Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 network, has announced the beginning of Base Bootcamp, an eight-week, cohort-based program with the goal of converting experienced software engineers into smart contract developers. Base Bootcamp will focus on teaching participants how to build smart contracts. The blockchain sector is facing a large talent deficit, with less than 30,000 onchain developers compared to almost 30 million conventional software professionals. This endeavor comes at a time when the blockchain industry is facing a substantial talent shortage.
According to the official release, the program is geared for “mid to senior level software engineering individual contributors.” For the purpose of providing individualized instruction and practical experience to each student, each class will have fewer than twenty members. The deadline for submitting applications to be a part of the subsequent batch is October 27.
Applicants who are selected to participate in the program will be provided with specialized mentoring, and they will meet on a weekly basis with their mentors. They will also get access to a gated Discord channel that will let them to communicate with the other members of their cohort, as well as the Coinbase engineers and program mentors.
The material taught at Base Bootcamp expands upon the Base Camp curriculum that was made accessible to the general public earlier this year. The students will work their way through this curriculum, and in addition, they will get supplemental materials and tasks that will be graded by the Base team. Participants will create a decentralized application (dapp) for the real world during the course’s last two weeks and then show it to the other members of their cohort.
It’s interesting to note that there are no costs associated with participating in the program. However, in order to participate in the scheme, individuals are asked to provide a one-ether deposit as a kind of assurance. After completion of the course, you will get this money back.
Because there is now a dearth of onchain developers, the introduction of Base Bootcamp is quite crucial. This project, according to Base, is not simply a learning adventure but a step toward becoming an important contributor to the new internet, highlighting the need for more developers to participate in the ecosystem of decentralization.
Arbitrum, a blockchain platform that aims to provide fast and low-cost transactions, recently experienced a security breach on its official Discord server. On March 25, security firm CetriK warned the crypto community about a possible phishing attack being circulated through the server. According to reports, a hacked Discord account belonging to one of Arbitrum’s developers was used to share a fake announcement with a phishing link.
The phishing message on Discord offered users “the opportunity to re-claim an additional stake in Arbitrum DAO Governance,” citing issues during the initial token claim drive. However, the URL supporting the announcement contained a misspelling of Arbitrum as “Arbtirum,” which is a common tactic used by hackers in phishing attacks. Clicking on the link typically leads unsuspecting users to a fake website that prompts them to enter sensitive information, such as their wallet’s private key.
As of now, Arbitrum has not released an official statement regarding the incident. Investors are advised to avoid interacting with the announcement until further clarification is provided. It is essential to remain vigilant against unrealistic claims and deceptions as hackers continue to exploit the hype surrounding cryptocurrency.
Meanwhile, two airdrop hunters were able to take advantage of the situation and collect approximately $3.3 million worth of ARB tokens. Airdrops are promotional events where crypto projects distribute free tokens to users who complete certain tasks, such as sharing a post on social media or joining a Telegram group. However, it is crucial to exercise caution when participating in airdrops, as scammers often impersonate legitimate projects to steal users’ personal information or funds.
In recent years, the crypto community has seen an increase in phishing attacks and other types of cybercrime. As the value of cryptocurrencies continues to rise, so does the incentive for hackers to target investors and platforms. It is crucial to follow best security practices, such as using strong passwords, enabling two-factor authentication, and avoiding suspicious links and emails. By remaining vigilant and informed, users can protect themselves from potential threats and enjoy the benefits of the crypto revolution.
The blockchain security company CetriK issued a warning on March 25 about a phishing link that was being spread via the official Discord server of Arbitrum, which is a prominent cryptocurrency platform. According to the sources, it was believed that the link was disseminated via the stolen Discord account of one of the developers working on the Arbitrum project.
In the phishing communication, an option to re-claim an extra share in Arbitrum DAO Governance was presented, with the justification that there had been problems with the first token claim campaign. On the other hand, the accompanying URL had a misspelling of Arbitrum as “Arbtirum,” which is a frequent kind of deceit employed in phishing assaults.
If an unwary victim were to click on the phishing link, they would be sent to a false website where they would be prompted to input sensitive information such as the private key to their digital wallet. Investors run the danger of having their bitcoin assets stolen by con artists as a result of this.
