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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.

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Cryptocurrencies to keep an eye on in 2023

Crypto: plans and news for 2023

Let’s analyse the memorable trends and events of 2022 and discover the most interesting crypto projects for 2023. Here are the ones you cannot miss!

After the excitement of the all-time high we started with this year, cryptocurrencies have been through a lot during 2022. And so have we. From the tightening of monetary policies, to the failure of some crypto projects considered to be giants in the industry. In this situation, some virtual currencies have fared better than others. We are here to review and analyse the trends and events of 2022 and to discover the most interesting crypto projects for 2023.

The crypto market in 2022: what happened?  

Before analysing the new projects and innovations that the most capitalised cryptos have in store for 2023, let’s do a quick recap of what happened in the industry during this difficult year. 2022 in Crypto can be summed up in these two concepts: failures and adoption. We started the year still enthusiastic about the price spikes that had just been reached, but we soon entered a negative economic situation. Emerging markets, such as the cryptocurrency market, were affected by increasingly strict monetary policies. Many times this year, the performance of Bitcoin and Ethereum has followed macroeconomic events. The US stock market has lost over 15% in value, the bond markets 20% and the crypto market has fallen over 50% from its peak in November 2021.

In the first months of the year, cryptocurrencies were actually not particularly affected, or at least not until the collapse of the blockchain Terra. A new blow then came a few weeks ago with the bankruptcy of FTX. The failure of these two crypto projects has brought attention to the need to regulate the sector to protect users. A topic we will probably hear a lot about in 2023. 

Although these failures affected the market, it is important to note that neither was caused by problems with blockchain technology per se. On the contrary, in 2022 the technical development continued on its path and for cryptocurrencies the progress made is remarkable. 

Trends: mobile breakthrough and the quest for scalability

The cryptocurrency world this year seems to have finally realised the importance of the ‘mobile’ medium. Concretely, this shift has been reflected by the development of new crypto projects including dapps, wallets and play-to-earn games for mobile devices, and by the launch of actual smartphones to facilitate the use of services. As in the case of Saga, Solana’s mobile phone. The goal of these projects is to improve the user experience, embracing mobile is necessary to reach the goal of one billion people transacting cryptocurrency on a regular basis (currently estimated at 300 million) as soon as possible. For many, mobile dapps and crypto smartphones in a few years’ time will be far more prevalent than AR and VR devices for the Metaverse. In the wake of this trend, 2022 was also the year when NFTs arrived on social networks. 

As we will see in the following paragraphs, the main goal that the most capitalised crypto projects have set themselves for 2023 is to enhance their scalability. That is, to make networks faster and cheaper to operate.

Bitcoin 

Nakamoto’s coin starts its 2023 with a record! The Layer 2 project of the world’s longest-lived and most famous cryptocurrency, the Lightning Network, reached the capacity, i.e. the maximum exchangeable value, of 5,000 BTC in the last days of 2022. This value grows proportionally to the use of the Lightning Network, which is now at an all-time high mainly due to adoption and integrations for small payments. At the same time, with a virtuous circle, capacity increases the speed and quantity of transactions. Another new development for Bitcoin is the development of Taro. The creators of the Lightning Network themselves announced this new crypto project that will allow stablecoins to be developed on the BTC blockchain. 

Ethereum

The most important blockchain event of 2022? The Merge! That is, the transition of Ethereum from the Proof-of-Work to the Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism. The complexity and scope of the consequences of this change make The Merge one of the biggest milestones in the history of blockchain. But what are the new projects and innovations of Vitalik Buterin’s crypto for 2023? The first item on the roadmap is the Shanghai update that will complete the transition to Proof-of-Stake by regulating staking activities for validators. The Ethereum Foundation has set itself two further goals: to be able to process up to 100,000 transactions per second and to reduce fees on its network. Both of these improvements can be achieved thanks to new features that will be implemented by a new update package, known as ‘Sharding’.

Polygon

The MATIC team in 2022 also focused on improving the scalability of the blockchain. The biggest innovation in this respect is the integration of zk rollups, a Layer-2 technology that allows transactions to be grouped off-chain and transferred all together on-chain. This decreases the time it takes to validate transactions and lightens the burden of data being transcribed on the blockchain. This year has been a busy one for Polygon, as well as achieving its goal of becoming carbon neutral (and offsetting all emissions since its founding), it has entered into numerous collaborations with iconic companies and brands outside the cryptocurrency market. New plans for MATIC, Polygon’s crypto, for 2023 will focus on further increasing the scalability of its network and progressive adoption.

