Interview with Noble Gold Investments CEO: Gold as Hedge Tool against Inflation?

Zimbabwe’s Central Bank launched gold coins in July as part of efforts to help curb surging inflation amid a slump in the country’s currency. The move sparked interest in whether gold could serve as a safe haven investment during a market crisis.

Based on Zimbabwe’s development, Blockchain.News recently had a conversation with Collin Plume, the President and CEO of Noble Gold Investments, regarding whether gold could be a safe haven investment that investors should rely on during turmoil times.

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The global pandemic raging for over two years has created unemployment, supply chain problems, and more that disrupted economic growth. With the rise of inflation, the US dollar has lost its value and purchasing power. But on the other hand, gold has increased its purchasing power because its value tends to rise with the price of goods.

In light of pandemic worries, rising debts, market downturns, business failures, and mounting inflation realities in regard to economic policies coming out of central banks and other regulators, investors have appeared to rush to invest in gold to secure their financial positions.

Meanwhile, several crypto companies are facing bankruptcy, while many tech firms (such as Klarna, ClickUp, Lacework, Bolt, PayPal, among others) recently announced massive layoffs of employees. But questions remain about how investors can protect themselves from the risks of the ongoing financial crisis.

In the current times of financial instability and turmoil, investors seek opportunities to protect their assets and values.

Inflation Hedge

Asked whether gold is a good investment, Plume said YES. While this can be demonstrated by Zimbabwe’s recent gold adoption, generally, gold is viewed as the ideal hedge against inflation. This is because fiat currency loses its purchasing power when things become more expensive, but gold tends to be priced in those currency units.

Plume explained: “Although the gold market can’t do anything about economic inflation on a macro level, it’s easily the best hedge against inflation for an individual’s investment portfolio”.

Nowadasy, gold’s uses and the demand for physical gold have increased. According to Plume, “Gold’s industrial uses are steadily growing (gold is used in electronics, cars, biotechnology, and even on Mars) while its global supply is quickly shrinking, so its value is guaranteed to go up over time.”

Geopolitical and Economic Instability

Gold also provides investors with a safe haven during economic and political instability. The precious metal has often taken the role of an inflation hedge and a portfolio stabilizer during turbulent financial markets.

The gold market rose above the $2,000 an ounce level in March for the first time since August 2020, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February. Geopolitical uncertainty has increased the attractiveness of the precious metal for investors seeking a safe haven for their funds.

Prices have since retreated, declining by around 6% year-to-date, and have struggled to regain ground above the $1,800 an ounce level where it started the year. 

This year, gold is getting investors’ attention following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Sanctions against Russia have already taken the commodities market for a wild ride, fueling concerns of stagflation — a combination of high inflation and slow economic growth — both of which is positive for gold.

In July, Zimbabwe’s central bank started selling gold coins to the public to help protect people’s savings against the country’s runaway inflation and offer an alternative to the widely used US dollar.

Zimbabwe still remembers the country’s economic collapse under the late Robert Mugabe, who ruled for nearly four decades.

Hyperinflation forced the nation to abandon the Zimbabwe dollar in 2009, and it opted instead to use foreign currencies, mainly the US dollar. During the worst of the crisis, the government stopped publishing official inflation figures, but current statistics put the inflation rate at 89.7%.

Gold Tokenization 

Despite physical assets like gold, silver, among others, having weathered countless financial storms throughout history, Gold might still need alternative trading platforms to help democratize access to gold using modern technology through tokenization.

Investment in physical gold has many advantages, but it has a few drawbacks. The main challenges that investors face in the investment of physical gold are issues associated with accessibility, storage, security and ability to resell on a regulated market.

While Gold is considered a safe bet, buying it is often a challenge for retail investors. For example, an average person will need to pay the costs associated with gold acquisition, trust an intermediary, and have a storage solution. 

In recent years, the excitement surrounding cryptocurrency has been attracting precious metal buyers away from their traditional investments as they dipped their toes into the crypto pool. But with the recent digital asset market crash, that seems to be changing. Many investors are returning to gold to tame the prevailing financial winds in the crypto markets.

Yet, cryptocurrency like Bitcoin is in a tough year because of the recent market crash. Major Cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, and Ethereum, have plummeted, triggered by inflation and Fed’s interest rate hikes.

For the long term, blockchain technology is increasingly being used to address all these constraints in today’s internet era. Blockchain enables the tokenization of gold and other commodities. The technology allows users to invest in digital gold, therefore helping to resolve various issues tied to physical gold ownership.

Gold as Key Portfolio of Investment 

Gold’s performance moves independently and has low correlation with other assets such as stocks, real estate, commodities, bonds. The precious metal may therefore help serve as a return diversifier within a broader multi-asset portfolio.

Therefore, based on the above analysis, gold is a good investment that investors can use to hedge and diversify their portfolios. However, according to Plume: “Some people believe gold is just for older investors, or they don’t understand the use for it. Many bullish investors focus on the hottest, newest assets, and while gold may not offer the same spikes in value as Tesla or crypto, it also doesn’t bring the same risk of loss as they do.”

Investors are advised to hold around 5-10% of their portfolio’s value in a form of gold, whether physical bars and coins, or digital coins, or instruments such as gold ETFs (exchange-traded funds), to diversify their holdings and potentially hedge against crashes in the value of cryptocurrency, stocks, and bonds.

Gold aligns perfectly with the investment mantra of “not putting all your eggs in one basket” — providing a safety net against events that may plummet the value of popular investments like cryptocurrency and stocks.

“Like any good financial advisor, we highly recommend using gold to diversify your portfolio. Gold is a low-risk, easy-to-access wealth-building tool that can balance out the volatility of other investments like tech stocks or cryptocurrency. It yields the best return when held over a longer period of time, but many younger investors just don’t know about it yet!”, said Plume.

