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A guide to Mirandus, Gala Games’ top class play-to-earn

Guide to Mirandus, Gala Games’ play-to-earn videogame

Free to play, open world and play-to-earn, Mirandus is Gala Games’ centrepiece. Read on and explore the GameFi project!

Gala Games’ play-to-earn game Mirandus is among the five most eagerly awaited video games on the GameFi scene. Although the video game is still in development, it has already gathered a very enthusiastic community and its first NFTs have long since sold out. How does the quest-free fantasy role-playing game Mirandus work? 

Gala Games and the GALA token: on-blockchain gaming

Mirandus is developed on Gala Games, a game-making network on blockchain. The Gala Games platform functions as a marketplace where users can explore different video games and purchase game tools and items in the form of NFTs. The Gala Games network runs on GALA, the Ethereum-based utility token.

Most of Gala Games’ video games are in development or testing. The platform does not only host video games by the Gala Games team, but is also open to developers from outside the project. Currently, Gala Games has directly made Mirandus, Town Star and Town Crush. For Gala Games, fun comes first, which implies that the blockchain must be ‘invisible‘ in their play-to-earn games. The complexity of this technology should not be an obstacle for those who want to play, which is why, despite being based on blockchain, the game dynamics are simple and accessible to everyone, even non-experts. Players only need to know that everything they own in the game is also their property outside it. Gala Games boasts great community involvement and aims at full decentralisation based on active user participation – ‘Through decentralisation, players not only own their in-games items, but they have a voice in how the Gala Games roadmap develops’, all through voting mechanisms. 

Mirandus, an unpredictable fantasy Metaverse 

Mirandus is described as a Fantasy RPG and is set in a world ruled by five monarchs, based in five different cities. The play-to-earn video game itself has no quests, missions or levels to overcome. Players are free to venture into the wilderness and try their luck in the Mirandus metaverse. You can participate in the game with your own avatar, you can go on a monster hunt in the forests, lend your services to some knight or run a small village shop. All possibilities are open on Mirandus. All these features make Mirandus by Gala Games an open world. 

How does Mirandus play-to-earn work? 

The peculiarity of a play-to-earn video game like Mirandus is the possibility of obtaining crypto rewards while playing. Gala Games has devised a sophisticated internal economy for Mirandus, based on the two tokens GALA and Materium (MTRM), both ERC-20. While GALA is used to purchase all the NFTs that ‘beautify’ the game, Materium is the token that moves actions and characters in Mirandus. Everyone in the game is looking for Materium, which on a technical level is a token that can also be traded on the free market, but within the game is a powerful ‘mother’ substance. Materium is, indeed, a concentrate of magic with amazing powers that can be used to increase your abilities, prepare spells, create artefacts and teleport. Mirandus populations claim territories and citadels in order to grab the miraculous substance. So, prepare to unearth Materium in every corner of the Metaverse to get your rewards! However, Mirandus is also a play-to-earn because you receive tokens every time you achieve small objectives, such as founding a city or defeating monsters. 

Mirandus’ NFTs

Mirandus is fundamentally a free-to-play crypto game, which means that you do not have to pay a fee or buy components to start playing. Avatars are available as free versions for all players, however, you have the option to buy NFT characters with increased powers – the Exemplars. There are 5 types of Exemplar, the Elves, Halflings, Orcs, Dwarves and Humans. Each category is divided into ‘families’ and each avatar is unique. Orcs are best suited to exploring the wilderness, while Dwarves are the most Materium-hungry. At the time of writing, 90% of the Exemplars have been sold but can be bought on secondary markets. To give you an idea of the average price, an Orc on Gala Games costs about 19 thousand GALA (about €1100), while you can find Humans for 0.06 ETH on OpenSea. 

The game is based on the core principle of resource property, be it land, buildings, or means of transport. NFTs in Mirandus also include land (‘property is power’ on Mirandus), ships and docks. 1650 pieces of land are available and once the game is launched, owners will be able to choose in which geographical area of Mirandus to place theirs. You can build dwellings or offer services on the land, and it is also crucial to have suitable walls to protect yourself from enemies and monsters. At a glance, Mirandus NFTs can be characters, land (Deeds), buildings, docks or ships. Each non-fungible token is distinguishable by characteristics, rarity and ‘value’ within the game. The network has pledged to plant a tree for every purchase on the Gala Games marketplace through the One Tree Planted platform.


The videogame’s release date has not yet been announced. Gala Games’ play-to-earn Mirandus trailer features a mysterious traveller in worn-out clothes and a filthy face, everything about him seemingly screaming ‘strenuous endeavour in progress’. Indeed, everything is yet to be built on Mirandus, and there is nothing more intriguing than the power to create. Unlike other MMORPGs like Warcraft or Final Fantasy, players are not invited to explore cities or places imagined by the developers. Everything on Mirandus is in the hands of the players!

