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Bitcoin mining: what does it take? Does it still make sense in 2023?

How to mine Bitcoin? It's getting harder but it’s a good thing!

How to mine Bitcoin? Years ago an ordinary computer was enough, and today? 

How to mine Bitcoin? If you have known the crypto world for a while, you surely have asked yourself this question at least once. Mining is the process by which transactions are validated on Proof-of-Work blockchains, and thus also on Bitcoin‘s. Miners, through very complex calculations, create the network blocks and allow the network to function. And they receive rewards for their work.

Mining is also a competitive activity, as rewards are only given to the first miner to solve the mathematical problem. The amount of miners participating in the network influences the mining difficulty: a parameter that measures how difficult it is, on average, to validate a block. The difficulty also increases in relation to the power of the hardware. 

Now that you are clear on the big picture, find out how to mine Bitcoin and why it is getting harder!

Bitcoin mining: what does it take?

The answer to the question ‘how to mine Bitcoin’ has varied a lot over time. If we had asked a miner in 2010 he would have answered “with a normal computer and mining software”. 

The same question, in 2015, would have had a different answer. Back then, miners had already started using specially designed machines called ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits). And today? How do you mine Bitcoin in 2023?

  • Hardware: in order to mine Bitcoin, it is necessary to start with hardware. From simple computers that were used years ago to sophisticated ASICs. There is a wide range of devices with which it has been possible to mine Bitcoin over time. Miners in the past used GPUs (video cards) because they had much more computing power than CPUs (processors) and were cheaper than ASICs. 

GPUs used to be connected in series, i.e. one in a row, and by doing so, their computing power added up. Today, however, even this method has become obsolete and it is not possible to mine Bitcoin unless you have an ASIC.

  • Software: an aspiring miner must obtain or develop ad hoc software. This point is even more complex than the previous one because it requires, in most cases, a high degree of computer knowledge. Some mining devices already have software installed inside them to be configured, but in most cases, the ‘command prompt’ or ‘terminal’ must be used to activate them. That is, the black screen in which to write code that anyone who is not a computer scientist ‘accidentally’ opens on their computer from time to time.
  • Crypto wallet: The last thing a miner must have is the crypto wallet on which to receive rewards for validated blocks. A user who is in the process of building their own mining business should definitely not neglect this point if they do not want to work for free! This is definitely the easiest part of the whole process. Usually miners, like crypto enthusiasts, prefer to use hardware wallets, which are more difficult to hack since they are not constantly connected to the network.

Mining is also a team game

To be able to compete with the large mining companies that have many ASICs synchronised with each other, the ‘smaller’ miners have learnt to play as a team. Thus, mining pools were born, organisations that enable them to coordinate and work together to find the correct hash in the shortest possible time. Thus, you can try to mine Bitcoin even if you only have one device; by participating in pools and sharing the prize with other participants. Unfortunately, however, it is not possible to know for sure whether or not you will be able to mine any blocks, and you need to buy at least one ASIC to be admitted to a mining pool.

Mining is increasingly difficult

The hardware that can solve the very difficult calculations and the large amount of electricity required to run them makes mining a very expensive business. Moreover, the difficulty grows over time as it tends to adapt to changes in the hashrate, i.e. the total computing power of the network. The latter takes into account the hardware and software characteristics of all the miners that are connected to the BTC network and is updated every fortnight. It is however positive that mining Bitcoin is becoming increasingly difficult, the more miners participate in block validation the more secure the blockchain is. 

Now that you know how to mine Bitcoin it is up to you to decide whether to start. However, if you have read this article carefully you may have realised that the game is probably not worth it (anymore). Unless you have access to a large amount of cheap electricity. There are, however, other less expensive ways to secure blockchains and obtain rewards, such as opening a node on a Proof-of-Stake network. You can take a cue from former Ethereum miners who have reinvented themselves since their blockchain changed consensus mechanism.

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Ethereum Shanghai, the latest update explained

Ethereum Shanghai: everything you need to know about the upgrade

Ethereum: what will happen after the Shanghai update?

We are very close to the activation of Ethereum‘s new update, Shanghai. This will allow users to withdraw ETHs they had locked in staking from 2020. That year marked the beginning of Ethereum becoming a Proof-of-Stake, thanks to the emergence of Beacon Chains, a parallel network managed by the new consensus mechanism. It was the developers who chose to block withdrawals for this long period of time. The reason? To ensure maximum security of the blockchain that could have been in trouble due to mass withdrawals. 

After the Beacon Chain came The Merge update, which was activated on 15 September 2022. On that occasion, the merger of the parent blockchain to the Beacon Chain took place, the union into a single blockchain managed by a Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism. Now all eyes in the crypto world are once again on Ethereum because of the Shanghai update. Everything you need to know is in this article! What impact could this have on the price of ETH?

Ethereum Shanghai: what is the update for? What happens next?

The purpose of the Shanghai update is very simple and clear: to enable withdrawals for those who have staked their ETH so far. 

After activation, those who participated in Ethereum’s consensus mechanism by staking can decide whether to leave their ETHs where they are. Or whether to redeem them with the ‘unstake‘ function. In this case, it is not possible to choose an amount of crypto to unstake, the entire amount originally staked will be returned. 

With the activation of the Shanghai update, all users, both those who decide to redeem their crypto and those who continue with staking, will receive the rewards they have accumulated through the validation of transactions on the blockchain. The rewards will be sent automatically to users’ wallets if they have provided their withdrawal address. 

For those who have staked through providers, and not directly on Ethereum, precise instructions on how the unstake will be handled have not yet been communicated.  

Shanghai Activation Date

The date on which Ethereum’s Shanghai update will be activated has not yet been announced. What is known, however, is the day on which the last testbed will take place: 14 March on the Goerli testnet; during the previous tests, which took place in February on Zhejiang and Sepolia, everything went smoothly. The mechanism regulating the activation of Shanghai is described in the ‘Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP -4895)’, in which all the functions that will be inserted or changed within the smart contract that regulates staking are set out. 

How will Shanghai affect the price of Ethereum?

The Shanghai update is a key turning point in Ethereum’s roadmap and therefore could have an impact on its price. Although it is impossible to predict with certainty what will happen, one can speculate. Here are the factors that could cause ETH’s price to fall and those that could lead to a pump.

Why could the price of Ethereum collapse?