Cardano 

For Cardano in September 2022 came the Vasil update, designed to enhance blockchain performance in terms of scalability and speed. The update changed the validation and transaction transmission system and also the programming language for Cardano’s smart contracts, Plutus. Vasil is one of the ADA team’s initiatives to attract dapp developers, especially DeFi developers. In short, thanks to this update, Charles Hoskinson’s blockchain is looking forward to a 2023 marked by the development of many new crypto projects on its network. 

Dogecoin 

The flirtation between Dogecoin and Elon Musk will presumably continue in 2023. Probably thanks to him, this cryptocurrency made it through 2022 without too much damage. The price of Dogecoin has kept pace with Musk’s statements and business decisions, and for every new development, we have found a pump. The growth of the meme coin was particularly pronounced in November, when Musk bought Twitter, making plans for the future of the social network. One of the crypto projects the tycoon might involve Dogecoin in? Twitter’s payment methods. 

Stablecoin 

If we take a look at the ranking of cryptocurrencies by market cap, between Bitcoin, Ethereum and the others we have just reported on, we find a few stablecoins lined up. How did 2022 go for Tether and USDC and what plans do these dollar-pegged cryptos have in store for 2023? After Terra’s stablecoin depegging, which caused the collapse of the entire ecosystem, the reputation of these digital coins was tarnished. Tether and USDC have therefore spent these months working on transparency and maintaining user trust. Tether, which has since also expanded to Polkadot, assures in a statement on 9 November that ‘the tokens are 100% backed by our reserves’ and that ‘Tether holds a strong, conservative and liquid portfolio, which includes cash, equivalents and US Treasury securities’.

Circle, the company that manages USDC, also confirms the soundness of its reserves and this summer also launched a new stablecoin pegged to the euro. The efforts of the centralised stablecoins seem to be paying off as their market capitalisation continues to grow. New ones are also expected to arrive in early 2023, notably Aave and Curve, which are a lending protocol and a decentralised exchange, respectively. Will the two DeFi giants be able to continue with their plans to create stable cryptos by the end of 2023?

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Everything about Aptos, the new Layer 1 blockchain for lightning transactions

Aptos: the new cryptocurrency and Layer 1 blockchain explained

Aptos is a brand new Layer 1 blockchain. What is it and how does it work?

This October, Aptos was launched. It is a new Layer 1 blockchain developed by former Meta employees. Only a few days after its debut in the crypto world, Aptos has already been making waves, both in a positive and negative sense. On the one hand, there are those who present Aptos and its APT crypto as the possible Solana Killer, due to the large amount of transactions per second it promises to be able to process. On the other hand, Aptos’s launch has been criticised due to several factors, such as the ‘premature’ listing on well-known crypto exchanges prior to the release of APT’s tokenomics. Find out what the Aptos project is, and what the main controversies surrounding the launch are!

The birth of of a brand new crypto: Aptos

Aptos is a Layer 1 blockchain founded by a group of former employees of Meta (formerly Facebook). The group of developers founded the Aptos Foundation in August 2022, which is responsible for defining the guidelines of the project. The new blockchain uses a Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithm to validate transactions on its network. The new Aptos crypto is programmed in Move, a smart contract writing language developed by Facebook in 2019. Move was created to build Facebook’s native blockchain, Diem. However, the project was abandoned in January 2022.

Even before its launch, Aptos’s Layer 1 blockchain and its APT crypto have been the talk of the town. How come? A great amount of interest in the project was shown from major venture capital funds, who also decided to invest in the project. Aptos raised 350 million through three different funding rounds between March and September 2022. The funds came from some of the most important venture capitalists in the crypto market such as Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Jump Crypto, FTX Ventures and Binance Labs.

How does Aptos work? The new Layer 1 blockchain

The new Aptos Layer 1 blockchain underwent an intensive testing programme during the months leading up to its launch. Using a Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithm, Aptos works thanks to 102 validators who are responsible for the security of the network. The project wants to distinguish itself by its ability to process more than 160,000 transactions per second, a number far greater than that of other Layer 1 blockchains. To date, the competitor to beat is Solana. On paper, this Layer 1 blockchain can process the largest number of transactions per second, reaching a maximum of 65,000. For this reason, Aptos was called a possible Solana Killer at its launch.

The Aptos Foundation wants to ensure a high amount of usability of the network for its users. One of the main weaknesses that Web3 is facing is complexity of use. Thanks in particular to the Move programming language, Aptos wants to improve this! Move has been designed to build more user-friendly smart contracts and DApps, which can also be used by those who are not familiar with the technologies involved.

In this first week since its launch, the Aptos network became very active. Especially so with regard to NFTs, which have recorded considerable volumes. For instance, the Aptos Monkeys collection, which was launched on the NFT marketplace Topaz, raised nearly 300,000 APTs (around $2.7 million) in the first 24 hours after its launch. The main wallet for storing and using APT tokens and NFTs on Aptos is a web extension called Petra, which has already exceeded 300,000 downloads on the chrome web store.