Image source: Noble Gold Investments

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Crypto Talk with OliveX’s CEO Rumjahn: Move-To-Earn Fitness App & DOSE Token

Working out has become a trending conversation on social network platforms. Exercise, especially indoor-style, is influencing lifestyle amid a wide range of COVID-19 lockdowns globally. 

Blockchain.News spoke to Keith Rumjahn, CEO of OliveX and Founder of DOSE token, to explore the potential development of a move-to-earn business model and how cryptocurrency shapes the virtual fitness and sports industry.

dustrider.png

Riding a bicycle is more than just a fun physical activity nowadays as the connection between fitness facilities and personal mobile devices is about to introduce users to a new chapter in the virtual world.

Move-to-earn: Dustland Rider

OliveX, a Hong Kong-based fitness startup company founded by CEO Keith Rumjahn in 2017, demonstrated their latest upcoming product, Dustland Rider, in a recent press event in Hong Kong. It provided an alternative way to encourage the public to get into the crypto space by simply riding a bicycle. 

By completing specific missions by linking users’ mobile devices, a so-called move-to-earn (M2E) approach and it’s application mechanism so that users can enjoy their fitness achievements in exchange for earning token rewards.

Specifically, the company designed a series of scenarios with immersive stories and missions for users to experience while exercising. Users would need to tackle some challenges in this virtual game to win points or tokens; for example, users might be rewarded a unique golden yellow sports suit if they complete riding 100km in the game.

Tokens would be able to purchase additional equipment or upgrades to characters in the game or be traded on the secondary market.

The company said their Dustland Rider would go live soon, expecting to roll out by the end of September or October of this year.

OliveX is a gamified fitness ecosystem to enhance the workout experience through game design techniques and play-to-earn mechanisms, according to its whitepaper.

Prior to launching the Dustland Rider, the company rolled out another similar move-to-earn audio fitness application to the market in 2021, called Dustland Runner, a survival theme-based fitness game. 

The official whitepaper reads that Dustalnd Runner is the first proof of workout audio game, allowing players to earn some native token or even gain Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) or other monetary incentives through physical running in daily life. In addition, its NFT, named Kettlemine, can be minted on the Polygon chain, followed by earning more DOSE tokens by burning Kettlemine NFT.

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CEO of OliveX and Founder of DOSE Token Keith Rumjahn Rumjahn

In an exclusive interview with Blockchain.News, Keith Rumjahn Rumjahn, CEO of OliveX shared his journey of running a startup business.

“One of the reasons I founded this company is that I realised some data apps could sell out our exercise data to other commercial companies. As a user, however, we lost our ownership of data ourselves, not aware of (our data) being sold, and even we do not get any benefits or cashback from it,” said Keith Rumjahn. 

OliveX’s Keith disclosed that some well-known data-driven service platforms would purchase or utilise these users’ movement data to enhance the purpose of their sale, such as deploying more rental vehicles to a specific area where more people exercise.

On the other hand, the higher traffic acquisition costs for tech giant platforms such as Google or Apple dominating the market is another reason why Keith Rumjahn intends to establish a decentralised platform by himself.

When asked how to differentiate and make the brand more unique to maintain its advantages among competitors, Keith Rumjahn said understanding the gaming lifecycle and the rate of retention among users are critical to designing gaming products, as users typically intend to look for more stylish or trending products within a short period, said Keith Rumjahn; bringing innovation and a fresh product idea would be key elements for OliveX to differentiate their products among competitors.

The sense of business and industry knowledge helped Keith Rumjahn to equip a sensitive awareness to meet customers’ needs. The Canadian Chinese basketball coach and software developer said users normally enjoy the diversity of sports, as some of them would participate in multiple sports within a period of time. The company would develop more types of sports, including Boxing or Yoga, to expand the “portfolio of game, so that users might have more options to choose their own favourite sports.” 

Nevertheless, the 37-year-old executive said he hopes the public to build up a regular exercise habit in the long term, “I hope the public would be able to build a healthy lifestyle and regular exercise habit, no matter whether playing our game or not in the future,” which is much more important objectives to him personally while leading the company to keep being competitive among competitors.

The company was acquired by Animoca Brands in 2017 and is a spin-off of the parent company. Over 27% of its shares are owned by the leading gamification platform. 

Initially, the former fitness app developer was running a business of establishing smart mirrors. This interactive device can track body movement for analysing body figures with fitness centres before entering the crypto world.

Yet, the pandemic of COVID-19 crushed many fitness centre operations, resulting in massive downsizing or even termination of those fitness centres, forcing OliveX to transform itself again.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong-based company discovered the potential development in the crypto space later on and declared to list on the National Stock Exchange of Australia (NSX: OLX) in Australia in 2020 and launched its Initial Public Offering (IPO).

The Australian-listed company has been raising over $2.6 million between 2017 and 2018 over the last three rounds, according to Fobes.

Furthermore, the company realises the potential business development in the crypto and virtual economy. Senior management decided to expand their footprints in the virtual space.

DOSE Token

Gamification could be an easier way to convince sports lovers to get into virtual sports in the Metaverse who do not become familiar with cryptocurrency. A recent survey by ChianPlay suggests that 75% of investors join the crypto space because of GameFi.

Unlike other traditional or developed fitness applications in the market, OliveX launched its native token or called DOSE for its M2E in 2021, which can be traded on at least three major crypto exchange platforms, including OKex and Gate.io and KuCoin, at a $56 million fully diluted market Cap currently, according to data platform provided by CoinMarketCap.

Keith Rumjahn said their launching of Initial Coin Offering (ICO) is even earlier than their main competitors, including STPEN, Solana-based move-to-earn apps.

DOSE is the major trading medium within its ecosystem, allowing users and investors to unlock items, purchase NFT or join special events and game modes, according to its whitepaper.