The update could cause increased selling pressure and consequently a drop in price. Users could withdraw Ethereum en masse and sell it on the market together with the Ethereum distributed as a reward. If this were to occur, we could see a domino effect that would cause the price of ETH to collapse.

Will the price of Ethereum rally after Shanghai?

Looking at the on-chain data, there are those who argue that the price of Ethereum will rise. In particular, the value to watch is the amount of ETH currently blocked in the staking smart contract.

To date, there are about 17 million Ethereum staked, which corresponds to less than 20% of the circulating supply of about 120 million. This figure is much lower than on other Proof-of-Stake blockchains, where the percentage of staked cryptos is around 40% (on Solana and Cardano it is even higher than 70%).

At the moment, not many users have locked their ETH in staking, the main reason being that their crypto is tied up for long periods of time. After Shanghai the situation might change, we will be able to withdraw and deposit freely. In this case, we could see the number of staked ETH increase and consequently see a reduction in selling pressure on Ether and thus an increase in price. 

It is important to note that a large percentage of the ETHs staked were deposited by users more than a year ago, and the average purchase price of these cryptos is over $2,000. To date, users staking Ethereum who are in profit are only 16% while the remaining 84% are in loss. Therefore, to cause a decrease in the price of Ethereum, users would have to sell their Ether at a loss, a hypothesis that seems remote. Indeed, it is assumed that those who have chosen to staking their cryptos without knowing when they will be able to unlock them, strongly believe in Vitalik Buterin‘s project.

The future of dapps for staking

Those who will definitely be affected by the Shanghai update are the dapps that offer staking and yield farming services on Ethereum. These include liquid staking platforms that are used by those who only want to stake small amounts of Ether. The possible consequences for these types of services are mainly twofold.

With the possibility of depositing and withdrawing ETH at any time given by the Shanghai update, these dapps could develop new functionalities. New DeFi projects will probably also emerge to explore all opportunities to maximise rewards. 

Moreover, there are those who see Shanghai as the next standard of basic staking returns for the entire crypto world. These dapps will thus have to compete directly with Ethereum, as well as with their own competitors, and offer rewards more profitable than those guaranteed by the blockchain created by Vitalik Buterin.

In short, Shanghai will start a new cycle of innovation for the Ethereum network that could affect a huge number of projects and hundreds of thousands of users in the crypto world. 
But Ethereum’s renewal does not end with the Shanghai update. The developers are always working to improve the blockchain. On the horizon are Sharding and then The Surge, The Verge, The Purge and The Splurge updates!

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The top 5 cryptocurrencies in the Metaverse

The top metaverse crypto project

The Metaverse cryptos regulate the internal economy of decentralised virtual worlds. Which ones are the most popular on the market?

What are the top Metaverse crypto projects? The latter combines the immersive environments of virtual (VR) and augmented reality (AR), the engagement of video games and the social interaction of social networks; but a crypto Metaverse also includes an economic component that is managed and regulated through cryptocurrencies. 

The crypto metaverse and its economy

Before discussing Metaverse cryptos, it is necessary to make a few clarifications. The term Metaverse refers to an immersive virtual world shared between users who, through avatars, can interact, participate in experiences and build digital objects. Among the many things you can do within it, there is certainly participation in the most varied events: parties, weddings, art exhibitions, fashion shows, university lectures, business meetings. This is not a new concept, many video games such as massive-multiplayer online games have always proposed this kind of scenario. What is changing in the Metaverse emerging in recent months is the use of blockchain as a core technology. 

The blockchain determines the functioning of the Metaverse in at least two senses. Firstly, it allows these virtual worlds to possess a real internal economy, managed with cryptocurrencies. The digital objects that the crypto Metaverse offers are in NFT format, i.e. non-fungible tokens, and cryptocurrencies are used to buy them. This means that the objects you buy are your property, indelibly and immutably guaranteed by the blockchain. Without this technology, should a video game be withdrawn from the market, you would lose all the digital objects you own in it. The first aspect that distinguishes any crypto metaverse is therefore the traceability of the ownership of objects and their economic value in the real world. 

Secondly, using blockchain technology means giving a Metaverse a decentralised structure, this implies that the management of the project is not in the hands of a company or corporation but is given to the users. Owning a certain number of the cryptos in the Metaverse gives the right to participate in governance and vote on decisions and choices about the future of the project. Many virtual worlds in fact rely on DAOs, decentralised autonomous organisations set up by the community. But which are the most popular and capitalised Metaverse crypto projects?

The Sandbox (SAND)

The crypto of The Sandbox metaverse is SAND, an ERC-20 type token based on the Ethereum standard. SAND is one of the main cryptocurrencies in the virtual world and handles most of the transactions and interactions in The Sandbox. It is used to buy accessories and tools to customise avatars, to manage LAND rentals and is distributed as rewards to users who win challenges and achieve goals. Metaverses are virtual worlds and like the real world they are also divided into territories, LANDs, in the form of NFTs. And like in the real world, they are not infinite; for instance on The Sandbox there are 166,464. During the first year of The Sandbox itself, these virtual land plots could be purchased through the metaverse’s crypto, SAND. 

The digital plots of land that exist to date are all sold out and the only way to own one is to buy it with ETH on an NFT marketplace, such as Opensea. 

The LANDs of The Sandbox host various brands and celebrities, some examples? Snoop Dogg, Gucci and Adidas! This Metaverse has also been selected by TIME for the list of the “100 Most Influential Companies” of 2022, under the category “pioneers”.

Decentraland (MANA)

Decentraland’s crypto metaverse is also built on Ethereum, its token is called MANA and can be used to purchase all digital objects in the virtual world, including land. This is a community-driven space where users create digital experiences, content and services and then exchange them with each other. Decentraland is not only developed by its users but is also managed by them, in fact its governance is totally entrusted to its DAO (Decentralised Autonomous Organisation), an organisation in which MANA owners can participate by proposing and voting on initiatives. The crypto of the Decentraland metaverse thus plays a dual role within the virtual world, it is the main exchange token in this economy and also functions as a governance token. With MANA, you can purchase LAND, clothes and accessories for avatars and generally all the assets of Decentraland. These virtual assets also include Decentraland Names, ERC-721s tokens integrated with the Ethereum Name Service that appear as ‘jane.dcl.eth’. They are unique names to give to your avatar but also function as wallet addresses to receive your cryptocurrencies there directly. Why is MANA considered one of the top Metaverse crypto projects? Decentraland is increasingly often the venue for innovative and international events such as Metaverse Fashion Week, an annual event attended by famous fashion brands such as Dolce and Gabbana, Etro, Tommy Hilfiger and many others. 