Aptos: an opaque beginning?

The launch of Aptos has undoubtedly broken the monotony of this bear market, generating much controversy but also some appreciation. Let’s proceed in order. The first criticism arose in the hours before the launch. Users who had participated in the Aptos testnet (an almost identical copy of the main blockchain being used for experimentation), received a very substantial airdrop. The rewards distributed via the airdrop were either 150 or 300 units of the new Aptos cryptocurrency, depending on the tasks the users performed on the testnet. The Aptos Foundation distributed 20.1 million crypto APTs, representing approximately 2% of the total supply. This amount of APT was, at the time of distribution, worth between 200 and 260 million dollars. It was divided among 110,235 crypto wallets.

The criticism in this case was that the airdrop was excessive and benefited the so-called ‘airdrop hunters’. They are users who complete tasks required by blockchain protocols using different wallets. Once they receive the airdrop, they instantly sell the crypto they have received.

The second wave of criticism concerns the choice of Aptos and some exchanges including Binance and FTX to make trading available before the tokenomics were officially released. This choice by the Aptos Foundation put potential investors in an uncomfortable position. On the one hand, they would not have wanted to miss the launch of Aptos, but on the other hand, they felt insecure given the lack of transparency shown by the project.

The tokenomics of APT, the crypto of Aptos

The tokenomics publication, which came only after listing on some of the best-known exchanges, provides for a total APT supply of one billion tokens. 510 million are held by venture capital companies, and 410 million are held by the Aptos Foundation. These 410 million tokens are locked as of today, and will be unlocked progressively over the next 10 years. The remaining part of Aptos’ supply, a total of 80 million APTs, have partly been distributed through airdrops and partly will be made available to projects that will be created on the blockchain.

If the delay in the publication of tokenomics generated controversy, the structure of tokenomics itself only increased it. The price of APT has suffered as a result. The main factor that created discontent is the amount of APT owned by venture capital companies and the Aptos Foundation. According to users, there are too many tokens held by institutional investors and the Aptos Foundation. This could generate strong sell pressure on the APT token in the future.

The influence on the price could be seen immediately after the launch. The starting price of the Aptos crypto was around $14. In the first hours after the launch, it marked a downward movement of more than 40%. In the days following the launch, the price of APT ‘stabilised’ at around $9.

PancakeSwap is the first DeFi DApp to land on Aptos

On Monday the 24th October 2022, PancakeSwap, the decentralised exchange (DEX) built on the Binance Smart Chain, announced that its platform will also be available on Aptos. The decision was made following a vote within PancakeSwap’s DAO. PancakeSwap’s ecosystem on Aptos will be similar to the one already present on the Binance Smart Chain.

Thus, Swaps will be enabled. These are a mechanism through which tokens built on the Aptos blockchain can be exchanged. Farms and Pools, where you can stack your tokens in exchange for rewards, will also be made available as well as the IFO section. The acronym stands for Initial Farm Offering, and it is a kind of ‘Initial Coin Offering’ (ICO). IFOs have the dual purpose of allowing to raise development funds for emerging projects, and incentivising users to hold crypto in the ecosystem. To participate in an IFO, it is necessary to lock your tokens in an LP (liquidity pool), which consists of 50% CAKE crypto and 50% APT.

The integration of PancakeSwap, which is the eighth DeFi ecosystem in terms of TVL, is certainly a good achievement. We will see if the new Aptos Layer 1 blockchain will continue to integrate new features at this pace, and if it will one day be able to compete with Solana in the challenge for creating the most scalable network.

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ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence that writes poetry and software

What is ChatGPT? Artificial intelligence for text and code writing

What is ChatGPT? Discover the artificial intelligence of the moment that can answer complex questions and that writes poetry and computer programmes

A few days ago, ChatGPT was released, a new application based on the GPT-3 deep learning model developed by Open AI, a San Francisco-based company founded by Elon Musk in 2015. ChatGPT is a chatbot, or artificial intelligence designed to process any text: from an article like this one to a string of html code. All thanks to the almost infinite pool of resources it gathers from the web and consults in milliseconds, as well as its ability to understand human language.

Since its release, it has been the talk of the internet, with posts by programmers and copywriters who fear being replaced by AI, users trying to figure out whether ChatGPT is in any way sentient, and those who post screenshots of the absurd requests they have made of OpenAI’s chatbot.

Opinions on ChatGPT are mixed. There are those who are enthusiastic because they see artificial intelligence as a tool that will simplify everyday work. And those, probably influenced by the countless science fiction films that deal with the issue, fear a dystopian denouement of the situation.