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Imperium Empires, the new crypto game on Avalanche

Imperium Empires: the new crypto game on Avalanche

Imperium Empires is a new play-to-earn crypto game developed on the Avalanche blockchain. Find out how to join this metaverse!

If you’re interested in the world of play-to-earn games, you can’t miss the new crypto game coming to the Avalanche ecosystem. Avalanche is one of the blockchains where play-to-earn games are becoming more established. After Crabada, Ascenders and Ragnarock, here comes Imperium Empires. Want to join  the Imperium Empires metaverse? Find out how!

Enter the space metaverse of Imperium Empires!

Imperium Empires is a play-to-earn MMO real-time strategy (RTS) game developed on the Avalanche blockchain. The video game is set in a vast cosmic metaverse, populated by fleets of futuristic spaceships (in the form of NFTs) with which players can conquer territories and build their own empire. Guild systems and governance are key to mastering the core game mechanics and truly immersing yourself in the metaverse, Imperium Empires in fact encourages users to team up with each other and thus to share rewards. This mode of interaction has been named by the Imperium Empires as team-to-earn, a reinterpretation of the concept of play-to-earn. Within the crypto game of Imperium Empires, various game combinations coexist. It will be possible to play in single player and PvE (player vs. environment) modes, in which the player will try his hand at mining minerals from asteroids and exploring the Mmtaverse. But there will also be room for PVP (player vs player) game dynamics, in which each player will be able to become a commander in exciting guild battles and earn big loot at the expense of the other players.

NFTs and the tokenomics of Imperium Empires

The sale of the NFT ships, which are indispensable for entering the Imperium Empires metaverse, began in February 2022 and it was only possible to buy them with the IME token, which is also the crypto game’s governance token. During the two sales rounds, it was possible to purchase five different types of spacecraft: Galaxy Scootie, Strekzans, Augear and Aurostar. Each of the four spaceships has different characteristics, and the price and quantity of ships available also varied depending on the category. There are four main characteristics of spaceships: health, speed, rotational speed and cargo capacity. In addition to having different scores for these four characteristics, the NFTs in Imperium Empires are classified by different degrees of rarity. Rarity is related to the number of NFTs available. For example, the Galaxy Scootie spacecrafts, which are common, have 15,000 copies. Meanwhile Aurostar spacecrafts, which have a supreme rarity rating, have only 150 copies. But how do you buy Imperium Empires NFTs?  As soon as the first sale phase was over, it was possible for users to sell and buy NFTs on the secondary marketplace, using the EMI token. To avoid one of the main problems of this type of game, namely the loss of value of NFTs as new ones are issued, the ships can be destroyed during battles against other players.

But how does the play-to-earn model work in Imperium Empires? Its tokenomics involves two tokens that exist within Imperium Empires. The first one is the IME token, which is intended to manage governance mechanisms and to purchase NFTs useful for gameplay. IME can also be sold on Avalanche’s main DEXs, e.g. Trader Joe or Pangolin. To obtain the IME token in Imperium Empires, it is necessary to loot other ships or win seasonal tournaments. The second token is called IMC and, unlike IME, it has no value outside the  metaverse. IMC can be used to repair spaceships or to build a guild, you can receive this token by selling minerals extracted from asteroids.

When will Imperium Empires be released?

In the near future, it will be possible to try out this new crypto game coming soon to Avalanche! The launch of the Alpha, multiplayer version, in which you can engage in guild battles against other players, is set for August 2022.

To date, only the Apollo expansion is available, a web version of the game that aims to test whether the game’s economy was sustainable. Players were able to start obtaining rewards from their NFT spaceships by using their own fleets of spaceships to mine minerals, perform stakeouts and trade the mined resources in the metaverse.

The Alpha version will not be the final one, but it will be very close. The release date for the full version of Imperium Empires has not yet been announced, but there is talk of the last quarter of 2022. In conjunction with the release of the final game, it will be possible to participate in the long-awaited ranked tournaments. In these tournaments, players will be able to compete for rewards with the EMI token. It is almost time, however, to leave the testing lab! We are eager and curious to be able to hurtle through the galaxies of the Imperium Empires Metaverse!

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The 5 best tweets of Chris Dixon, voice of Web3

Web3: Chris Dixon's 5 best tweets

Why is Web3 decisive and what are its advantages? Discover Chris Dixon’s 5 best tweets about Web3!

