MyCrypto and MetaMask will be combining technology and teams to build the ideal wallet. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
ConsenSys announced Tuesday that it had acquired MyCrypto, the Ethereum wallet interface provider, adding it to the software company's product suite. Its intent is to merge MyCrypto with the ConsenSys-owned MetaMask wallet, to "improve the security of all the products and create a cohesive user experience across desktop, mobile, extension and browser wallets."
We are very excited to bring the @MyCrypto team to @MetaMask! The two teams have been friends and Ethereum colleagues with shared values since 2016.
Together we will continue to build increasingly user-centric, extensible, and decentralized products.https://t.co/A7y8pkrg7f
MetaMask currently has 21 million monthly active users, according to its website, and is one of the fastest-growing non-custodial Ethereum wallets and browser extensions. MetaMask co-founder Dan Finlay said that he expects that the combination between MetaMask's mobile apps and browser extensions and MyCrypto's web product and desktop application will "connect people to the world of Web3 in even more ways."
Similarly, MyCrypto explained in a blog post how it will be working together with MetaMask "to lead the way to Web3" and that they have a shared goal to "build the perfect wallet." The characteristics of an ideal wallet include becoming increasingly decentralized and trustless, prioritizing user security and safety and providing seamless access across various user accounts, protocols and networks.
MyCrypto clarified that the user experience will not be changing in the short term, apart from small updates like UX improvements, network handling, error messages and a dark mode. Neither is any action needed from MyCrypto or MetaMask users at this time. In the long-term, however, both wallets will reportedly "slowly" merge into a "comprehensive, Ethereum-first suite of open-source, non-custodial product offerings.
According to ConsenSys, MetaMask co-founders Dan Finlay and Aaron Davis, alongside MyCrypto founder Taylor Monahan, will lead the new desktop, mobile, extension and browser product team, while MyCrypto’s 12 employees will join ConsenSys.
Politicians and activists have often targeted crypto mining operations around Seneca Lake due to the presence of Greenidge Generation's plant.
With roughly nine months until major federal and state elections, New York State gubernatorial candidate Jumaane Williams is making crypto mining an issue in his campaign, criticizing the lack of regulatory clarity.
Speaking to climate activists and protestors at Seneca Lake in upstate New York on Monday, Williams called on current Governor Kathy Hochul to deny permits for proof-of-work crypto mining firms seeking to operate in the state, citing potential environmental concerns as well as any “harmful” economic impact. The gubernatorial candidate cited China’s crackdown on proof-of-work miners to back his claims.
“Twenty percent of America’s mines operate in New York state without any oversight or regulation,” said Williams. “We need to ask questions now rather than dealing with the fallout later by creating the right infrastructure to protect Seneca Lake and all of New York state from harmful economic and environmental impacts.”
Bitcoin mines that use a 'proof-of-work' process have the potential to devastate the environment & local economy, so today I joined advocates & community members on #SenecaLake to call on @GovKathyHochul to declare a moratorium on this type of mining. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/DHWFmmuv72
Politicians and activists have often targeted crypto mining operations around Seneca Lake and across the state. In June, a bill that would have required miners in New York to halt operations for three years — but exempted certain projects operating on renewable energy — in an effort to slow the environmental impact of crypto was defeated in the state’s legislature.
Greenidge Generation’s Bitcoin (BTC) plant operates in the area and aims to dedicate 85 megawatts to crypto mining in 2022. Residents near Seneca Lake have previously claimed that Greenidge’s plant was heating up the body of water and releasing greenhouse gases, threatening the ecosystem of several species of fish and otherwise damaging the environment.
The company has repeatedly denied such claims and threatened to consider “all legal remedies available” against thactivists pushing them. However, New York Commissioner of Environmental Conservation Basil Seggos has also criticized Greenidge, saying in September the firm “has not shown compliance with NY’s climate law” in regards to its BTC mining operations.
Hochul has only been in office since August following the departure of former governor Andrew Cuomo, but will face Williams and other gubernatorial candidates in a November 2022 election. During her time as governor, Hochul has nominated Adrienne Harris to lead New York State’s Department of Financial Services.
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The shift from gas wars to whitelisting, static PFPs to dynamic music and AI-based projects are all proof that the NFT sector is rapidly evolving in 2022.