How does ChatGPT work?

OpenAI’s artificial intelligence is one of the most advanced AI for natural language processing. This chatbot is designed to be ‘linguistically generic’. This means that it is able to generate texts similar to what a human being could write using a very wide range of content. Just ask and ChatGPT will answer you.

It can write fantastic short stories, lyrics for songs, social media posts and poems in the style of the greatest poets. It doesn’t matter what language you formulate questions or requests in, as it can also instantly translate texts. To give you an idea of what it can do, we asked it to write a poem dedicated to Bitcoin in the style of Dante. This was the result:

“There, the value is not determined

By bankers or the laws of the market,

But from faith and trust

That users have in their system.

And so I came to Bitcoin, a new currency

that reigns over the world’s markets

with unparalleled power and strength.

O Bitcoin, you who are the future in search,

guide our steps towards the light

and give us the wisdom we need’.

ChatGPT is also capable of writing lines of code using popular programming languages, and is therefore also an interesting tool for developers.

Although it is a complex tool, using it is very simple. You just log on to the site and sign up. Once the registration is complete, you can indulge yourself by asking the AI complicated questions, such as “explain to me how a quantum computer works”. Or you can use this artificial intelligence to write Python code for a simple game.

Can artificial intelligence create smart contracts?

Artificial intelligence can also be used within Web3 in different ways. For instance, AIs are used to create NFT collections of generative art. Or, as in the case of ChatGPT, to write smart contracts or find any vulnerabilities in them. To check whether a smart contract has weaknesses, you simply have to go back to the code that makes it up and ask the chat if it has weaknesses. Finding the text of the code of a smart contract that manages a function of a dapp for example is very easy, since practically all Web3 applications are open source, i.e. can be consulted by anyone. 

Yes, you got that right! ChatGPT is also able to read and write in programming languages for the development of blockchain applications, such as Solidity, the programming language in which Ethereum is programmed, or Rust, that of Solana. If you don’t believe this, you can try it yourself, for instance by asking it to write a smart contract that generates an NFT.

The debate: does artificial intelligence belong to the people?

The potential of this technology has sparked a series of debates within Crypto Twitter. There has been discussion about the ability of artificial intelligence to detect vulnerabilities within codes, an ability that some users see as a threat. Once the weaknesses have been identified, thanks to ChatGPT, some malicious parties could attack the smart contracts of decentralised applications (dapp) and thus take possession of users’ money.

However, there are also those who have opposing views on the subject, such as the developers of Open AI. Their view on the issue is that artificial intelligence is not a threat. It will help benefit Web3 developers by enabling them to programme more secure smart contracts more quickly.

Finally, there are those who believe that such powerful and complex tools should not be handed over to the hands of individuals or companies, but should instead be directed by DAOs (decentralised autonomous organisations). This idea was given by one of the co-founders of Polygon, known on twitter by the handle sandeep.

DAOs exploit smart contracts for collective decision-making through voting where participants can cast their votes using the protocol’s cryptos. Entrusting artificial intelligence to DAOs could ensure a high degree of decentralisation, transparency and innovation while avoiding handing these powerful tools over to the hands of individuals or companies that might act to the detriment of the common good.

As is often the case when it comes to cutting-edge technology, there remain many more questions than answers. One certainty, however, is that ChatGPT is already an excellent tool that improves and speeds up the work of a large number of professionals. Moreover, being an artificial intelligence, it is also able to improve itself on a daily basis thanks to the feedback and questions posed to it by users. In short, it is potentially an unlimited resource of knowledge. And you, do you think that with AIs you can conquer the world? Or, will they conquer the world without us realising?

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Young Monday: Algorand and the Bank of Italy, Africa embraces crypto and NFT crimes

Algorand and Bank of Italy, Justin Bieber investigated for his Bored Ape

The Bank of Italy chooses Algorand as its first blockchain platform, cryptocurrency adoption grows in Africa and the “Yuga Labs Gate” scandal erupts

A week full of twists and turns in the world of crypto has just ended. The atmosphere has been tense as Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested a few days ago. Do Kwon, the fugitive founder of the Terra Ecosystem (LUNA) has been spotted in Serbia. Meanwhile, the list of crypto suspects has been growing as Yuga Labs and some celebrities including Justin Bieber, Madonna and Paris Hilton have been accused of manipulating the NFT market.

Beyond the world of crimes, courts and prisons, Algorand has been commissioned to develop a blockchain platform dedicated to the Italian banking and insurance sector. In other news, Africa is showing us new examples of adoption: Nigeria and Kenya are among the twenty countries where cryptocurrencies are most widely used. Moreover, it is increasingly easy to send money to the African continent thanks to the Lightning Network, Bitcoin‘s Layer 2 scalability solution.