Axie Infinity (AXS)

Axie Infinity is a cryptocurrency metaverse that revolves around a specific type of digital objects, the Axies, NFT pets that users can collect, care for, and race. On Axie Infinity, users have the opportunity to earn cryptocurrencies in the metaverse by playing, completing quests, and reaching goals. The virtual world of Axie Infinity is made up of many different mini-games, in fact, compared to The Sandbox and Decentraland, it is more focused on gaming rather than entertainment or exploration. Its economy relies on AXS, another ERC-20 token. AXS is used for two purposes: for crypto payments in the metaverse and for voting on governance proposals in the DAO. In addition, Axie Infinity’s cryptocurrency can be staked on the official dapp (decentralised application). 

Otherside (APE)

Yuga Labs, the Web3 company of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, is also building its own metaverse, Otherside. This virtual world was supposed to come out in April 2022, but has not yet been released. For now, all that is known is that it will be an MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) on blockchain, and the key will be NFTs. Although the virtual world of Bored Ape does not yet exist, the crypto of their metaverse is already on the market. ApeCoin (APE) will be the token of Otherside and to date is used by the ApeCoin DAO, a decentralised autonomous organisation of which Bored Ape owners are members, where initiatives are proposed for the development of the entire Bored Ape ecosystem. APE, the cryptocurrency of the Otherside Metaverse and the ApeCoin DAO, was released on 17 March 2022 and as of today occupies the 34th position among the most capitalised cryptos on the market. 

Enjin (ENJ)

The Metaverse’s fifth major crypto is not a virtual world, but a platform for creating video games and NFTs on blockchain. We are talking about Enjin and its ENJ token! The project was born in 2009 to make life easier for gaming workers, and over the years it has grown closer and closer to the crypto Metaverses. Currently, Enjin offers a set of tools for developers, enthusiasts or companies to create and monetise any kind of digital content in NFT format. The ENJ token is the medium of exchange for all goods, tools and services offered by the platform; in particular, it is used by users to buy NFTs and by game developers to buy the tools needed to integrate blockchain technology into their products.
Now that you have discovered which Metaverse crypto projects are the most popular on the market, you just have to enter these virtual worlds and start using them. Only in this way can you fully understand how they work and their usefulness in the field of cryptocurrencies and beyond.

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How to access the main Metaverses

Metaverse: how to enter? All the steps to enter

How to access the Metaverse? All you need to know and the guided steps to join the most popular virtual worlds

Are you wondering how to access the Metaverse but thinking that it is something complicated and expensive? Actually, to explore these virtual worlds you don’t need sophisticated visors or special computers. Just follow a few simple steps. Read this article with instructions on how to enter the three most popular metaverses: The Sandbox, Decentraland and Roblox!

How to access the metaverse of The Sandbox

The Sandbox is a metaverse based on the Ethereum blockchain. It is a community-driven platform, i.e. it evolves according to the creativity of its users. Accessing the world’s most popular decentralised metaverse is very easy! 

The first things to do are:

  • register on the official website, you can also log in with Google or Facebook;
  • create your own personal avatar;
  • connect your crypto wallet (this is not required to access the Metaverse but is required to sell or purchase in-game items); 

After registering, download Game Maker. This is the programme for creating the objects in Voxel Art and the mini-games that populate the virtual world. To download it, go to the ‘Create’ version of the site and start the download; it is available for both Windows and Mac OS. On Game Maker you can also try out the game experiences created by other users, there are tens of thousands of them! Once downloaded, open it, log in, and… congratulations, you have just entered the metaverse of The Sandbox. 

If the single player mode bores you and you want to interact with other users, you can participate in the endless offers and events of The Sandbox. To access the current ones, go to the ‘Play’ section of the official website, choose the one that suits you and click on the ‘Play’ button. Now that you know how to access The Sandbox metaverse, all you have to do is start exploring it!

Decentraland

If, on the other hand, you are wondering how to access the Decentraland metaverse, know that you can enter it directly from the browser you use on a daily basis. The team recommends downloading the desktop programme for smoother gaming experiences. 

The first steps to be completed are: 

  • register on the official website (also with Google or Facebook); 
  • connect your crypto wallet (otherwise, you can only log in in ‘guest’ mode); 
  • create your own avatar, if it does not fully reflect you, don’t worry, you can change it as many times as you wish. 

Once you have created your virtual alter ego, within moments you will find yourself in the middle of Genesis Plaza, the main square of Decentraland. From this place, 8 roads lead to 8 plazas, forming the distinctive skeleton of the virtual world. After logging in, explore the world of Decentraland and participate in game experiences on the most popular virtual lands, such as the Luxury Fashion District that hosted the first Metaverse Fashion Week. You can move between the various scenarios of Decentraland with a single click on the ‘Jump in’ button.

How to access Roblox?

Roblox is the world’s most popular virtual world, thanks to the 150 million monthly users who frequent it. But how to access this metaverse? The steps to enter Roblox are very similar to those we have already seen. First you have to create an account on the official website. Then you need to download the game client, which unlike the previous metaverse is available for both desktop and mobile, for practically all devices (Windows, Mac OS, iOS and Android).

Once you have downloaded the game programme, created your avatar and logged in, you can start exploring this infinite Metaverse. Inside there are thousands of virtual worlds to discover, each with its own setting. If you’re thinking of logging into Roblox, know that you can also create mini-games and worlds from scratch and sell them for official game coins. 

The latter have no value outside of Roblox. Those of Decentraland (MANA) and The Sandbox (SAND), on the other hand, are real cryptocurrencies that can be exchanged with others on the market, such as Ethereum or Bitcoin, or sold for fiat currency. Moreover, these decentralised virtual worlds are based on blockchain technology and NFTs, which guarantee and certify the ownership of all objects that users buy or create in the Metaverse. To fully exploit the potential of these metaverses, it is advisable to own a non-custodial crypto wallet, e.g. Metamask. 


So here’s how to access the metaverse free and easy; all you have to do is register and, at most, download a programme to your computer. What are you waiting for? Hurry up and log in to try out the Metaverse that inspires you the most!

