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Crypto football: Barça and Socios, stadium tickets with BTC and the NFT football market

Football and crypto: Barcelona and Socios, Crawley Town, Oxford City

Football NFTs, Barça and Socios, and tickets can be bought in BTC. Football and cryptocurrencies are getting closer and closer!

The world of football is one of the sectors in which Web3 technologies are becoming more established. One of the main reasons for this is certainly the strong following, and consequently the high visibility, that blockchain companies can achieve through sports-themed initiatives and collaborations. Fan tokens, sponsorships, Sorare’s NFT fantasy football. In short, the Web3 is interested in football! Is this attraction mutual? Let’s see it in the article!

NFT football market. The Crawley Town F.C. and WAGMI United affair

Would you like to be able to pick transfer targets for your favourite team? For Crawley Town fans, it was possible! On the 15th June 2022, supporters of the team, which plays in the English fourth division, were able to vote for a new player to be bought and included in the squad. The vote took place on WAGMI United‘s Discord channel, and was restricted to all NFT owners of the brand. The player who was chosen was Jayden Davis, a 20-year-old midfielder who joined the team on a free transfer deal.

But what is WAGMI United? The term WAGMI stands for “We’re all gonna make it” and is a very famous motto in the crypto world. WAGMI United is an American Web3 brand that aims to revolutionise the way fans interact with their favourite team. The company bought the small English team in April for a price of $20 million, with Gary Vaynerchuk and the president of the NBA team Philadelphia 76, Darly Moery, among the most prominent investors. WAGMI United calls itself ‘the internet team’ and aims to build a new kind of fan base that crosses geographical boundaries. Among the group’s partners is none other than Adidas, which has taken charge of designing and producing the club’s shirts. The famous brand’s slogan: ‘Impossible is nothing’ seems to be shared by the young company, the ultimate goal is indeed more than ambitious. To take Crawley Town to the Premier League!

Barcelona studios sells 24.5% stake to Socios

Barcelona wants to join the Web3 scene and win more and more fans around the world. The Spanish club announced on Monday the 1st of August 2022 the sale of a 24.5 per cent stake in Barça Studios to Socios.com for $100 million. Barça studios is the division of the football club responsible for creating multimedia content for supporters. It will therefore be Socios from now on that will take care of the development of the brand’s Web3 initiatives, thanks to the support of the blockchain Chillz. The partnership between the two brands, however, is not really new. In fact, the collaboration had already begun in February 2020 for the launch of the $BAR Fan Token on Socios.com. Since then, over $39 million worth of fan tokens have been sold. What will the Web3 projects of FC Barcelona and Socios mainly focus on? Obviously NFTs and maybe even a metaverse. Socios and Chillz are establishing themselves as one of the most interesting realities in the ‘football and cryptocurrency’ scene also through illustrious brand ambassadors such as Del Piero and Lionel Messi.

Buy match tickets in BTC through the Lightning Network

Oxford City Football Club, a team from England’s sixth division, recently partnered with CoinCorner, a company specialising in Bitcoin payments using the Lightning Network. The Lightning Network is a decentralised network of nodes that allows a very high number of transactions to be sent instantaneously.This network is parallel to the Bitcoin blockchain, performs some transactions on the blockchain and some off-chain, and was created to solve the scalability problems of the network. If you want to learn more about it, have a look at our Academy article! The Oxford City initiative is not only about tickets. Within the RAW Charging Stadium (the club’s home ground), it will also be possible to buy food and drinks in BTC! The Bitcoin logo will also appear on the players’ shirts as a sponsor, alongside CoinCorner. Justin Merritt, the British club’s sports director, says the initiative aims to increase the education and adoption of Bitcoin in the UK.The popularity of cryptocurrencies in the UK has increased dramatically: a third of Britons are interested in the subject, and around 3.3 million citizens own BTC. So the answer to the question posed at the beginning of the article is yes! The football industry loves crypto!

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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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Splinterlands, winning battles with NFT cards

Splinterlands: the NTF card crypto game

Splinterlands is a collectible NFT card game similar to Magic and Hearthstone. Find out about the crypto game of the moment!

NFT card games were among the first crypto games to hit the play-to-earn scene. These games are easy to develop and integrate perfectly with the blockchain. In games like Hearthstone or Magic Arena, the cards you buy don’t really belong to you. In Splinterlands, on the other hand, every card is an NFT that you own on the blockchain, and you can sell it at any price, trade it or use it to destroy your enemies. Find out more about Splinterlands, the NFT card crypto game!