In explaining why OliveX listed their own native token-DOSE, rather than adopting other mainstream or benchmark tokens, Keith Rumjahn Rumjahn said DOSE as an Ethereum-based token, “we wish to build our own specific token in terms of fitness,” adding that “adopting those mainstream or benchmark tokens might be hard to maintain its balance of internal economy (of the game)”

 “Many games (developers) would generate their own tokens to each different game but might not be connective to each other. DOSE token would connect all the products instead, including Dustland Runner and Dustland Rider,”

Subject to the character of the volatility among tokens in the crypto market, Keith Rumjahn further explained that that would be more difficult to peg with their products if they adopted other tokens. A consistent token would be necessary to maintain the stability of the product price and their “in-game economy.”

Keith Rumjahn believes the external and floating price of its token in the market would not undermine the company’s performance, adding that he would not set any targeting price for DOSE as the milestone for the long-term achievements.

DOSE reached its all-time high at $0.4051 on Nov 3 in 2021. As per the time of writing, DOSE was trading at $0.01133 with a 24-hour trading volume of $481,789, according to CoinMarketCap.

OliveX offers different kinds of trading services, including staking and swapping.

Subject to recent crypto winter influenced by the collapse of LUNA and UST, most of the leading benchmark tokens sank from their all-time-high, 

Regarding risk management, Keith Rumjahn said the company has the expertise in managing risk and the tools of treasury governance for financial operations, whether in the stock market or the crypto market. The company is confident in avoiding liquidity risks from the crypto market, backed by Animoca Brand’s liquidity pool, especially to strengthen its liquidity when necessary. 

As a result, the fitness-based company could concentrate its resources on game development, “Our capital is mainly used for operating the game, rather than putting them for investment-purposed,” added Keith Rumjahn.

Building a virtual fitness centre in Metaverse

The fitness-based company also shows its ambition by entering into the Metaverse. OliveX enjoys a 12X 12 land plot on the Sandbox, where the company is establishing a virtual entertainment and even virtual Sales space, according to the official whitepaper.

By introducing strategic partners, including Stages Cycling, TRIB3, and TRAX among others, the company is aiming to bring digital fitness experience and NFT collectables to the Metaverse community. 

Through partnerships with some local fitness brands, the company believes that would be an effective way to attract sports lovers to join the Metaverse, who are outsiders of this industry.

OliveX intends to overseas market in the long-term, including Japan and South Korea by recruiting local operation teams for community management.

Outlook towards virtual industry development in HK

Developing blockchain-based startups in Hong Kong is challenging in terms of legal and regulatory challenges. Keith Rumjahn suggests local regulators should optimise policies, allowing more open-mind and crypto-friendly regulations in the city.

In terms of investment, that would be great to allow companies to invest in crypto-related industries or startup companies in terms of licensing so that more capital from the top-end might penetrate to the bottom-end side of the business. 

Image source: OliveX

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Crypto Talk with OliveX’s CEO Rumjahn: Move-To-Earn Fitness App & DOSE Token

Working out has become a trending conversation on social network platforms. Exercise, especially indoor-style, is influencing lifestyle amid a wide range of COVID-19 lockdowns globally. 

Blockchain.News spoke to Keith Rumjahn, CEO of OliveX and Founder of DOSE token, to explore the potential development of a move-to-earn business model and how cryptocurrency shapes the virtual fitness and sports industry.

dustrider.png

Riding a bicycle is more than just a fun physical activity nowadays as the connection between fitness facilities and personal mobile devices is about to introduce users to a new chapter in the virtual world.

Move-to-earn: Dustland Rider

OliveX, a Hong Kong-based fitness startup company founded by CEO Keith Rumjahn in 2017, demonstrated their latest upcoming product, Dustland Rider, in a recent press event in Hong Kong. It provided an alternative way to encourage the public to get into the crypto space by simply riding a bicycle. 

By completing specific missions by linking users’ mobile devices, a so-called move-to-earn (M2E) approach and it’s application mechanism so that users can enjoy their fitness achievements in exchange for earning token rewards.

Specifically, the company designed a series of scenarios with immersive stories and missions for users to experience while exercising. Users would need to tackle some challenges in this virtual game to win points or tokens; for example, users might be rewarded a unique golden yellow sports suit if they complete riding 100km in the game.

Tokens would be able to purchase additional equipment or upgrades to characters in the game or be traded on the secondary market.

The company said their Dustland Rider would go live soon, expecting to roll out by the end of September or October of this year.

OliveX is a gamified fitness ecosystem to enhance the workout experience through game design techniques and play-to-earn mechanisms, according to its whitepaper.

Prior to launching the Dustland Rider, the company rolled out another similar move-to-earn audio fitness application to the market in 2021, called Dustland Runner. 

The official whitepaper reads that Dustalnd Runner is the first proof of workout audio game, allowing players to earn some native token or even gain Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) or other monetary incentives through physical exercise in daily life. In addition, its NFT, named Kettlemine, can be minted on the Polygon chain, followed by earning more DOSE tokens by burning Kettlemine NFT.

Keith_1200.jpg

CEO of OliveX and Founder of DOSE Token Keith Rumjahn Rumjahn

In an exclusive interview with Blockchain.News, Keith Rumjahn Rumjahn, CEO of OliveX shared his journey of running a startup business.

“One of the reasons I founded this company is that I realised some data apps could sell out our exercise data to other commercial companies. As a user, however, we lost our ownership of data ourselves, not aware of (our data) being sold, and even we do not get any benefits or cashback from it,” said Keith Rumjahn. 

OliveX’s Keith disclosed that some well-known data-driven service platforms would purchase or utilise these users’ movement data to enhance the purpose of their sale, such as deploying more rental vehicles to a specific area where more people exercise.

On the other hand, the higher traffic acquisition costs for tech giant platforms such as Google or Apple dominating the market is another reason why Keith Rumjahn intends to establish a decentralised platform by himself.

When asked how to differentiate and make the brand more unique to maintain its advantages among competitors, Keith Rumjahn said understanding the gaming lifecycle and the rate of retention among users are critical to designing gaming products, as users typically intend to look for more stylish or trending products within a short period, said Keith Rumjahn; bringing innovation and a fresh product idea would be key elements for OliveX to differentiate their products among competitors.