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What is the Bored Ape Yacht Club? Everything you need to know about the NFTs of the moment!

bored ape yacht club

How much do you know about the Bored Ape Yacht Club, the collection that made NFT mainstream? Here’s its full story!

The Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) marked the success of NFTs and made them mainstream. At almost two years old, it is the second largest non-fungible token project in terms of trading volume. But what is the Bored Ape Yacht Club? Who is behind it? Why are these ‘bored apes’ worth so much? In this article you will find everything you need to know!

Bored Ape Yacht Club: what is it?

The Bored Ape Yacht Club is a collection of 10,000 non-fungible tokens released by Yuga Labs in 2021. Each NFT in the collection represents an ‘Ape’, i.e. a monkey, generated by the combination of 170 randomly chosen characteristics, including expressions, headgear, and clothing. The concepts of combination and rarity are reminiscent of CryptoPunks, with the Bored Ape also being distinguished by its reference number. Technically speaking, these non-fungible tokens are ERC-721 tokens on Ethereum and their metadata are hosted in the decentralised repository of the IPFS.

Two spin-off collections derive from the Bored Ape Yacht Club: the Mutant Ape Yacht Club, which represents the monkeys in a ‘mutant’ version, and the Bored Ape Kennel Club, which includes the primates’ four-legged friends (pooches).

Celebrities who own Bored Ape

Owning a Bored Ape means belonging to an exclusive club of community benefits but above all social prestige. Many people from show business have climbed aboard the club that grants real status. Let’s take a look at some celebrities and their Apes:

  • Shaquille O’Neal
    The NBA champion owns a Mutant Ape, bought for $14,000;
  • Jimmy Fallon
    The Bored Ape number #599 is currently owned by the famous American talk show host. He bought it for $224,000;
  • Eminem
    In December 2021, Eminem bought an Ape for more than $450,000. An Ape that looks incredibly like him;
  • Neymar JR
    The player in January 2022 for 1 million took home two Apes, number #6633 and #5269;
  • Gwyneth Paltrow
    Paltrow’s last non-fungible purchase appeared on Twitter last January;
  • Justin Bieber
    The pop star keeps Bored Ape #3001 in his wallet.
  • Snoop Dogg
    The rapper in question, under the pseudonym Cozomo de’ Medici, is a big NFT collector. He certainly couldn’t pass up a few Apes.
  • Stephen Curry
    The four-time NBA champion also owns a Bored Ape, number #7990, which he has displayed for a few months as his Twitter profile picture.
  • Madonna
    “The Queen of Pop” owns BAYC number #4988, paid around $466,000.

How the Bored Ape Yacht Club came into being

Like all great stories, this one started with four friends at the bar. Gargamel, Gordon, Tomato and Sass, four eccentric, out-of-the-box types decided to experiment with blockchain and create some not-so-smart-looking monkeys. The first step was taken by Gordon who immediately came up with a detailed and enviable business plan, namely a chat message: ‘let’s make an NFT’. Gargamel and Gordon had stumbled upon cryptocurrencies in 2017 and in the famous bar they tried to pull the other two in. You know that friend for whom any opportunity is good to talk crypto? Spoiler: if you can’t think of anyone, it’s you.

Tomato and Sass’s role in the project was technical, meanwhile another message had arrived: “do you know JavaScript?”. Apparently it seemed essential to them to create NFT (spoiler #2: it’s not so much). All four of them together founded Yuga Labs to make digital, authentic art on blockchain. In February 2022, the American tabloid BuzzFeed published a report revealing the identities of two founders of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, specifically Gordon and Gargamel whose real names would be: Wylie Aronow and Greg Solano, two 30-year-old Florida residents. The article triggered a fierce reaction from the community, which accused BuzzFeed of illegally violating the privacy of the two founders.

But why monkeys? In the crypto world, monkeys are common animals, almost as common as whales. According to a long tradition, cryptocurrency traders affectionately refer to each other as ‘monkeys’. Cryptopunks also have monkeys, and they are among the rarest.

Key moments in the history of the Bored Ape Yacht Club

The Bored Ape was released in April 2021 and in just a few years wrote NFT history, achieving sensational milestones. Here is a brief summary of the highlights of BAYC:

  • 23 April 2021: launch of the collection with a one-week pre-sale. During this time, only 500 Ape were sold at 0.08 ETH (at that time about 220 USD);
  • 1 May 2021: crazy night when all 9,500 remaining Apes were sold! On that night, BAYC’s smart contract was the most used smart contract on Ethereum: “our Discord went from totally dead to the most hype place in the crypto world”. The collection thus sold out;
  • 8 August 2021: opening of the BAYC Riverboat Casino in Decentraland developed with Decentral Games;
  • 28 August 2021: arrival of the Mutant Ape Yacht Club, each ape owner received a symbolic ‘serum’ to mutate their ape with matching but ‘genetically modified’ traits. In addition, 10,000 more Mutant Apes were born,
  • 9 September 2021: During an auction at Sotheby’s (the famous auction house), a lot of 101 Apes was sold for almost $25 million;
  • 17 December 2021: collaboration with Adidas to bring the sports brand into the Metaverse.
  • 18 March 2022: airdrop of Apecoin (APE), the BAYC governance token, developed by ApeCoin DAO and not directly by Yuga Labs;
  • 19 March 2022: launch of Otherdeed, the LANDs of the Bored Ape Metaverse, Otherside (not yet officially released);
  • 16 July 2022: online the demo version of Otherside in which 4,500 users participated, the first exclusive journey into the Bored Ape Metaverse;
  • 19 January 2023: release of Doo-Key Dash, a mini-game for NFT holders of the Bored Ape Yacht Club to win valuable prizes;

Who illustrated the Bored Ape?

The Bored Ape originated primarily as an art project, their ‘bored, scruffy, punk’ graphic design stemming from the joint work of several freelance artists. All Seeing Seneca worked for four days under the creative direction of the founders to outline the basic character, later Mig and Thomas Dagley and two other artists who wish to remain anonymous created the expressions, clothing, accessories and design of the club itself within a month. The Mutant Ape Yacht Club is the work of Dagley and Lovans Hartes.