Investors have been cautioned to refrain from engaging with the bogus statement until Arbitrum gives more information on the matter. Since cybercriminals are continuing to capitalize on the excitement around cryptocurrencies, it is vital for investors to maintain a heightened vigilance and be wary of deceptive promises and claims that are unrealistic.
In a separate but related piece of news, it was revealed that two airdrop hunters had successfully obtained nearly $3.3 million worth of Goods, demonstrating the tremendous benefits that may come from successfully participating in airdrops. While taking part in airdrops or any other activity linked to cryptocurrencies, however, it is essential for investors to do enough research and be vigilant against the possibility of falling victim to a hoax.
In general, the event serves as a useful reminder of how important it is to exercise extreme caution and vigilance whenever one engages in activities that are associated to cryptocurrencies. Since con artists are likely to use more sophisticated strategies as the business continues to get more attention, it is crucial for investors to stay knowledgeable and attentive at all times.
Sui blockchain designers Mysten Labs is the latest blockchain firm to face a crypto hack. The firm has announced that its Discord server has been hacked.
The blockchain company has warned people not to click any links posted on the server in the eight hours prior to its Twitter announcement and said that the team is working to fix the mess.
An unverified screenshot shared on Twitter stated that hackers had put a link of a rumoured crypto airdrop on the announcement channel in the server. Mysten Labs made such an announcement on Saturday, and so far, no other further updates have been published.
Sui blockchain, a permissionless proof-stake blockchain, is the first product offered by Mysten Labs, launched in March this year.
Mysten Labs, a web3 infrastructure firm, was established by Evan Cheng, Sam Blackshear, Adeniyi Abiodun, and George Danezis, four former developers from Meta’s once-ambitious cryptocurrency project Novi. In the past, the four specialists were involved in the development of the Diem blockchain and its Move programming language.
Last December, Mysten Labs raised a $36 million funding round participated by high-profile investors, including Andreessen Horowitz and Coinbase Ventures. Last month, Mysten Labs announced that it was targeting a $2 billion valuation.
$1.4 Billion Stolen This Year Through Breaches
This year, hacks and scams have hit crypto investors hard. Cybercriminals have so far found a particularly useful avenue – blockchain bridges – to siphon customers’ funds.
Blockchain bridges, which normally connect networks to enable the fast swaps of tokens, are getting increasing popularity as a way for crypto users to do transactions. Thanks to blockchain bridge technology, crypto users are bypassing centralized exchanges.
However, since the beginning of this year, a total of about $1.4 billion has been lost through breaches on such cross-chain bridges. According to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, the bridge exploits are happening at a striking rate as they are a new phenomenon.
In February, Wormhole, one of the most popular bridges linking the Ethereum and Solana blockchains, was hit by a hack that stole around $320 million.
In June, hackers stole $100 million in cryptocurrency from Horizon, a so-called blockchain bridge developed by crypto start-up Harmony.
The Discord server of the iconic Non-Fungible Token (NFT) project, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) has been exploited again as criminals gain access to the manager’s profile to post fake mint links.
The breach was first identified by a Twitter user @NFTHerder, an on-chain analyst and security expert who noted that the criminals gain access to Yuga Labs’ social media manager, Boris Vagner’s account.
“Our Discord servers were briefly exploited today. The team caught and addressed it quickly. About 200 ETH worth of NFTs appear to have been impacted. We are still investigating, but if you were impacted, email us at discord@yugalabs.io,” Yuga Labs tweeted to confirm the news.
The NFT startup also warned its users that it does not conduct free mints or any of the surprise giveaways that are often portrayed on Discord, which has caused investors a lot of pain in recent times.
Discord has grown to become a very prominent hub for Web3.0 projects and particularly NFT collections. As much as the platform has a lot of features that make it an ideal place to show the sophistication in design by NFT projects, incessant hacks and exploits are generally making the platform highly unusable.
As NFTHerder pointed out, as many as 70 projects saw their Discord servers compromised in May with OpenSea, Blockworks, Cool Cats, Alpha Kongs Club, and Okay Bears amongst the most popular.
With the growing rate of exploitation of NFT and blockchain-related startups, a new level of security is highly sought after with many proponents already advocating for the emergence of a decentralized social media platform that will be powered by blockchain technology.
