Meta Digest

Candy Digital and Getty Images to launch unique collection

Candy Digital – Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) exploded onto the scene in 2021, with thousands of companies leveraging on the trend.

Although many initiatives focused on providing original digital assets, Candy Digital seized on one of the most popular sports in the United States by developing a collection centered on Major League Baseball.

They created the official line of MLB NFTs, which debuted in 2021.

Candy Digital, having established itself as a pioneer in the NFT space, is launching a new line.

This time, though, they want to collaborate with Getty Images to develop an NFT collection in the hopes of scoring another massive success.

The collection

Candy Digital produced a selection of photographs after searching through Getty Images’ enormous stock photo database.

They want to focus on some of the most famous musicians from the 1970s, as well as the photographers who captured their images, for the collection.

James Brown, John Lennon, and Elvis Presley are among the luminaries they hope to digitize.

One of the most interesting aspects of the impending collection is that it is grouped around six photographers, such as David Redfern and Fin Costello, rather than musical talents such as Jimi Hendrix or the Rolling Stones.

Also, the collection is not restricted to a specific number of items.

The newest Candy Digital collection will be available as an open-edition mint on March 21.

It also comes after Candy Digital and Getty Images announced a collaboration in May 2022.

Potential customers will be able to purchase the collectibles, which range in price from $25 to $200, during a months-long mint availability window.

The partnership

Candy Digital has previously created collections focusing on sports and entertainment.

It struck agreements with Netflix and World Wrestling Entertainment.

The Getty Images partnership, according to CEO Scott Lawin, is aimed at music and photography aficionados.

“We’re really excited about the fact that we’re talking to a different type of audience,” he said.

“The way we’ve thought about our partnerships, it really is creating opportunities for people not to just go deep in a category that they love, but also discover and collect across different types of content and IP.”

According to academic studies, sports enthusiasts are the best audience for digital asset ownership.

Lawin, on the other hand, defined Digital Candy’s cooperation with Getty as a long-term relationship that he and the team hope to expand on over time.

They also mentioned that the Getty collection has millions of pictures spanning decades and covering a wide variety of subjects.

Read also: Metaverse is becoming a wider home for celebrities and brands

The firm

Michael Rubin started Candy Digital in June 2021.

Fanatics, a sports franchise firm, is led by Rubin, who is joined by NFT entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuck and Galaxy Digital founder and CEO Mike Novogratz.

Fanatics was a majority stakeholder of Candy Digital due to Rubin’s participation.

Months after its debut, the company boasted a $1.5 billion value by October 2021.

It also reported at the time that it had received $100 million in a Series A round from Insight Partners and Sofrbank’s Vision Fund 2.

Despite its success, Candy Digital was hit by crypto winter.

Sportico claimed in November that it had cut off more than a third of its 100-person workforce.

Other NFT markets, such as OpenSea, as well as NBA Top Shot and NFL All Day developers Dapper Labs, were also laid off.

A change in the winds

Fanatics sold more than 60% of its majority ownership in Candy Digital to a group of investors in January.

Galaxy Digital headed the group, which also included ConsenSys Mesh and 10T Holdings, an equity firm.

Michare Rubin said in a Fanatics document that NFTs are unlikely to survive as a separate business in a collapsing NFT market where transaction volumes and pricing for independent NFTs are falling.

While their perspectives differ, Scott Lawin believes Fanatics was a terrific partner to begin the adventure with since they leaned first into the sports area.

He went on to say that the sale was a logical progression in a difficult market.

Trading

While NFTs may be exchanged on a variety of platforms, Candy Digital NFTs are only available on Palm, an Ethereum sidechain.

Yet, Lawin believes that the restriction will be lifted in the long term.

“Part of our roadmap [is] to allow our customers to take custody of their assets and potentially trade those in different marketplaces,” he said.

“It isn’t going to be a flip of the switch. It’s going to be something that we’re spending a lot of time internally with our technology partners, our communities, and our IP partners to do it the right way.”

Image source: Ledger Insights

Blockchain industry set to flourish in the Middle East

Image source: IDB

Blockchain technology has been the hottest topic in the tech industry for the past few years, and it is now looking to take a leap forward.