In 2020, newly launched NFTs projects experienced costly gas wars that are gas priority auctions where buyers battle to secure their spot on the next block, potentially losing Ether (ETH) to failed transactions. In 2021, digital scarcity and utility drove the NFT hype in the constantly surging markets, and toward the end of the year, how much attention any collection received seemed to be at the mercy of influencers’ opinions.
I feel you. It’s frustrating especially when tons of good projects with actual value and hardworking teams that don’t just disappear on their community are still so undervalued. Influencer culture invading the NFT space has had a horrible impact for the community.
Transitions have slowly emerged and driven new entrants in with new sets of values that not only impact how projects are minted, but what is minted. In 2022, it seems the NFT ecosystem will emphasize “strong communities,” and exclusive collector utility.
Strong communities are what makes an NFT project succeed!
Whichever project gets the most votes will be swept post our mint and airdropped to random minters!
Let the games begin
— HOUNDS OF ZEUS - MINT IS LIVE! (@HoundsOfZeusNFT) January 27, 2022
There is no doubt that some shifts in trends have benefited some investors and communities, but there are investors who are meeting these changes with resistance.
Let’s take a look at some of the new trends that are driving the pulse of the market and how these transitions could impact NFT investors in 2022.
A change in minting strategy
Whitelists emerged as a shift in minting strategy after persistent gas wars left many collectors disgruntled and in search of alternatives. Whitelists are structured and modeled to benefit members who are active in the project’s mission and initiatives and holders of particular collections willing to play the game.
The pros to this model are that it attempts to distinguish potential community members who will add value in the long-term, while granting them a mint. For collectors, a spot on the whitelist is not only a ticket for early-access on a potential blue chip, but a method to mitigate having to compete with whales who can sweep the collection.
However, getting a spot on a whitelist may be good in theory, but it’s not as effective in practice. Whitelisting schemes make it easy for investors and collectors to get lost in the community created hype and the blackhole of “copy-pasta” engagement farming. Some NFT collectors have commented that whitelists are a “double-edge sword” implying that while they provide collectors with early access, it comes at the price of time.
Whitelisting processes should (and will) change for upcoming NFT collections
These stupid engagement farming ten-step schemes are childish and are a waste of time I (and most people) dont have
Curate a community without over hyping, whitelist discord members at 5 or 10k, launch
NFT collectors are avoiding projects that implement the process entirely, noticing an interesting pattern. NFT gamer and collector, TravisAxie.eth said that some projects’ whitelist spots “were given out far before the launch and kinda been pushing me away from them.”
Other NFT collectors highlight issues regarding cracks within the whitelist system. Not only are there an increasing number of bots spamming and detracting community members who cannot be plugged in all day, but it seems projects are relying on these models to avoid public mints.
Projects are also strategically partnering with other NFT collections in efforts to become a known name in the ecosystem and also increase the chance of a sellout mint.
While whitelists can prevent transaction failures, it seems the community is in search for a more optimal, value-driven way to allocate access. As such, collectors are also diversifying the contents of their respective collections.
Music NFTs are ready to break more records
Static proof-of-profile (PFPs) were the rage in 2021, but in 2022, communities, companies and entities are searching for NFTs with in-real-life (IRL) functionality and utility. Despite notable PFP collections rising quicker in volume than their music-based counterparts, there’s potential for that to change.
On January 21, 2022, crypto pundit and DJ, 3LAU sold his UltraViolet NFT album for $11.6 million in just 24-hours, breaking the record for the first-ever music NFT album release.
Blazing through the frontier, 3LAU launched Royal.io, a music NFT platform where users can own a piece of their favorite tunes, earning royalty streams and additional perks.
Led by Founders Fund and Paradigm, 3LAU’s platform closed out an impressive $16 million seed round and has since gained the attention of popular musicians. Nas, a well-known American rapper, launched the platform’s first music NFTs on January 11, 2022, for two of his songs, “Rare” and “Ultra Black.” Fans quickly took to Twitter to show support for the platform and many called it a “revolution.”
Rising musicians and independent artists are also making waves. Known on Twitter as Latasha.eth, the artist sold a music video NFT to her song “Gogo Wyne” for 13.4207 ETH ($51,623.97, at the time.)
Other platforms such as SoundMint allow artists to mint generative music NFTs that bridge the audio and visual relationship based on generative qualities. Giving creators agency over their work seems to be a good bet.
NFTs seem to not only be evolving and becoming more dynamic, but they are also getting smarter.