Chris Dixon is one of the most influential figures in the Web3 industry and a partner in a16z, a Venture Capital fund active in the crypto world and founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. Dixon is known for his commitment as a Web3 popularizer. For years, he has been proposing interpretations and points of view on the evolution of the Internet, also through interesting threads on Twitter. His Twitter profile, cdixon.eth has almost 900,000 followers and is a reference point for enthusiasts in the field. Let’s take a look at Chris Dixon’s 5 best tweets on Web3!

1.   Why is Web3 important?

Presenting Dixon’s best tweets about the Web3, one can only start with ‘Why Web3 matters‘. In this tweet, in order to define the importance of Web3, Dixon begins by presenting the difference between centralised and decentralised companies and the tendency of Web2 companies to create benefits for users only during their first phase of life. After this phase, in Dixon’s view, users become just a ‘greedy source of data’. The main criticism in the tweet relates to the attitude of traditional companies, which according to Chris Dixon discourages innovation. Web3 platforms on the other hand, being totally owned by the users who use them, are not subject to this problem. Users are incentivised and work together with the platforms with the aim of expanding and growing the project of which they are an active part. The tools used to make this happen are tokens, both fungible tokens and NFTs. Chris Dixon firmly believes that it is necessary to redistribute the power and value on the web to users.

This tweet, written in 2021, has become an important testimony in the history of Web3. It is precisely this post that accurately defined the phases of the Internet, allowing, among other things, the interpretation and understanding of what Gavin Wood meant when he first coined the term Web3.

2.   The strengths of Web3: dApps and NFTs

The second tweet is also about the transition from Web2 to Web3. Blockchain, according to Dixon, in this historical period is the equivalent in terms of innovation of mobile applications in the period from 2009 to 2012. Chris Dixon defines dapps on the blockchain as the IT frontier of the millennium. He goes on to say that the strength of dapps is that they can be modified, programmed and improved by third-party actors because they are open source and permissionless. Dixon brings up as an example of dapp’s potential, the DeFi summer of 2020, the period in which the first wave of decentralised applications broke out and which saw the birth of Uniswap and Compound. Creating inclusive, fair and transparent financial services is indeed possible thanks to dApps. Dixon is positive about NFTs, describing them as an opportunity that can offer content creators and developers better economic conditions than what Web2 platforms used to offer. In conclusion, the tweet asks what trends will dominate the immediate future. Web3 social networks, DAOs or metaverses?

3.   Making a start-up by watching a series

This tweet refers to the series ‘Winning Time – The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty’ produced by HBO. The series tells the story of the rise of the Los Angeles Lakers NBA team starting with the takeover of historic owner Jerry Buss, who through his entrepreneurial skills transforms the team into an unbeatable dream team. More than the prowess of NBA players Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Chris Dixon seems interested in the entrepreneurial component of the TV series. He calls it a great show about start-ups.

4.   Chris Dixon joins the Board of Directors of OpenSea

The tweet announcing the entry of the Web3 popularizer to the board of the world’s most famous and used NFT marketplace could not fail to be part of this selection! The announcement took place right on Twitter, specifically on the profile of OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer.

Opensea’s decision to welcome Dixon is not too surprising, the latter being one of the most famous and respected Web3 disseminators and a venture investor with a lot of experience in the field. Among the projects he has been involved in as a financier and advisor are Uniswap, Avalanche and many others. Through the tweet, he said he was thrilled to be able to join the board of a giant like OpenSea, and that he was very happy to be able to continue working closely with David Finzer. In fact, the two met in 2021, when the fund in which Chris Dixon is a partner, a16z, decided to invest in OpenSea, and since then they have been working closely together, constantly comparing notes.

5.   The controversy with Minecraft: don’t clip the wings of developers

We end Chris Dixon’s list of the top 5 tweets on Web3 with a bang! The entrepreneur commented on the decision of the famous game Minecraft, developed by Microsoft-owned Mojan, to avoid any kind of NFT integration within the game. Dixon stated, in a polemical tone, that apparently Web2 companies can change the rules for developers at any time. Later, in response to his first tweet, he again poked fun at Microsoft, pointing out the inaccuracy of a sentence within the document containing the announcement.

The phrase in question ‘an NFT is a unique, unchangeable digital token that is part of a blockchain and is often purchased with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin’ is indeed inaccurate. NFTs are not typical of networks such as Bitcoin’s, but are instead usually created on blockchains that allow dapp development, such as Ethereum, Solana and Avalanche.

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The Graph’s plan for full decentralisation of information on blockchain

The Graph: crypto towards full decentralisation

The Graph announces the abandonment of centralised hosting services, and prepares to decentralise all its operations

The Graph is one of the most innovative and interesting protocols of the entire Web3 world and is used for indexing blockchain data. The Graph is nicknamed ‘the Google of the blockchain’ because it actually performs more or less the same task as the search engine does for the traditional Web, i.e. it indexes the data on the blockchain, making the process of extracting it easier and faster. In this way, it allows Dapps to find the data they need very quickly. The protocol is officially abandoning its centralised hosting service and moving entirely to The Graph’s decentralised network. 