A new blockchain and crypto association was recently formed in the Abu Dhabi Free Economic Zone.

It aims to improve the blockchain and crypto ecosystem development in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia.

The association

The Middle East, Africa & Asia Crypto & Blockchain Association (MEAACBA) was established a few days earlier at the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM).

In addition, the ADGM is a free economic zone in the city center.

It is governed by its own civil and commercial laws.

Additionally, the zone aims to promote the growth of fintech businesses in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The non-profit organization aims to facilitate regulatory solutions, create business opportunities and invest in education to support industry growth.

Staff

The MEAACBA will be led by CEO Jehanzeb Awan, the founder of an international risk and compliance consultancy based in Dubai.

Other association supporters include:

  • Richard Teng, Binance’s regional head of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
  • Stuart Isted, Crypto.com’s general manager of Middle East and Africa
  • Ola Doudin, the CEO of BitOasis, a cryptocurrency exchange in the region

In addition, Awan said he hopes the organization will bring a collective and community-based approach to improve industry growth in the MENA region.

He also hopes to develop far-reaching benefits for the “highly dynamic and exciting” space.

“The industry will benefit from the Association as it provides a coordination mechanism between regulators, government agencies, banks, legal tax, and advisory firms to address the most pressing challenges,” said Awan.

In addition, Ahmad Jasim Al Zaabi, ADGM’s chairman, said that the MEAACBA’s addition would help create a more “progressive financial sector” in the region.

The launch

The launch of MEAACBA comes as the FSRA in November released a set of “guiding principles” in its approach to dealing with the regulatory complexities that the digital asset industry brings.

The Financial Services Regulatory Authority is the financial regulatory body of the ADGM Free Economic Zone.

Additionally, the principles are “crypto-friendly.”

It continues to adhere to the United Nations’ strict international anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CFT) standards.

Moreover, recent studies show that the MENA region is the fastest-growing cryptocurrency market.

Additionally, between July 2021 and June 2022, the volume of transactions in the MENA region increased by 48% over the last 12 months.

It reached $566 billion.

The use case for cryptocurrencies in emerging markets comes from holding savings and remittances.

Finally, it curbs inflation in unstable economies.

Reference:

Middle East, Asia, and Africa blockchain association launches in Abu Dhabi

Momoguro joins NFT space under Baobab Studios

Momoguro – The NFT boom has created a unique environment that is attracting individuals from all walks of life to share their passion for Web3.

Numerous independent initiatives achieved remarkable success, attracting the attention of significant brands and corporations from a variety of industries.

Baobab Studios, an award-winning company, has dabbled in VR and is now focusing on building a name for itself in the Web3 area.

The news

Baobab Studios is well-known for creating short films that have received nine Emmy Awards.

After its foray into VR, the company is now focusing on Web3 with a family-friendly project named “Momoguro.”

The project will be accompanied with an Ethereum NFT collection.

Martin Allais and Nico Cassavecchia designed the Momoguro NFT line.

Cassavecchia is a writer and director, whereas Allais is a multimedia director and animator.

The project

Momoguro has set an astonishing twofold goal: NFTs and an NFT RPG that allows gamers to explore the universe of Uno Plane.

The project is a vibrant fantasy world populated with Momos, which players may combine to create hybrid characters.

Momoguro is selling genesis NFTs for 0.22 ETH each.

The mint website refers to them as “Holoselves,” which players may use on the Uno Plane.

Furthermore, the Momoguro RPG will be built using ImmutableX, a layer-2 Ethereum scaling solution.

It will make use of NFTs as a fundamental game element.

The RPG is also expected to be released in the second quarter of 2023.

The studio

Baobab Studios was established in 2015, and since then it has created a number of popular indie animated films.

It is led by Eric Darnell, who was involved in the creation of Antz and the four Madagascar flicks.

The company has signed some of Hollywood’s greatest names, including:

  • Oprah
  • Lupita Nyong’o
  • Jennifer Hudson
  • Ethan Hawke
  • Kate Winslet
  • Daisy Ridley

The project’s success has allowed it to go further, with projects being converted into novels, comics, games, movies, TV shows, and more.

Read also: Ledger Stax to revolutionize hardware wallets

Exploration

Baobab Studios has said that it is not a Web3 firm.