The sense of business and industry knowledge helped Keith Rumjahn to equip a sensitive awareness to meet customers’ needs. The Canadian Chinese basketball coach and software developer said users normally enjoy the diversity of sports, as some of them would participate in multiple sports within a period of time. The company would develop more types of sports, including Boxing or Yoga, to expand the “portfolio of game, so that users might have more options to choose their own favourite sports.” 

Nevertheless, the 37-year-old executive said he hopes the public to build up a regular exercise habit in the long term, “I hope the public would be able to build a healthy lifestyle and regular exercise habit, no matter whether playing our game or not in the future,” which is much more important objectives to him personally while leading the company to keep being competitive among competitors.

The company was acquired by Animoca Brands in 2017 and is a spin-off of the parent company. Over 27% of its shares are owned by the leading gamification platform. 

Initially, the former fitness app developer was running a business of establishing smart mirrors. This interactive device can track body movement for analysing body figures with fitness centres before entering the crypto world.

Yet, the pandemic of COVID-19 crushed many fitness centre operations, resulting in massive downsizing or even termination of those fitness centres, forcing OliveX to transform itself again.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong-based company discovered the potential development in the crypto space later on and declared to list on the National Stock Exchange of Australia (NSX: OLX) in Australia in 2020 and launched its Initial Public Offering (IPO).

The Australian-listed company has been raising over $2.6 million between 2017 and 2018 over the last three rounds, according to Fobes.

Furthermore, the company realises the potential business development in the crypto and virtual economy. Senior management decided to expand their footprints in the virtual space.

DOSE Token

Gamification could be an easier way to convince sports lovers getting into virtual sports in the Metaverse who do not familiar with cryptocurrency. A recent survey by ChianPlay suggests that 75% of investors join the crypto space because of GameFi.

Unlike other traditional or developed fitness applications in the market, OliveX launched its native token or called DOSE for its M2E in 2021, which can be traded on at least three major crypto exchange platforms, including OKex and Gate.io and KuCoin, at a $56 million fully diluted market Cap currently, according to data platform provided by CoinMarketCap.

Keith Rumjahn said their launching of Initial Coin Offering (ICO) is even earlier than their main competitors, including STPEN, Solana-based move-to-earn apps.

DOSE is the major trading medium within its ecosystem, allowing users and investors to unlock items, purchase NFT or join special events and game modes, according to its whitepaper.

In explaining why OliveX listed their own native token-DOSE, rather than adopting other mainstream or benchmark tokens, Keith Rumjahn Rumjahn said DOSE as an Ethereum-based token, “we wish to build our own specific token in terms of fitness,” adding that “adopting those mainstream or benchmark tokens might be hard to maintain its balance of internal economy (of the game)”

 “Many games (developers) would generate their own tokens to each different game but might not be connective to each other. DOSE token would connect all the products instead, including Dustland Runner and Dustland Rider,”

Subject to the character of the volatility among tokens in the crypto market, Keith Rumjahn further explained that that would be more difficult to peg with their products if they adopted other tokens. A consistent token would be necessary to maintain the stability of the product price and their “in-game economy.”

Keith Rumjahn believes the external and floating price of its token in the market would not undermine the company’s performance, adding that he would not set any targeting price for DOSE as the milestone for the long-term achievements.

DOSE reached its all-time high at $0.4051 on Nov 3 in 2021. As per the time of writing, DOSE was trading at $0.01133 with a 24-hour trading volume of $481,789, according to CoinMarketCap.

OliveX offers different kinds of trading services, including staking and swapping.

Subject to recent crypto winter influenced by the collapse of LUNA and UST, most of the leading benchmark tokens sank from their all-time-high, 

Regarding risk management, Keith Rumjahn said the company has the expertise in managing risk and the tools of treasury governance for financial operations, whether in the stock market or the crypto market. The company is confident in avoiding liquidity risks from the crypto market, backed by Animoca Brand’s liquidity pool, especially to strengthen its liquidity when necessary. 

As a result, the fitness-based company could concentrate its resources on game development, “Our capital is mainly used for operating the game, rather than putting them for investment-purposed,” added Keith Rumjahn.

Building a virtual fitness centre in Metaverse

The fitness-based company also shows its ambition by entering into the Metaverse. OliveX enjoys a 12X 12 land plot on the Sandbox, where the company is establishing a virtual entertainment and even virtual Sales space, according to the official whitepaper.

By introducing strategic partners, including Stages Cycling, TRIB3, and TRAX among others, the company is aiming to bring digital fitness experience and NFT collectables to the Metaverse community. 

Through partnerships with some local fitness brands, the company believes that would be an effective way to attract sports lovers to join the Metaverse, who are outsiders of this industry.

OliveX intends to overseas market in the long-term, including Japan and South Korea by recruiting local operation teams for community management.

Outlook towards virtual industry development in HK

Developing blockchain-based startups in Hong Kong is challenging in terms of legal and regulatory challenges. Keith Rumjahn suggests local regulators should optimise policies, allowing more open-mind and crypto-friendly regulations in the city.

In terms of investment, that would be great to allow companies to invest in crypto-related industries or startup companies in terms of licensing so that more capital from the top-end might penetrate to the bottom-end side of the business. 

Image source: OliveX

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HK’s PANGU Plays a Magician in Metaverse, Expanding P2E Model for Business Growth

Hong Kong-based start-up PANGU, a metaverse agency appointed by Sandbox, is helping clients to enter into the metaverse by providing asset creation and branding consultation services. The company said it is building various business models, including the play-to-earn (P2E) model for clients to support its growth.

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Kenny Ng, the founder of PANGU by Kenal (left) believes the Metaverse would be the tendency of the future; 
and Zero Chung (right) thinks that providing customied solutions to clients is key advantages of the company.

Interior designer in the Metaverse

Stepping into the office located at Kowloon Bay, Eastern Kowloon in Hong Kong, a mini botanical garden has been set up at the base’s main entrance. Agave americana, more commonly known as Century Plant, and other various potted plants are growing under the care of the owner. The vibe of the working environment and its inspirations also come from the green belief.

