Posted on

Cardano: Vasil hard fork coming on the 22nd of September

Cardano: Vasil update arrives on the 22nd of September

The Cardano Foundation developers have announced the date for the hard fork: the Vasil update arrives on the 22nd of September 2022!

For major crypto projects, this September 2022 is the month to look to the future and get up to speed. The event on everyone’s mind is definitely Ethereum’s The Merge. However, Cardano and its crypto ADA (developed by one of Ethereum’s own founders, Charles Hoskinson) are ready to begin the Vasil update. The main goal of the update, or hard fork, is to increase the speed and scalability of Cardano‘s blockchain and make it generally more powerful and cheaper. These improvements are aimed at facilitating the development of decentralised applications (DApps), especially in the area of Decentralised Finance (DeFi), and increasing the possibilities of use cases for ADA. Let’s discover what is new with the Vasil update, coming at the end of September!

Cardano’s Vasil update arrives on the 22nd of September 2022

After some problems on the testnet that were solved efficiently and quickly by the Cardano team, the date for the hard fork of the ADA crypto blockchain has finally been announced. The Vasil update will take place on the 22nd of September 2022. Cardano is a blockchain created in 2015 and based on the Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism. This allows it to be highly scalable, meaning it can handle a large number of transactions per second. On the other hand, a hard fork is an update of a protocol in which very radical changes are implemented to the point of making it incompatible with previous versions.

But where does the Vasil update coming on the 22nd of September 2022 fit on Cardano’s roadmap? The Cardano roadmap is divided into five macro-phases, each of which has a main objective. At the moment, we are in the phase called Basho which wants to improve the scalability of the network as its primary objective. In other words, increasing the number of users who use it every day without worsening performance or making it more expensive. The Vasil hard fork will happen automatically: users with ADA crypto or using DeFi DApps on Cardano’s blockchain should not even notice it. Vasil will in fact be implemented using Cardano’s hard-fork combinator (HFC), an innovative technology that enables protocol transitions and updates without interrupting the smooth operation of the network.

Why is the update named as such? The name Vasil was chosen to pay homage to Vasil St. Dabov a Bulgarian developer who was the Chief Blockchain Advisor of a software research and development company named Quanterall before his passing in December 2021. Vasil St. Dabov was a very active member of the crypto community and an ambassador for Cardano. The date of the update is also symbolic, as the 22nd September coincides with the day on which Bulgaria, St. Dabov’s birthplace, celebrates its independence from the Ottoman Empire.

What changes will be implemented for Cardano users and developers?

Vasil will provide some key functionalities to enable the launch of further projects on Cardano. At the same time, it will offer an upgrade path (with increased speed, transactional capability and more powerful scripts) to existing DApps. Specifically, Vasil will modify the transaction validation and transmission system with a mechanism called Diffusion Pipelineing. With this mechanism, blocks will be added to the network when they are created and not only when they are complete. This optimises the timing of block validation and enables Cardano’s blockchain to not only guarantee faster transactions, but also to increase its security by making possible attacks much more complex.

However, the update was also designed with the developers in mind, i.e. those involved in creating decentralised applications on the network.

With Vasil, the programming language with which smart contracts are written on Cardano’s blockchain called Plutus will also be updated. The hard fork will give rise to Plutus V2, which will enable developers to develop more efficient and cost-effective DApps (from a transaction perspective).

To date, Cardano ranks 29th among all the blockchains in terms of volumes traded on its platforms, of which there are currently only twelve. The current total blockchain value (TVL) is around $80 million. We will see if the Vasil update, due on 22 September 2022 will help Cardano’s network make its way into the big world of DeFi and increase the use cases of crypto ADA.

Posted on

Roblox: what is it and how does its metaverse work?

What is the Roblox metaverse and how does it work?

Find out what Roblox, the metaverse with the most active users in the world, is and how it really works!

Do you know what Roblox is and how it works? It is a centralised Metaverse that, unlike The Sandbox or Decentraland, is not based on blockchain. Roblox is a platform that contains over 40 million free games but also a virtual world in which to interact with other gamers. On Roblox, users have a lot of expressive space and can create their own games and experiences. But let’s see what Roblox is and how it works.

What is Roblox? Birth of the metaverse and relation to gaming

To best clarify what Roblox is and how this metaverse works, we must start at the beginning of its history. This virtual world was created by David Baszucki and Eric Cassel, two Californian guys with a passion for computers. The two computer wizards started their entrepreneurial career by creating a small company called Knowledge Revolution. Knowledge Revolution’s embryonic product was called Interactive Physics, a platform that used two-dimensional models to study virtual physics. In 2004, after Knowledge Revolution was sold to MSC Software Corporation for $20 million, Roblox was born. 

Over time, the company has expanded and evolved to become an institution in the gaming world, especially for younger people, as there is no minimum age to join the platform. In 2020, the Roblox metaverse achieved an incredible popularity that allowed it to go public. To date, its market capitalisation is around $25 million. But how many people are there in this virtual world? Active users during 2022 were more than 50 million, and earlier this year, the Roblox metaverse managed to break the record for the number of simultaneously connected gamers on one platform, 9.3 million on 4 February 2023.

Now, however, we need to point out that its metaverse is different from decentralised metaverses such as The Sandbox or Decentraland. It is in fact a completely centralised and managed platform, similar to a classic video game. Roblox also does not use blockchain technology and does not guarantee digital ownership of virtual worlds and objects through NFTs or tokens. Although this platform is not related to the Web3 universe, it is nevertheless one of the realities that is contributing to the development and spread of the Metaverse in popular culture. 

Join the Roblox metaverse and create your own virtual world!