The race to get these decentralized social media platforms is already underway, and besides Bluesky which is being bankrolled by Twitter, many other innovators in the space are also reportedly working on a similar solution.
Audius has launched a feature to let users embed their NFTs on Twitter and Discord.
Users must connect their Web3 wallet to the app to get access to an embeddable video gallery of their NFTs.
Besides Audius, several Web2 companies have started to explore NFTs as the technology has gained popularity in recent months.
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The feature aims to usher in mass NFT adoption by making unique digital assets more discoverable.
Audius Unveils NFT Preview Feature
Audius just took a big step toward bringing NFTs further into the mainstream.
The Web3 app, which primarily serves as a decentralized music platform, has launched a new feature that lets users preview their NFTs on websites like Twitter and Discord. The tool supports tokens based on Ethereum and Solana, the two biggest NFT hubs.
Users must connect a Web3 wallet such as MetaMask or Phantom to view their NFTs via the Audius platform. From there, they can use the tool to share a video gallery of their collection on social media, blog, or other types of websites. Connecting to a crypto wallet lets users show that they are the verifiable owner of their NFTs.The tool can support NFTs of various forms, including digital art, music, or other types of content.
Audius was among the earliest crypto music projects and has enjoyed a rapid rise as the technology has grown in popularity in 2021. It jumped to over seven million users and has attracted the interest of superstars like Deadmau5, Katy Perry, and Nas. In August, it partnered with TikTok to launch a feature that lets artists upload their music to TikTok videos.
Audius is aiming to use blockchain technology to democratize the music industry. It runs a streaming platform similar to Spotify, where artists can monetize their music via the native AUDIO token. It’s also slowly begun to move into the NFT space in recent months, allowing Audius users to connect their Ethereum and Solana NFTs to their profiles.
Several major applications have started to follow Web3 native projects like Audius in adopting NFT technology this year. Twitter has made various moves to embrace NFTs, from giving away its own collection to teasing a forthcoming NFT authentication feature. The social media behemoth’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, also sold his first tweet as an NFT on Ethereum for $2.9 million in March despite declaring he has no interest in the second-ranked blockchain (Dorsey is known for his support of Bitcoin, but he’s less keen on other cryptocurrencies).
Mark Zuckerberg, meanwhile, announced that Facebook would support NFTs when he shared the news of his company’s rebrand to Meta last month. Discord’s CEO Jason Citron also hinted that his company may begin natively supporting NFTs by integrating Ethereum earlier this month, but he appeared to drop the plans after a fierce backlash from the Discord community over the purported environmental impact of the technology. Whether or not the critics who slammed Discord’s plans will feel the same way about the new Audius feature remains to be seen.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this feature owned ETH and several other cryptocurrencies.
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Bloktopia is a virtual skyscraper in the Metaverse comprised of 21 levels to pay homage to the 21 million total maximum supply of Bitcoin (BTC). Owners of its BLOK tokens will be known as Bloktopians. Users will be able to buy and sell nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, purchase digital ad venues, own real estate, and more in the Bloktopia virtual reality. Meanwhile, Bloktopians can also earn revenue by selling or leasing virtual property in the skyrscraper to interested buyers.
Bloktopia in-game footage | Source: Bloktopia
The project, set to launch sometime next year, is built on the Polygon network, a layer 2 Ethereum (ETH) scaling and infrastructure development network. In addition, Elrond, a blockchain sharding protocol, is to become the anchor tenant in Bloktopia, with its virtual HQ being featured on level one, where all players spawn. During an exclusive AMA with Cointelegraph Markets Pro users on Discord, Bloktopia co-founder and CMO Paddy Carroll discussed the key aspects of its virtual ecosystem:
Cointelegraph Markets Pro: First of all, how do regular people access the Metaverse? Are special glasses required? How do you walk around and interact?
Paddy Carroll: We will make entering Bloktopia as accessible as possible. We are finalizing our roadmap and will be sharing it very shortly. We envisage a version with VR glasses and a downloadable version in time.
CT Markets Pro: In what stage is Bloktopia right now? What are the next steps?
PC: We are building Levels 1 and 6 and the auditorium. We will be holding some events in the near future. We hope to have a beta version of Bloktopia ready for March 2022.