The Bored Ape are the undisputed stars of the crypto space

BAYC is now an institution in the crypto space. Apes are used as avatars for experiences that have to do with the Metaverse or Web3, such as Jenkins The Valet, the creative writing project using NFTs, or the digital band set up by Universal Music, in which the members are four Apes. A Bored Ape even appeared in the Adidas commercial for the 2022 World Cup, on the packaging of a cereal box. These are just a few examples, to keep up to date with all BAYC initiatives, there is The Bored Ape Gazette.

Another project developed by Yuga Labs is ‘The Bathroom‘. A virtual bathroom where each club member, i.e. those who have at least one Ape in their wallet, could paint a pixel on the wall for 15 minutes. “As with any good dive bar bathroom, this is the place to draw, doodle or write expletives”. An artistic and collaborative experiment for the cryptosphere, as crazy and creative as the four founders of BAYC. The (improvised) writers of the Bored Ape Yacht Club did a rather original job, even two Crypto Punks appeared on the canvas!

The universe of the Bored Ape

Yuga Labs is regularly releasing applications and features that help expand its ecosystem. The most important project is certainly the Otherside metaverse, announced in March 2022 and already ‘tested’ by the community. It is not yet known when this virtual world will be available, but to console users who can no longer wait, the mini-game Doo-Key was released in January 2023, opening a new chapter in the lore (plot) of the Bored Ape Yacht Club.

NFT Yuga Labs owners have previously minted the Sewer Pass to gain access to the game. In the game Doo-Key, the objective is to retrieve a valuable key lost by the careless character Jimmy The Monkey while darting through the sewers. This key, if collected, will allow you to open the door to the next scenario, learn about new plot developments, and qualify for exclusive prizes from the Bored Ape Yacht Club.

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What can you do in the Metaverse today? 5 real use cases

5 Things You Can Do in the Metaverse

What are the most interesting use cases of the virtual world? Discover 5 things you can do in the Metaverse!

Since October 2021, when Facebook with Meta drew attention to this technology, there are those who promise that the Metaverse will be the future. But what can you do in the Metaverse today? Will it be a virtual world populated by cutting-edge social networks and video games? Or is it just a lucrative marketing opportunity for brands? In short, the decisive question is: will it be useful in our daily lives? The activities it will host will be of a varied nature, at the moment developers, brands and crypto companies are experimenting and proposing events of all kinds, from book presentations to weddings.

General trials of the Metaverse are underway and there is no shortage of difficulties, especially at the technical level. It is clear that to establish itself as the technology of the future, the use cases will have to be accessible and widespread, as well as the equipment to access them. We can only speculate about the future, but let’s return to the present and see 5 things you can do in the Metaverse today!

1.    Attending a concert

One of the things you can do in the Metaverse is to attend concerts! These kinds of events started as a temporary solution to the interruption of live performances due to the COVID19 pandemic. But even now that in-person activities have resumed, concerts in the Metaverse have not been sidelined. The virtue of this mode of entertainment is interactivity, as participants’ avatars can interact from anywhere in the world and win prizes in the form of NFTs.

The most famous concerts so far have been: that of BLACKPINK, a K-pop group from South Korea, in the July 2022 battle royale video game PUBG. And those of Charlie XCX, Justin Bieber and Twenty One Pilots in the Roblox metaverse. These musical events in the Metaverse were celebrated and ‘nominated’ by MTV, which created an ad hoc award for virtual performances at the MTV Video Music Awards 2022.

Record companies are also planning to enter the Metaverse; Warner Music, for example, has decided to open a concert area on a LAND in The Sandbox.

2.    Organising a business meeting

Those wondering what can be done in the Metaverse should not lose sight of all the implications for professional activities. This reality could be a useful resource for all those companies that rely on remote working. By organising these meetings, human relations and ‘office communication’ could be recovered. Remote working is becoming more and more common and is transforming the way people manage their lives and the way they understand space and cities. It is likely, for example, that in the future it will not be so essential to take a home near the workplace.

Some platforms that perform this service are Horizon Workrooms, Meta’s app, and Gather.town. The slogan of the latter is ‘remote working should not isolate – build the office of your dreams’. Hundreds of teams have already moved into their virtual office, Gather also hosts academic conferences and job fairs. Moreover, this is an effective alternative to expensive and logistically complex business trips for companies.

But how does a meeting take place within the Metaverse? Sammy King, a Meta employee, described how a virtual meeting takes place inside a Metaverse. Unlike in a traditional video conference, where only one person can speak at a time, thanks to a technology called spatial audio, participants can talk to each other as if they were in a real office. This feature, together with the high degree of immersiveness provided by virtual reality visors, makes the meetings completely different from those on Zoom or Google Meet. “For the past couple of years we have become accustomed to talking to people through screens, but now suddenly you have the feeling of being close to your colleagues even if you are working in different places. It’s a real breakthrough,” said King, commenting on his first meeting in the Metaverse.

3.    Video games on another level

Among the things you can do in the Metaverse, however, is not just work! As can be gleaned from its etymology, this reality aims to be an extension of the real world, which in the field of video games takes the form of a realistic gaming experience. The prototypes of fully immersive video games that we know today are in the primordial stages of their development and consequently cannot yet convey the sensations that we might experience when playing in the future.

The technology that seems to have the potential to revolutionise the entire sector is virtual reality, for realistic video games. Haptic garments, on the other hand, aim to make users experience ‘on their skin’ (on a tactile level) what happens to their avatar inside the virtual world, a bit like in Steven Spielberg‘s film ‘Ready player one’. The Metaverse will also help video games develop their own economy. Play-to-earn games such as Axie Infinity, Star Atlas or even Metaverse games such as The Sandbox and Decentraland already have an internal economy that functions thanks to cryptocurrencies and tokens.

4.    Attending a fashion show

Among the answers to the question “what can you do in the Metaverse?” There is also: “attend a fashion show”. The Metaverse Fashion Week in Decentraland 2022 was the first international fashion event in the virtual world and the second edition will take place from 28 to 31 March 2023. Last year, fashion houses of the calibre of Dolce & Gabbana, Tommy Hilfiger and Etro participated and the main objective was to involve as many people as possible in an environment that is often reserved for the few.

But there have been plenty more fashion shows in this reality! For example the Meta Festival in Dept in the Metapolis metaverse attended by Coca Cola, Calvin Klein, H&M and Netflix. Or the Digital Fashion Week in New York, an event where fashion companies were able to showcase their latest work and debate stimulated by films and speeches about the future of the industry.