In the Roblox metaverse you can really play anything! Among the 40 million games available, there is plenty of choice. You can become a professional puppy breeder by playing the popular game Adopt Me! You can fight against your friends in a DragonBall-inspired fighting game called DBZ Final Stand and you can sculpt your avatar’s physique in the gyms of the virtual world of Training Simulator. The first Roblox game was Rocket Arena, which was released on the platform in January 2006 and is still available in its first version, which is now called ‘Classic Rocket Arena’. 

As anticipated, this is not only a platform on which to play different video games for free, but also an ecosystem that allows users to create their own 3D worlds. Thanks to Roblox Studio, a programme that uses the company’s proprietary graphics engine and the Lua Script programming language, users can express their creativity and share their creations with the other inhabitants of the Metaverse.

Having understood what Roblox is, the only question remains: how does it really work? Using the platform and playing the games on it is totally free. The only paid items within the Roblox metaverse are the skins and the infinite number of virtual objects with which to customise avatars and environments. These ‘digital goods’ can be created and sold by anyone; the exchange takes place thanks to the game’s currency called Robux. The in-game currency works like the more classic coins of traditional video games, so it has no real value outside the game and can be purchased from the store through fiat currency payments.

The most exciting concerts on Roblox

Roblox is one of the virtual worlds with the most concerts, so much so that it was chosen by MTV as the location for its award ceremony dedicated to the Metaverse. The TV channel included the “Best Metaverse Performance” award in the “Video Music Awards 2022” (VMA) in August 2022. The VMAs were also broadcast, on Monday 29 August 2022, in Roblox’s MTV world ‘The VMA Experience’. 

Among the most exciting events in this Metaverse, Justin Bieber, Twenty One Pilots and Charli XCX in 2021, all three nominated for the MTV ‘Best Metaverse Performance’ award. The most important concert of 2023 was, so far, the one organised to celebrate the Super Bowl, the final of the world’s most important American football championship, the NFL. Instead of Rihanna, who performed at half-time of the game that was played, real world, in Glendale, Arizona; taking the virtual stage at Roblox was Saweetie, a rapper who is very famous in the States. The event took place from 10 to 12 February, inside ‘Warner Music Group’s Rhythm City’, the virtual world owned by the record label, and was also an opportunity to promote the official NFL (National Football League) game, Super NFL Tycoon available to users of the metaverse from 4 February. 

Some famous brands that have chosen Roblox

Attentive brands that tend to ride new trends are becoming more and more inclined to use new technologies in order to promote their products to new generations. Gucci and Nike, for example, know what Roblox is and how its metaverse works! Gucci debuted there in October 2021 with its dedicated world called Gucci Town. It is a lush and colourful mansion that offers those who visit it the opportunity to earn GG gems, create collectible clothes and accessories, and purchase limited edition virtual items. A virtual Gucci handbag sold for around $4,000 in the Roblox metaverse. 

Another example of brands that have chosen this virtual world? Nike, with the virtual city Nikeland! Nike‘s objective is to test new prototypes of shoes and clothing, to capture the tastes and preferences of young users in order to develop increasingly popular products. Kellog’s, Tommy Hilfiger, Givenchy and many other iconic brands have also found a home on Roblox!
Now that you know what Roblox is and how its metaverse works, find out how to get into it! You’ll be able to play more than 40 million games, interact with many famous users and brands, and attend concerts like never before!

Posted on

FIFA and Algorand, the NFTs of the World Cup

Algorand and FIFA: NFTs for the World Cup

FIFA launches an NFT collection on Algorand dedicated to the World Cup with the FIFA+ Collect platform!

The world of football is one of the environments in which Web3 technologies are becoming more established, both in terms of investment and public response. It started with Socios’ fan tokens, then Sorare‘s NFT fantasy football. Now, we are presented with a platform that will be birthed from a collaboration between FIFA and Algorand: FIFA+. The collaboration was already announced in May 2022. Silvio Micali’s blockchain is becoming to all intents and purposes a technical partner of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Algorand will not only appear with its logo but will also actively contribute to the expansion of the largest global football federation into Web3. Let’s find out how the FIFA+ platform will work and what will the NFTs of the World Cup look like?

FIFA+ Collect, the most iconic moments of the World Cup in NFT

The memorable moments of the World Cup will soon become NFTs. The last penalty kicked by Fabio Grosso at the 2006 World Cup? Kylian Mbappe’s stunning goal from outside the box that sealed France’s 2018 victory? A clip from the notorious Brazil – Germany match in 2014? FIFA is planning to record iconic footage from World Cup history and keep it forever on the blockchain via a dedicated NFT platform in collaboration with Algorand. The NFT platform is called FIFA+ Collect and is part of the broader FIFA+ project. Fans around the world will be able to buy their favourite goal, assist or chant from the men’s and women’s World Cups of the past! And perhaps also of the near future: the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will be held in November this year. The ownership and uniqueness of the World Cup NFTs will be guaranteed by Algorand’s blockchain. The FIFA+ Collect initiative closely resembles the one undertaken by the NBA, the American basketball league, with the NBA Top Shot project on the Ethereum blockchain

Details on the FIFA and Algorand World Cup NFTs have not yet been released. Teasers of the collections are expected to be released during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. FIFA+, however, will not only be an NFT platform, but a space where a huge amount of different content can be displayed. Including live football matches, news, games and NFTs. Algorand continues to develop very interesting projects, especially in the world of content. Silvio Micali‘s blockchain also acquired the digital music sharing service Napster earlier this year, and has partnered with LimeWire, launching an NFT marketplace focused on music.