Splinterlands, the collectible NFT card game

Splinterlands is a collectible NFT card game created by two veteran game developers, Jesse “Aggroed” Reich and Matthew “Yabapmatt” Rosen. The two developers came up with the idea in 2018, and, after the Alpha and Beta phases, Splinterlands was officially released on 21 March 2021 on Hive Blockchain, at the height of the NFT hype.

The goal in Splinterlands is to collect cards and put together teams of elemental monsters that fight against other players. Each monster card has various special stats and abilities, so each one is suited for a specific role. For example, cards with a lot of Armour and Life are perfectly placed in the front line during fights, while cards with a lot of Attack or support abilities are ideal in the rearguard. In addition, each monster team is led by a Summoner – a special card that decides the team’s predominant element. There are 7 elements in Splinterlands, Fire, Death, Earth, Water, Life, Dragon and Neutral. Once you select your Summoner, your chosen Monsters must be of the same element. The Neutral cards, or mercenaries, are particular Monsters, i.e. they are wild cards.

Before a game, you must choose your team and position it. Formations are very important in Splinterlands, in fact, the card in the front line is the one that gets hit most often. So make sure it has plenty of Life and Armour! If it dies, it will be replaced by the nearest card in the rear. Beware, though, some Monsters cannot attack at close range, so make sure you put them as far away from the front line as possible. Other Monsters, however, have special abilities that allow them to hit creatures in the rear. A Monster with the Opportunity special ability, for example, will always attack the monster with the least Life. To line up a formation you must know all your cards and their characteristics thoroughly. 

Once you choose your team, all you have to do is watch the battle unfold! The first player to win two rounds wins the game. Luckily, Splinterlands, the NFT card crypto game, has very well-rendered animations, so there is no risk of getting bored.

How Splinterlands tokens work

When you first sign up to Splinterlands you get 105 so-called ‘ghost’ cards. These cards do not belong to you, but are given free of charge to all newbies to the game, to familiarise with Splinterlands. To start getting cards and tokens, you have to buy the Summoner’s Spellbook, which unlocks all the game’s features and allows you to connect to your favourite crypto wallet. 

The Summoner’s Spellbook is essential to become competitive on Splinterlands. NFT cards, unlike ghost cards, have levels. The higher the level, the higher the card stats. To improve the card level, you must fuse several NFT cards of the same type. You can get more cards by buying them directly from the official marketplace, or from other marketplaces such as OpenSea. Alternatively, you can buy Booster Packs, which include random cards of the set you have purchased, and can also include ‘Foil’ cards, which are very rare, have brilliant graphics and can gain experience faster. As they belong to you, you can freely sell NFT cards that you do not need, or you can lend them to a player. Each time the player wins a game with a loaned card, they will give you a percentage of the victory reward, in a similar fashion to Axie Infinity.

The game token in Splinterlands is called DEC (Dark Energy Crystal). These tokens can be earned by winning games or by burning your own NFT cards, if you want to get rid of them without going through a marketplace. You can use DEC to buy Booster Packs, different graphic embellishments for your cards, or various types of Potions (for example, some of them increase the possibility of getting Foil cards).

Splinterlands also has a second token called SPS (Splintershards), which is designed to manage the governance mechanisms. In fact, SPS tokens give you the right to vote in the  NFT collectible card crypto game’s DAO – owning them gives you a say in the crypto video game and the right to vote on new features or changes to the Splinterlands economy.
Splinterlands is a very exciting NFT card crypto game, capable of competing directly with big names such as Magic: The Gathering and Hearthstone. Magic, in particular, has a thriving market for ‘real’ cards, and Splinterlands wants to imitate it – but on the blockchain! If you’re not convinced you like the game, you can try it for free on their site. The tutorial is clear and concise and will guide you through the first steps, but then it’s up to you to create your own team and boost it! Each faction has a strength and a weakness, and it is essential to learn them in order to assemble a fearsome and well-trained Monster team. Splinterlands awaits you!

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According to Vitalik Buterin, Meta, Facebook’s metaverse, is destined for failure

Vitalik Buterin: Facebook's metaverse has no future

According to Buterin, the Metaverse is on its way, but not as Meta intends it. Why is the founder of Ethereum so sceptical?

Vitalik Buterin doesn’t mince words! The founder of Ethereum stated on Twitter on the 31st of July 2022 that he does not believe in any of the attempts by established companies to build a metaverse. Buterin spoke out, responding to a tweet by Dean Eigenmann, a young developer of smart contracts on the blockchain. The statement concerns the concept of the metaverse. In fact, Eigenmann stated that he supports the abstract idea of the metaverse, but that in his opinion, he is convinced that the transition of people into the ‘virtual world’ will not happen through the way traditional companies are promoting it.