The current situation of The Graph

The Graph’s ecosystem revolves around the relationship between the developers of subgraphs and those who use the data. The former describe how the data is organised, the latter are for example app developers, who are willing to pay to query the data contained in the subgraphs. This data is, for example, the transaction information written within the blockchain as transaction data.  Initially, a centralised hosting service, run by Edge & Node, the team behind The Graph, was created to make The Graph’s network work. To date, this hosting service hosts more than 24,000 subgraphs that will gradually be transferred to the decentralised mainnet. The move to the decentralised mainnet is taking place gradually. The first subgraph was launched on this net in the first quarter of 2021, and as of the 30th of June 2022, the number of active subgraphs was 392.

The complete migration to the mainnet and its phases

The migration of all functionalities to the main net of The Graph is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2023. At that point, the centralised hosting service will be completely disabled and it will only be possible to access the data on the subgraphs in a decentralised manner. But let us see through which steps this will take place specifically:

  1. During the first phase, which already started at the beginning of the third quarter of 2022, the development of new subgraphs on the centralised hosting service ceased. It is still possible to update the remaining subgraphs on the hosting service but not to build new ones. We are currently in this phase;
  2. In the second phase, all updates to the subgraphs are to be made via Subgraph Studio, an isolated and secure development environment created specifically for testing subgraphs. Once tested, they are to be published on the decentralised network. It will then no longer be possible to update subgraphs on the centralised host service;
  3. In the third and final phase, the subgraphs located on the centralised hosting service will be completely removed. This should take place by the first quarter of 2023 and will be taken care of by the engineers and developers of The Graph’s official team.

The decentralisation of the entire infrastructure will allow those using the service offered by The Graph’s ecosystem to build fully decentralised dapps.

Collaboration with Silicon Kruger and Good Work foundation

One of The Graph’s latest projects was developed through a collaboration with Silicon Kruger, an innovation centre set up to facilitate access to the Web3 for developing countries on the African continent. Silicon Kruger and The Graph have developed the first indexer for African dapps called Index Africa. The indexer aggregates dapp data and retains a portion of the rewards generated by its node, which are then allocated to a funding programme for students in rural Africa. This is made possible by Index Africa’s non-profit partner, the Good Work Foundation, a South African organisation that has been providing access to education for young African students since 2005.

Will developers be able to complete the migration in the allotted time? And will The Graph’s network attract applications that aspire to be fully decentralised? Follow us so you don’t miss the next updates!

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Is the United States a model for mass adoption?

Criptocurrencies: 3 use cases in the United States

Is the US the closest country to crypto adoption? Here are 3 use cases of cryptocurrencies!

According to trading industry data collector and processor Forex Suggest, the US is the second best prepared country for mass adoption of cryptocurrencies. The parameters they used for the research was the number of crypto ATM facilities in proportion to the size of the population and the number of blockchain start-ups per 100,000 people. Mass adoption, however, goes beyond this. For cryptocurrencies to become truly mainstream, there must be supporting infrastructures in place, both technological and, above all, regulatory.

In this regard, a legislative decree recently passed will allow Californian political candidates to accept donations in cryptocurrencies. The city of Miami, whose mayor, Francis Suarez, has never hidden his passion for Bitcoin, continues with its pro-Web3 initiatives. Miami will unveil an NFT collection produced by a partnership between Mastercard, TIME and Salesforce in December 2022. Is the US a model for mass adoption? Let’s look at 3 use cases of cryptocurrencies in the US!

The country with the most ATMs in the world

Leaving aside the state of Hong Kong, which due to its very limited geographical extension and particular political nature can be considered a borderline case in the research, the US is the most crypto-friendly, mainstream adoption-oriented state. In fact, the country has about 10 crypto ATMs for every 100,000 inhabitants, one for every 271 km. 88% of existing crypto ATMs are located on American territory. As for the number of start-ups, the US scores around 0.6 for every 100,000 inhabitants. 

California approves cryptocurrency donations for election campaigns 

On 21st July 2022 the State of California announced that it will allow candidates for state and local political office to receive donations in cryptocurrency. The previous legislation, which banned political promoters from raising or receiving funds via blockchain, is thus permanently repealed. The law had been promoted during the bear market of 2018, more precisely in November. However, the donations recipients will be obliged to immediately convert the amount of crypto received into fiat currency. The legislation also states that the political candidate is obliged to work with a registered exchange to handle the transaction. The exchange must have confirmed the identity of the donor through KYC (Know Your Customer) practices by verifying name, address, occupation and employer.