PANGU, the visual design production company established as its affiliate of the Kenal Group, has hired over 20 staff and still rapidly expanding. Kenny Ng, Founder of PANGU by Kenal, established his team around eight months ago. Ng shared his experience with Blockchain.News, “just like other start-up companies, we are gradually expanding our scale, starting from building up our products with designers, then developing business and marketing teams at the following stage.”

Furthermore, the company plans to establish community management in the long term, PANGU’s Ng shared his ongoing business plans to Blockchain.News.

This company has connected with the Sandbox since last November in 2021 and was just appointed as the official TSB Metaverse agency in April, which is rare for HK-based startups in the global market. According to PANGU, the agency raised its capital independently followed by grants from Sandbox’s “game maker fund”, which aims at connecting with the next generation and the tendency of web 3.

These services support its business growth by providing a one-stop solution, including land purchase with development, offering marketing strategy, digital assets creation and branding collaboration for clients from online to offline.

Kenny Ng, Founder of PANGU said:

“As an agency of (the Sandbox), we wish we are able to provide complete solid service with own our resources, instead of outsourcing works to other parties, which is not practical. So, that would be our direction in practice.”

“Our partnership (between Sandbox and clients) is more like property developers, and we play our role as the builder and property management unit as a contractor, offering consultations for clients on how to develop their own lands and promote their branding through online and offline activities,” Chung added.

Projects such as Metagreen or clients from Standard Character are part of their key clients, these corporate firms have entered into the Metaverse through the Sandbox. In the project of Metagreen, PANGU said they are mainly responsible for purchasing land and its development, non-fungible token (NFT) creation, but also partnerships from online to offline, including partnerships with NFT gallery, NGOs and running other community channel management, such as Discord.

The founder told Blockchain.News that “in this early stage of the Metaverse, most clients are still discovering and exploring what they can do after investing in these virtual lands. Some clients prefer to shape a revolutionized image and identity in the virtual space, while some clients prefer to promote their branding traditionally,” adding that “we are working together with clients to find out a potential and possible (virtual) identity by helping them to build its ecosystem in this space.”

The Chief strategist suggests customized design and creative solutions for various clients would be one of the advantages for the company to remain competitive in the industry, as the company is not just serving local customers but serving globally.

P2E Development

Meanwhile, inspired by environmentally sustainable beliefs, the company also transformed itself into a game developer, trying to bring different scenarios to this virtual space.

Earlier this month, the game developer virtually launched an NFT drop project, connecting with a gamification-based metaverse space. Featuring ecology conservation and environmental sustainability, the company is introducing a gamification-based platform for players to explore another virtual world– Ecoland.

The Ecoland is a diversified ecosystem, featuring environmental and educational theme interaction for players, according to PANGU. The company said its assets creation is fully designed from scratch by itself. Their voxel characters are unique with high quality.

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Operating through the Play-to-Earn (P2E) model, the platform has associated with the Sandbox, players can earn SAND tokens or win some exclusive NFTs after completing several missions in the game in exchange for upgrading their equipment and tradings.

In addition, the gaming platform also wishes to escalate its landscape in the Metaverse, bringing more interactive ways in different scenarios, such as “Play to learn”, to deliver educational messages to players by completing some mini-games in the space. “We are also cooperating with several environmental NGOs, so we will donate serval amount to NGOs we cooperate with when customers buy specific NFTs from them. These objectives would help us fulfil social responsibility obligations,” Chung added.

Regarding crypto adoptions, PANGU said currently it would only use tokens for necessary transactions or trading among campaigns during the execution stage, such as paying gas fees during the minting of NFTs. “The company might use tokens in the future as the incentive for staff, encouraging them to stay tuned in the crypto space,” Ng added.

Previously, the company participated in the event the Artaverse, to increase its exposure to the industry.

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PANGU discloses the company is expanding regional and overseas markets during Q3 and Q4 this year. 

Promising Potential Value in the Metaverse

According to the latest research from McKinsey & Company, the study suggests the preliminary value of the Metaverse it creates in the space could grow up to $5 trillion by 2030.

E-commerce would be the largest driving force, which takes up to $2.6 trillion, followed by virtual learning ($270 billion), advertising ($206 billion) and gaming ($125 billion) sector.

Meanwhile, the blockchain-related application and scenarios on the Metaverse are still expanding.

Author of “Snow Crash”, Neal Stephenson, who created the term “the Metaverse” nearly 30 years ago, has recently announced a new project named LAMINA1, according to online media outlet Decrypt.

The project was described as a “free metaverse”, a blockchain-based network for building the open Metaverse. “We’re going to have all the facilities of a full layer one (blockchain) to help support and encourage the creators who want to build with us. That is my and Neal’s strategy—align everything around getting the best thing built and getting everybody all the tools they need to build what they want,” Vessenes explained.

Imagination of Virtual Land

The land issue in Hong Kong remains one of the most challenging issues in the city. With limited space and high demand, physical land has become one of the rarest resources for housing, real estate and other property developments.

Since the arrival of Metaverse and virtual lands in recent years, the bond and chemistry between these two topics have the caught attention of investors who wish to join the virtual space instead of trading physical land. More local entities or corporate firms in Hong Kong, as a result, foresee the potential benefit and investment opportunities in the Metaverse. However, these firms still need a builder’s help to construct the Metaverse infrastructure.

Apart from projects coordinated by PANGU, more local firms, such as Telcom operator PCCW and local railway operator MTR, also shared optimistic views by joining the Metaverse space, aiming at raising their awareness and exposure in the virtual space. Meanwhile, Yahoo and Meta, formerly named Facebook, have also announced to launch of a metaverse connection in the city in the hope that to reserve the old style and image of the city.

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Exploitation in the NFT World is Real But Are They Preventable?

