Tag: Update

Immutable X is a layer-2 solution built on Ethereum, specialised for crypto gaming and NFTs. Find out all about the future of gaming!

Do you dream of playing video games like Skyrim or Fortnite but on the blockchain? Your dreams may soon become reality. Immutable X is a layer-2 blockchain built on Ethereum with low fees and no gas fees for NFT minting. Near-instant transactions and a marketplace with eye-catching graphics complete this ambitious project. The goal? To be the pioneers of crypto gaming and enable the development of games that rival the most renowned development houses. Find out what Immutable X is and how it works, and which video games are being developed on the crypto gaming blockchain!

What Immutable X is and how it works, the crypto gaming blockchain

Immutable X is a blockchain developed by gaming studio Immutable. Founded in 2018, the company released Gods Unchained, one of the first collectible card crypto games to achieve success. The video game was initially based on Ethereum, but Immutable soon realised that Buterin’s blockchain was not ideal for a crypto game. Gods Unchained is based on the continuous exchange of cards between players. Therefore, an efficient and low-commission blockchain was needed to incentivise players to buy and sell cards in the form of NFTs.

The solution? Immutable X, a layer-2 solution that employs the latest technological innovations to guarantee instant and cheap transactions. Unlike Ethereum, Immutable X uses a zero-knowledge rollup system. In short, transactions are not executed one at a time but in batches, which are approved by a smart contract. This system can support up to 9,000 transactions per second. The technology is easy to apply even for budding game developers, so it is popular with developers approaching blockchain. Immutable X’s ZKs allow NFT and crypto to be exchanged at lightning speed, and players can focus on having fun!

IMX is Immutable X’s utility token, an ERC-20 with various uses within the blockchain. There are 2 billion IMX, and they are used both to pay fees and to give incentives to developers and creators. IMX is also a governance token, and gives the right to vote on decisions affecting the blockchain for crypto gaming. The beta staking of IMX started on 1 July 2022 and will last until 30 July. In September there will be a second test of self-custodial staking (i.e. staking without intermediaries). Immutable X chose this approach as a consequence of recent events in which some CeFi platforms blocked their users’ withdrawals. According to the Immutable X team, with IMX self-custodial staking, no one can ever block withdrawals, because Immutable X tokens always remain in the user’s possession.

Immutable X and the NFT marketplace

NFT or non-fungible tokens is the technology that has made crypto gaming a reality. In fact, thanks to them, it is possible to guarantee the uniqueness of certain objects in a user’s possession and consequently their value.

To make the user experience as simple as possible, Immutable has decided to focus on an NFT marketplace integrated on the blockchain. Unlike Ethereum, NFTs on Immutable X do not require gas fees to be mined, incentivising players and developers to use the GameFi ecosystem. Transactions are immediate and without the long wait times that Vitalik Buterin’s blockchain has accustomed us to, and they also consume very little energy. Mining the 8 million NFT cards for Gods Unchained on Ethereum would have required 490,000 mWh of energy, while only 1,030 kWh were needed on Immutable X!

In addition, Immutable X aims to simplify the buying and selling of NFTs with a simple and attractive proprietary wallet. At the moment, the wallet of choice is the popular MetaMask, but the Australian crypto gaming blockchain company plans to create a wallet designed specifically for gamers and integrated with major credit cards and Immutable X’s NFT marketplace. This will allow you to get into the thick of the game in the blink of an eye, even if you are not an expert in crypto and blockchain. Simplicity is a key factor in making the crypto games of the future mainstream!

AAA crypto games to hit the blockchain

Immutable X’s commitment to creating an easy-to-use, player-centric ecosystem can be seen in the growing number of crypto games that choose it as their blockchain of choice. Illuvium and Ember Sword, two video games that promise to be a hit in the industry, have chosen Immutable X to support their game economy.

The company behind the crypto gaming blockchain has also decided to launch a $500 million fund for game developers. This money aims to support all those who want to help build the Web3 and increasingly affordable NFT platforms. Robbie Ferguson, CEO of Immutable, noted that the total value of the crypto gaming market is approaching $1 trillion! “This is just the tip of the iceberg in an industry with enormous potential,” said the company president.

Now you know what Immutable X is and how it works, get your joystick ready: crypto games that are no match for the likes of Skyrim or GTA are coming soon! Star Atlas, Illuvium, Ember Sword and many other games are in development and will be released soon. And if hunting for digital monsters is not enough for you, Immutable X’s NFT marketplace offers plenty of tokens for all tastes. The future of crypto gaming is already here!