CT Markets Pro: What is Polygon? Does the company effectively control Bloktopia?
PC: Surely people have heard of Polygon? If not, Polygon is a scaling solution that aims to provide multiple tools to improve the speed and reduce the cost and complexities of transactions on blockchain networks. We are building Bloktopia on it. It doesn’t control Bloktopia; more [to] facilitates transactions.
CT Markets Pro User: Also long back, 1) I entered in lucky winners for ReBlok’s Google form, No communication on that. 2) I am keeping my BLOKs to buy ReBlok on Level 1; I even selected a few from their maps that they released last month, but now this JOBE thing has taken over. I don’t know when the real land sale will happen. 3) I heard last month there will be a Bloktopia wallet, but still no wallet. I would love to have a communication on the above things if possible. Thanks.
PC: As you mentioned, we put a statement out on tokenomics, which I think you have acknowledged clarifying your first point. To cover the other questions, they all stem back to the fact that the Bloktopia NFT Land Sale Portal is still in development and not ready to be released yet. But I am hopeful this will be ready to go very, very soon. More to come, I promise.
CT Markets Pro User: Will there be other Bloktopia skyscrapers? Either geographic or time-based? How essential is VR to the experience? Who is the main target audience to start with? A centralized place in the Metaverse seems like an oxymoron. When did you realize that you were onto something?
PC: We have no plans for other skyscrapers at the moment. VR is part of our thinking but not mandatory. The main target audience is anyone with a vested interest in crypto. We love the decentralized nature of crypto and wouldn’t want to change it, but ultimately, it is fragmented and time-consuming; Bloktopia pulls everything together to make it easy. It doesn’t alter the decentralized nature of crypto. When we realized this was a big problem in the crypto world and started having several conversations with people who agreed, we realized that we were onto something.
CT Markets Pro User: Can you share more about the BlokPad? There are plenty of gaming launchpads and already a Metaverse pad too. So what’s unique about yours (other than it’s a reason for people to hold BLOK).
PC: Sure, this is our new launchpad, which we have just announced this week. We have plenty of reading material about BlokPad on our Medium. We are in a position where we have a Metaverse that will hold hundreds of the best crypto projects there are. We also have had one of the most successful IDOs [Initial Decentralized Exchange Offerings] that there has ever been. So projects are asking for our help, and we have a tried and tested formula. We are in a fortunate position where we can be selective and only choose the best projects in the marketplace. Then of course, we also now have another utility for BLOK, which is great.
CT Markets Pro: Is there an NFT marketplace within the Metaverse? Is that exclusive to Bloktopia, or can other projects create their own?
PC: Yes, there will be, it will be ready in the next couple of weeks, and more details will be shared then.
CT Markets Pro: Why do you think some NFT collections are worth U$ 10 million while most others are worthless?
PC: There is an argument to say that NFTs sales are a bubble that is waiting to burst. That’s not necessarily something I subscribe to, but I do see more value in NFTs with utilities.
CT Markets Pro: What are the current actual use cases for the Metaverse? For example, what is the difference between working with a Zoom window beside your screen?
PC: Well, you can’t have several immersive experiences at once in Zoom. You can’t interact with more than one person. The metaverse is a much more socially engaging tool. You can interact with people/ brands. Watch live or recorded content, including concerts or sporting events. Order food/ clothes. Customize your avatar. Have private rooms where you can hang out with friends. Or meet new people and share experiences/ learn. Plus, you can enter games and win things like free BLOK or even a Lamborghini. You can do anything that you can do in the real world and more but from the comfort of your own home.
CT Markets Pro: Understood, so the Metaverse is unlikely-looking to integrate with open source technology. And how Bloktopia expects to integrate, for example, NFT-based multiplayer online games from third parties?
PC: We are working through the possibilities of integrating other games; there are many questions about if we want to do that, and if so, what those games would be. But we do know that we can do it; it is possible. That’s the beauty of a virtual reality world.
CT Markets Pro: Is there a separate company/project to help businesses get up & running on Bloktopia? Such as a “Metaverse Developer”?
PC: We have BlokPad, which will help to launch new crypto projects. We also have an estate mgt team to help tenants with their space design, features, and basic navigation. So yes, we do offer this as part of the Bloktopia service.