Some might frown upon the compulsory instant conversion into fiat currency. However, when we consider that only four years ago California was so strongly against the practice that it was made illegal, this is certainly a step forward. Political funding using cryptocurrencies is one of the most interesting use cases in the US.

Miami teams up with Mastercard, TIME and Salesforce for an NFT collection

In terms of city initiatives, the United States also proves to be the most virtuous country when it comes to mass adoption. The city of Miami recently announced a Web3 project to experience the city at 360° with the support of major brands Mastercard, TIME and Salesforce. The project specifically entails the creation of 5,000 NFTs designed by 56 local artists. The number 56 was not chosen randomly, it actually represents Miami’s size in square miles.

The NFT holders will have access to the Priceless Miami Mastercard programme, which includes exclusive art experiences and events in the city such as gourmet dinners, private visits to museums, stays in luxurious resorts or spas and much more. The NFT minting process and secondary market will be all managed by Salesforce – a software, automation services and digital marketing analytics company founded in 2000. Third player in this partnership is the publishing giant TIME, which has been active in the Web3 world since March 2021 and has been a major player in the industry ever since, with its own NFT community called TIMEPieces. You might remember its iconic cover depicting Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum‘s founder. In August 2021, the city of Florida had already launched Miami Coin, a token intended as a sustainable funding tool for projects that support the city’s most disadvantaged communities.
With these initiatives taken at both state and local level, the US seems to really want to become a model for mass adoption. So, is the adoption of cryptocurrencies overseas closer than we think? These 3 use cases of cryptocurrencies in the US seem to confirm that this is indeed the case.

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What happened to Solana during the recent hack?

Solana hack: what happened exactly?

What happened to Solana during the recent hack? Here are the possible causes, and how other crypto projects reacted

In the late evening of Tuesday, the 3rd of August 2022, several wallets on the Solana network were hacked. The attack lasted several hours and its main target was the most popular hot wallet in the Solana ecosystem: the Phantom wallet. Hackers allegedly took possession of the private keys of some users. It was later reported that the hack may have originated from Slope, another Solana wallet. Although this attack was a blow to the network, the blockchain itself was not damaged and continues to function. Many engineers and developers, including from other blockchain projects, are working together to understand what happened to Solana during the hack and what the real cause of the attack was.

Did the hack compromise Solana’s blockchain?

Small spoiler: no. The hacker attack targeted Solana’s browser wallets, and in particular those that had been inactive for more than six months. These include Phantom, Slope, Solfare and TrustWallet. The attack would appear to be linked to the vulnerability of online wallets and thus compromised users’ private keys. In fact, if we look at Solana’s blockchain explorer, Solscan.io, the transactions appear to be signed by the ‘real’ owners.

Not only were SOL tokens stolen, but also other cryptocurrencies and tokens. The USDC stablecoin was affected in particular, and the stolen amount appears to be higher than that of SOL. The good news? Funds held on cold wallets and exchanges such as Young Platform, were not affected by the attack. In short, the hack did not compromise Solana’s blockchain but it did do so for several hot wallets.

How to protect yourself from attacks: differences between cold and hot wallets

The issue of security is central, especially when interacting with DeFi protocols as in this case. As a user, it is essential to know all the available wallet options and their specificities. Each type of wallet has both strengths and weaknesses. For instance, self-custodial wallets are wallets in which private keys are totally managed by users.  They can be hot wallets or cold wallets. A hot wallet is ready for use on any Dapp as it is always connected to the Internet. The convenience of having an always-online wallet is offset by a lower degree of security than other wallet types. Hot wallets are either browser extensions or desktop and smartphone applications and, if not kept offline, they are vulnerable to viruses or attacks. Some examples of this type of wallet are: Metamask, Trust Wallet or even the targets of the recent hack.

The other type of self-custodial wallet, on the other hand, is more like a safe: cold wallets. While they are somewhat more cumbersome to use, they are also more secure. Cold wallets are only connected to the internet while the holder wants to use their contents. Once the transaction has been sent, the wallet is disconnected both from the network and from other devices and is thus again safe from potential online attacks. If you want to learn more about the pros and cons of all the wallets out there, check out the dedicated Young Academy article.

Solana’s most famous Dapp statements

Solana’s most famous Dapps were quick to speak out about the recent hack. Magic Eden, the main NFT marketplace, just announced yesterday that it would become cross-chain, starting to also accept offers in Ethereum for NFT collections. While the hack was underway, they reiterated the procedure to follow in order to avoid losing your tokens.

