a cryptocurrency payment system. Earlier this year Rockstar Games announced that GTA 6 was in development, but the release date and the new crypto feature are still to be confirmed. However, open world fans are already itching to find out if the new GTA will be a play-to-earn and how involved it will be with the crypto world.

Bill Murray celebrates his crazy career with collectable NFTs

An unconventional autobiography of an equally unconventional artist will be available on the 15th of July. The life and career of Bill Murray (71) will be told through 100 stories in NFT format. You may know Bill Murray for his filmography, from playing Professor Venkman in Ghostbusters to being the favourite face of Wes Anderson. Moreover,his artistic life is full of incredible stories and anecdotes that go beyond his acting talents. The NFTs of ‘The Bill Murray 1,000′ collection are also designed to tell all those little stories and details that feed the personality of an artist of his calibre, such as his mania for stealing crisps from strangers’ packets or his passion for gatecrashing weddings. Murray made the non-fungible tokens together with his son and the startup Project Venkman (a platform on Acala, one of Polkadot’s parachains) named after the most famous character Murray played. Each NFT is based on a single original painting by artist David Grizzle, to which backgrounds, unique decorations and the actor’s life story have been added. The first NFTs in the collection will be for sale on the 15th of July with a price floor of 1.5 ETH. The remainder will be released later this year.

Why is the price of UST Classic pumping?

Over the past few days, you may have noticed that UST Classic, the failed algorithmic stablecoin of the Terra ecosystem, is showing signs of life after the loss of its dollar peg and the collapse of the entire blockchain structure. In fact, the price of USTC has risen 800% in a single week. Apparently the growth is unjustified, so what is happening to USTC? Some speak of the return of the living dead, others of zombie stablecoins, is USTC really hovering between life and death? Actually, it would seem not. Although at the same time LUNC, the original version of LUNA, is enjoying a sudden rise (from a market cap of $388 million to $922 million between 26 and 29 June), this is not a real revival of Do Kwon’s project. The price increase, according to some financial analysis groups, is only due to users looking to make money from a possible USTC and LUNC push. However, the underlying technology is dead, USTC has failed to achieve its goal of offering a stable, digital version of the dollar, which is why Terra’s comeback seems rather unlikely.

Solana and the crypto smartphone

Our tech news of the week comes from Solana! The Proof-of-Stake blockchain that promises super-fast and low-cost transactions has announced that in 2023 it will release Saga, an Android smartphone designed to facilitate access to and use of Web3 services. With Saga, you will be able to easily manage wallets, dapp, NFT, all from your mobile phone. Saga will also have competitive specifications in terms of screen, memory and camera. According to Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana, the way people approach the crypto world could be revolutionised by this new model of smartphone that aims to solve the usability problems of decentralised products. Solana wants to bring crypto into everyone’s pockets!

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Yuga Labs hires NFT expert to breathe new life into Cryptopunks

NFT: Yuga Labs Hires Expert for Cryptopunks

A breath of fresh air for CryptoPunks? Yuga Labs has hired an expert to breathe new life into the world’s most famous NFT collection!

Christie’s is the most active auction house when it comes to the NFT trade. Suffice it to say that it sold one of the non-fungible works by the artist Beeple for an impressive $69 million! Not only that: it was also the first auction house to accept payments in cryptocurrency. All thanks to Noah Davis, an NFT Specialist for Christie’s, who has always believed in the potential of blockchain and crypto. But here’s the news: Davis has officially been hired by Yuga Labs, the studio that created the Bored Ape Yacht Club, to breathe new life into one of the crypto world’s most famous NFT collections. Yuga Labs hires an NFT expert to expand the Cryptopunks universe!

Christie’s Noah Davis and Yuga Labs want to improve CryptoPunks

On 19 June, Noah Davis, NFT expert for Christie’s auction house, wrote on Twitter that he would be working with Yuga Labs to give Cryptopunks a new direction. The famous NFT collection, bought in March by the creators of Bored Ape Yacht Club, has 10,000 pixellated images that are all different. Created in 2017 by Larva Labs, those who originally owned an NFT from the collection did not have the intellectual rights to the image.

This line of thinking changed after the acquisition by Yuga Labs: the first change was precisely the announcement to give NFT owners full commercial and intellectual rights to the purchased works! But the creators of BAYC did not stop there: to make Cryptopunks even more ‘Web3-proof‘, they chose to hire an NFT expert. “I am honoured to announce that I will be running CryptoPunks as Brand Leader,” wrote Noah Davis on Twitter.

Why did Yuga Labs choose Davis to manage such a famous and important NFT project? The now ex-Christie’s employee is not only passionate about blockchain with a connoisseur’s eye for non-fungible works of art, but also has many successful projects under his belt! He is currently engaged in the development of an NFT collection called Howlerz. And he is also a proud owner of CryptoPunk No. 2099. Not bad at all!

What will happen to the CryptoPunks now?

Now that Davis has become Brand Leader of CryptoPunks, what will happen to the NFT collection? After acquiring the collection, Yuga Labs specified that it would not turn it into a new ‘Yacht Club’ and it would retain all of the Punkers’ favourite features. Noah Davis confirmed this course of action. “I WILL NOT F**K WITH THE PUNKS,” he stated on Twitter. “No Punks on mugs or stupid TV shows,” he continued. In short, those who bought a CryptoPunk back in 2017 will not find themselves betrayed by overly commercial operations.