CT Markets Pro: How can businesses and regular people generate income using Bloktopia? How much does one need to start?
PC: BLOK will act as a currency within Bloktopia, allowing people to purchase items within our world. BLOK will initially be used to purchase NFTs, sold for real estate and advertising space in Bloktopia, which both generate incomes from advertisers and rental fees. The higher the daily active users within Bloktopia, the more revenue generated from the big data produced and the impressions brands pay for when they advertise on the totems within Bloktopia and rent space. Meaning that all NFT’s within Bloktopia, whether ReBlok or AdBlok, generate revenue for the holders and the more typical asset appreciation.
CT Markets Pro: Is there some exclusivity to the BLOK token for products and services commercialized within Bloktopia?
PC: BLOK will be important in Bloktopia. Exclusivity is something in our minds for unlocking certain parts of the Metaverse.
CT Markets Pro: What programming and designing skills are necessary to create spaces and applications?
PC: We are currently building out Bloktopia in the Unity Engine. So if somebody wanted to get involved in the creation, further down the line, they would need to understand Unity design.
CT Markets Pro: There’s a token lock for those buying real estate on the pre-sale, so how exactly will newcomers develop their virtual lands and services?
PC: This is maybe two questions? Yes, if you bought tokens privately or in the IDO, there is a token lock; we will always release enough tokens to enable people to buy NFTs (REBLOK and ADBLOK). Newcomers would need to buy BLOK to get involved.
CT Markets Pro: When is the DAO governance be in place? Is there a protection mechanism from large holders such as exchanges, ETFs, or custodians?
PC: Tenants won’t form part of the DAO. The DAO will be made up of the NFT holders. So if you own a REBLOK in the Binance store, you are part of the DAO. Each REBLOK earns you 1 x vote. There are 50 per store.
CT Markets Pro: What is Animoca Brand’s relationship with Bloktopia? What can we expect from them?
PC: They are our lead investor. They are opening plenty of doors for us, so we really value their input.
CT Markets Pro User: Will there be a token burn in the future?
PC: We are currently planning something in this space. We are in a humbling and grateful position where our token price rose so much from our IDO that it has changed how we need to look at things slightly and replan. Burning tokens is a consideration, along with a few other options.
CT Markets Pro: So, where will the project go once the real estate on all 21 floors has been filled? I.e., will there be a similar skyscraper(s) built next to it and floors set for auction?
PC: I am pretty consumed at the moment with thinking about creating, filling, and operating 21 levels. Let’s get the skyscraper fully operational, and then we will see. The beauty of a Metaverse is that any restrictions don’t constrain us.
CT Markets Pro: Could you provide more color on the integration between Bloktopia and the Elrond blockchain?
PC: Well, we are delighted that Elrond is an anchor tenant on Level 1 of Bloktopia. We have announced a partnership and are exploring things with them, but I can confirm nothing at this stage. We’re pleased to have them on board, though, and see lots of potential for collaboration.
CT Markets Pro User: Could you please touch on when can we expect Bloktopia Wallet of its own? Thanks.
PC: It’s ready! It is literally just being tested. We don’t really need to put it live until the NFT Portal is prepared too, so we will thoroughly test both first and share our new products with the community.
CT Markets Pro User: One last quick suggestion paddy – Bloktopia Community management needs some improvements. It looks pretty rude and banning people for no reason. Even I got banned just for praising the project. Clearly, it is frustrating for holders. Would you please improve community communication which is not rude? Thanks.
PC:I try to keep tabs on the Telegram group as much as I can, but it is impossible to do that 24/7. We are aware that some of the moderators were a little overwhelmed with how fast our growth has taken over the group, and as such, we have taken steps to strengthen our team. Sorry if your experience so far hasn’t been great; we are working on this. I think maybe we need a Discord channel?
CT Markets Pro User: Hey Paddy! Can you go into any details about the partnership with MetaHero?
PC: Metahero is a tenant, they have got a prime spot in Bloktopia. They are currently briefing us on what they would like to get out of their virtual space, and we have some exciting plans.
CT Markets Pro User: Apologies if this has been covered already, but will Bloktopia be available on Oculus Quest?