To old investors in the digital currency ecosystem, exposure to various forms of scams, frauds, and exploitation will not come as something new, as they must have learned over time that the digital currency ecosystem is filled with such negative occurrences.

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New investors, particularly those who started with Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), may not understand the growing rate of exploitation bedevilling the ecosystem at the moment.

According to data from blockchain security firm, Slowmist, the first four months of 2022 saw as much as $52 million in losses in NFT-related hacks, a figure that surmounts the $7 million recorded throughout the whole of 2021. 

While the bulk of data available to firms like Slowmist is those featuring well-publicized NFT projects, it is undoubtedly true that many more NFT holders are experiencing personalized exploitations on a daily basis.

To many following big-name projects like Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), it will be recalled that the prestigious NFT brand has faced at least two different exploitations this year alone, the latest leading to the loss of over 200 ETH from Bored Ape owners. That the exploitation in the NFT world is growing is no longer debatable. CryptoMarketsBeat spoke with several industry veterans on the worrisome trend to know its root causes and possible ways investors can protect themselves.

NFTs Are an Attractive Ecosystem for Exploits to Thrive

Hackers and cybercriminals often follow anywhere there is money. While exploitation generally takes many forms, all of them are successful on the premise that there is a big financial catch. The emergence of NFTs came with the underlying goal of extending the utilities of Ethereum, and by extension, blockchain technology.

Nowadays, it is not uncommon to connect NFTs to massive financial valuation, and some projects like CryptoPunks, Bored Apes, and Moonbirds amongst others are reserved for investors or collectors with deep pockets

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In the image above, the CoinMarketCap aggregator, the top collections, and the floor-price column show projects like Bored Ape can only be snapped up by investors with more than 88.5 ETH (approximately $137,638.74 at the time of writing). Snapping up one Bored Ape through an exploit in any form will come off as a big payday for the exploiters.

“Many NFT projects emerged on the wave of hype when piles of money were injected into this industry,” said Dyma Budorin, CEO of Hacken, a cybersecurity and audit firm. Budorin surmised that the bulk of the attacks on blockchain and NFT protocols could be linked to the misguided desire to follow the money in space.

With money being a very good attraction in space, hackers have come to understand that they can easily exploit protocols because many do not pay due diligence to their security infrastructure.

“Most common hack scenarios involve social engineering and the usage of various scripts to steal private keys or other credentials to access the critical infrastructure point,” said Andrey Pelipenko, CTO of Roach Racing Club, “On top of that, hackers seek vulnerabilities in the smart contracts that accumulate funds, so using proprietary smart contract solutions that are not tested adequately, especially those coming from inexperienced developers, is a poor solution” which consistently predispose NFT projects to attacks.

What is Bad for the Goose is also Bad for the Gander

Suppose the big NFT projects are the Geese in this context and the Ganders’ smaller ones. Experts agree on the fact that all these projects are collectively victims of these scams.

“I bet you’ve seen news headlines about NFT hacks containing a name of a big project, such as OpenSea or Bored Ape Yacht Club, just because these projects are the most famous ones and accumulate the greatest volume of assets. Small projects and individual NFT creators and buyers also fall victim to hacks,” Budorin added.

A new perspective was brought into the discourse by Dr. Dmitry Mikhailov, CSO of Farcana Gaming Metaverse, who noted that attacks are necessarily not targeted at individual collectors or NFT projects alone. He said users of big marketplaces like OpenSea are also highly susceptible to various forms of cyber attacks.

While not referring to one particular platform, Dmitry believes “such marketplaces are often developed too fast to provide the proper level of cyber defence. Vulnerabilities are caused by insufficient attention to security issues: lack of two-factor authentication, lack of readiness for phishing, and DDoS attacks.”

As it is now obvious, irrespective of the form that projects take, they can easily be exploited if the appropriate safeguards are not put in place.

Curbing Growing NFT Exploitations

Despite the fact that the broader NFT world is still being unravelled, there are a number of ways that the experts we spoke to believe can be adopted to wade off the activities of cybercriminals across the board.

While the first of the major recommendations in accordance with Dmitry is to educate NFT investors on the major causes or reasons why they fall prey to attacks, Budorin advocates close “cooperation with trusted cybersecurity vendors,” a move that will enable projects “to undergo smart contract audits and consider running a public bug bounty program.”

These recommendations have been vetted by other experts and are generally known to prevent crucial hacks in the short history of the NFT ecosystem. In all, Pelipenko advocates that investors should always do their own due diligence before injecting funds into any project, no matter the hype.

“We always recommend Doing Your Own Research (DYOR) before taking any actions: it’s a must-do in the crypto space. It is important to understand that, unlike the non-fungibles from the GameFi sector, most NFTs are just collectables without any specific utility. NFTs are risky assets, yet, most people still tend to fall for hyped projects without doing any deep research first,” he said.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Along with the broader digital currency ecosystem, the NFT space has a lot of bright lights at the end of the tunnel as investors are becoming more vigilant, and developers are doing their due diligence to ensure protocols are as secure as possible before launch.

Aside from the bearish correction in the industry, Venture Capital firms are injecting liquidity into security protocols like CertiK to bootstrap the security outfits tasked with safeguarding the ecosystem of tomorrow.

From current trends, scams may persist, but the growing awareness will largely tame their spread in the near future.

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Bitcoin Investment in Pension Portfolio Diversifies Inflation Risk: First Digital Trust CEO

Blockchain.News recently had a conversation with Mr. Vincent Chok, the CEO of Hong Kong-based First Digital Trust, a technology-driven financial institution powering the digital asset industry, to help explore whether the cryptocurrency can be considered a viable addition to pension funds.

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Bitcoin as Game Changer against inflation for retirement

The global economic crisis is taking a toll on some of the major pension funds around the globe. They are either struggling to make payments for the monthly stipends, as agreed or having little funds to sustain a robust pay scheme.