But, the company is looking at how NFTs may interact with consumers to create unique storytelling experiences.

According to Maureen Fan, CEO and co-founder of Baobab Studies, in a statement: “We believe stories can transcend mediums.”

“Baobab Studios’ mission is to inspire you to dream and bring out your sense of wonder. Make YOU matter.”

“This begins by creating great characters and stories, like Momoguro, where you can be part of the story,” she added.

“We aspire to bring the Momoguro IP to as many channels, streaming platforms, and widespread media as possible.”

Furthermore, the creators of Momoguro think that the project’s narrative conveys an essential message.

“Community plays a big part in this,” said Cassavecchia.

“Inclusivity is paramount for the franchise, from ethnicities, genders and body-types, Momoguro’s ethos is that everyone is welcomed.”

According to Crunchbase statistics, Pixar cofounder Ed Catmull and Twitch cofounder Kevin Lin serve on the board of Baobab.

The initiative has already received over $31 million in investment from Disney, Samsung, and Comcast.

Hollywood studios and NFTs

Baobab Studios isn’t the only Hollywood studio to experiment with NFTs or Web3.

Warner Bros. produced an NFT collection centered on The Lord of the Rings last year, allowing customers to swoop in for a digital copy of the first film.

Several studios have also tried with NFT projects employing their most valuable assets, such as:

  • Lionsgate
  • Netflix
  • Paramount

Although some initiatives aim to make more income, Baobab Studios is more concerned with fostering a feeling of community.

Momoguro has already generated admirers at a Twitter Space event.

The project quickly developed a large Twitter following, with around 50,000 members coming to its official Discord server.

Image source: Twitter

Blur continues momentum with incentive program

Blur – With the rise of NFTs in 2021, many collectors have used OpenSea as their primary marketplace, but things have changed.

Since then, there has been more competition, with the emergence of new marketplaces.

Blur, an upstart NFT marketplace that is making remarkable progress in the Web3 arena, is one of the most recent to emerge.

Blur just surpassed OpenSea, and it now hopes to perform even better with a new, aggressive compensation package.

Incentive program

Blur said on Tuesday that it will give out over $300 million in extra tokens to loyal users.

The announcement comes after the platform surpassed the site’s main competition, OpenSea.

Blur will distribute 300 million native BLUR tokens to traders during its “Season 2,” which is already begun.

BLUR is now trading at $0.95 on CoinGecko.

Season 1 culminated in the launch of the BLUR native token last week, with the platform distributing “care packages” of BLUR to traders who switched to Blur from another marketplace.

Following the platform’s October debut, it also listed NFTs.

Tokens will be issued to traders in a more established, gamified scheme in “Season 2,” according to the business.

Customers of Blur will be assigned a “loyalty score” depending on their activity and dedication to the trading platform.

Buyers and sellers who do not utilize other NFT marketplaces will be rewarded with a large 100% loyalty score.

The loyalty score (together with the number of NFTs users on the list) decides how many BLUR tokens they receive during the airdrop.

Almost everything is possible under the new loyalty system.

Small activities can potentially increase the likelihood of a user acquiring more BLUR.

According to the corporation on Tuesday, simply quote-tweeting its Season 2 Twitter announcement might increase customers’ loyalty score.

It remains to be revealed, however, what technological techniques Blur implemented to integrate activity on other platforms such as Twitter in order to synchronize its numbers with its site.

Read also: Trump NFT bounces back from its January low

Marketplace competition

The statement on Tuesday publicizes the latest advancement as NFT platforms have gone all-out in a free-for-all struggle to recruit and keep clients.

OpenSea had long been the main Ethereum NFT marketplace, with a market capitalization of $13.3 billion.

But, it has lately lost ground to Blur due to the upstart’s attractive token-backed rewards model.

Both marketplaces have also provided further incentives to users who blocklist the other.

Overtaking OpenSea

NFT trade volume has more than doubled in the last week, with Ethereum NFT volume more than tripling.

Blur generated almost $460 million in Ethereum NFT transactions within that time period, a substantial 361% increase over the previous quarter.

CryptoSlam reported a 155% week-over-week surge in Ethereum NFT trading volume following the airdrop of Blur’s BLUR governance token.