Train-to-earn: Intelligent NFTs make a splash
The next evolution of NFTs is the integration of artificial intelligence (AI). This seems to be a move aligned with the burgeoning market of the metaverse as many PFP projects, such as Sup Ducks and CyberKongz, are already creating 3D pixelated versions that exist in digital worlds.
It seems collections are upping the ante and integrating intelligent nonfungible tokens (NFTs) as another layer to reward its users with a new model known as “train-to-earn.”
Notably, the world’s first intelligent collectibles, Revenants by Alethea AI, are the rebirth of historical and cultural icons. Contrary to the practice of most PFP projects — many of which have 10,000 items — this collection only has 100 items, 70% of which ar already owned.
However, its partnering collection, iNFT Personality Pod, consists of 9,800 items and has a floor of 0.47 Ether, with only 18.37% already owned.
Users can earn ALI tokens after successfully training their iNFT in their pods to upgrade its intelligence and also contribute to the Noah Ark’s (Alethea’s metaverse) AI engine.
Currently, the collection sits at a thin 32 Ether floor ($81,360.64) and has generated over 2,707 ETH (valued at $6.9 million) since its launch on October 14, 2021. The Revenants have not had a sale since December 20, 2021, suggesting the price point is the biggest barrier, however, other projects are emerging right behind it.
All-time avg. price and volume. Source: OpenSea Revenants.
ASM Artificial Intelligence Football Association (AIFA) is a decentralized blockchain game developed by Altered State Mind, with 40,000 intelligent NFTs as its genesis collection. The in-game NFTs, powered by the ASM genesis brains are known as the AI agents/all-stars.
Users had the opportunity to purchase AIFA genesis collection boxes that included 4 AI all-stars and 1 AI ASM genesis brain. Each all-star needs a brain, meaning that despite purchasing a genesis box, players must purchase three more ASM brains whose floor has increased by nearly 13% in the last seven days and sits at a thin 4.5 Ether floor with 37% of all brains already owned.
7 day- avg. price and volume. Source: OpenSea ASM Brains.
In total, this collection has generated over 7,073 ETH, valued at nearly $20 million at the current ETH price.
All-time avg. price and volume. Source: OpenSea ASM AIFA Genesis.
It seems the integration of AI is not only gamifying the model of train-to-earn, but also enables users to unlock another layer of value. This layer suggests the better the iNFT performs, the more valuable it becomes.
In the last 30 days, the top three marketplaces, LooksRare, OpenSea, and Solana’s Magic Eden, have generated approximately $14.3 billion, according to data from Dune Analytics. All marketplaces have seen an increase in the number of traders on their respective platforms, suggesting new entrants, new influences and new trends.
As trends come and go, it is beneficial for potential investors to keep a pulse of the transitions and the projects that are savvy enough to focus on strong fundamentals and evolution when the paradigms begin to shift.
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In this episode of The Market Report, Cointelegraph resident experts discuss which P2E games could replace Axie Infinity as market leaders.
“The Market Report” with Cointelegraph is live right now!
In this week’s show, Cointelegraph's resident experts discuss which play-to-earn (P2E) games have the potential to dethrone Axie Infinity.
But first, market expert Marcel Pechman carefully examines the Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) markets. Are the current market conditions bullish or bearish? What is the outlook for the next few months? Marcel is here to break it down.
Next up, join Cointelegraph analysts Benton Yaun, Jordan Finneseth and Sam Bourgi as they debate which P2E games are best (other than Axie Infinity). Will Sam’s pick of DeFi Kingdoms beat the rest with its nostalgic fantasy pixel art and mass-market potential or will Benton’s Crabada outplay the others with its multiple strategy options and which might be the only game that allows you to make a profit with minimal effort? Lastly, we have Jordan and his pick of Yield Hunt, which is still early in its launch.
Stick around after the showdown for insights from Cointelegraph’s Markets Pro, a platform for crypto traders who want to stay one step ahead of the market. Markets Pro identifies two altcoins that stood out this week: CHZ and MANA .
Do you have a question about a coin or topic not covered here? Don’t worry! Join the YouTube chat room and write your questions there. The person with the most interesting comment or question will be given a free month of Cointelegraph Markets Pro, worth $100!
“The Market Report” streams live every Tuesday at 12:00 pm ET, so be sure to head on over to the Cointelegraph YouTube page and smash that like and subscribe button for all our future videos and updates.
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Despite the large burn value, the network is still inflationary until its PoS transition scheduled for Q2 or Q3.