Changing the way of experiencing sport

The launch of the FIFA+ platform opens a broader discourse on the role of fans within the entertainment world of the future. Statements from the person who conceived the collection of official FIFA World Cup NFTs relate to this very topic: “Fandom is changing and football fans around the world are approaching the game in new and exciting ways,” said Romy Gai, FIFA’s Chief Business Officer. “FIFA collectibles will be available to all football fans, everyone will be able to own a part of the FIFA World Cup,” Gai stressed. The slogan of Socios, the platform on the Chiliz blockchain to buy fan tokens of sports teams or clubs that is also a sponsor of UEFA is ‘Be more than a fan‘. This sums up well the idea that Web3 platforms are developing for the enjoyment of sports events. Fans will no longer play the role of a passive spectator, but will be a protagonist in the choices of the teams and to a small extent also the owner of the club. Thanks to the concept of digital ownership, not only fandom, but also the world of sports collecting is changing, especially thanks to tokens and NFTs. In the future, you will be able to be the rightful owner of Maradona’s goal in the 1986 World Cup quarter-finals, from which the nickname ‘The hand of god’ originated (unless perhaps you are an England fan). Also, thanks to fan tokens, you can play your part in defining the destiny of your favourite team by actively participating in transfer market decisions!

Posted on

Young Monday: Vitalik Buterin’s first book, OpenSea and MATIC, Hermès in the Web3

Vitalik Buterin’s new book, Hermés and Web3, Opensea and Polygon

OpenSea also opens its marketplace on Polygon, Hermès joins the Web3 fashion companies and Vitalik Buterin announces the release of his first book!

September has arrived and in the world of Web3, it’s time for good resolutions as well as breaking news. As usual, in this edition of Young Monday, we give you a debrief of the three newest crypto stories of the week! Hermès is laying the foundations for its entry into the world of NFT fashion by patenting an ad hoc brand for Web3 initiatives. Speaking of NFTs, the OpenSea marketplace has also started accepting Polygon’s native MATIC blockchain token for payments thanks to the new Seaport protocol. Last but not least, Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, announces the release date of his first book about Proof-of-Stake!

Vitalik Buterin’s book coming at the end of September!

The month of September 2022 is destined to go down in the annals of crypto history, and this time Ethereum is taking centre stage! The stars of the month will certainly be The Merge event as well as Vitalik Buterin. According to the countdown to the event, the transition to Ethereum 2.0 should take place on the afternoon of Tuesday the 13th September 2022. The news doesn’t stop there though. Vitalik Buterin announced the release date of his first book: ‘Proof of Stake: Essays on the Making of Ethereum and the Future of the Internet’. The book will be released on the 27th of September 2022 in both physical and digital versions.

Ethereum’s founder stated on Twitter that the book collects some of his writings produced over the past ten years. As can be deduced from the title, one of the main topics the book touches on is the Proof-Of-Stake consensus mechanism, which is now ready to be implemented on the Ethereum blockchain. Vitalik Buterin’s first book will go beyond simply  presenting technical notions. Within the essays, there will also be room for reflections on the future possibilities of new technologies as well as the impact of blockchain technology on social, economic and political changes. So, where is Vitalik Buterin’s new book available for sale? As far as digital copying is concerned, the process is very curious and innovative! Simply go to this link and donate any amount in Ether to receive an NFT that will turn into a digital copy of the book signed by Vitalik Buterin on the day of release. For  Proof-Of-Stake physical copies, however, the purchase will be done in the traditional way, you can already pre-order the book on Amazon at a price of around 18€. All proceeds from the sales of the book will be donated to Gitcoin, a crowdfunding platform for budding Web3 projects.

Hermès prepares to launch its fashion NFTs

Would you like to own an iconic Birkin or a beautiful Hermès belt in the metaverse? Maybe in the future it will soon be possible. Hermès has joined the big list of fashion brands in the NFT world! On Friday the 26th of August 2022, the French brand filed a patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (UPTSO). The application relates specifically to software for the management of digital assets and collectibles. It includes the main blockchain-related technologies: NFT, crypto and the metaverse. This request comes in the wake of the lawsuit filed by Hermès against the NFT collection called MetaBirkins, as well as its creator Mason Rothschild. The NFT collection features a series of bags that closely resemble the shape of the French brand’s iconic product. The lawsuit points to the misappropriation of the Birkin name, which Mason Rothschild allegedly used to promote his NFT fashion collection. The fashion world is certainly one of the worlds most in tune with Web3. Will we be treated to seeing Hermès at Metaverse Fashion Week 2023?

Buying NFTs on OpenSea using MATIC? It’s now possible!

OpenSea is the number one NFT marketplace created for Ethereum by volume in the entire world of Web3. It has also long since integrated other blockchains into its DApp. On OpenSea, it is possible to use the Polygon, Solana and Klaytn networks. However, in order to purchase NFTs created on Polygon, it was until recently not possible to use its native MATIC token. It was therefore necessary to own Ethereum on Polygon’s blockchain. These Ethereums are actually wrapped Ethereum, and are represented as WETH. Wrapped tokens are crypto tokens anchored to the value of another asset. These tokens are qualified as wrapped because the original asset is placed in a wrapper, i.e. a kind of digital safe, which allows the wrapped token to be created on another blockchain. Since the end of August, it has been possible to list and buy NFTs directly in MATIC! This integration was made possible thanks to Seaport, an open-source protocol, which was also implemented on Polygon’s blockchain after being launched on Ethereum in June 2022 .

