Tokens
Battle of the bots: WTF token launch drains 58 ETH
Fees.wtf is a simple service that shows Ether (ETH) users their lifetime spending amount on Ethereum blockchain transactions by measuring gas. You plug in your wallet address on its website, and it tells you how much gas you spent. The project released its WTF token in an airdrop Friday. Essentially, users were able to claim WTF tokens as well as a “Rekt” nonfungible token (NFT) for 0.01 ETH. The Rekt NFT grants lifetime access to the pro version of Fees.wtf. According to its Discord announcement, the initial launch planned to offer 100 million WTF, and the “circulating supply will be the main attraction in the tokenomics.” However, it didn’t quite go as planned. Following frantic trading behavior between bots in the opening hours of the airdrop, one bot ran off with a repo...
Sega will likely not introduce NFTs for play-to-earn if ‘perceived as simple money-making’
The leadership at video game firm Sega Corporation’s holding company has suggested that they may avoid nonfungible tokens in play-to-earn model games based on the response from users. In a Dec. 14 meeting of Sega Sammy Holdings’ CEO Haruki Satomi, senior executive vice president Koichi Fukazawa, and Sega Corporation president Yukio Sugino, the trio said they needed to “carefully assess” how to potentially introduce nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, into Sega titles to “mitigate the negative elements” and work within Japanese regulations. The executives cited “negative reactions” from users overseas rewarded in NFTs for gameplay. “In terms of NFT, we would like to try out various experiments and we have already started many different studies and considerations but nothing is decided at this poin...
Airbnb users want crypto payment options, according to CEO Twitter poll
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky tweeted a poll on Monday asking his roughly 400,000 followers what they wanted from the rental platform in 2022. Chesky has today revealed that the majority of respondents want to be able to pay with Bitcoin (BTC) or other popular digital currencies when renting their next house or apartment on Airbnb. Other requests included clear pricing displays, a loyalty program for visitors, up-to-date cleaning charges, and enhanced customer service. Got 4,000 suggestions. Here are the top 6: 1 – Crypto payments (top suggestion)2 – Clear pricing displays3 – Guest loyalty program4 – Updated cleaning fees5 – More long-term stays & discounts6 – Better customer service Already working on most, will look into others now! https://t.co/rxE...
Crypto exchange Kraken’s new NFT marketplace to issue loans
Kraken founder and CEO Jesse Powell recently shared in an interview with Bloomberg News that the crypto exchange will launch a nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace that will enable users to borrow funds against their NFTs. Powell explained that the company plans to enter the NFT space in early 2022 and hopes to add the feature to determine the liquidation value of an NFT and if it can be put up as collateral for a loan. “If you deposit a CryptoPunk on Kraken, we want to be able to reflect the value of that in your account,” said Powell. “And if you want to borrow funds against that.” The value of NFTs, however, is all over the spectrum and only a small percentage of token owners hold a digital collectible valued for as much as a CryptoPunk, whose floor price is 66.9 ...
Terra’s Mirror protocol warns community against governance attack
Public blockchain network Terra has confirmed an ongoing scam attack via an official governance poll on Mirror, an in-house synthetic assets protocol. According to Mirror, the attacker launched a public poll on Mirror’s official website, which proposes a freeze on the community pool in case of a scam. NEW MIRROR POLL! ALERT: Poll 211 is SCAM — sending 25,000,000 MIR to itself … #vote on 212: https://t.co/FH6RqTbJ2j $MIR $LUNA #terra — Mirror Polls (@mirror_polls) December 25, 2021 According to Poll ID: 211, named “Freeze the community pool in case of scam”, the scammer proposes an upgrade of safer community governance rules in case of a hack. If the hacker manages to get a positive majority on the poll, 25 million MIR tokens (worth $24.1 million at the time of writing) wi...
On heritage and NFT: Challenging the meaning of legacy itself
In his monthly crypto tech column, Israeli serial entrepreneur Ariel Shapira covers emerging technologies within the crypto, decentralized finance (DeFi) and blockchain space, as well as their roles in shaping the economy of the 21st century. When trying to examine the nonfungible token (NFT) economy as it has been shaping in recent months, two main trends can be discerned. On the one hand, a completely new market that allows various artists to join a new creator economy — the creators of Bored Ape Yacht Club, various types of pixel art creators and creative flickers such as the creator of long-necked women’s paintings, the sale of which brought the artist, only 12 years old, close to 1,394 Ether (ETH), equal at the time of writing $6 million. But the truth is that an NFT is much mor...