Algorand and the first platform for banks and insurance companies

Algorand has been chosen as the Layer 1 blockchain that will support the development of a platform responsible for issuing digital financial guarantees. These are provided by banks and insurance companies to guarantee the fulfilment of contractual obligations or payments. Basically, they are documents that prove to creditors that you have the necessary funds to repay a debt. The platform will be developed in collaboration between Algorand, the Bank of Italy, IVASS (the institute for insurance supervision) and CeTIF, the research centre for innovation and technology of the Cattolica University of Milan.

But why was Algorand’s blockchain chosen? Firstly for its ability to process transactions cheaply and quickly but also because Algorand’s founder is the Italian mathematician Silvio Micali. He commented: ‘we are proud and honoured to be the chosen public blockchain’ moreover – ‘through Algorand’s technology, we can help solve many critical problems facing financial institutions and governments around the world today, bringing opportunity and inclusion to the table’.

The “Yuga Labs Gate” scandal: Justin Bieber, Madonna and Paris Hilton are also under indictment

Last week, several celebrities including Madonna, Justin Bieber, Paris Hilton and Jimmy Fallon were accused of illegally promoting Yuga Labs‘ NFTs, in particular, the famous Bored Ape Yacht Club. Thirty-three other defendants are being indicted, including a large number of Hollywood celebrities. They are alleged to have broken ten consumer protection and financial securities laws.

Yuga Labs has caught the authorities’ attention for devising a secret scheme in collaboration with celebrities, with the goal of inflating the price of the Bored Apes. The document submitted by the prosecution shows the scheme that Yuga Labs allegedly used to secretly reward the complicit stars. They would therefore not have purchased the Bored Apes using their own free will, but were incentivised by a financial return. The investigation also mentions the online payment service Moonpay, which handled the exchange of money between Yuga Labs and the stars.

A spokesperson for Yuga Labs told Decrypt: ‘In our opinion, these claims are opportunistic and parasitic. We firmly believe they are baseless and look forward to proving it’. Yuga Labs and the Bored Apes Yacht Club thus find themselves once again in the crosshairs of the US federal institutions, just two months after the still unfinished investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In October, the SEC investigated Yuga Labs to verify that it was not selling its NFT collections as securities without authorisation.

The African continent is embracing adoption

Jack Mallers, the CEO of Strike, a leading payment services company on the Lightning Network, made an announcement on stage at the AfroBitcoin conference. A partnership with Bitnob is being developed to facilitate money exchanges between Europe and Africa. Currently, the only way to send money to African countries, particularly sub-Saharan ones, is to use intermediaries. The best known of them is Western Union. However, intercontinental transactions are quite slow and expensive. For example, to make a $1,000 transfer to Africa you need to spend about five dollars in fees. Also, it takes no less than three working days for the payment to reach the recipient.

Thanks to Strike and its Send Globally app, Africans wishing to send remittance money to family or friends will be able to transfer pounds sterling (GBP) or euros (EUR) into the local currencies of Nigeria (NGN), Kenya (KES) and Ghana (GHS), in the space of a few seconds. The money, as is already the case when using Strike to pay in participating shops, will be automatically converted into BTC. It will then be sent, converted back into the local currency and deposited directly into the recipient’s bank account or mobile wallet.

A report compiled by Chainalisys shows that Africa is one of the continents at the forefront of the cryptocurrency industry. Among African countries where cryptocurrencies are most widely used are Nigeria and Kenya. They rank 11th and 19th respectively in the Global Crypto Adoption Index, which is also used by Chainalisys to measure cryptocurrency adoption in countries around the world.

CryptoCrime: Sam Bankman-Fried and Do Kwon

The vices of the ‘outlaws’ of the crypto world continue coming to light, and the stories are beginning to resemble a true crime series. Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the FTX exchange, was arrested early last week at his residence in the Bahamas. He is now awaiting extradition and trial, which could result in a sentence of 115 years imprisonment. This sentence was calculated by adding up the years of imprisonment for SBF’s charges. Namely embezzlement, financial fraud, conspiracy and money laundering, and two counts of wire fraud. In the first hearing, held on Tuesday the 13th of December in a court in the Caribbean archipelago, the prosecutor denied FTX’s founder bail, probably for fear that he might escape. Meanwhile, SBF has already applied for house arrest because of the health problems he claims to suffer from: insomnia and depression.

The other notorious fugitive from the crypto world, Do Kwon, for whom South Korea issued a warrant for his arrest on the 14th of September 2022, appears to have moved to Serbia last month. The former Terraform Labs CEO reportedly arrived in the Balkan country via Dubai, but  he may have already left. Unfortunately, due to the invalidation of Do Kwon’s passport, it is impossible to know his whereabouts with any certainty.