In summary, the NFT marketplace recommended creating a new Solana wallet and transferring your NFTs there first, and then your crypto. This advice is to be taken of course if a cold wallet is not at your immediate disposal.

In the hours following the attack, the Phantom team informed the community that they are working closely with the Solana team and other protocols. What is their objective? To understand what happened and why Solana’s wallets were hacked. The blockchain company also stated that it did not believe it was a Phantom specific problem. On Twitter, the wallet company stated: ‘Phantom has reason to believe that the reported exploits are due to complications related to importing accounts to and from Slope. We are still actively working to identify if there were other vulnerabilities that contributed to this incident.”

Emin Gün Sirer, CEO and founder of Avalabs, also commented on the Solana wallet hack. In the thread posted on his Twitter profile, he provided his community with some insight into trying to understand and explain what happened, reassuring those who held funds on centralised exchanges and cold wallets. Finally, he expressed solidarity with those affected by the hack.

We await new developments and information regarding the hacking attack on Solana’s wallets. Please check our blog for updates on this issue.

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Chris Dixon of a16z joins OpenSea

Chris Dixon of a16z joins OpenSea

What happens when the largest NFT marketplace meets the Web3 promoter of the moment? Chris Dixon of a16z joins OpenSea!

Chris Dixon is one of the most prominent figures in the crypto industry. He is best known for being a partner in a16z – the venture capital fund set up in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz – and for his commitment to promoting Web3. Dixon is by background a developer with a degree in philosophy, and has been involved in emerging technologies since the beginning of his career. The largest NFT marketplace OpenSea announced on 30th July 2022 that Dixon had joined its board of directors.

Chris Dixon, why Web3 is so important 

Forbes named Dixon the No. 1 venture investor in 2022. He has backed projects such as Uniswap, Avalanche, and Dapper Labs, which launched CryptoKitties. Uniswap’s CEO and founder Hayden Adams praised Dixon for his ability to bring the worlds of traditional finance and DeFi together, while Dapper Labs CEO Roham Gharegozlou credits Dixon with predicting the rise of NFTs, ‘Chris saw this industry before it started’. In fact, Dixon’s blog and Twitter profile have been a reference for in-depth coverage of Web3 topics since the dawn of the crypto world. Dixon’s insights are both technical and theoretical, his contributions discussing the birth of ideas, the fundamental questions of Web3, and the social, economic and technological changes we are experiencing.  ‘Why Web3 matters‘ from 2021 is one of his most famous tweets that built the narrative of the internet phases, user-centricity and ownership. 

OpenSea, the NFT giant 

To date, OpenSea is the largest and best known NFT marketplace, with over 2 million collections and billions of dollars in sales. It is also one of the first marketplaces on Ethereum, and indeed it was founded in 2017 just as CryptoKitties were exploding and the world was starting to hear about blockchain. OpenSea was the brainchild of Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah, who in 2017 began engaging with users and early adopters on Discord. In addition to investment funds like a16z, OpenSea is backed by funding angels like actor and producer Ashton Kutcher, Ben Silberman, CEO and Co-founder of Pinterest, and Justin Kan, Twitch co-founder. OpenSea features all kinds of NFT, ranging across art, virtual experiences, music and virtual property certificates. Creators and artists have the possibility to create NFTs for free on OpenSea without necessarily having to know the technical workings of the blockchain. OpenSea was granted a new funding round in January 2022 and reported to have reached a valuation of USD 13.3 billion. 

Chris Dixon joins OpenSea!

Dixon officially joined OpenSea’s board of directors at the end of July, taking over from Katie Haun, who left a16z to establish another fund, Hain Ventures. Dixon was welcomed by Devin Finzer, OpenSea’s current CEO.  

Commenting Dixon’s arrival on OpenSea Finzer wrote, ‘Anyone who has spent time with Chris knows he is a principled, rigorous, and intellectually honest thinker, and he consistently pushes us to zoom out and make sure we’re solving for the long term arc of the NFT space.’

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How much do cryptos pollute? Stellar’s answer

Stellar Foundation: how much do cryptocurrencies pollute?

How much do cryptos really pollute? With Stellar and Pwc we can finally quantify the blockchain’s environmental impact

How much do cryptocurrencies pollute? Or rather, how much do blockchains pollute? The debate on this thorny question has been going on for some time now. The peak of media coverage was definitely reached in May 2021, more precisely on the 13th, when Elon Musk, in one of his frequent exploits, tweeted that Tesla would no longer accept Bitcoin because of the strong environmental impact of mining.