5.    Teleporting to the other side of the world

Let’s end this list of 5 things you can do in the Metaverse on a high note, that is: holidays!

Would you like to go skiing in the Dolomites or snorkelling along the coast of Bali while exploring locations in the Metaverse? Travel companies are already gearing up to allow their customers to experience excursions to the places they intend to visit. Thanks to virtual and augmented reality, you can get a taste of sunsets in the Moroccan desert or the Norwegian aurora borealis and thus decide whether they are really for you before booking your trip. Not only travel agencies, but also hotels and restaurants can use the Metaverse to their advantage. How many times have you ended up in a hovel that according to the booking ad was supposed to look like the Palace of Versailles? Or to end up in a dive bar while expecting to dine in a luxurious restaurant?

The Metaverse became popular after the COVID-19 pandemic, an event that showed us that our lives can change radically and suddenly. With the return to normalcy, however, this technology has not disappeared, but has continued its evolution. In some areas it has already been used and proved useful, while in others it still has some way to go. Despite this, however, the answers to the question ‘what can be done in the Metaverse’ are becoming more and more numerous, a sign that the development around this concept has never stopped. From virtual parades to play-to-earn video games to ‘a taste’ of your future holiday.

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Bitcoin Halving 2024, everything you absolutely need to know

Bitcoin halving 2024: all the things to know

When is the next Bitcoin halving scheduled? Things to know to prepare for the event!

Bitcoin’s next halving is scheduled for early 2024, when block number 840,000 will be mined. Why is this such an eagerly awaited event? What will happen next? Let’s try to shed some light and go over all the things we need to know about it.

Next Halving Bitcoin 2024: what is this operation for?

Halving is the internal mechanism within the Bitcoin system that regulates the gradual decrease in rewards given to miners who validate blocks. It serves to reduce the crypto in circulation, to maintain scarcity. Miners in fact receive a share of BTC every time they validate a block. Halving has been an element of BTC tokenomics since its creation and is managed by an algorithm. 

When the halving takes place and how the exact date is calculated

Bitcoin’s next halving is expected to arrive between March and May 2024, at block No. 210,000 starting from the previous halving, so at No. 840,000. It is an event that users might not notice as it does not alter the state of the blockchain in any way, only the miners notice it; but nevertheless all crypto enthusiasts await this moment with trepidation. The moment the last of the 210,000 blocks is validated, the issuance of BTC is halved. 

To calculate when the next halving of Bitcoin will take place, you need to multiply the number of blocks that need to be validated from one halving to the next (210,000) by the time it takes to do so, which is on average 10 minutes. Then you need to divide the resulting number by 60, which is the number of minutes that an hour consists of. Doing this quick calculation we find that about 35,000 hours pass from one halving to the next, plus or minus 1458 days or a little over four years. In order to know the exact date of the next halving in 2024, we need to look at what block number we are at day by day. 

These ‘halvings’ will not be infinite, they will cease when the maximum supply of Bitcoin, which amounts to 21 million BTC, is issued, presumably around the year 2140. This means that the cryptocurrency still faces about 30 halvings in 117 years.

How many rewards will there be after the 2024 halving?

Another key piece of information about halving has to do with the issuance of Bitcoin over time. Miners, at the time Bitcoin was created (January 2009), received 50 BTC for each validated block. The first halving took place in 2012 and halved the rewards to 25 BTC. The process was then repeated in 2016 and 2020 when the rewards per block became 6.25 Bitcoins. At the next halving in 2024 these will become 3.15 BTC.

On the Young Platform exchange you can follow the price of Bitcoin in real time and monitor the impact of the next halving.

Check the price now

Halving and the price of Bitcoin 

As the issuance of this crypto is halved, Bitcoin becomes scarcer and scarcer and this indirectly has an impact on the price. In the months following the halving in 2012, the price increased by almost 12,000%, and after the halving in 2020 by about 300%. Of course, halving is not the only cause of these incredible bullish rallies in the past, but in general the price of Bitcoin has always responded positively to this recurring event.

Halving also affects Bitcoin’s inflation rate. In 2011, for example, BTC was subject to an annual inflation of 50%. In 2012 this became 12%, while today it stands at around 1.77%. One wonders at this point, where it will go after the next halving.
Although the latter is an automatic event, it does not go unnoticed but strongly influences the Bitcoin ecosystem and also the entire crypto world. A year after the expected process, we still find ourselves caught in the clutches of this seemingly endless bear market. Will the euphoria that grows as the next Bitcoin halving of 2024 approaches help the crypto market raise its head?

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How do concerts work in the Metaverse?

Concerts dans le Metaverse : comment fonctionnent-ils ?

More and more artists are choosing to perform virtually and bring their audiences into the digital world. But how do concerts in the Metaverse work? 

Concerts in the Metaverse were born during the pandemic, as a ‘creative’ response to all the bans and curfews. Does that period also seem very far away to you? It was the year 2020. All live events were forbidden and curfew was at ten o’clock. Not only bad memories, at that time thanks to technology we reinvented entertainment! 

All thanks to motion capture!

The technology that makes concerts in the Metaverse possible is motion capture. The movements of live performers are captured with suits and sensors and projected to their digital avatars. Just to name a few, this is the case of Lil Nas X and his concert in front of 33 million users in the Roblox metaverse, Ariana Grande‘s performance on Fortnite and BTS‘s performance on Minecraft. 21 Pilots also performed in 2022 on Roblox. The members of the American duo said they were able to convey their energy to the viewers, thanks to the motion capture technology provided by Xsens. Being both musicians, they not only sang but also played their virtual instruments. In short, the challenge was even tougher, but the motion capture lived up to expectations.

How much do concerts cost in the Metaverse? Where do they take place?

These gigs take place on video games and specialised platforms or on decentralised metaverses such as The Sandbox and Decentraland. The latter has hosted several world famous artists in the last period, including Ozzy Osbourne and Soulja Boy. There are also events that take place in theatres with the addition of virtual elements. In some cases it is necessary to buy a ticket as in a normal concert, in most cases attendance is free. In addition, seats are unlimited, one of the advantages of the Metaverse is that there are no space problems. 

What happens at a concert in the Metaverse? 

Every concert is unique and so as not to generalise, we prefer to tell you about some of them! 