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Sam Bankman-Fried arrested, what happens now?

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried arrested: what happens now?

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested last night in the Bahamas. What happened? What will be the next developments?

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested on the morning of the 13th of December (at 5:00 a.m. GMT) in the Bahamas, at his residence in Nassau. Local police forces detained him one day before his testimony before Congress that was scheduled for Wednesday the 14th December 2022. It is now likely to be canceled. But why was SBF arrested today specifically, after weeks of being left free?

There are two main hypotheses. For some, the arrest comes with the fear that Bankman-Fried might move to a country where the US could not extradite him. Others speculate a connection with new allegations made by Do Kwon that were picked up by the media. They concern a possible involvement in the collapse of the Terra (LUNA) ecosystem.

According to the New York Times, there are five charges for the founder of FTX: wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and money laundering. What will be the next developments? Will Sam Bankman-Fried’s collaborators Caroline Ellison and Sam Trabucco also be arrested soon? Are SBF and Alameda Research really responsible for the collapse of the Terra-LUNA ecosystem?

What will happen now to Sam Bankman-Fried and his co-workers?

After being ‘at large’ for quite a long time (it has been about a month since the FTX exchange declared bankruptcy on the 11th November 2022), as of yesterday morning, Sam Bankman-Fried is being held in custody in a Bahamian prison. The FTX founder’s arrest came at the request of the US government, which plans to extradite him to a US federal prison.

Commenting on the incident, the Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis said: ‘The Bahamas and the United States have a common interest in holding accountable all individuals associated with the FTX failure who may have betrayed the public trust and broken the law.

In these first hours after the arrest, uncertainty reigns. It is not yet clear how many years in prison SBF faces, just as it is not yet known whether he will testify before the US Congress tomorrow as scheduled, although this seems unlikely.

Another question on the minds of many concerns the future of Sam Bankman-Fried’s associates, Caroline Ellison and Sam Trabucco. For the two, respectively CEO and co-CEO of investment fund and market maker Alameda Research, the same fate is probably in store. In the meantime, statements by the FTX founder are circulating again. A few days ago in an interview, he said was sure that he could not be arrested. On that same occasion, he had revealed his commitment to working on a new project with the aim of returning the money lost to his users.

Was it SBF and Alameda that brought down Terra (LUNA)?

What does Terra (LUNA) have to do with the SBF affair? In recent days, there has been talk about the possible responsibility of Alameda Research in the failure of the ecosystem. Alameda was the trading company founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, that has strong ties to FTX for reasons linked to fund management. A large amount of these funds were allocated to FTT, the token of the FTX exchange.

According to these allegations, Ellison and Trabucco’s hedge fund allegedly attacked Do Kwon‘s blockchain in order to destroy its competitor: Three Arrow Capital (3AC). They were heavily exposed to the blockchain’s two main assets: the LUNA crypto and the UST stablecoin.

The accusation, which originated from former Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon and Three Arrow Capital co-founder Su Zhu, has not been ignored by US prosecutors. They have launched an investigation that will result in a market manipulation charge against Bankman-Fried and Alameda Research. Should evidence be found of Do Kwon’s and Sun Zhu’s allegations, the charge of market manipulation could be added to SBF. This would aggravate the legal situation of the FTX founder in no small measure.

There is currently no conclusive evidence to support these allegations. The investigation by the US government will shed light on the facts as it takes course. In short, as of today, there are very few certain answers. Many questions about the future and past of the former FTX CEO remain.

The opinion of crypto Twitter

Meanwhile, on crypto Twitter, all hell has broken loose. Thousands of users are rejoicing and making sarcastic comments about the FTX founder’s arrest. Some wonder how many years in prison he will have to serve, and how he will pay for a good lawyer.

In particular, the crypto Twitter users are summoning the extraordinary lawyer Saul Goodman, star of the series ‘Better Call Saul’. He is the only one, according to them, capable of saving the defendant.

Nothing is sparing SBF in the world of crypto Twitter. A series of tweets have also surfaced that bring up his alleged relations with the US Democratic Party.

Bankman-Fried had secretly given donations to Joe Biden’s party during the election campaign of late 2020 and early 2021. These tweets underline the strange timing of this arrest. Perhaps his statement under oath to Congress could have been quite uncomfortable.

In light of recent events, the plot of the movie that Apple plans to produce is also thickening. Now that he has been arrested, will Sam Bankman-Fried be convicted? Is the founder of FTX really involved in the collapse of Terra (LUNA)? And what will happen to Caroline Ellison and Sam Trabucco?