Speaking to Mr. Chok in an exclusive interview, Chok told Blockchain.News that the issue of inflation has eroded the harvest of retired workers:

“In many countries, inflation is higher than what a pension will yield, where you’re earning 1-2%. It is better to invest in alternative assets in a diverse way, where you can buy property, Bitcoin, and access more. Pensions are long-term, and inflation hits hard-earned money, eating away at the value of money.”

Many users are tired of the traditional pension plans in many countries due to bureaucracy and many processes associated with accessing such funds. This has led to more agitation for a better alternative. Many employees are now looking to use cryptos like Bitcoin to save up for their retirement.

Pension funds in most countries are significantly underfunded, which has led many to attempt to make up the shortfall between plan assets and obligations through investments. This illustrates the potential adoption of digital assets if more pension funds continue to add exposure.

While this is a move from the status quo, many global pension funds appear not to be in a hurry to explore this option. 

Growing Interest in Alternative Finance

Yet, several pension funds are looking for a change in the exploratory stage. Interest in investing in Bitcoin is growing in the industry. Firms are working to make it more accessible, as studies indicate that small allocations into crypto can yield favourable results.

In a comprehensive survey of almost 800 institutional investors across Europe and the US, 36% of respondents said that they are currently invested in digital assets, while 6 out of 10 believe digital assets have a place in their investment portfolio. Bitcoin continues to be the preferred digital asset with more than 25% of respondents holding the cryptocurrency.

A significant number of pension firms are increasingly investing in cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin investment by Houston Pension Fund proved that cryptocurrency is not just appealing to individual investors. In October last year, the Houston Firefighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund (HFRRF) made a $25 million investment in Bitcoin and Ether, marking major news that a U.S. pension fund had put crypto directly on its balance sheet. Of course, $25 million was only a drop in the bucket compared to the $5.5 billion in total assets held by the fund – more precisely, representing just 0.5% of its portfolio.

The HFRRF was not the first U.S. pension fund to invest in crypto more broadly. In 2019, two Virginia Pension Funds – the Fairfax County Police Officers Retirement System (PORS) and Fairfax County Employees’ Retirement System (ERS) – invested $11 million and %10 million respectively in Bitcoin and further invested $50 million into the crypto in 2021.

The U.S. pension investment trend appears contagious as there is rising institutional demand from banks, hedge funds, private companies and even family offices in Europe and the rest of the world.

According to Chok, there is greater interest in and adoption of digital assets as a new investable asset class. The executive said there’s a lot of interest from companies to set up pension plans for employees, plus a lot of interest from banks to include digital assets and crypto into digital pensions.

Mr. Chok suggested that pension funds are often forgotten about but are an investment plan that everyone must have, usually by law. Governments force people to set up their pension accounts, put their money in, and then forget about it. Yields and returns of these investments aren’t lucrative.

“Bitcoin pension plans are for younger generations of people who can make tiny contributions that empower them to have far more diverse portfolios,” he said.

The Bitcoin retirement pensions not only help to provide education but also offer new opportunities than a mere 1-2% yield offered by government pension plans, Mr. Chok explained. 

“We see this having the biggest impact on younger generations, who will start to think about their future, their retirement, through the easy accessibility of wealth generation mechanisms,” Mr. Chok stated.

The Bitcoin pension plan gives more hope that younger generations can set themselves up for the future while enabling them to learn about diversifying portfolios and various wealth channels that are accessible and which young people can participate in, he elaborated.

“Pensions are a boring topic as people aren’t talking about this at dinner. But these new programs – The bitcoin pension plan – enable people to be more willing to learn and provide greater awareness of access to capital, and greater financial inclusion. We’re proud to be able to offer and educate people on new opportunities for wealth generation,” Mr. Chok told Blockchain.News.

Risks Involved

Yet, Mr. Chok acknowledged that such enormous achievements and benefits offered do come with shortcomings. For instance, since Bitcoin is speculative and highly volatile in its current state, some entities and individuals believe its long-term investment case is weak.

In March, the Department of Labor, raised serious concerns about the prudence of a fiduciary’s decision to expose a 401(k) plan’s participants to direct investments in cryptos. The department, which regulates 401(k) plans, cautioned retirement plan managers to be judicious when it comes to cryptocurrencies.

However, The Internal Revenue Code (Code) and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) do not explicitly prohibit the use of crypto as a 401(k)-investment option.

Mr. Chok told Blockchain.News that in July last year, BnkToTheFuture.com, the largest online investment community of professional investors investing in blockchain, fintech and Bitcoin companies, launched a retirement for investors seeking to incorporate crypto as part of their retirement portfolio and inheritance planning.

Despites its volatility, Bitcoin is also attracting attention from institutional investors. More large US pension funds are beginning to consider the unregulated asset as a potential asset class. The announcement by Fidelity Investments, the nation’s largest provider of 401(k) retirement plans, about launching Bitcoin as an investment option, raised significant curiosity among market participants.

The global Fidelity Investment is another major large retirement services platform that has started offering a Bitcoin 401(k) product. By this, the company is providing employees with a saving for retirement opportunity to add up to 20% of their pension balance to Bitcoin.

Despite the risks, at least one major employer – MicroStrategy business and software services company – has signed up to offer Fidelity’s new product to its employees.

In June last year, a small 401(k) provider called ForUsAll started allowing consumers to allocate up to 5% of their retirement funds into cryptocurrency.

Of course, the potential for significant wealth accumulation is the primary benefit of investing in cryptocurrency, plus there are other benefits.

Retirement plan sponsors are looking to provide the service based on customers’ demand. Offering cryptocurrency under a 401(k) plan would also relieve employees of the burden and headaches of holding and trading cryptos for themselves.

Empirical data shows that crypto components have the ability to significantly increase the yield of a pension fund portfolio, though such enhancement of yield comes at slightly higher risk levels.

According to Mr. Chok, “It’s not about putting 100% of your retirement fund into digital assets. It simply has a balanced portfolio. If you have 5% in crypto for example, a non-inflationary asset, and it appreciates over 30%, this will still have a huge impact on a portfolio without putting a dent on it if something were to happen to your chosen asset. So, the potential for upside is significant.”