Traders obtained the incentives by trading in other platforms and on the Blur marketplace before its launch last autumn.

OpenSea tries to stay competitive

Blur eventually surpassed OpenSea as a result of its trading frenzy.

On Friday, the (previously) top marketplace announced a temporary 2.5% marketplace decrease.

To compete with Blur, OpenSea will likewise reduce its creator royalty enforcement activities.

In other words, the marketplace is foregoing the fees that help it earn money as well as the fees that finance the majority of NFT initiatives.

Nevertheless, OpenSea maintains a tiny edge over Blur, supplying approximately 106,000 more unique wallets in the last week compared to 66,000 for Blur.

A new chapter

Although the long-term viability of Blur’s incentive scheme is unknown, it cannot be denied that it has had an immediate influence on competitors, reinforcing present trends.

While Blur boasts larger trading volumes than OpenSea, the majority of the activity appears to be produced by a small group of whale traders flipping NFTs in order to profit from the rewards program.

The popularity of the program is also affected by the value of its native token.

Image source: Mirror.xyz

Oil Prices Sink by 6% as COVID Lockdown Weighs on Markets in China

As China, the world’s biggest oil importer resumed its coronavirus lockdowns, oil prices fell around 6 percent on Monday along with stock markets.

The price of Brent crude decreased by $6.45, or 5.7%, to $105.94 per barrel. Oil prices in the United States dropped $6.68, or 6.1 percent. The price of US West Texas Intermediate crude settled at $103.09. This year, both contracts have risen by around 35%.

Concerns over interest rate hikes and recession fears have roiled the world’s financial markets. COVID- In April, China’s export growth slowed as a result of 19 lockdowns.

As a result of the COVID lockdowns in China, the oil market has taken a hit, along with the stock market, according to Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston, Texas.

In the first four months of 2022, China’s crude imports decreased by 4.8% from the previous year, but imports rose by over 7% in April.

With independent refiner demand waning after the COVID lockdowns slashed fuel margins and rising imports of lower-priced Russian oil, China’s Iranian oil imports in April fell below peak levels predicted in late 2021 and early 2022.

The dollar hit a two-decade high, making oil more expensive for holders of currencies other than the U.S. currency.

Prices for Asian and European crude have been reduced by Saudi Arabia, the world’s leading oil exporter.

Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak was quoted as saying that Russia’s oil output rose in early May from April and that production has steadied after output dipped in April as Western countries implemented sanctions due to the Ukraine situation.

Brent and WTI prices rose for the second week in a row after the European Commission proposed a phased embargo on Russian oil. This week, EU members must vote unanimously to approve the idea.

An EU source tells Reuters that the European Commission is considering handing landlocked eastern European Union nations additional money to repair oil infrastructure in an effort to persuade them to agree.

Bjrnar Tonhaugen, Rystad Energy’s head of oil market research, says the EU oil embargo will cause a “seismic shift in the European and global crude markets” that could see EU crude imports from Russia cut by as much as 3.0 million bpd (barrels per day) by December 2022 in a full-fledged implementation of the policy.

By secretly developing an emergency package that may involve taking control of crucial companies, German officials have been quietly prepared for any sudden halt in Russian gas supply.

PM Kishida said that in principle, Russia would be banned as a crude importer, but added that this would take time.

Bitcoin Takes Another Dip, Selling at $24k after Almost Hitting $32k

The crypto market crash of this year left a considerable impact that continues to be felt today as top coins fall even more. Bitcoin has hit new lows, dropping further than before.

Bitcoin is down by 21.33% in the past seven days. With a market cap of $472.55 billion, selling at $24,677.65 as of this writing.

With Bitcoin at its lowest in three years. The entire crypto market is reeling from fear that it could sway investors and cause them to stop investing.

With Bitcoin taking a hard hit, other coins are feeling the effects worse than ever before, especially alternative coins. 

The price of Ethereum has been seeing major fluctuations in recent days. The coin peaked at $4,900 last year. But following the market crash it went down 33% to sell for less than half that amount at just over 1 thousand dollars. Other cryptocurrencies also experienced double digit losses.

Read also: Analysts Point to Bitcoin Bouncing Back with the Recent Inflow in the Crypto Market

The crypto market lost more than $100 billion over the weekend. Following United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s gloomy warning about cryptocurrencies.