Instead, among Davis’s first proposals is a series of face-to-face chats with real CryptoPunks fans. “Wherever the community goes, that’s where Punks will go,” he specified on the Twitter thread. This way the spirit of the early Punkers and CryptoPunks will not be lost behind publicity stunts!

One of the founders of the Bored Ape, Garga, wrote on the 19th of June that more news about the future of CryptoPunks will come in the coming weeks. “We have chosen a slow and considered approach for Punks, taking into consideration the expectations of the community. We are honoured to be the custodians of this historic collection, and we have the utmost respect for Noah and the Punkers community.” So buckle up and get ready for the news: this is just the beginning!

Just during this historic phase for CryptoPunks there was a lot of movement in the NFT market. The price floor for a piece of the collection rose from 48 ETH to an impressive 65 ETH. A jump of 35%! The new recruit at Yuga Labs seems to have already struck a chord with the community. Is it time for the revival of one of the most popular collections ever?

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Meta and The Fabricant, 2 ways of understanding digital fashion

NFTs and fashion: The Fabricant and Meta explain digital fashion

The future of fashion is digital. The dilemma: will blockchain be involved, yes or no? All the most famous brands are converting to the combination of NFTs and fashion!

For fashion brands, the Metaverse is proving to be an opportunity to experiment with expressive languages and to think up new products. More and more brands are developing digital collections, including Zara, Lacoste, Adidas and Gucci. However, not all of them choose to make digital fashion on blockchain: The Metaverse has different forms and can be centralised or decentralised. This duplicity also describes two different ways of understanding digital fashion. For some companies, such as Meta, virtual fashion is not in the form of NFT while for others, such as The Fabricant, digital fashion is to be built on a blockchain. Let’s take a look at these two different approaches to digital fashion!

Meta: a Metaverse dressed in Balenciaga, Prada and Thom Browne

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta (formerly Facebook), announced a few days ago during a live broadcast on Instagram that the digital clothing boutique ‘Avatar Store’ for the Metaverse ‘Horizon Worlds’ is about to open. The launch will be celebrated by partnering with some high fashion brands namely Balenciaga, Prada and Thom Browne. “I’m really grateful and proud that these brands are joining us to kick-start fashion in the Metaverse,” Zuckerberg said. The digital fashion marketplace for all Meta and Facebook users will be available next week, starting in the US, Canada, Thailand and Mexico. Initially, garments for sale on the Avatar Store will be priced between $2.99 and $8.99. Balenciaga, Prada and Thom Brown will therefore be the first brands to sell in Meta’s marketplace. However, Zuckerberg’s idea is to start a marketplace in which everyone, not just designers by training, can make and sell digital fashion. At the moment, it has not yet been revealed how the rewards will be distributed between the Meta marketplace and the virtual haute couture creators.

The Fabricant and the decentralised fashion model

What is The Fabricant? The answer is ‘a Digital Fashion House’, one of the pioneer projects of digital fashion on blockchain. The Fabricant is not a real fashion NFT marketplace, but a virtual fashion incubator. The platform is built on Flow, a blockchain chosen by the founders for its sustainability and speed. Compared to Meta, we are dealing here with NFT fashion, a case of decentralised digital fashion built on the blockchain. The creators of The Fabricant do not create simple garments as digital objects but real NFTs. For The Fabricant’s team, blockchain is ideal for building the fashion of the Metaverse. First of all because it is able to give value to the data and ownership of digital objects. According to co-founder Adriana Hoppenbrouwer-Pereira, The Fabricant is “creating a business for the time when our digital wardrobe will be our wardrobe“. Having a set of clothes in the Metaverse will not be such an absurd concept when there will be more and more digital experiences on offer. Changing one’s clothes and adapting them to each occasion will become as spontaneous as changing clothes in real life: one outfit for the gym and one for an elegant dinner. When this happens, there will be so many digital clothes to make that only blockchain will be the right tool to scale production.

Blockchain is also beneficial for the digital fashion industry because it keeps track of royalties and distributes them equally between creator and owner. In an interview, Hoppenbrouwer-Pereira said that blockchain and the Metaverse will bring fashion back to its dimension of play and fun. Dressing in the Metaverse will be a modular experience, highly creative and expressive of people’s personalities.

What makes an NFT fashion really useful?

NFT fashion must be fully adaptable to the avatars of the various metaverses and transferable between them to be of real use. The Fabricant’s challenge at the moment is to translate its fashion creations into the styles of the major virtual worlds. The Sandbox for instance is more pixelated than Decentraland, the same NFT outfit must be able to be worn anywhere. The other side of this challenge is to provide a cross-chain experience where NFTs built on a blockchain like Flow can be transported and used anywhere. Especially on Ethereum where the main metaverses are developed.

 

Are the metaverse and digital fashion worlds really just around the corner?

In order to conceive the usefulness of digital fashion, you may first ask yourself whether the Metaverse is really a technology capable of predominantly entering our lives. The success of the Metaverse will be dictated by its ability to attract attention and engage users. However, we are only at the beginning. one can consider that Decentraland hosted 40,000 people at its first Metaverse Fashion Week. The results in this respect look promising, the record of MANA‘s metaverse is very high for the blockchain to be able to accommodate so many users. Fashion companies that have chosen NFTs on The Fabricant include Adidas, Under Armour and Puma.