According to blockchain data from Nansen Analytics on Tuesday, over $1.096 billion worth of Ethereum (ETH) has been burned in the past month. With the introduction of the EIP-1559 last August, a portion of fees is taken out of circulation for every transaction that occurs on the Ethereum blockchain. While sending and receiving ETH does not cost much, higher-level tasks, such as minting nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, via smart contracts, cost far more gas.
In January, the total volume of NFT transactions on OpenSea hit an all-time high of $3.5 billion. It currently ranks No.1 on a burn leaderboard compiled by Ultra Sound Money, with 65,778 ETH ($181.7 million) burned in the past 30 days. In second and third place were token burns from Ethereum transactions and factivity on decentralized exchange Uniswap (UNI), numbering 35,696 ETH ($98.6 million) and 24,223 ETH ($66.9 million), respectively.
However, Ethereum is still an inflationary blockchain network; the current issuance of 5.4 million ETH per year surpasses 3.5 million ETH burned. The supply of ETH will peak only after the removal of its proof-of-work mechanism via its transition to proof-of-stake, or PoS.
Once that happens, the total amount of new emissions will be less than that of token burns, resulting in a net deflationary network. The PoS transition, dubbed "the merge," will occur in the second or third quarter of this year. Before that, however, the network's total hash rate has still managed to reach a new all-time high. The Ethereum Foundation recently ditched the Eth 2.0 name in its rebrand. It is now called the consensus layer.
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While blockchain messengers stand to mitigate many of the privacy issues posed by their centralized counterparts, they still have their fair share of unignorable issues.
As people all over the globe have become increasingly aware of their privacy rights and how they are constantly being violated by various prominent social media platforms, the need for tangible, decentralized alternatives has continued to grow rapidly.
For perspective, in 2019, Facebook was ordered to pay a mind-boggling $5-billion fine by the United States Federal Trade Commission for improperly acquiring private data of up to 87 million of its users. Just a year later, the social media giant had to shell out another $550 million to settle a privacy lawsuit that suggested that the firm had illegally accrued customer data (including their biometric and personal details) without their explicit consent.
Such violations have helped spur the need for transparency-driven social media services, particularly decentralized messengers, that provide their users with a high degree of data security. In this regard, the new quantum-resistant, privacy-centric messaging app XX Messenger — developed by cryptographer David Chaum — recently made its way into the market. The app boasts a globally decentralized network of 350 nodes, with each operator earning the platform’s native XX Coin as an incentive for their efforts.
A quantum-resistant messenger would be able to resist most currently known methods of decryption, theoretically guarding against the possibility of a quantum computer used to crack into a user’s communications.
The incentives for blockchain-based messengers
Guy Goldenberg, CEO of MultiNFT — a metaverse-based social media network — told Cointelegraph that the need for decentralized messaging services is driven by two key accelerating factors: users looking for censorship-resistant applications, and a lack of trust in centralized providers when it comes to privacy and data protection. He said:
“Users are showing a rising concern when it comes to their freedom of speech and the ownership of their data rights lately, and with the help of decentralized chat apps, the solution seems to be right around the corner — platforms that are owned by the users and not by a small group of executives, where no single party can control opinions or censor participants.”
Scott Cunningham, an independent blockchain analyst and social media influencer, told Cointelegraph that the core proposition put forth by decentralized messaging platforms is that they provide users with end-to-end encrypted solutions that ensure consumer anonymity as well as a high degree of privacy. To strengthen his case, he shared a recent unpleasant experience with Facebook’s Messenger:
“I sent a note to myself [meant to be read later by me] only to find that Facebook is monitoring messages to myself and removed it due to a community violation. Once someone experiences firsthand that everything they say is being tracked and evaluated in real-time, they will feel more compelled to move.”
The drawbacks are quite real
While a decentralized messenger could theoretically preserve the privacy of the masses, blockchain technology in itself could be a barrier to adoption.
Ingo Rübe, founder of blockchain-based identity network Kilt Protocol, noted that decentralized messengers need real-time relay and storage capabilities, as it is quite unrealistic for receivers to be online whenever someone sends them a text. “A possible solution would be to use random single blockchain nodes as relays, but it might be unreliable,” he admitted.
Goldenberg said that the use of blockchain tech poses further problems when it comes to network upgrades. “Updates on blockchain systems are very rarely backwards compatible and can sometimes present issues that a product may not be able to survive,” Goldenberg added.