Vitalik Buterin agreed with the developer’s assertions, adding that already established tech companies that are now trying to create their own metaverse, such as Facebook with Meta, are not going anywhere! The Metaverse is generally described and imagined as a 3D online world centred on social sharing, which will be able to establish itself through the use of innovative technologies such as virtual and augmented reality. But according to Vitalik, it is so far impossible to imagine the use cases and predict the problems that the metaverse will have to solve. Paraphrasing Buterin’s thesis, any attempt to build a metaverse today is a step in the dark and pure experimentation, and as with anything new, the risk of failure is high.

Meta’s initiatives and the issue of decentralisation

Meta is going through one of the most difficult times since its founding. For the first time in its history, the company recorded a 36% drop in profits in the last year. It is nevertheless continuing to develop new software, with the aim of guaranteeing users a fully immersive experience. Meta Horizon World for example, is the first embryo of the Facebook metaverse. It currently takes the form of a virtual reality video game/social network in which users can create their own worlds. Meta is also working on a new physical product that will facilitate interaction with the Metaverse: the Meta smart glasses. With this new product, which should be released by 2024, it will be possible to record videos and interact with the virtual world through virtual and augmented reality technologies. Vitalik’s criticism, however, revolves around the issue of centralisation. According to the founder of Ethereum, it is precisely the very nature of companies such as Facebook and Microsoft that is at odds with the Metaverse concept. The strong centralisation of these companies does not fit at all with the basic ideas of these virtual worlds, and more generally of Web3, such as digital ownership and the total decentralisation of protocols. For Vitalik Buterin, the Facebook metaverse has no future precisely because it will not be on the blockchain.

An alliance for the decentralised Metaverse: OMA3 is born

In order to reflect on the decentralisation of the Metaverse, the Open Metaverse Alliance was created, a decentralised organisation composed of the major players in the field. The OMA3 is a DAO that operates as a consortium. The DAO is guided by principles of inclusiveness, transparency and decentralisation and is based on the important concept of real-time interoperability. Interoperability means the ability to interact with multiple protocols simultaneously and easily in a system where digital ownership is universally recognised. Let’s say we own, for instance, an avatar on The Sandbox; in a system where interoperability is guaranteed, we will own that avatar in whatever metaverse we are in.

Among the members of the organisation are established realities in the Web3 world such as: The Sandbox, Animoca Brands, Alien World and Decentraland. OMA3 is thus a body that verifies and promotes the decentralisation of metaverses, with the aim of creating a unified Web3 universe in which the ownership of digital assets (such as NFTs) is universally recognised and controlled by users. At the opposite end of this vision stands Meta, Facebook’s metaverse, with its centralisation of resources, data and platforms. The decentralisation-oriented work of OMA3 could avoid the failure of the ‘metaverse’ concept as envisaged by Vitalik Buterin. The future of the metaverse will play out on one feature: blockchain yes or no?

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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!

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The top 10 Venture Capitals funding crypto projects

10 crypto Venture Capitals you should know

The crypto world’s growth in recent years has been supported financially by venture capital funds. So, how do they work? Which are the main ones?

In 2021, the crypto sector raised huge funds from corporations and venture capital companies. Due to the loose monetary policy and the economic crisis caused by the pandemic, the shareholders’ tendency has been towards high-risk but high-potential sectors such as crypto, the Metaverse and Web3. However, in 2022 investments dropped by 35 per cent compared to 2021, to around USD 415 billion in the last year, the recession has driven away investors more accustomed to risk, and this is likely to be the trend in 2023 as well. But what are venture capital funds in the crypto world and how do they work? 

Crypto Venture Capital: what it is and how it works 

Venture capital funds are funds or companies dedicated to the high-risk financing of activities in innovative sectors with high development potential. The business ideas financially supported by them are generally in the early stages of development as in the case of start-ups, operate in technological fields and offer cutting-edge services, and are characterised by high financial and operational risk. Some Venture Capital companies or funds specialise in funding crypto projects.

How does a Crypto Venture Capital fund work? Be it a standard or a Crypto VC, it all starts with a group of investors deciding to fund the growth of a newly founded company with their own money, expecting it to multiply their profits soon. In terms of venture capitals, the extent of the risk is directly proportional to the profit if the business is successful. 

Venture Capital Investment Stages

Venture capital funding can take place at different moments in a start-up or business development.