The new protocol chosen by OpenSea introduces further changes. With the previous protocol, the minimum price at which one could sell or buy a non-fungible token was five dollars. Whereas, thanks to Seaport, this threshold has now dropped to one dollar! Also soon to be integrated is the Dutch auction buying mechanism, in which the price of the NFT instead of increasing, decreases proportionally over time. The latest upgrade concerns the wallets with which you can buy digital assets on OpenSea: you will soon be able to buy NFTs and automatically send them to other wallets. Very useful if you want to surprise someone with a gift!

Posted on

Decentralised Stablecoins: Curve, Acala and Tron’s innovations

New stablecoins coming in 2022 and those in crisis: Curve, Acala and Tron

We present stablecoins arriving in 2022 as well as those in crisis. What happened to FEI and aUSD? What are the plans for Curve and Aave?

The desire of DeFi platforms to create stablecoins is certainly one of the trends of the moment. Stablecoins are cryptos that remain pegged to the price of fiat currencies, usually to the value of the dollar. They fall into two categories: algorithmic ones and those that base their value on reserves of funds that serve as the underlying collateral. The former maintain their peg to the dollar price through algorithmic trading systems, such as seigniorage. The latter, on the other hand, manages to maintain a stable price by holding reserves of currency in a 1:1 ratio with the tokens issued. 

Collateral-backed stablecoins are in turn divided into two subcategories, centralised and decentralised collateralised stablecoins. The main difference between the two types relates to the type of currency that acts as collateral. For centralised stablecoins, the collateral is made up of fiat currency, usually US dollars or equivalent financial instruments. By contrast, for decentralised stablecoins, the collateral is composed entirely of other cryptos. The most famous centralised stablecoins are USDT and USDC. However, it is the decentralised stablecoins that are stealing the show within the DeFi sector nowadays. Let’s look at the new stablecoins coming in 2022 as well as those going through a period of crisis.

New decentralised stablecoins on the way: Curve, Aave and Shiba

A few weeks ago, Aave, a DeFi ecosystem specialising in decentralised loans, published a proposal to create its own stablecoin. This provoked a quick response from one of their most famous competitors Curve finance, who announced their own stablecoin. Curve is one of the most famous and widely used DEXes in the industry. The announcement was made quietly, unlike Aave’s, and was not posted on the platform’s social networks. It was made by the CEO and founder of the world’s most widely used DeFi protocol, Michael Egorov, during a crypto-themed summit. In addition to announcing the launch, Michael Egorov stated that Curve’s stablecoin will operate according to the over-collateralisation mechanism and will be fully decentralised.

The information so far is not very detailed, but it is rumoured that the overcollateralisation mechanism will be similar to the one used by Maker DAO with its DAI stablecoin and which Aave plans to implement with GHO. Another ecosystem, completely different from Curve, has announced that it too is working on a stablecoin: Shiba Inu is planning to create a Defi ecosystem complete with everything a user could ever want. After Shiba‘s decentralised exchange, Shibaswap, there should soon be a metaverse and the SHI stablecoin that will also be over-collateralised.

Stablecoins in crisis: aUSD and FEI

The basic idea behind stablecoins is simple but its implementation is complex. When depending on large collaterals, failure is just around the corner. Especially during bear market phases like the one we are in now. The Terra (LUNA) Ecosystem is a great example of this. Two other stablecoins have since also recently fallen under the attack of malicious actors. The protocol named FEI for example is closing its doors. In early 2021, Fei Labs had raised $1.3 billion equivalent in Ethereum to build a decentralised stablecoin. The collected Ethereum was used as collateral for the FEI stablecoin. In December, the DeFi protocol decided to start collaborating with another project called Rari Capital, together creating a lending platform called Fuse. The lending platform allowed users to borrow FEI stablecoin by depositing collateral in crypto. This collateral was then used to keep the price of FEI stable. Unfortunately,  in April 2022, the Fuse lending protocol was hacked. Hackers stole $80 million, causing the stablecoin’s dollar-anchoring mechanism to fail. This resulted in the failure of the Fuse platform and thus the end of the Fei Labs project.

Similarly, the stablecoin of the Polkadot Acala parachain called aUSD also suffered a crash recently. On Sunday, the 14th of August 2022, a bug caused by a misconfiguration of the iBTC/aUSD liquidity pool made a hack possible. The hackers in question managed to break into the liquidity pool and stole approximately 1.27 billion aUSD. After being made aware of the exploit, the Acala team disabled the transfer functionality of the erroneously issued aUSDs remaining on Acala’s parachain. This greatly limited the damage, in fact 99% of the stolen aUSDs remained on Acala’s blockchain. The damage is valued at around $1.6 million. The team is still working hard to recover the lost funds by tracking and monitoring transactions and wallets.In the meantime, the stablecoin seems to be slowly recovering its dollar price. 

The change of course of USDD, Tron’s stablecoin

Speaking instead of algorithmic stablecoins, the star of the moment is definitely Tron‘s decentralised USDD stablecoin, which is often compared to UST, the stablecoin of the Terra ecosystem. 

The two stablecoins function very similarly, or at least they did until recently. USDD was launched a few days before the collapse of the Terra (LUNA) ecosystem with the aim of offering even better returns, up to 30% compared to the 20% once offered by Anchor Protocol. The Tron DAO Reserve’s goal was to make inroads into the market by intercepting users attracted by high APY rates on stablecoins. Remember that the UST stablecoin had a market cap of about $19 billion. However, following the collapse of UST and LUNA, USDD and other algorithmic stablecoins such as USN (developed by Near) also had to change their dollar peg mechanism. USN was totally transformed and became an over-collateralised stablecoin. Meanwhile, USDD decided to remain in limbo, adopting a hybrid system that shares features with both types of mechanism. 