Telegram-verified payments bot to accept Toncoin cryptocurrency
Telegram co-founder and CEO Pavel Durov has expressed excitement about the Telegram Open Network (TON) technology still developing after Telegram officially abandoned the project last year. “I’m proud that the technology we created is alive and evolving. When it comes to scalability and speed, TON is still years ahead of everything else in the blockchain realm,” Durov said in a Telegram post on Thursday. He noted that the project rebranded from TON to Toncoin. Unlike the original TON, the new project is independent of Telegram. “But I wish its team the same success. Coupled with the right go-to-market strategy, they have all they need to build something epic,” he noted. Durov’s remarks came amid Donate, a Telegram-verified payments service, preparing to enable donations on Telegram using t...
Biggest NFT drops and sales in 2021
Nonfungible token, or NFT, became such a tech buzzword in 2021 that even Collins Dictionary declared the abbreviation its word of the year and Google searches for NFTs spiked to record levels. Behind the term is a market that approaches $17 billion, according to Cointelegraph Research. And the NFT marketplace OpenSea is responsible for processing most of these transactions, with a trading volume that recently surpassed $10 billion. NFTs’ potential reaches far beyond art to include music, sports collectibles and video games, while its utility encompasses ownership as well as exclusive access to unique functions and features. From CryptoPunks and Beeple’s collage to NBA Top Shot and RTFKT, the following collections stood out, not only in numbers but for their growing communities. As we ...
Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs catch up to CryptoPunks, flips floor price
The price of the cheapest Bored Ape NFT for sale is now 53.9 Ether (ETH), or $215,067, while the minimum asking price for a CryptoPunk is 52.69 ETH, which is currently worth $210,239, according to OpenSea. All month long, there has been speculation about the possibility of Bored Ape flipping CryptoPunks in terms of NFT floor price. Earlier this week, Cointelegraph did a deep dive into the potential factors that could affect the value of one collection over the other. Whether owners had a preference for intellectual property rights or over certain partnerships and collaborations, the driving force behind any NFT project, “blue chip” or not, is its community. It is important to keep in mind a few notable differences between the two collections. Larva Labs, the team behind CryptoPunks, w...
Adidas Originals reaches second spot on OpenSea rankings with debut NFT collection
In its debut weekend, the first NFT from Adidas Originals’ “Into the Metaverse” project has generated 11,391 Ether (ETH), worth over $43 million, on OpeanSea. Ranked by trading volume, this collection has earned the second spot on OpeanSea after RTFKT’s Clone X and Takashi Murakami collection. In collaboration with Bored Ape Yacht Club, PUNKS Comic and gmoney, Adidas Originals co-created one digital asset and put up 30,000 copies of the same item for sale on Dec. 17. Almost 20,000 copies of the Phase 1 NFT have been sold so far. Related: Adidas Originals to launch debut NFT collection According to the company, $15.5 million was made during the Early Access mint that had to pause and restart after several hours due to technical issues with Mutant Ape Yacht Club not be...
Celebrities that rode the crypto wave in 2021
Overshadowing its glory in previous years, the crypto ecosystem managed to maintain a year-long spotlight throughout 2021. Key catalysts include mainstream adoption of Bitcoin (BTC), a meme coin frenzy driven by Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Dogecoin (DOGE), and proactive participation from popular celebrities and authority figures. The year 2021 witnessed a greater inflow of influencers and celebrities to the space than ever before. All the way from mainstream tech entrepreneurs and presidents to rappers and reality TV stars, celebrities have gotten involved in crypto in their own unique ways. While some chose to create their own versions of crypto ecosystems and tokens, others helped spread awareness of various projects. As a tribute to all those who showed involvement in our world of crypt...
Nifty News: Melania Trump drops NFT, Arabian Camels produces NFT film and Whitney Houston keeps selling hits
Catch up on nonfungible token (NFT)-related news this week from restaurants to movies and music. Below is a roundup of stories you don’t want to miss. Melania Trump’s eyes become an NFT Former first lady Melania Trump launched her own NFT platform and dropped her first digital collectible titled “Melania’s Vision,” which will be on sale through the rest of the month. “Melania’s Vision” is a watercolor art piece by artist Marc-Antoine Coulon. The limited-edition digital artwork will be available for 1 SOL ($150) and includes an audio recording from Mrs. Trump. The Melania Trump NFT platform utilizes the Solana blockchain protocol and is powered by Parler, an alternative social media network. “Melania’s Vision” NFT...