The best concert in the Metaverse according to MTV

At the MTV Video Music Awards 2022, an ad hoc award was created for performances in the Metaverse, won by BLACKPINK, a Korean K-Pop group. The performance, which took place within the video game PUBG, featured stunning graphics and a surreal set design that eventually turned into a mini-game involving the audience. The skins (costumes) of the four singers were available for purchase on the video game store in the days leading up to the event.

ABBA

ABBA, the Swedish pop group, staged a hybrid event in 2022. Hybrid because they performed from a London location and at the same time, thanks to motion capture, the artists appeared on stage as if they were performing straight out of the 1970s. Mood, costumes, sets and all! 

Ariana Grande’s Rift Tour

Among the most famous concerts in the Metaverse, how can we not mention the one by Ariana Grande that took place on Fortnite on 7 August 2021 and is considered one of the best ever. In the first part, each user came face to face with the singer, a situation that seemed almost real thanks to the video game’s graphics. The moving rendition of Raindrops was followed by some dance and trap tracks in which the audience went wild. The performance ended in a temple in the clouds, where the artist opened a ‘time-space’ tunnel to allow Fortnite players to return to the set where the game is usually set.

Pre-tour event for Justin Bieber

To launch his 2022 world tour, Justin Bieber did a free show on the Wave platform on 18 November 2021. Viewers of this concert in the Metaverse were able to interact directly with the singer during the performance, chat with fans from all over the world and at certain times, express preferences on how the event should continue. 

Limits and potential of concerts in the Metaverse

Most of the concerts in the Metaverse are still in hybrid form and not fully digital. This is due to the fact that the servers hosting these events are still to be upgraded. For example, the ability to host an unlimited number of users without crashing could be improved. To eliminate the problem of sold-out tickets once and for all. 

Beyond the technical limitations, concerts in the Metaverse seem to bring great possibilities. Both for spectators and performers, who have the opportunity to experiment with special effects and settings that are difficult to reproduce on a real stage. 

If you have always dreamed of being able to teleport to the other side of the world to hear your favourite American artist who hasn’t come to Europe since 1492, concerts in the Metaverse could be for you. The sensations are different from those of a live concert, but no less ‘real’.

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The Unusual World of Web Domains: Tales and Trivia

Have you ever wondered what ‘Google’ means or what the longest domain on the web is? Get ready for 90s revival-themed trivia

Digging deep into the history of internet domains and beyond, we have uncovered these 5 curiosities and trivia. Among mysterious characters only forums talk about, beyond the most ridiculous and useless websites, in the depths of vintage web archives, absurd and unexpected facts have emerged. Let’s get to it.

1. In 2015, someone bought Google.com for $12

The history of the Google domain is full of oversights, starting from its inception. Can you imagine typing Googol.com instead of Google.com? It would be ironic, since Googol was originally supposed to be the name of the famous search engine. 

The term means ‘10 to the power of 100’ (1 plus 100 zeros) and it was Larry Page‘s university friend Sean who suggested it to him in 1997. Larry approved the name and Sean registered it for him, but without knowing the correct spelling of the word, so he purchased the name we know today.

Google’s second slip-up happened in 2015, when in the middle of the night a former employee of the giant, Sanmay Ved, managed to buy Google.com.

Sanmay did not expect to be able to get the domain, and for only $12 moreover, yet he even received the invoice. Google, however, did not take too long to regain possession of his domain on the web: in just one minute, Sanmay saw the world’s most powerful URL slip out of his hands.

The trilogy ends in 2021 in Buenos Aires: it is evening and a young designer, while working, notices that Google is not working. So he checks the site responsible for internet domains in Argentina and sees that Google Argentina is for sale. Someone in his place would perhaps have thought it was an error or a bug and would have ignored the anomaly. Instead, Nicolas, our champ, decides to click and the purchase goes through for the equivalent of just €2.30. For a few hours, this time, the domain was in Nicolas’s possession, yet Google did not clarify why the domain was available, nor how it brought it back under its control. 

2. Cancelled web domains: a geopolitical ghost story

There are 5 ccTLDs that have been deleted due to geopolitical changes. Yes, Risk is also played out on the WWW and it can be fascinating to discover how these events are handled in different ways by ICANN and the entities involved, as well as being a dropcatching opportunity for the domainers of these countries.

The process of removing a ccTLD from a country that no longer exists or has a new name is not always immediate. In the case of the former Soviet countries and the USSR itself, there are many examples of transitions that dragged on for years. The .su (Soviet Union) domain itself is still usable, so much so that it still has about 100,000 registered domains and seems to be very popular with cyber criminals.

Some, on the other hand, actually disappeared:

  • .an: the Netherlands Antilles dissolved in 2010, since then ICANN accepted the domains .bq (Caribbean Netherlands), .cw (Curaçao) and .sx (Sint Maarten) as replacements.
  • .dd: the domain was originally intended for the GDR (German Democratic Republic), but was only used internally between two East German universities.
  • .um: this TLD referring to the US Minor Islands was removed in 2007. It used to be managed by the University of Southern California, but the islands have been virtually uninhabited for decades and the institute asked to be relieved of this responsibility.
  • .yu: the ccTLD of the former Republic of Yugoslavia, which was permanently dissolved in 2006, was only removed in 2010 after .yu website owners managed to move to the .rs (Serbia) and .me (Montenegro) top-level domains.
  • .zr: shortly after the introduction of the ccTLD for the Republic of Zaire, the African state changed its name to Democratic Republic of Congo in 1997 and was given the extension .cd. The .zr domain was finally deleted by ICANN in 2001.

To the domainers out there, keep your eyes peeled for geographical shifts.

3. Get the longest possible domain? Challenge accepted!

The Internet really is a wonderful place, and just as self-referential. If you’ve already got lost among the photos and wiki pages of very long place names, you won’t help but LoL about this next geographical trivia.

The world’s first longest domain is actually the name of a village in Wales. In 2002, llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllllantysiliogogogoch.co.uk was registered and entered the Guinness Book of Records with 58 characters excluding the TLD. However, consider that the maximum length allowed for any part of the domain is 63 characters.

In fact, someone in 2007, challenged this record by registering llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndwllllantysiliogogogochuchaf.eu, with 60 characters excluding the TLD. “uchaf” means the ‘old’ or ‘high’ part of the village. I challenge you to pronounce it in one breath, that would be a real record.