The tycoon’s sensationalist statements aside, the pollution generated by blockchains – particularly those that still possess Proof-of-Work type consensus mechanisms – is a hot topic in the industry. For example, Ethereum, through its upcoming update “The Merge”, is in the process of switching to another mechanism, used by most blockchains, Proof-of-Stake. This consensus mechanism, in fact, does not require the large amount of computing power generated by mining rigs composed of very powerful and energy-intensive hardware, but, instead, relies on the staking of cryptocurrencies. Like Ethereum, other blockchains are striving to solve this problem once and for all. PwC – Pricewaterhouse Coopers, a multinational providing management, strategic consulting, financial statement auditing and legal advice – and Stellar have started collaborating on this. The aim is to develop a framework to assess blockchain protocols’ electricity consumption and emissions.

Stellar’s performance

SDF (Stellar Development Foundation) and PwC US analysed data on electricity use, greenhouse gas emissions and electronic and organic waste. In addition to the environmental impact, the framework also assessed the different consensus mechanisms’ performances. The research showed that Stellar’s network consumption is low compared to the average. Thanks to the Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP), a low energy consensus mechanism based on the proof-of-agreement algorithm, the Stellar grid currently uses an estimated 481,324 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity per year. This translates into approximately 173,243 kilograms (kg) of CO₂ emissions per year, which is equivalent to the average CO₂ emissions produced by the electricity use of 33.7 US homes in one year. Despite the already low energy consumption of the Stellar blockchain, SDF has committed to offsetting the carbon dioxide emissions generated since 2015, the year of its foundation. 

Task.io and Biochar Life’s venture – how is biochar produced and used?

Task.io. is another Stellar initiative aimed at reducing environmental impact beyond blockchain technology. It is a mobile-first project built on the Stellar blockchain that helps social organisations collect data, provide incentives and report on their environmental impact. Among other partners, Task works with the impact venture Biochar Life to educate and engage smallholder farmers in developing countries on how to produce and use biochar. Biochar, or charcoal, is a substance obtained by burning organic agricultural waste (also called biomass) in a process in which very little oxygen is used. At the same time, when the materials burn, they release a reduced amount of carbon dioxide. Biochar is then used as fertiliser, compost and animal feed.

Stellar’s role: Data immutability and the STS token

How is the blockchain used in this process? The data collected by Task.io mainly includes the following variables – how the biochar was produced, how much biochar was produced and how it was used. Once submitted, the data is verified by the Biochar Life team and placed within the Stellar blockchain to ensure that it is immutable and publicly available.

For every tonne of carbon used in the charcoal production process, a Stop the Smoke (STS) token is issued on Stellar, which is later sold to people who want to offset their carbon footprint. A portion of the funds is then returned to farmers to incentivise the production of more biochar. To date, 34 STS tokens have been minted, meaning that 34 tonnes of carbon have been disposed of through the Biochar Life and Task partnership.

More and more blockchains are starting to take action to reduce their environmental impact. Polygon and Algorand, in particular, have implemented a plan to make their networks green.

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Solana, Polygon and HTC: the smartphone challenge to win over the Web3

Which is the best crypto smartphone? Solana, Polygon or HTC

The best crypto smartphone? Solana, Polygon and HTC launch their smartphones in a challenge to lead the Web3 sector

A flaw often attributed to Web3 platforms is their lack of usability. Finding a solution to facilitating processes such as buying and selling NFTs, interacting with play-to-earn games, and making this all happen securely, is a challenge crypto companies are forced to tackle.

Polygon, Solana and HTC are presenting possible solutions and are ready to venture into an area still unexplored by blockchain companies – the crypto smartphone sector. 

Polygon & Nothing – the Web3 in the palm of your hand

Which will be the best crypto smartphone around? Let’s take a look at the MATIC blockchain’s plan – Polygon has announced a collaboration with Nothing, a London-based start-up that is making quite a splash with its environmentally friendly smartphone Phone (1). Nothing has already shown an interest in interacting with the Web3 universe. For the launch of its first product, it created an NFT collection on Ethereum, the Nothing Black Dot, which will be distributed by airdrop until the 26th of September to people who have pre-ordered the product. These NFTs will grant holders certain benefits, such as early access to all the brand’s products and the chance to participate in exclusive events.

As far as integrating Ethereum’s Layer 2, Polygon’s Phone (1) will allow easier access to Dapps, Web3 games, and greater security for cryptocurrency payments. Nothing’s product is in a mid-range price bracket, the technical specifications are intermediate, and it can be found on Amazon at the price of €579 (in Italy). 

HTC Desire 22, the key to the metaverse

HTC has always been committed to intercepting and developing new technology trends. Indeed, through its Vive side-brand, it was one of the first companies to develop virtual reality products, releasing a visor with revolutionary features in 2015.