However, Bitcoin bulls have a silver lining with a market cap of $472.55 billion. Giving them increased control over alternative crypto coins.

Bitcoin’s value has been steadily declining for the last seven days. At one point, it was closing in on $32K, but it took a sharp decline, losing more value.

Crypto appears to be losing the ideal opportunity to illustrate its forgotten function as a hedge against inflation. Said Rich Blake of cryptocurrency startup Uphold.

With inflation rates rising to an estimated 8.6%, Bitcoin’s volatility increased and played a role in its plunge over the past few days.

The crypto market is not immune to the volatility that has plagued traditional markets in recent months. For example, when stock prices dropped 2.5%, respectively for both S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average, it was clear there would be an impact on cryptocurrency values as well. The Nasdaq also mirrored this trend with its own steep dropoff of  3.5%.

The Federal Reserve will hold a two-day meeting next week that is expected to result in yet another interest rate hike. Janet Yellen has discouraged Americans from putting cryptocurrency into their 401(k) plans, warning it could lead them down an unpleasant path.

Read also: Glimmer of Hope for Bitcoin Before Going Red Again

NFTs Provide a Way for Ukraine to Preserve Its Cultural DNA

NFT Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has cost many lives. But it also presented an additional danger. The loss of our country’s architectural beauties and museums. The fear that these cultural sites might be loose to time motivate people into taking action by creating NFTs in order to preserve them for future generations through blockchain technology.

Last Saturday, the president of Blockchain Association Michael Chobnian announced. That they plan to digitize “every single piece of art or history” they can at Consensus 2022. This is an incredible display for those who believe in its importance and hope. It inspires other industries across society as well.

“Today, we are announcing a new project [aimed at] how we can save the DNA of the Ukrainian people, Ukrainian culture, and Ukrainian history,” said Chobnian. “Right now, they are bombing museums, churches, and cultural sites. So before they destroy themselves. We’re going to digitize every single piece of art or history that we have in museums. We’re going to NFT it and put it on the blockchain.”

NFT

The people of Ukraine have been able to benefit from crypto and blockchain technology .In order to gain a stronger defense against the Russian invasion. With over $135 million dollars generated by donors worldwide, according to analytics firm Crystal Blockchain.

Read also: Stepn Creates a Unique NFT Experience That Uses Exercise to Gain Revenue

A panel discussion known “Crypto at War: Behind Ukraine’s Historic Crypto Fundraiser” it’s where the announcement is create.

The project is the result of months-long work by Ukraine’s blockchain community.

Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of NEAR Protocol. Announced that they are partnering with the project to bring their blockchain expertise into the mix.

“It is extremely important to bring all the Ukrainian heritage on-chain. Also offer it to the world and preserve it forever,” said Polosukhin.

The project aims to create a digital window into Ukraine’s cultural DNA. Allowing anyone to view the items in one place. 

Chobanian stated, “It’s a national effort; it’s a private project. This is what the Blockchain Association of Ukraine does, and no one can delete it that way.

Chobanian manages donations made to the Crypto Fund of Ukraine. He is also the founder of Ukraine’s Kuna exchange.

The MetaHistory NFT Museum is a museum and the Ukraine government’s first NFT project. That was created to preserve facts about the war and serves as defiance against Putin’s disinformation campaign. Profits from NFTs bought from the platform will go towards funding the new preservation project.

Read also: How Fhatuwani Mukheli Is Making Waves on Traditional and Digital Spaces of Art

Trump NFT bounces back from its January low

Trump NFT – The NFT market is notoriously volatile, and some projects may get a lot of interest before failing to take off.

Donald Trump NFTs have just resumed their upward trend.

The news

In December, the Donald Trump NFT trading cards made their debut and attracted interest among Web3 users.

However, the frenzy lost steam in January.

The pace of the Trump NFTs didn’t take up again until the disgraced former US president declared his intention to run for politics once again and hinted at the possibility of returning to social media.

The NFTs

The Polygon Ethereum scaling network is where the Trump NFTs are created.

The collection sold for $1,000 on Sunday, setting a new record for the collection’s floor price (which is the least expensive NFT available).