In those years, however, two other domains actually reached 63 characters. The first contains a blog dedicated to Pi, by a German mathematician so passionate that he memorised the whole domain name:

3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592.eu.

If, however, the requirement for the world record is to create a domain consisting of letters, thisisthelongesteuropeandomainnameallovertheworldandnowitismine.eu wins it. 

4. Coca cola made a marketing campaign using 61 domains

Coca Cola’s strategy wasn’t too different, its marketing department took domains so seriously that they made a promotional campaign out of them. You know those commercials for Santa’s favourite drink? At some point you hear an opening ‘click’ or a thirst-quenching ‘ahh‘. This is like a slogan for the scarlet brand. 

Thus in 2013 as many as 61 domain names appeared, starting with “ahh.com” and the rest was with an increasing number of ‘h’s. Today, these sites are mostly for sale or inactive, but at the time the intention was to impress millennials who were indifferent to classic promotional means.

5. One man in 2012 bought 14,692 domains in one day

If you think Nicolas or Sanmay were heroes, you haven’t met Mike Mann yet. Mike is not one of those dropcatching vultures, he creates domains. If you ask him why, he replies that it is out of greed: Mike simply wants to own the world. But who is this mysterious character with such a common name?

This greedy domainer is now 56 years old and has been in the domain scene since the beginning. In the 1990s, he founded an Internet Service Provider company, but one day someone offered him $25,000 for a domain he owned, and the next day they offered him twice as much. Realising the opportunity, having paid only $70 for that domain, he immediately dove into the at-the-time wild domain market.

Mike thus began creating and selling hundreds of domains a day, but in 2012 he outdid himself by purchasing 14,692 in just 24 hours. 

Today, the entrepreneur still owns a few domains, on which he has founded companies and organisations. He owns none other than SEO.com and Phone.com, an SEO agency and a phone service company respectively. He then founded DomainMarket.com and AccurateAppraisals.com dedicated to the Internet domain market. But he also got involved in social work, creating the educational project FearlessLeaders.com and MakeChange.com, a charity organisation. Makemillions.com, on the other hand, is the site dedicated to his book, and of course he owns MikeMann.com.

Hopefully these 5 interesting facts about internet domains made you go “ah!” at least once, like in a Coca Cola commercial. And if you’re still thirsty, discover more facts in the history of internet domains.

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The 10 most expensive internet domains in history

Internet domains: the 10 most expensive in history

Who is ready to shell out millions for a name on the Internet? Here are the most expensive domains ever and their owners

How is it possible that Internet domains, virtual properties that can be bought for as little as a few dozen dollars, come to cost millions and millions? Some are more valuable than others, and despite the fact that more than twenty years have passed since they were first traded, this market is still very active today. The rarest, and therefore most desirable, domains are those defined by unique, meaningful words. Those words that can describe a precise field or sector such as “cars”, “internet” or “sex” (as in the case of Sex.com, the domain that took everyone to court). The ranking of the most expensive domains in history is all made up of the TDL .com, the one with the most international scope.

1.    Cars.com – 872 million

The most expensive internet domain in history? Cars.com, which had a valuation of $872,000,000 in 2017. It is currently owned by the Chicago-based car company of the same name. Its value was estimated on the basis of balance sheet documents of parent company Gannet Co., Inc. 

2.    LasVegas.com – 90 million

This domain was purchased by Vegas.com, a travel, tourism and entertainment site linked to the city in Nevada. The agreement, which came in 2005, provided for a payment of $12,000,000 at the time of signing and monthly payments scheduled until 2040, when the domain will be officially transferred to Vegas.com (assuming it does not want to terminate the contract).

3.    CarInsurance.com – 49.7 million

CarInsurance.com hosts a car insurance website and since 2010 it has been owned by QuinStreet, a marketing and advertising company that is very active in domain, website and media buying and selling.

4.    Insurance.com – 35.6 million

Prior to CarInsurance.com, QuinStreet had already purchased Insure.com (for $16 million) and Insurance.com in 2009 to strengthen its online presence and identity in the field of insurance. The former was owned by a broker, while Insurance.com was bought for $35.6 million by an insurance agency.

5.    VacationRentals.com – 35 million

In fifth place in the ranking of the most expensive internet domains ever is VacationRentals.com. In 2013 it was bought for $35 million by Brian Sharples, CEO of HomeAway (now Vrbo, Vacation Rentals by Owner), a company that offers holiday rental accommodation. The purchase had a ‘defensive’ purpose at the time, Sharples explained: ‘the only reason we bought it was because Expedia couldn’t have that url’. Fun fact: marking territory did not help, Expedia acquired Vrbo in 2015.

6.    PrivateJet.com – 30.2 million

PrivateJet.com since 2012 has been owned by Nations, a platform that offers private aviation services such as buying and selling jets around the world. Nations purchased the domain from Don’t Look Media for $30.2 million.

7.    Voice.com – 30 million

You may not know that Micheal Saylor‘s MicroStrategy is also involved in trading valuable internet domains. On 30 May 2019, it sold the Voice.com domain to Block.one for $30 million to launch its blockchain-based social media platform called Voice. The word ‘voice’ in English is clear and recognisable, it immediately links to a project and the associated domain is worth so much.

8.    Internet.com – 18 million

Internet.com was bought in 2009 for $18 million by QuinStreet. However, it may have secretly climbed the ranking of the most expensive internet domains ever… In fact, an auction was organised in 2021 with a minimum auction base of 35 million. Unfortunately, there is no information on the outcome and the eventual new owner.

9.    360.com – 17 million

The owner of 360.com is Qihoo 360, a Chinese company specialising in security software. The domain, which previously belonged to Vodafone, was acquired to improve brand perception. Compared to ‘qihoo’, ‘360’ is a more immediate and easy-to-remember name due to the technical term ‘360 degree’.

10. NFTs.com – 15 million

This crypto-themed domain closes the top 10, NFTs.com was bought for $15 million on 3 August 2022. Although the buyer has remained anonymous, it is known to have links to Web3 projects such as the Digital Artist platform. It is one of the most expensive crypto word domains (Eth.com was sold for ‘only’ 2 million).

Crypto.com, Stake.com and Bitcoin.com also seem to fall into the category of the most expensive internet domains in history. In these cases, however, negotiations remained confidential.