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Young Monday: Avalanche, Warner Music and Goldman Sachs

FTX bankruptcy: Goldman Sachs sees it as the crypto world's turning point

Avalanche chooses Alibaba’s cloud for its nodes, Polygon is working with Warner Music Group and Goldman Sachs explains the lessons of FTX’s collapse

In the crypto world this week, there has been renewed talk of adoption. In particular, there is more news of partnerships between traditional and Web3 companies. Avalanche, AVAX’s blockchain, has signed a deal with Alibaba Cloud, one of the world’s leading cloud service providers. After having secured partnerships with Instagram, Reddit, Disney, Starbucks and other companies, Polygon now also boasts a music partnership thanks to an agreement signed with Warner Music Group. A month after the collapse of FTX, two financial giants, Goldman Sachs and Mastercard, describe the collapse of the exchange as a growth opportunity for the industry!

Avalanche will use Alibaba’s cloud for node management

Alibaba Cloud, the most widely used cloud hosting service in Asia and the third largest in the world, has chosen Avalanche as its first Web3 partner. Alibaba Cloud provides cloud-based storage, applications and web infrastructure services. Clouds are global networks of servers that operate as a single ecosystem. They can be accessed through the Internet and serve to free up memory and processing power on the devices we use on a daily basis.

Through its cloud service, Alibaba will facilitate the process of opening an Avalanche blockchain node. In addition to staking the native crypto, validators of a Proof-of-Stake blockchain must manage a node that is constantly connected to the internet. This requires computing power and memory. Thanks to this new partnership, anyone wishing to open a node on Avalanche will be able to use these resources by taking advantage of Alibaba’s services. The partnership could increase the number of blockchain validators, which to date number around 1,200, and consequently also increase decentralisation on the network.

Polygon and Warner prepare the next Spotify?

Polygon is interested in all entertainment sectors that intend to use Web3 technologies. After cinema and social media, it is time for the platform to attack the world of music, thanks to a partnership with Warner Music Group. The collaboration between the two brands resulted in the development of LGND.io, a decentralised application (dapp) very similar to a classic music streaming platform such as Spotify or Youtube Music. LGND also allows tracks and albums to be purchased in the form of NFTs, using either credit or debit cards or cryptos such as MATIC and ETH. Once purchased, these NFTs can be resold on major NFT marketplaces, such as OpenSea.

The main objective of the collaboration is to provide emerging artists with a new way to sell their music through NFT technology and the concept of digital ownership. The final version of the platform will be available from January 2023. It will enable artists to not only sell non-fungible music tokens, but also other types of content that provide various benefits such as VIP concert tickets or exclusive merchandise. In addition to Polygon and Warner Music Group, the record company Spinnin’ Records will handle relations with artists. They also participated in the development of LGND.io.

Goldman Sachs: FTX bankruptcy is a turning point for the crypto world

This week, financial giant Goldman Sachs made some statements on the failure of the FTX exchange and its consequences. Rather than analysing what happened only from a destructive point of view, Mathew McDermott, Goldman Sachs’ head of digital assets, stated that he is optimistic about the future of crypto. McDermott’s statements followed a remarkable fact, namely that following the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried‘s exchange, the number of traditional investors interested in buying crypto through Goldman Sachs is on the rise.

Mastercard also seems to be of the same opinion, according to Grace Berkley, the director of the company’s start-up branch. Berkley described the incident as a reset opportunity for the crypto world, which could become safer through the exclusion of malicious actors intending to manipulate the market and regulation.

Decentraland: start of LAND leases

A new feature for Decentraland has been announced: LAND rentals in exchange for rewards! Decentraland is one of the most popular metaverses on Web3. It consists of many units of ‘digital land’, and each of these units is an NFT called a LAND. Lending your own LAND is now very simple, just select the NFT you want to put up for rent and choose for how long and at what price you want to rent it. As far as the time period is concerned, each user can choose from seven options: 1, 7, 30, 60, 90, 180 or 360 days. Concerning the price, the decision is entirely up to the tenant.

The rent is paid by the tenants in MANA, the crypto of Decentraland, and 2.5% is retained by the DAO‘s wallet. The DAO of Decentraland is the collective institution that governs the functioning of this metaverse.

Why rent a LAND? Buying one may be too expensive, all the more so if you plan to create events or experience in a limited amount of time. The market for land in the Metaverse is one of the most expensive of the NFT markets. There are only a few LANDs in Decentraland sold directly from the platform, the remainder are only available in secondary markets, which are very competitive. Users will be able to rent their land to DJs who will throw memorable virtual parties, or to universities who will build Web3 university campuses, or even to fashion brands who will organise fashion shows.

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After crypto, will China now also ban NFTs?

NFT news from China: will they become illegal like cryptocurrencies?