NFTs issued by Trump initially cost $99 apiece.

Sales

Trump’s business associates sold 44,000 of the 45,000 Trump NFTs by the middle of December.

On December 17, the NFT prices reached a high of $990 in ETH on OpenSea after a sharp increase.

The initial excitement, however, was short-lived as prices began to decline in the days and weeks that followed.

NFT Price Floor data for the whole market, however, shows that prices have been continuously increasing since January.

They reached a fresh peak of $1,000 on Sunday, February 12, up from $250 in ETH on January 13 to that point.

The Trump NFTs rose back to the $1,000 mark after a brief decline.

February progress

Trump NFTs have produced over $2.4 million this month, according to CryptoSlam statistics.

The sums almost exactly equal January’s total ($2.6 million in deals).

To $905 per deal, the average sale price nearly doubled.

The initiative has also generated approximately $313,000 in trades over the past 24 hours.

Read also: Cool Cats unveils 2023 plans, and it gets better

Criticism

The Trump NFTs’ release was heavily condemned.

The drop was criticized by the disgraced former president’s followers among others after he hailed the collection as a “big announcement.”

The early sales of Trump NFTs were bolstered by the media attention, though, and 44,000 NFTs were sold for $99 each.

They subsequently produced secondary market sales amounting to millions of dollars.

The project creators received a 10% share of the secondary sales during the sales.

But in January, daily trade volume fell sharply, dropping by 99% from its peak.

It appeared like the hype vanished because of the abrupt downturn.

However, traders appear to be betting that if Donald Trump returns to the public eye, the NFT’s value will increase.

Reemergence

Due to Donald Trump’s involvement in the attacks on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, his social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter were originally blocked.

They were just restored, however.

Trump has not yet used his previous accounts despite the reinstatement.

The Director of Research for Proof pseudonymous user punk9059 said:

“My sense is that people are anticipating a possible rally if he speaks about the NFTs, should he return to Twitter, or otherwise.”

Trump NFT prices were skyrocketing as Meta made plans to give the former president access to his social media accounts again in late January.

It was verified that the accounts had been unlocked last week.

After purchasing the business, Elon Musk conducted a public poll on Twitter asking followers whether or not to continue the ban on Trump.

In the end, the embargo was removed.

Recent sales activity

Recent sales activity on OpenSea suggests that seasoned NFT traders are loading up on Trump NFTs in bulk in anticipation of a potential further increase.

Many of the traders that are currently purchasing Trump NFTs have previously gathered and sold different NFTs.

More than simply Trump supporters trying to enter the NFT market are behind the overwhelming purchase.

Early in February, DonAlt, a pseudonymous crypto YouTuber, stated that he had purchased a number of Trump NFTs in an effort to predict the collection’s future worth.

The YouTuber dubbed the images “hideous pictures,” but he also said it was “oddly iconic.”

Additionally, he claimed that when Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign heats up, he would probably make more TV appearances.

“It’s a 50 IQ play,” said DonAlt. “It’s Trump. He’s gonna be loud again in 2024.

Image source: Market Watch

US Dollar Surge Reduced Bitcoin Price Performance as Bitcoin Plunge Under $47K

Source: SCMP

Bitcoin is seeing more trouble on a short timescale, with Ethereum emerging as a popular bet.

On January 3, Bitcoin (BTC) crossed $47,000 as the first Wall Street trading days of 2022 kicked off to a humble beginning.

As the week began, traders were split between short-term outcomes. BTC/USD has been trading in a narrow range. 

“It’s just a matter of time before BTC breaks out, and the longer it takes, the harder it will pump,” captioned Galaxy, a renowned Twitter account, together with a photograph of the charts. “Q1 is up only. You heard it here first.”

Michaël van de Poppe, a contributor for Cointelegraph and an expert in cryptocurrency analysis believes it’s time to take a closer look at altcoins rather than just focusing on Bitcoin.

“Good bounce from Ethereum and I think this one is bottomed,” says van de Poppe in a tweet on Monday indicating the good state of ETH/USD. “Still need additional confirmation, but shows more strength than Bitcoin at this point. Ultimate confirmation above $4,100.”

It has been a few weeks now since BTC/USD has shown propensity in daily highs, while ETH/USD was up more than 2% recently. 