With the new HTC Desire 22 smartphone, HTC continues in the same direction: the device will be able to interact with applications built on both Ethereum and Polygon. The main goal the development team has set is not so much to offer a supersonic smartphone; in fact, the technical specifications are not mind-boggling. Instead, HTC’s target was to develop a cheaper device that allows seamless integration with Viverse, the metaverse owned by the Taiwanese company and which allows its customers to hold NFTs and crypto in a simple and secure manner. The release price is expected to be around €380.

Solana Saga, it’s time for crypto

During NFT week in New York, Solana announced the arrival of its new mobile product in early 2023 – the Saga smartphone.

In addition to the Android smartphone, the blockchain platform presented the Solana Mobile Stack (SMS) software kit. The kit will enable the development of native Web3 applications for Android devices integrating the Seed Vault secure storage protocol. Seed Vault facilitates the instant signing of transactions while keeping private keys separate from wallets, applications and the operating system. Of the three solutions, the one proposed by Solana appears to be the most versatile and innovative. Thanks to the Solana Mobile Stack, anyone can develop optimised and secure applications. Its software superiority, however, inevitably reflects on its price. Indeed, the smartphone, which can already be pre-ordered, will be sold for $1,000.

So, to draw a conclusion, which is the best crypto smartphone? Saga is unbeatable from a technical point of view, but HTC’s phone delivers value for money. Will Phone (1) become the easiest way to use dapps on Polygon? These joint initiatives by both blockchain and ‘traditional’ companies certainly could be a turning point in the mass adoption of Web3 technologies. Making dapps, as well as every aspect of cryptocurrency in general, more user-friendly is perhaps the last big roadblock before mass adoption. We look forward to discovering what horizons will open up thanks to this new type of device and whether other brands will pursue similar projects.

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CryptoPunks become Tiffany jewellery

CryptoPunks: NFTs become Tiffany jewellery

Tiffany & Co. announces a jewellery collection for CryptoPunk holders. Find out the details of the luxurious collaboration

On the 31st of July, The Web3 community went wild, particularly on Twitter, following an official announcement by luxury jewellery brand Tiffany & Co. The brand will launch its first NFT collection, NFTiff. These non-fungible tokens will depict jewellery in the pixelated style of CryptoPunks. The NFTiffs, only 250 in number, will only be purchasable by holders of CryptoPunks. They will later become customised pendants corresponding to their digital version.

CryptoPunks become Tiffany jewellery

Let’s take a look at the jewellery design and the materials from which Tiffany’s NFTs will be made. The goal of Tiffany’s artisans will be to create jewellery as similar as possible to the pixel version. The challenge will be to transpose the 87 attributes and 159 colours, with which the CryptoPunks are composed in their digital version, into the closest possible gem or enamel colour. According to Tiffany’s official website, each piece will consist of at least 30 gemstones and diamonds. The New York-based company also stated that owners will receive a rendering of their pendant by October.

How much will Tiffany’s NFTs cost and where can you buy them?

The purchase of Tiffany’s NFTs will only be possible via the official website, and will obviously be made in crypto, more precisely in Ether. The recommended wallets for payment are Meta Mask or Trust Wallet. The sale of NFTiffs will begin on the 5th August 2022 at 3pm UK time and it will be possible to purchase a maximum of 3 items per individual.

The ‘package’ that includes the cost of the NFT, the customised pendant and the shipping of the latter will cost 30 ETH, which at current value corresponds to about 50,000 euros. In short, CryptoPunks have breakfast at Tiffany’s, but will the owners of the iconic NFT collection be so interested in luxury jewellery?

Luxury brands and Web3 increasingly in tune

With this move, Tiffany & Co. joins the ranks of luxury fashion companies trying to establish themselves in the Web3 world, with the aim of engaging a new generation of customers. Brands such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga, Philipp Plein and others have, over the past year, made themselves available to accept cryptocurrency payments. Tiffany’s initiative, however, goes beyond simply accepting crypto as a payment method, it is instead a true collaboration with one of the most famous and recognised brands in the industry. CryptoPunks are a true symbol of Web3 culture!

There had already been some indications of Tiffany’s willingness to enter this new market. On the occasion of the last April Fool’s Day, the company had posted an announcement on its social media that it was ready to launch its own cryptocurrency: the TiffCoin.

A lot of users fell for the April Fool’s trick, but not everything announced by the brand is completely made up: the TiffCoin has in fact been re-presented as a limited collector’s edition (in the form of a physical object) on the Tiffany & Co. website. So if one might have initially assumed that the brand had concocted the prank to “mock” the Web3 world, we now have proof that it’s quite the opposite. In short, the CryptoPunks will become Tiffany jewellery, we are curious to see if the famous holders including Jay Z, Steve Aoki and Serena Williams will be able to win them!