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

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

The question of repurposing hardware for mining

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

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

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

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

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

Mining alternative cryptocurrencies

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

Potenza di calcolo: dal mining al cloud computing

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

Laying the foundations for Web3

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

Goodbye Ethereum mining, hello staking

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

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

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

1. Ethereum (ETH)

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

1. Solo home staking

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

2. Staking as a Service

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

3. Pooled Staking

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

4. Staking in centralised exchanges

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

2. Polkadot (DOT)

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

3. Solana (SOL)

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

4. Avalanche (AVAX) 

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

5. Cardano (ADA)

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

The most popular cryptos for staking in 2022

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

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

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

Fighting climate change with Polkadot

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

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

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

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

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

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

Web3 Google? On Polkadot!

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

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

The PolkaOscars, the final event of Polkadot Decoded

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

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

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

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

How does Polkadot work?

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

Acala, Polkadot’s defi hub

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

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

Astar: shaking up the Web3

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

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

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

Web3 and gaming on Ajuna Network

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

Momentum: a practical Metaverse for workers

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

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

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

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Tether, the company behind USDT, has decided to create a new stablecoin pegged to the pound sterling, in anticipation of a boom in the UK crypto market

Although USDT is the most widely used stablecoin in the crypto ecosystem, its market cap has declined since the shake-up caused by the collapse of Terra (LUNA). The market cap of USDT is 66 billion, but just behind it is USDC, with 55 billion and an upward parabolic trend. The solution of Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Tether? Expand into other markets! The new frontier for Tether is the UK, and GBPT is the new stablecoin pegged to the pound sterling and based on Ethereum. Will gbp on blockchain be an antidote against the bearish market?

A new stablecoin pegged to the pounds sterling for the UK market

GBPT is a stablecoin pegged to the pound sterling that will be released in early July by Tether. In addition to the primary stablecoin USDT, Tether already has other cryptocurrencies pegged to fiat currencies. What are they pegged to? The Euro, Chinese yuan and Mexican peso. However, these cryptos in total have a very low market capitalisation, under $1 billion. Although these ‘minor’ stablecoins do not reach USDT levels, Tether has nevertheless decided to release the new GBPT stablecoin.

The motivation? According to Paolo Ardoino, the CTO of Tether, the UK will be the next frontier of the crypto market. The pound is one of the most widely used fiat currencies in the world and the UK is a world economic power. What’s more, the UK parliament has announced that it is working on a series of laws and regulations that could foster the development of crypto technologies. “Tether is ready to work hand-in-hand with UK lawmakers towards this goal, and we are excited to continue the expansion of Tether-signed stablecoins,” Ardoino announced.

According to Tether, the launch of a stablecoin pegged to the pound will make the crypto market better, i.e. more dynamic, facilitating transactions not only in the UK but worldwide. The Bank of England is looking into the possibility of creating a CBDC of the pound, but some critics have blamed the bank’s slowness. Tether fits right into this market gap with its GBPT.

Will stablecoin pegged to the sterling help Tether?

The idea of a stablecoin pegged to sterling was born during a bearish market phase, with the intention of reviving the use of Tether’s signature stablecoin ecosystem. USDT reached a record market cap on the 11th of May, during the collapse of Terra (LUNA), surpassing $84 billion in capitalisation. On 28 June, after just under two months, USDT’s market cap stands at USD 66 billion. A drop of about 20%!

The causes of this decline are many. Besides the arrival of the bearish market, the very transparency of Tether has been called into question. According to some critics, in fact, the company’s reserves would not guarantee a 1:1 ratio with the USDTs currently circulating on the blockchain. Tether was quick to deny the allegations, releasing the numerous third-party audits confirming its reserves, but the rumours were enough to call into question the stablecoin’s primacy. “These unfounded rumours contribute to panic in the market, probably to take advantage of an already stressed market,” responded a Tether spokesperson, warning those holding USDT on their wallet.

Picking up the slack from USDT is first and foremost USDC, Circle’s stablecoin. Over the past month, USDC has increased its market cap by 4%. At the same time, a new algorithmic stablecoin, Tron’s USDD, has emerged, which has stolen percentage points from USDT by relying on those who still have faith in algorithmic stablecoins despite the Terra disaster.

Will the move to create a stablecoin pegged to sterling prove successful? According to Tether, the GBPT stablecoin will be released at the beginning of July on Ethereum, but it will take a few months to see if the stablecoin will prove equal to USDT or if GBPT will end up being used by a small niche.