PC: Yes, it will in time. More will become clear in our roadmap.
CT Markets Pro: So how will community management play out? Will it be more of a laissez-faire type of ecosystem where players/users do their own thing with little oversight?
PC: Bloktopia is only as good as what happens inside it. We don’t want to be restrictive, but security is top of our agenda, and as such, we will be monitoring for illegal activity. That will absolutely not be allowed.
New Tenancy Announcement
Welcome to the Bloktopia metaverse @solana
A new HQ and a focus on technical integrations in the NFT space
Exciting times ahead!$BLOK #blokarmy #Metaverse #Meta #WhoIsNext pic.twitter.com/siqxY4aaan
Phenomenal piece by Reason Magazine. We at NewsBTC have been countering the Bitcoin is bad for the environment narrative for a while now. Now, we have a new tool. A short and sweet documentary that rests on a devastating premise. “Such environmentalist attacks on bitcoin are best understood as a strategy by economic, media, and political elites to undermine a powerful new form of money that they can’t control.” Boom! That’s exactly what’s happening.
Related Reading | Bitcoin Mining Vs. The World: BTC Leads Sustainable Energy
Let’s explore the idea further, but first, let’s let Reason Magazine define who they are and what they stand for:
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“Reason is the planet’s leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won’t get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.”
You’ve been warned. This is the perspective you’ll get from this article and from “The Fake Environmentalist Attack on Bitcoin” Mini-Doc:
[embedded content]
The mini-documentary starts with the filthy propaganda the state usually serves:
“Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are terrible for the environment,” declares Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). “It’s an extremely inefficient way of conducting transactions,” pronounces former Federal Reserve Chair and current Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. “It’s a way to both hide dirty money and destroy the environment at the same time,” says Daily Show host Trevor Noah.
Reason Magazine Summarizes The Government’s Perspective
Then, Elizabeth Warren brings up the most ridiculously flamboyant stat ever uttered. According to the Senator, a single Bitcoin transaction uses the same amount of energy that an average house uses in 53 days. WHAT? Couldn’t these government people control themselves and provide a more plausible number? Do people actually believe these made-up stats? Apparently,they do, as the Discord story proves.
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“Discord’s founder and CEO Jason Citron hinted at possible integration with the Ethereum ecosystem, with NFTs, and with the incoming Web3. And all hell broke loose. Discord fanatics spammed Citron’s replies and canceled their subscriptions to their Nitro premium service. Discord’s own employees took to social media to express their discomfort. Video game culture influencers rallied the masses and gathered hundreds of Likes and Retweets. What were their reasons? Environmental concerns.”
Back to Reason’s documentary, Bitcoin spokesperson Nic Carter dismantles the government’s techniques. They establish an exaggerated per transaction cost, and then “extrapolate Bitcoin’s transactional load to hundreds of billions per year.” They’re not dumb, they know that “The electricity consumed by mining isn’t used to power individual transactions.” However, the average citizen doesn’t. Nic Carter closes with, “Bitcoin’s transactions and Bitcoin’s energy use are not really correlated.”
They aren’t. Bitcoin produces one block full of transactions every ten minutes on average. If we reduced the mining to only one machine, Bitcoin would still produce the same amount of blocks in the same amount of minutes.
BTC price chart for 11/19/2021 on Capital.com | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
The Media Claims Are Outlandish, To Say The Least
The mini-documentary’s host is Nick Gillespie, Reason’s Editor At Large. He admits “The energy used by Bitcoin mining has increased significantly and it will continue to grow, but the media claims are outlandish.” As an example, he offers this ridiculous 2017 Newsweek article titled “Bitcoin Mining on Track to Consume All of the World’s Energy by 2020.” As you might suspect, Newsweek’s prediction didn’t come true.
Then, it’s time for some real stats. According to the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance, Bitcoin consumes “just over a hundred terawatt-hours per year.” That’s 117.02, to be exact. That’s on the high end of the spectrum ofNick Hansen’s estimations. If the network uses 14.2 Gigawatts per hour, that would amount to 124 terawatt-hours per year. However, “most likely, the Bitcoin network is between 4.2 and 14.2 Gigawatts.” So, it would be considerably less by Hansen’s stats.