The initiative of the Tron DAO Reserve was to maintain the algorithmic aspects of the project, hence the creation of a system based on the coexistence of two tokens TRX and USDD. They make use of processes such as arbitrage and seigniorage to keep USDD pegged to the dollar price. In addition to this system, a decentralised reserve greater than the total value of all USDD in circulation has been implemented in order to keep the protocol secure. This counts especially in times of crisis and for avoiding bank runs like the one that happened to UST. Currently, USDD’s market cap is just over $700 million, and it holds more than $2.3 billion USD in collateral reserves. According to the Tron DAO Reserve website, the stablecoin currently holds 990 million USDC, 140 million USDT, 10.9 billion TRX and 14,000 Bitcoins. 

The development of decentralised stablecoins by protocols that were not initially created for that purpose is a path taken by many crypto projects. The goals that projects aim to achieve through these initiatives are varied. First and foremost, the ecosystems aim to give their users the opportunity to shelter themselves from volatility without leaving the ecosystem, and thus to hold stable value in a decentralised manner. Another goal is to reach new customers through advantageous rewards applied to a capital that should remain stable. We will see if more new stablecoins will appear in 2022, perhaps on a  completely algorithmic basis. Or perhaps the market will remain dominated by collateralised stablecoins, which are certainly more popular to date!

Posted on

DOGE: even meme coins have a roadmap

Doge: the roadmap of Elon Musk's favourite meme coin

What is the world’s most famous meme coin up to? Find out Dogecoin’s next steps!

Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency created by computer engineers Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus. Dogecoin’s blockchain works via the Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism. To date, it is the third placed crypto in terms of market cap to work with this mechanism. Following Ethereum’s Merge to Proof-of-Stake, it will likely move to second place. In addition to its market cap, DOGE also stands out due to its longevity. It is in fact a first generation project: it saw the light of day in December 2013. Elon Musk’s favourite crypto was initially fashioned as a joke, but over time it gained illustrious supporters such as the South African tycoon and Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin. This growing popularity convinced the team to develop a real roadmap, called in this case “trailmap”, to define the protocol’s future moves. The main objective? To turn Dogecoin into a universally accepted payment method and achieve mass adoption!

Buying with Dogecoin, will it soon be possible?

The history of Elon Musk’s favourite crypto has been quite troubled. After working on the early phase of the coin’s life, the core development team abandoned the project for some time. However, they resumed it during the strongly bullish phase at the beginning of 2021. This phase saw a real explosion of Dogecoin, which went from a market cap of about 1 billion to more than 75 billion dollars. Dogecoin’s explosion came as a result of the decision by some big brands to accept crypto. Among these brands are AMC, Twitch and of course Tesla and SpaceX owned by crypto’s number one fan: Elon Musk. It is precisely the expansion of Dogecoin as a payment method that seems to be the key point of the project’s roadmap. The slogan repeated several times on the official site is in fact: utility -> adoption! But how is the Doge team working to ensure that adoption actually happens?

Adoption through GigaWallet and Libdogecoin

One of the ways the Doge team is working to achieve mass adoption is through the Gigawallet service. The Gigawallet project is an open-source initiative that aims to make the process of accepting crypto as a payment method as simple as possible. Thanks to this service, which can be set up in seconds by a developer, sellers will be able to receive Doge transactions as easily as they receive payments in other currencies. If you are thinking of buying a new pair of headphones, or a case for your smartphone in Dogecoin, perhaps you will be able to do so soon! The other project the Doge team is working on is Libdogecoin. Libdogecoin will be a library of best practices for the complete implementation of Dogecoin protocols. The library will be written in the C programming language and will allow anyone to build Dogecoin-compliant products without having to worry about deeper specifications or cryptographic functions.

The roadmap of Elon Musk’s favourite crypto is largely focused on expanding the infrastructure to help DOGE become a more robust payment solution. The team does not seem to have any plans to work on other features as some rumours suggested. In the meantime, a new blockchain named Dogechain was founded in the last few days. This network was built on Polygon Edit, a framework that can be used to build blockchains quickly. The Doge development team has already stated that it has nothing to do with the project.

The number of transactions, users and active wallets grew incredibly in the network’s first days. Users have been attracted by the large number of tokens launched on the network, almost all of them Doge-themed. Beware however, in projects like this, which enjoy instant and seemingly unfounded hype, risk is always just around the corner!

Posted on

Young Monday: Telegram and Reddit’s NFTs, MTV and Beijing in the Metaverse

Young Monday: Telegram and Reddit's NFT, Beijing’s metaverse

What is happening with Telegram and Reddit’s NFTs? Beijing and MTV interact with the metaverse

September is just around the corner and the last Young Monday of August cannot fail to talk about this summer’s hottest topics: NFTs and the metaverse. As far as NFTs are concerned, Reddit has started distributing its avatar collectibles on Polygon‘s blockchain, while Telegram is planning to turn usernames and channels on the platform into NFT domains. Speaking of the metaverse, the MTV Video Music Awards are adding a new category, ‘Best Metaverse Performance’, and the city of Beijing is signing a two-year plan to enter the metaverse.

Reddit starts distributing its NFTs on Polygon and Telegram plans its entry into the industry with TON

Reddit’s NFTs take centre stage again for this edition of Young Monday. On Thursday the 25th of August 2022, the airdrop of Reddit avatar collectibles began. These NFTs had already been created by users on a dedicated page of the social network and will be fully managed by the Vault portfolio also developed by Reddit. The four available collections were ‘The Singularity‘, ‘Aww Friends‘, ‘Drip Squad‘ and ‘Meme Team‘. The NFTs are on the Polygon blockchain and it is already possible to trade them on OpenSea. We knew for a while that Reddit chose Polygon for its NFTs, but we can now finally enjoy the new Avatars designed by independent artists on the most popular NFT marketplace! CEO Pavel Durov also plans to answer the call in a slightly different way for Telegram NFTs, by collaborating instead with the TON ecosystem. The TON blockchain was initially designed by Telegram. However, in June 2020 following some legal disputes, it broke away from the social network, becoming a separate entity called The Open Network. Telegram’s idea, proposed by CEO Pavel Durov, involves the migration of all usernames and channels to the NFT market.