  • Pre-seed :The project is at a very early stage – often no more than an idea – and the initial financial backing comes from family and friends.
  • Seed round:The project is testing its feasibility. This stage includes a potential market and competition analysis, as well as the development of a product that can generate revenue.
  • Series A :The project has passed all initial checks, is growing and is supported by a strong community. Investments at this stage are beginning to become less risky for investors.
  • Series B :The project has a large user base and is expanding. The investment focus is no longer directly on services and products but instead on marketing, sales, human resources, business development and customer service – all areas that can enhance the project’s growth. The business is normally in the scale-up phase at this point.
  • Series C: When a venture capital firm decides to invest at this stage, it means that the project is now commercially viable and is focused on expansion into new products or international markets.

The top 10 Crypto Venture Capitals

So, which are the 10 crypto Venture Capitals you should know? 

1. a16z – Andreessen Horowitz

Founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, Andreessen Horowitz, known as ‘a16z’, is a Californian venture capital firm with a special interest in crypto start-ups and the Web3. Currently, a16z has stakes in many of the leading cryptocurrency companies such as Compound, Phantom, Lido, MakerDAO, Yield Guild Games and many others. 

2. Fenbushi Capital

The name ‘Fenbushi’ comes from the combination of the Chinese words: ‘fen’ meaning ‘dust’ and ‘bushi’ meaning ‘warrior’ and is intended to describe Venture Capital as an army of blockchain warriors. Fenbushi Capital was founded in 2015 by Bo Shen and Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum. Who as of 2018 no longer works full-time on the project but plays the role of advisor. Among the Chinese fund’s investments are crypto companies from around the world, including blockchain firms Flow and Kusama, analytics and research firm Messari, and USDC stablecoin company Circle. 

3. Jump Crypto 

Jump Crypto is a section dedicated to the development of Web3 services and infrastructure of the Chicago-based Jump Trading Group. Some examples of the crypto companies in which Jump Crypto has invested are Acala, a parachain of Polkadot, Amp, Chiliz and Solana. 

4. Framework Ventures

Framework Ventures claims to be “the reference system for the global transition to decentralised technologies”; it was founded in 2018 by Alex Kolicich and Jake Medwell and its goal is to foster and accelerate the development of Web3 projects. This crypto Venture Capital fund also invests in companies developing systems for artificial intelligence, and for the Internet of Things. Among the various crypto projects it has financed are Aave, Optimism and The Graph.   

5. Paradigm 

Among the top 10 Crypto Venture Capital funds is also Paradigm, an investment company that specialises in crypto and Web3. Paradigm supports ‘disruptive’ projects with funding from a minimum of USD 1 million to a maximum of USD 100 million. “Every now and then a new technology comes along that changes everything. The Internet has defined the last decades of innovation. We believe cryptocurrencies will define the next decades” – which is precisely why Paradigm has chosen to help blockchain projects reach their full potential. Cosmos, dYdX, Optimism are some of the projects that have been funded. 

6. Multicoin Capital

Multicoin Capital has been active since 2017 and considers itself a pioneer of token-based economic models. The fund was created with the aim of devoting itself entirely to the crypto world. As well as owning a wallet composed of different cryptocurrencies, it is involved in funding blockchain-based projects from the seed stage, with a focus on the more technical aspects of the sector. Multicoin has funded Audius, Solana and The Graph. 

7. Pantera

Pantera is an American Venture Capital fund that has been funding blockchain companies since 2013. It is one of the longest-running funds in the industry, when it was launched Bitcoin was only worth $65! Pantera has invested in 1inch, Ankr and Ripple. 

8. Draper Associates

Draper Associates is a historical Venture Capital firm that has been operating since 1985. The fund focuses mainly on companies in the early stages of their development. After having contributed to the success of companies such as SpaceX, Draper Associates has also opened up to funding crypto companies. 

9. Polychain

Based in San Francisco, Polychain is one of the leading Crypto Venture Capital funds. The Polychain team values ‘long-term vision, combative intelligence, a data-driven and open-minded mentality and humility’. Polychain has funded Ava Labs, Celo and NuCypher. 

 10. Animoca Brands

Animoca Brands is the leading VC fund in the field of the Metaverse and digital entertainment. It has funded the Web3 projects Axie Infinity, Splinterlands and The Sandbox. 

All in all, crypto VC funds work like traditional VCs. The crypto sector, however, brings its own peculiarities – being a young market, processes and funding are often flexible. Most crypto projects are funded in the pre-seed and seed stages via ICOs and IPOs, Crypto Venture Capitals generally come in at the A and B stages. This is the case for Dune Analytics or Palm NFT Studio.