Pick the number you trust the most, it’s a worthy investment considering everything Bitcoin brings to the world.
Critics Tend To Ignore These Facts
Reason defines mining as”the process through which a global network of computers maintains the bitcoin network through computation. Though energy-intensive, this process is what makes bitcoin a truly decentralized monetary system.” And that’s a fact. Proof-Of-Work is essential to decentralization. There is no alternative. A little later, Reason’s Nick Gillespie hits us with another home run, “the work being carried out by this global computer network is what allows Bitcoin to be controlled by mathematical rules instead of human actors vulnerable to government or corporate control.”
Then, the documentary presents another crucial fact, “Miners are incentivized to use energy that would otherwise go to waste.” The Human Rights Foundation’s Alex Gladstein puts it in another way, “Bitcoin miners need energy that nobody else wants.” Why? Because it’s cheaper. The incentives are clear as day. After that, Reason brings out the ace under Bitcoin’s sleeve, “In the Western United States, mobile Bitcoin miners are already running on electricity derived from unused natural gas from oil wells that can’t be captured because there are no pipelines to carry it.” Luckily for the government, Reason doesn’t bring up everythingBitcoin mining is doing for the NavajoNation.
Reason Closes It Off With Even More Stats
In a questionable move, Reason quotes the Bitcoin Mining Council controversial report. That one puts Bitcoin’s sustainable energy use at around 56%. Let’s quoteNewsBTC’s reporton that number.
“The good news is, there’s data to show that Bitcoin’s “mining electricity mix increased to 56% sustainable in Q2 2021.” Is that data valid? That’s another question altogether. The Bitcoin Mining Council elaborates on the results:
The results of this survey show that the members of the BMC and participants in the survey are currently utilizing electricity with a 67% sustainable power mix.”
Related Reading | Power Ledger Blockchain Firm Signs Deal with Japanese Green Energy Supplier
We can say that because, here at NewsBTC, we’re partial to Bitcoin. Was it a good idea for Reason to use it? Maybe not, but notice they used the conservative 56% figure and not the aspirational 67% one. The magazine knows what it’s doing. That’s why they brought back Nic Carter to close the documentary, “Bitcoin is a vote of no confidence in the monetary and financial system that exists today.”
That’s exactly what it is. Among other things.
Featured Image: Screenshot from the documentary | Charts by TradingView
Discord has given some hints of NFT integration since the beginning of the NFT craze. A Discord survey from August went viral and stirred up the social networks.
The survey focuses on getting users’ insights in NFTs.
Although there is no statement on NFT integration of Discord, people started talking about whether Discord would enter the lucrative space like other tech giants.
Initial Hints From Discord
Among other questions about participants’ knowledge of NFT and Web 3, Discord’s survey also included open-ended questions about their favorite cryptocurrencies and asked them to point out which crypto-related issues Discord could help to solve.
According to a Discord representative, the objective of this survey is merely to discover and to get to know users’ engagement in the crypto community.
“We’re always exploring and hacking away at things we think will improve Discord for all the communities we serve,” a Discord spokesperson told The Verge. “This includes research that helps us learn about what people want,” the spokesperson shared with The Verge.
So a Discord server integrated with NFT-related technology is still far from reality. But it doesn’t mean the digital distribution platform won’t get its hands on the NFT market.
In response to Discord’s action talks around its intention, members, however, have different opinions.
The NFT ecosystem’s ongoing problems including carbon emissions, money laundering, and uncertainties are the main reasons that push the gaming community away from Discord’s NFT implementation.
Some users showed negative views on the update and warned to cancel their Nitro subscription. One user even posted screenshots showing their Nitro unsubscription.
Furthermore, the backlash also resulted in many users terminating subscriptions to Discord Nitro, the platform’s premium service that costs $4.99 per month and $49.99 for a year.
Even if Discord hasn’t yet established its own NFT, it’s probable that the platform is planning or at the very least considering alternative blockchain-based applications in the future.
After reading a Substack blog post highlighting Discord’s potential as an NFT or Web3 platform, Discord CEO Jason Citron responded by tweeting an image of a Discord crypto wallet identity that was unknown at the time.
probably nothing pic.twitter.com/p4P6MoNGgd
— Jason Citron (@jasoncitron) November 8, 2021
NFTs: Dusk To Dawn
In a conference call on Tuesday, Brian Amstrong shared his view about the digital asset’s future, the Coinbase CEO stated that the NFT marketplace has the potential to grow much larger than the bitcoin sector.