The aim of the initiative, which will be made possible by the concept of digital ownership, is similar to that of ENS domains on Ethereum. ENS is a protocol for the creation and management of decentralised domains. Thanks to ENS, any individual can purchase one or more domains on the Ethereum blockchain. These domains also serve as wallets for cryptos and NFTs. The Open Network has already developed an initiative almost identical to ENS’s called Ton DNS, which has so far sold very well. But how will this technology work in relation to the Telegram social network? Each username or channel will be an NFT, whose ownership will be immutably registered on the blockchain. Furthermore, there will be the possibility to put them up for sale on a secondary market. The messaging platform with more than 700 million users expects unbridled competition for the most sought-after Telegram user-names!

MTV introduces an award for the best performance in the Metaverse

The second hot news topic in this edition of Young Monday is all about musical performances in the metaverse. This summer, we finally got back to enjoying live events and concerts, and it was awesome. However, interest in virtual events has not waned at all. MTV has picked up on the trend of many famous artists performing in the metaverse and created an ad hoc award within its Video Music Awards 2022: the ‘Best Metaverse Performance‘ award. This award is in addition to the more traditional accolades of ‘Video of the Year’, ‘Artist of the Year’ and ‘Song of the Year’ and will be in place from this year! There are six artists competing in this category: Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Twenty One Pilots, Charlie XCX, BTS and Blackpink.

But the news doesn’t end there. In addition to awarding prizes, the TV programme has embarked on its first experience in the metaverse. The Paramount Media Networks-owned company recreated the VMA experience on Roblox. The VMA Experience comprised three games through which players could accumulate tokens that will grant voting power during the VMA event scheduled for tonight. Although Roblox is not a Web3 game, and it does not use blockchain technology or cryptocurrencies, the process is certainly reminiscent of the DAO mechanism. We will see who will prevail tonight and win the first ‘Best Metaverse performance’ in history!

Beijing: a plan to enter the metaverse

Our last (but not least) news item is that Beijing intends to enter the metaverse. China’s Web3 declarations always make the crypto sector’s ears perk up. We all remember the May 2021 ban on cryptocurrencies. This time, however, the news seems favourable, at least as far as technology is concerned, as the Chinese government has announced a plan for the city of Beijing to enter the metaverse. The plan will last two years, from 2022 until 2024, and is aimed at increasing the development and innovation of metaverse technology.The plan calls for all districts of the city to build a city-wide technology infrastructure and to promote its use in various fields, including education and tourism. This is not the first time China has shown interest in this type of technology; in 2021, it was the city of Shanghai that planned investments in the metaverse. However, China has already shown in the past that these policies are often aimed at large Tech companies, and not at individual users. Moreover, the concept of decentralisation does not seem to fit into the government’s idea of Web3. Financial instruments such as the digital yuan, a CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currencies), i.e. a digital currency controlled by the country’s central bank, and government control of the NFT market do not actually incentivise decentralisation and do not embody the core values and principles of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.

Posted on

What are Azuki? Everything you need to know about the most famous anime-NFTs!

Azuki: discover the best NFT Anime PFPs!

What are the best Anime NFTs on OpenSea? The Azuki! Discover the history of the most popular PFP anime on the Web3!

The most iconic collections in the NFT world are referred to as blue chips, precious pearls that tower above the peaks of the market. Bored Ape Yacht Club and Crypto Punks are certainly part of this exclusive club, but if we scroll through the OpenSea rankings we find plenty of would-be members. Among them is a prominent collection of anime PFP NFTs.

The Azuki collection is based on Ethereum and has 10,000 pieces inspired by anime aesthetics. PFP is an acronym that stands for “profile picture” and it is used to describe NFTs that are designed to be used as such.

What really distinguishes Azuki from other projects is its history and roadmap. The project first appeared on social networks : particularly in January 2022 on Twitter. It quickly won the hearts of fans online and offline. However, in May 2022, the founder, known on Twitter by the handle Zagabond.eth, made a statement that generated controversy and debate. Find out more about the compelling story of Azuki NFTs!

What are Azuki NFTs: anime PFPs that conquered the market

Like most PFP NFTs, Azuki are the result of a random selection of traits. These traits were drawn according to a particular mix of styles. On the one hand, there is the clear inspiration from the anime-style RPG The World Ends with You. On the other hand, especially when it comes to outfits, the NFTs are reminiscent of the style of the famous skateboarding magazine Thrasher Magazine. The Web3 company behind the development of Azuki NFT is Chiru Labs, a Los Angeles-based collective of developers and artists. The collection of 10,000 Avatars was launched on the 12th of January 2022, according to the Dutch Auction method: a type of NFT sale where a starting price is set as well as a time period after which the price of the NFT decreases. The Azuki started with a price of 1 ETH per NFT, and it was supposed to decrease by 0.05 ETH every 20 minutes. Thanks to the hype generated by the collection in the days before the launch, this did not end up happening and the collection was sold out within 3 minutes. The final price per Azuki avatar was therefore 1 ETH. Chiru Labs also aims to expand outside the world of Web3 and the Azuki brand could embrace various sectors, both online and in the real world.