The S&P 500 rose a touch at the Wall Street open, as investors weighed prospects for higher interest rates and other economic data over coming months. 

Meanwhile, the U.S dollar saw a sharp increase on January 3rd, with the USD Index booming following Bitcoins’ downfall. 

Several Bitcoin-focused analysts, TechDev specifically, have come out to argue that on-chain indicators do not back a bearish thesis.

TechDev said that both relative strength index (RSI) and moving average convergence/divergence (MACD) are only minor indicators when compared to more fundamental ones.

Alistair Milne, an entrepreneur, added to the list of meaningful comments: “In case no-one noticed, we have come a long way from nerdy retail HODL’ers being the buyers of last resort.” 

“We now have billionaires, multinationals and countries waiting to buy the dips. Whoever is taking the other side of the trade needs their head examined IMO,” he said. 

A new influx of institutional interest is considered by some to be ready for a new month.

Yuga Labs’ founders support creators royalties in blog post

Image source: The Cryptonomist

Yuga Labs’ founders, the folks behind Bored Ape Yacht Club, are slamming marketplaces for rejecting creator royalties.

The founders defended the creators of NFT in a case that led to markets rejecting them.

The Yuga Labs’ founders suggested a community-driven “allowlist” model that would allow creators to designate marketplaces that handle secondary sales of their works.

Royalty

NFT market leader OpenSea made the rounds over the weekend, saying it could follow the current trend of dropping license fees for NFT creators.

The trend includes the lack of copyright enforcement on secondary sales.

As a result, many creators oppose their choices.

In turn, the Yuga Labs’ founders also joined their cause.

Founders Wylie “Gordon Goner” Aronow, Greg “Garga” Solano, Kerem “Tomato” Atalay, and 10KTF CTO Randy “Melonpan” Chang recently posted an article.

The post states that the founders of Yuga Labs speak out against the industry’s departure from respecting creator royalties.

Instead, they offered a technical solution to enforce creator royalties.

Read also: Coinbase safe from FTX exposure, says CEO

The proposal

The Yuga Labs’ founders offer an “allow list” model for developers to allow secondary exchanges through marketplaces that recognize royalties.

If a marketplace’s smart contract is listed, the transaction will be completed; otherwise, it will not.

However, standard wallet-to-wallet transfers will not be affected.

“The NFT ecosystem would be a tiny fraction of what it is today if it weren’t for creator royalties,” the Yuga Labs’ founders wrote.

“The leading marketplaces of the past couple years would be nowhere if they hadn’t supported them.”

They noted that when Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs launched for $220 worth of Ethereum last year, they set a 2.5% royalty on secondary sales.

The founders explained that this was the amount charged by OpenSea for its market fees.

The license fee is lower than the fee chosen by other NFT creators, often between 5% and 10% of the retail price.

“The end result has been that OpenSea has made around $35 million dollars from Bored Ape sales on its platform, not including any of our other collections,” they wrote.

“We’ve never met the founders, but perhaps they have a beach house somewhere with a plaque for us.”

Yuga Labs

According to Galaxy Digital, BAYC founders earned over $147 million royalties from creators on secondary sales last month.

Today, however, NFT royalties are less durable.

Although the creators can put them in smart contracts, they are not fully enforceable on the chain.

Markets should honor them as most did until recently.

Read also: Yuga Labs reveal plans to turn Otherside into an adult Web3 Roblox

The marketplaces

In the Solana NFT space, nearly all secondary sales are on platforms that reject creators’ royalties or make them optional.

The move came after Magic Eden made them optional after losing market share to rivals.

Meanwhile, markets like LooksRare, Blur, X2Y2, and Sudoswap in Ethereum have also taken a similar approach.

OpenSea always has honored creators’ copyrights, but the company recognized the spatial change.

They said it could make creator royalties optional for merchants and explore new application models or charge royalties only on certain projects.

The creators in the Web3 space did not handle the OpenSea news well.

The founders of Yuga Labs joined the case, claiming that the denial of copyrights for the creator is a “race to the bottom” in which they believe OpenSea will participate.

Reference:

Bored Ape Founders propose NFT royalties model, decry OpenSea’s stance as ‘not great’