Coinbase is one of the most notable names that has joined the NFT race with its own marketplace – Coinbase NFT. The platform will compete with OpenSea and Rarible, as well as other exchanges that are investing in NFTs like Binance, Gemini and FTX.
Back in the early days of NFT, the most prevalent type of operation was NFT games based on a fairly simple mechanism.
Initially, they primarily have Idle Game gameplay, in which the characters battle according to pre-calculated mechanisms and algorithms with random variables.
Even the NFT game genres were still very limited at the time, while the graphics were not particularly impressive and frequently made little faults that were enough to cause barriers among players.
However, as technology in general and the blockchain platform in particular advance, things are rapidly changing. NFTs have evolved and are now comparable to regular games, having expanded into a number of different industries like music, art, and film.
Following the rise of NFTs in the crypto world, the number of NFT marketplaces has expanded in recent months. Most developers should now concentrate on building functionality on NFT minting systems.
Platforms such as Ethereum, Flow, Tezos, NEAR, and others now provide an interface for creators to validate rarity, auction mechanism, and royalty rates from secondary purchases. NFT supplies are increasing as a result of simple-to-use revolutionary tools.
In other words, rather than focusing on better, easier ways to make NFTs, people are exploring innovative ways to broaden the use of NFTs. The rise of NFTs transformed the digitization era and, by extension, the world we live in.
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Popular community messaging app Discord has been forced to walk back its integration plans with Ethereum (ETH)-based NFTs following strong backlash from a significant number of its user base.
The pushback started on Nov. 9 after Discord’s founder and CEO Jason Citron tweeted “probably nothing” accompanied by a screenshot of the app’s user settings page that displayed an ETH logo and option to connect digital wallets such as MetaMask and Wallet Connect.
Citron was then bombarded with thousands of comments calling on him to abandon the plans along with users threatening to cancel Nitro subscriptions. The crypto-skeptics asserted that NFTs are a Ponzi scheme and damaging to the environment due to the amount of energy consumption used to mine cryptocurrencies.
I kindly request that you to not engage in the NFT scene. I want an app that does not enable a money laundering scheme that is also proven to contribute to climate change. The last thing that I want as a user of your product is to hurt the enviorment, which I care about deeply.
— ⊗.: :.⊗ (@Ghost_Manul) November 9, 2021
While Citron had commented that the feature was in “pre-release” mode, on Nov. 11 he indicated it had moved to “no-release” mode:
“Thanks for all the perspectives everyone. We have no current plans to ship this internal concept. For now we’re focused on protecting users from spam, scams and fraud. Web3 has lots of good but also lots of problems we need to work through at our scale. More soon.”
Despite Discord being a commonly used app amongst the crypto community — with NFT projects in particular using the platform to build communities — it appears that the gaming contingent (among others) using the platform are not so fond of crypto.
A Reddit post in the r/discordapp community on Nov. 9 titled “Please do not support NFTs” received around 6,400 upvotes.
User “CaboSanLukas” stated that NFT tech is “a scam,” and added that: “Imagine you buy a ticket that says you own X image. But that ticket has no legal validity in any country. Also, the value of NFTs is based on pure speculation and scarcity. While “Atulin” asserted that:
“You burn a hectare of the Amazon forest to get a link to a receipt for a purchase of something. You don’t get that something, you don’t even get the receipt, you get a link to the receipt.”
Related:Twitter Crypto: The dedicated team aimed at exploring DApps and more
Back on Twitter, Hayden Adams, the founder of decentralized exchange Uniswap said earlier today the reaction Citron was getting was “pretty surreal” but a good reminder of how early into Web3 the world is.
“PoS + L2s will fully address environmental concerns over the next year imo, but the misunderstanding and fear will be around much longer,” he said.
Those of you “against” NFTs… please examine where you are getting your information. NFTs are a fundamentally disruptive new technology that bring organizational power to individuals and bypasses corporations. It’s been used in some cringe ways but so has the internet. AMA