The Mindmap and the real-world usefulness of Azuki NFTs

The Azuki NFT collection already shared its roadmap before launch, which helped to ensure the project’s immediate trust from the part of the NFT world. The roadmap, called Mindmap by the team, shows the goals that the anime PFP project aims to achieve by working closely with the community. There are no clear timelines outlining the brand’s evolution process, but there are macro-areas on which the developers and artists are working to make the experience for users in The Garden special. The Garden is the exclusive club dedicated to those who own at least one Azuki NFT. Highlights of the Azuki journey will include immersive 3D experiences, exclusive streetwear collections, physical and virtual art exhibitions and a token named BEAN. Azuki is also looking to create its own unique metaverse, in which interactive multimedia experiences and games will be available.

Chiru Labs’ main intention, however, is to create a bridge between the virtual world of Azuki and the real world. Azuki’s event at the NFT week in New York is certainly an example of this. Through various art installations, the team created a Japanese-style scenario where it was possible to listen to live music, taste different foods and even get a tattoo! In terms of the creation of physical-digital products, the Azuki team has already offered a glimpse of what seems to be its intent with the ‘Twin Tigers Jackets‘ and the ‘Golden Skateboard Shrine‘. The first physical-digital product of the Azuki anime NFTs was launched in May 2022 and consisted of NFTs depicting Japanese-style silk jackets. These NFTs were distributed to Azuki PFP holders, with whom they could redeem physical jackets as of the 19th of July. Members of The Garden chose or to ‘burn’ it and receive the Japanese silk jackets, which are expected to be shipped by December 2022. For those who did not request the physical jacket and therefore still hold the token, the team promises an unknown future utility as of yet. The second initiative was launched in October 2022. This time, instead of jackets, the NFTs represented skateboards. The collection was dubbed ‘Proof-of-Skate‘ by the NFT Azuki Anime team. There were only 9 NFT skateboards available and they too will be redeemable for physical skateboards in the future. The Golden Skateboard Shrines were auctioned off, their selling price ranged from a low of 200 ETH, about $260,000 to a high of 309 ETH, about $400,000. .

The controversial Zagabond issue

The story of Azuki NFT collection has nevertheless also seen some dark moments, when it was thought that the project might be abandoned. In May 2022, shortly after reaching new all-time highs and establishing itself as a true blue chip, it emerged that Zagabond (a member of the core team and innovation lab Chiru Labs) was the owner of three previous NFT projects that were abandoned. The NFT collections in question are: Tendies, CryptoZunks and CryptoPhunks. Following the release of the news, the floor price – the minimum price at which an anime PFP can be purchased – which was of around 30 ETH, dropped by half which fuelled further distrust in the collection. The debate on Twitter was very heated, Zagabond apologised and tried to explain that the abandonment was intended to leave the decision-making power completely to the community and that there were no fixed rules for NFT creators forcing him to continue the projects he had previously created. 

Despite general community scepticism about Zagabond’s past, the Azuki brand continues to work and build, and it remains in OpenSea‘s top 20 list in terms of both volume and floor price. In addition, it is the sixth largest project by total volume in the history of the NFT marketplace, with more than 250,000 ETH traded.

Posted on

From Defi Kingdoms to Ragnarock: how Avalanche’s subnets enhance crypto gaming

Avalanche revolutionises crypto gaming with subnets

DeFi Kingdoms and Crabada are already using their respective subnets. See how crypto gaming on Avalanche attempts to solve the scalability problem

Avalanche, Polygon and Solana are fighting for hegemony in the crypto gaming industry. Let’s see where Emin Gün Sirer‘s blockchain stands.

Avalanche is an open source Proof-of-Stake blockchain that enables the development of decentralised applications. The goal that Avalanche has set itself since its inception is to solve the blockchain trilemma. Lately, much of the work of the Ava Labs team, the Web3 company that started the network, has been aimed at improving one of the three sides of the trilemma: scalability. This increase will be crucial for developing the infrastructure needed for one of the sectors that Avalanche is focusing on the most, crypto gaming! DeFi Kingdoms and Crabada have already moved onto their respective DFK Chain and Swimmer Network subnets, and other big names such as Ascenders and Ragnarock are in the process of doing so. Find out how the subnets intend to revolutionise crypto gaming!

What are subnets and how do they contribute to network scalability?

So, what exactly are Avalanche subnets? Are they Layer 2 blockchains like Polygon or Rollups like Arbitrum or Optimism? Actually, subnets are a way to use different sets of validators in order to create new subversions of the main blockchain. Each subnet is located within the main Avalanche network, but in addition to its own set of validators it has its own currency and security system.

Subnets allow video games and other decentralised applications to take advantage of Avalanche’s existing infrastructure by easily creating their own blockchain environment, tailored to the needs of their users. But why is this important for the crypto gaming industry? To achieve lasting success, Web3 games must achieve a fluid user experience that we see in traditional games today. This fluidity can be achieved through two elements that are non-negotiable:

  • High scalability
  • Low gas fees

Scalability is the ability of a blockchain to handle high network use without compromising the user experience. It is a fundamental requirement for a game that wants to establish itself on a large scale. Gas fees, on the other hand, are the ‘fees’ a user has to pay for transactions to be processed. Low gas fees make it possible to carry out the frequent interactions that a Web3 video game requires almost free of charge. For example, an average transaction on DeFi Kingdom costs about 0.005 JEWEL, and one JEWEL is worth about $0.2. So it usually costs a thousandth of a dollar to interact with the DFK Chain.

Which crypto games are migrating to subnets?