Will NFTs become as illegal as cryptocurrencies in China? A Chinese court issues a ruling and the debate opens up

A few days ago, the Hangzhou court in China ruled that NFTs must comply with laws established for e-commerce sales and those related to virtual property, due to their characteristics of ‘value, scarcity, traceability, and marketability’. The ruling was particularly lenient towards the sector after the 2021 ban on crypto. What might be the next developments following this news? Will NFTs become illegal in China?

Cryptocurrencies are banned in China

In 2021, the Chinese government officially banned crypto mining and trading. On the one hand mining was banned for environmental reasons (taking 50% of all global mining activity out of the country). On the other hand, crypto was banned for possible ‘speculation’ risks. All crypto-to-crypto and fiat-to-crypto transactions are therefore illegal in China. This is the case for both local and foreign platforms. The Chinese government had however not taken a decision at the same time to regulate NFTs.

Are NFTs legal in China?

From a legal point of view, NFTs are not banned in China. However, since their technology is linked to cryptocurrencies, the situation is complicated. A first aspect to consider is that, given the ban on crypto, non-fungible tokens cannot currently be purchased via cryptocurrencies. Generally speaking, although the Chinese government is not hostile to the concept of NFTs per se, it remains intolerant of possible financial applications and even simple buying and selling.

In this regard, on the 13th April 2022, the National Internet Finance Association of China, the China Banking Association and the Securities Association of China shared guidelines to ‘prevent financial risks related to NFTs’. These are not laws because these associations have no legislative powers, but rather steps to be taken to prevent users from associating tokens with the same concepts of ‘speculation’ that led crypto to be banned. These guidelines are like a test for those who want to create and sell NFTs in China and could guide future choices by the authorities by building standards.

Some of these measures are:

  1. Using only the state blockchain to create NFT (more on this blockchain later);
  2. Referring to NFTs as “virtual collector’s items” and not as “tokens”;
  3. Avoiding any association with crypto;
  4. Suspending NFT secondary markets;
  5. Using platforms that verify the identity of users.

A black market is born

The crypto ban has led many Chinese citizens to use virtual private networks (VPNs) that can circumvent the Chinese government’s localisation and censorship of international crypto services. In this manner, Chinese citizens can access marketplaces like OpenSea and Magic Eden, where they can buy crypto tokens and resell them according to their own strategy. It is estimated that 31% of Internet users in China use a VPN. Among them, buying and selling NFTs is very popular.

From the Hangzhou court: an NFT is like a pair of trainers

To complete the picture on the status of NFTs in China, a ruling came from the Hangzhou Court, which specialises in internet law. On the 29th of November, the court was called upon to rule on a conflict between a buyer and a marketplace that cancelled a sale of non-fungible tokens without the consent of the parties involved. On this occasion, the court ruled that NFTs belong “to the virtual property of the network” as a unique product protected by an intellectual asset. Non-fungible tokens should therefore, from a legal point of view, be considered as any product sold on an e-commerce website. The law that monitors this is the e-commerce Law, that has come into force since the 1st January 2019. It is a popular law drafted to respond to the rapid growth of online commerce.

Will NFTs become illegal? The latest news does not suggest any particular closures on the part of the Chinese authorities.

Can NFTs exist without cryptocurrencies?

The Chinese government has also proposed its own version of NFTs, i.e. created on the state blockchain. This network, called the Blockchain Services Network (BSN), is a centralised and ‘permissioned‘ blockchain. In contrast to all ‘permissionless’ public blockchains, the BSN is managed by selected employees and not by network validators. On this blockchain, all users are tracked in accordance with Chinese law. Also available on the BSN are tools for artists and brands that want to create their token collections, which can only be purchased in fiat currency. This Chinese version of NFTs is called BSN-DDC or distributed digital certificates.

In China, those who sell or create NFTs do so on the BSN or other similar compliant networks, such as Alibaba, Tencent and JD. Most of these services are offered by established Web2 companies, hardly any decentralised protocols can be found. So can there be NFTs without crypto? Can those proposed by the Chinese government not be considered real, non-fungible tokens? The debate is open, for the champions of decentralisation, ‘distributed digital certificates’ do not meet the needs of Web3.

An instrument of protest

Leaving aside the legislative aspects, NFTs have become popular enough in China to be used as a form of protest against the government.

The citizens of Shanghai last May chose non-fungible tokens as a means of communicating outside China about the oppressive lockdown policies imposed back in March. After the publication of a video against the harsh lockdown, the government had banned all references to the topic on social networks. NFTs then served as a way to bear witness to the difficult living conditions, in a way that was immutable and sharable worldwide.

Even if NFTs become illegal in China, examples like this make us believe that enthusiasts will not give up so easily on a technology with this potential.