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Blockchain in the palm of your hand? Solana announces the development of a flagship Android smartphone integrated with crypto

Want to always have blockchain and crypto at your fingertips? Solana, in collaboration with OSOM, has announced a brand new Android smartphone with cutting-edge technical features, fully integrated with the crypto world. The mobile phone, called the Solana Saga, is designed to make access to Web3 simple and straightforward. The Solana Saga is a future-proof device, find out what the Solana smartphone, the Android mobile phone designed for crypto and Web3 enthusiasts, is all about!

An Android smartphone for crypto and Web3: this is what Solana Saga is and how it works

Did you buy a smartphone with 5G thinking it was state-of-the-art? Technology has just churned out something even more futuristic! In collaboration with Osom, Solana has announced Saga, a crypto- and Web3-proof Android smartphone integrated with blockchain and compatible with all decentralised applications. The manufacturing company, Osom, is a start-up created by some employees of the now defunct company Essential, which designed smartphones dedicated to privacy and security. Now they have decided to push the boundaries: here is Solana Saga!

The technical features of the Solana Saga are respectable and are no match for other top-of-the-range devices. The 6.67-inch OLED screen has a refresh rate of 120Hz, ensuring no blurring even in the most frantic videos. It also has 512 GB of memory, and 12 GB of RAM to run even the heaviest dApps. Highlights are the 50 MP main camera and the excellent Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen1 processor, which is the latest addition to the market and guarantees user privacy. In fact, thanks to the capabilities of this processor, Solana Saga is able to keep private keys and seed phrases safe, but at the same time make them interact with decentralised applications should the need arise. Solana works to ensure that your privacy is not compromised!

Solana also put another important building block on the theme of increasing the accessibility and usability of its network in March 2022, with the partnership between Dialect (Web3 messaging protocol) and Solana Mobile. The goal of the collaboration? To launch a Whatsapp-style, but decentralised, open source messaging application for the Solana Saga Android smartphone.

All this technological power will be used to make decentralised applications and the Web3 work stably and smoothly. Solana Saga  will be integrated with the Solana blockchain and all other realities of the new Internet, thanks also to the new open-source marketplace that will be installed on the device. Solana Mobile Stack replaces the Play Store (installed by default on Android smartphones), allowing developers to develop their own decentralised applications and publish them on the open-source marketplace. “The world needs hardware companies that focus on supporting Web3,” reported Jason Keats, CEO and founder of Osom. “Building the ecosystem of the future without being tied to the past is really exciting.”

Why buy a Web3 and crypto-proof smartphone? Solana’s founders answer

Is Solana’s smartphone, an Android phone integrated with crypto and Web3 really necessary? According to the founders of Solana, definitely yes! Indeed, they hope to be pioneers and lay the foundations for a revolution that is now imminent. “Almost 7 billion people use smartphones worldwide and more than 100 million of these people own digital assets, and these numbers will continue to grow,” said Anatoly Yakovenko, one of the founders of Solana, confidently. ‘Solana Saga wants to create a standard for all hardware devices that interface with Web3’. Yakovenko’s words are clear: the question to ask is not whether a smartphone integrated with blockchain is useful, but when we will all get to have one in our pockets!

“We chose the name Saga because we believe the crypto story is still in its infancy,” said Raj Gokal, co-founder of Solana. “This smartphone is a step forward in history, and we believe it is critical to improving the understanding and adoption of this new technology,” he continued. Thanks to Saga, understanding and using the blockchain will be as easy and intuitive as downloading an app from the Play Store or making a payment using your smartphone’s NFC.

Privacy and technological innovation: Solana Saga is an Android smartphone projected into the future and integrated with Web3 and crypto. It could be the first in a long line of next-generation mobile phones. Imagine transferring cryptocurrencies, paying for pizza and shopping online all from the same interface and in a completely decentralised manner. Does the future of blockchain pass through smartphones? We will find out in March 2023, when Solana Saga finally hits the market!

Solana Saga pre-sale 

It is already possible to pre-order the Solana smartphone. To do so, simply log on to this site, enter your details and pay a deposit of 10 percent of the final price of the smartphone, exactly $100. Solana has announced that pre-ordering the device will provide additional benefits, including limited edition NFTs, merchandising and other benefits that are as yet undisclosed. 

Users interested in obtaining one of the first examples of Solana’s Android smartphone were able to purchase an NFT called the ‘Saga Pass’, which grants them the right to be the first to receive the Saga, as well as the right to airdrop and participate in exclusive events. These NFTs went on sale on 31 October 2022. 

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

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

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

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

The Fabricant and the decentralised fashion model

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

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

What makes an NFT fashion really useful?

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

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

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

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