There are currently two games already active on Avalanche’s subnet: DeFi Kingdoms on the DFK chain and Crabada on the Swimmer Network. Together, DFK and Swimmer process about half of the transactions that take place on the Avalanche network. DeFi Kingdoms is a play-to-earn RPG video game originally released on Harmony. Crabada on the other hand is one of the first games to be created on Avalanche and was the first to move onto its Swimmer Network subnet. Crabada features two main game modes: active battle mode and inactive mode (mining battle and looting). As the name suggests, active battle allows players to pit their Crabs – cute hermit crabs – against each other or against AI-controlled enemies to earn in-game rewards. Two other games, however, are set to use their respective subnets. Both are part of the list of the best play-to-earn games on Avalanche and are Ascenders and Ragnarock.

Ascenders is a sci-fi RPG that will be launched directly on its own subnet, a trial version of which is already available. Ragnarok, on the other hand, is a browser-based role-playing game in which players interact with an open-world environment. Although initially launched on Ethereum, the game aims to expand to Avalanche’s subnets in the future. In this mad scramble to conquer the crypto gaming sector, each protocol is thinking of different solutions, but all have the same goal: to increase the scalability of networks to be competitive with off-chain games. Will the subnets manage to prevail or will they be defeated by Layer 2s or even the mighty Solana?

Posted on

Young Monday: Google invests in the world of crypto, Gordon Ramsay on The Sandbox and Dogechain

Young Monday: Google, Gordon Ramsay and Dogechain

Google invests more than 1.5 billion in the world of crypto, Hell’s Kitchen and Gordon Ramsey enter The Sandbox metaverse and Dogechain makes an appearance

Google is the leading company when it comes to investments in the world of crypto! Thanks to its parent company Alphabet, it has invested some 1.5 billion USD in Web3 projects from September 2021 to June 2022. Speaking of The Sandbox, after having ended their collaboration with Paris Hilton last week, now it is Gordon Ramsey’s turn. If you ever wondered how many restaurants Gordon Ramsey has, he will soon have one more, but in The Sandbox metaverse! Finally, what is Dogechain? A network on Polygon Edge created in honour of the Web3’s most famous doggo!

Google’s investments in the crypto world

Google is the leading investor in the Web3 sector. According to a report published on the 17th of August 2022 by Blockdata, Alphabet, Google’s holding company, has invested USD 1.5 billion in the world of blockchain. The investments focused on four Web3 companies. The companies are custody provider Fireblocks, NFT company Dapper Labs, a scalability solution for Bitcoin called Voltage, and venture capital firm Digital Currency Group. If you don’t recognise these companies, don’t worry, among the brands they have invested in are some names that will sound familiar. For example Dapper Labs is the platform that has spawned successful projects such as CryptoKitties or NBA Top Shot. While the venture capital firm Digital Currency Group has financed famous realities within the Web3 such as The Graph, Decentraland, Brave and Etherscan. Beyond Google, other companies are also continuously increasing their investments in the crypto sector. Among the big names, which rank right behind the US giant, are other iconic brands such as Samsung, Paypal and Microsoft.

Gordon Ramsay is the first Chef in The Sandbox metaverse

If you want to learn how to make Gordon Ramsay’s Beef Wellington, forget about YouTube videos, you can do it in the metaverse of The Sandbox! Hell’s Kitchen and TV chef king Gordon Ramsay have teamed up with ITV’s The Sandbox. The goal?  To open the first digital restaurant in history. It will not, however, be ‘just’ a digital restaurant. A special LAND based on Hell’s Kitchen, will be built by the metaverse’s development team. There will be not only avatars of chef Gordon Ramsey, but also other virtual tools for those who want to build culinary experiences in the spirit of Web3. Gordon Ramsay said, “There is nothing more exciting for me than to venture into new territory, whether it’s creating an iconic dish, a new restaurant concept, a new show, and now a virtual experience in The Sandbox,” the chef continued, “I have been fascinated by The Sandbox and its offering in the metaverse. I couldn’t think of a better platform to convey the great energy that characterises my Hell’s Kitchen brand.” To answer the question in the introduction, how many restaurants has Gordon Ramsay actually opened in his career? Twenty-six if you count the in on The Sandbox too. Who knows, maybe he will be able to earn Michelin stars in Web3 as well.

Dogechain, what is it and how does it work?

There has been a lot of talk lately about the new blockchain platform that allows users to use their Dogecoin on DeFi platforms and to buy NFTs. This platform is called Dogechain, but what is it and how exactly does it work? Many thought that Dogechain was a Layer 2 built on Doge’s blockchain. Wrong! It is not a Layer 2, but a simple network built on Polygon Edge. Polygon Edge is a Polygon framework that can be used to build Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks. In addition, it should be specified that this is not an ‘official’ Dogecoin product: the team has tweeted about it, declaring itself to be completely uninvolved in the project.

To use the blockchain, you simply have to move your WDOGE onto the network via a Bridge, and in doing so you will receive WDOGE Wrapped Dogecoins in return. Thanks to these tokens it will be possible to interact with DeFi applications, NFT marketplaces, and perhaps some games in the future. In the first days since its inception, the blockchain recorded a very high amount of transactions, around 500,000. The platform’s main DEX, DogeSwap, has exchanged almost 20 million dollars worth. Beware though! Roc Zacharias, co-founder of one of the most widely used DEXs on Polygon, QuickSwap, who collaborated on the Dogechain project, expressly stated to be very careful when interacting with the network. He called it a wild ‘place’ where risks are always around the corner! The tokens that have been launched on Dogechain already number more than 600 and the names are practically all memes, e.g. DogeEat Doge and Doge Shrek. We will see if Dogechain will have the strength to establish itself, and be recognised by the Doge team, or if it will remain merely the realm of meme coins.