Yung Beef, content lead and community manager at Subsocial — a Polkadot-based platform for launching decentralized social networks — told Cointelegraph that one of the biggest barriers is transaction fees, adding:
“We’re already struggling enough with creating a social networking platform that has transaction fees, and with how much people message each other, I’m not sure that it would ever really be feasible.”
While he admitted that Subsocial is actively looking for ways through which to implement a private messaging module, the challenges are quite drastic, making the vision a bit of a pipedream. “We’re working on a way to lock SUB [the platform’s native crypto token] to get a certain number of free transactions a day, but that still doesn’t solve the problem of some people sending thousands of messages a day,” he added.
A similar sentiment was echoed by Rübe, who told Cointelegraph that a decentralized messaging service would be faced with multiple challenges from the get-go, starting with the fact that it would be costly to put messages on a blockchain. Even if they did make their way onto a network, they would not be very secure because it would be quite easy for anyone with access to the system to read them.
Alexander Klus, founder of Creaton — a decentralized content sharing platform — told Cointelegraph that a fully functional, viable blockchain messenger is a very hard problem to solve, pointing out that existing platforms such as Etherscan’s messaging service are quite centralized. Even Status, the official Ethereum messenger, contains some degree of centralization in order to scale better, he said, adding:
“Choosing a platform like Signal as a messaging platform would be best, as it has very good encryption. Also, permanence in terms of messaging isn’t a big deal or something most users don’t even want anyway.”
Another major problem is adoption since most decentralized products that currently exist within this realm simply can’t compete with the giants they are up against such as Telegram, WhatsApp and WeChat. Goldenberg stated:
“Users have a habitual way of doing things, and new platforms need a viral accelerator for adoption because they require massive migration, which is almost not possible. You see, for a chat application to be useful, you need all (or most of) your contacts to use it, and that takes time, marketing and willingness.”
Is there any middle ground to be found?
While popular privacy-oriented apps, including Signal and Telegram, claim to approach user privacy with a great deal of care, making use of end-to-end encryption or client-server encryption, the former is only as secure as its coding. In this regard, Chaum pointed out that messages from these platforms can still theoretically be compromised and decoded by a powerful computer if they have not been deleted permanently.
Therefore, moving forward, it will be interesting to see whether developers are able to come up with blockchain-powered messaging services that offer the same degree of functional and operational flexibility as their centralized counterparts while being able to tackle the issue of high transaction fees in a long-term and practical manner.
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MicroStrategy bought significantly less BTC in January than in previous months, according to official data.
Major Bitcoin (BTC) investor MicroStrategy has announced another major BTC purchase during a market dip to collect a total of 125,051 BTC as of Monday.
According to an official form with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed on Tuesday, MicroStrategy purchased 660 BTC between December 30, 2021, and January 31, 2022, for “approximately $25 million” in cash.
The average BTC price of the purchase amounted to $37,865 per BTC, including fees and expenses, the report notes. As of Jan. 31, MicroStrategy held about $3.78 billion worth of BTC at the average purchase price of approximately $30,200 per BTC, inclusive of fees and expenses.
MicroStrategy has purchased an additional 660 bitcoins for ~$25.0 million in cash at an average price of ~$37,865 per #bitcoin. As of 1/31/22 we #hodl ~125,051 bitcoins acquired for ~$3.78 billion at an average price of ~$30,200 per bitcoin. $MSTRhttps://t.co/bF6VImC0Qy
The SEC specifically objected to MicroStrategy reporting data related to BTC purchases based on non-Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The authority argued that MicroStrategy used non-GAAP methods of calculating figures for its BTC buys excluding the “impact of share-based compensation expense and impairment losses and gains on sale from intangible assets.”
The latest Bitcoin buy is apparently not that big compared to the most recent BTC purchases by MicroStrategy. In December 2021, MicroStrategy announced two major BTC purchases, buying 1,434 BTC from Nov. 29 to Dec. 9 at the average price of $57,477 per BTC and then purchasing1,914 BTC from Dec. 9 to Dec. 29 at the average price of $49,229 per BTC.
Major Bitcoin investors including the government of El Salvador continued to investi in BTC amid a market downturn in January. On Jan. 21, El Salvador president Nayib Bukele announced that the Salvadoran state purchased 410 BTC for $15 million, placing the average price at approximately $36,585 per BTC.
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