“If you lost everything, it’s 5%. it won’t hurt your portfolio. You still have an account comparable to standardized government pensions.” 

The executive said that the increase in risk can be mitigated by adding an actively managed crypto-component to the portfolio rather than a passive investment product.

Crypto Retirement Portfolio Outlook

Bitcoin is certainly an alluring investment opportunity because of the potential to make substantial profits. Nothing explicitly prohibits plan fiduciaries from offering the crypto under a retirement plan.

Employees and retirees can invest in Bitcoin through their IRAs as there is no legal prohibition against doing so. However, such employees and retirees should evaluate the risks and obtain professional advice through their preferred trading platforms while making such investments.

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E-HKD’s Development in Hong Kong- The Future Way of Currency?

A study shows that 90% of surveyed central banks worldwide are exploring the future issuance of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Blockchain.News interviewed industry experts to find out the outlook of Hong Kong’s digital currency and its potential adoption.

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The outlook of e-HKD

In a recent discussion paper published by The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the local regulator reached out to the public to consult the development of retail central bank digital currency (rCBDC) or the digital Hong Kong Dollar (e-HKD). The discussion paper lists a wide range of issues and a dozen of key questions covering a wide range of issues:

  •  The potential benefits and challenges of e-HKD
  •  The balance between privacy and illicit activities prevention
  •  Interoperability with the existing payment system
  • Considerations in terms of legal, design and policy perspectives respectively
  • The level of participation by the private sectors. 

The role of e-HKD

The rCBDCs can be divided into two-tier distribution models: the wholesale interbank system and the retail user wallet system, according to the e-HKD technical whitepaper.

The wholesale CDBC is used for transfers between the central bank and commercial banks or other institutions, while the retail CDBC is used for transfers between commercial banks and the general public for retail transactions, Professor Chew Seen-Meng, Associate Professor of Practice in Finance and Associate Dean (External Engagement) of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) explained.

Regarding retail CBDCs, a doubt that could arise among the public could be why does the market still need another digital payment tool among other diverse options in HK?

Chew, the former economist for the Singapore office of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Morgan Stanley, acknowledged that “it is true that there is no urgent need for a digital HKD.”

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However, “having an e-HKD could make our lives even more convenient by eliminating the need to carry physical notes and coins around and enables virtually all payments to be made by just tapping the mobile phone” in the long term, Chew said.

Moreover, “the transmission mechanism of monetary policies from the HKMA can become more efficient through the e-HKD,” Chew added.

Furthermore, the scholar believes digital currency could provide a faster and more convenient way to transfer value by supporting more economic activities potentially if the digital currency is accepted as a medium of exchange by the public in the long term.

Currently, a plethora of payment platforms has already captured the market.

E-wallets with Peer-to-Peer (P2P) payment functions are becoming mainstream in Hong Kong.

In e-commerce alone, digital wallets are expected to account for 40 % of the city’s online transaction value by 2025, overtaking credit cards, according to the 2022 Global Payments Report by the US financial technology company FIS.

In an exclusive interview with Blockchain.News, Etelka Bogardi- Partner of Asia lead of Global Payments and Fintech Practice, Norton Rose Fulbright Hong Kong, told Blockchain.News that “one of the primary design considerations should be interoperability with existing systems.”

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Bogardi, a Hong Kong-based financial services regulatory lawyer and the former Senior Counsel to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, suggests the regulator should aware of the effect of the e-HKD on banks and any potential disintermediation effects, given Hong Kong’s status as an international financial centre and the large presence of the financial sector.

Meanwhile, Chew also shared a similar view and added that “the administration needs to fully ensure and secure before e-HKD is launched.”

“Unless e-HKD can address some pain points of the current e-Payment services or is much more convenient than the existing e-Payment options, it would be hard for e-HKD to be embraced by the public among the plethora of retail payment options in Hong Kong,” Etelka added.

Through the paper, the HKMA reiterates that “the purpose of developing e-HKD is not to replace existing payment methods” but to “avoid creating a closed-loop payment system, which impedes payments made between e-HKD users and users of other payment systems.”

The rCBDC is expected to provide connectivity among other payment service providers, for instance, cross-platform payments to be conducted efficiently.

Token-based or Account-based?

The balance between privacy protection and data access is another crucial consideration among systematic issues. The discussion paper mentioned that the key design feature of e-HKD to consider is whether it is issued token-based or account-based.

According to the paper, the token-based would allow more anonymity in payments between various parties, protecting against abuse of individual data by commercial entities. Still, it could be risky to facilitate illicit activities.

The account-based approach, on the other hand, would “require the recording of balances and transactions of rCBDC holders. This approach would rely on the ability to verify the identity of the account holder and could help comply with AML/CFT requirements.”

Both approaches require a ledger to complete transactions with distributed ledger technology (DLT) and tokenization, which could be structured to trace users depending on the degree of anonymity and access of information to parties.

However, Prof. Chew said that the traceability of digital currency from the regulator indicates that small retailers such as taxi drivers might be reluctant or not interested in changing their behaviours or habits of transactions due to taxation concerns.

“Since the e-HKD’s value will be controlled by the HKMA, it is already a kind of stablecoin. To the extent that the HKMA is able to maintain the stability of e-HKD’s value through algorithms or its forex reserves, the risk of the e-HKD plummeting in value should be quite small.”  

The regulator said the “full anonymity is not plausible,” e-HKD should comply with existing law and ordinances. Its legal mandate and legal tender status would logically align with the currency system.

“Overall, whilst there would need to be some work done to accommodate an e-HKD in the existing legislative framework of currency issuance and related issues, these are not insurmountable obstacles. Some of the more technical legal issues raised relate to the application of effective AML controls and data privacy laws. In that sense, the discussion around having a two-tier issuance and distribution structure is very beneficial,” Etelka explained.

Global adoption of CDBCs

Over the past two years, the global market was trapped by uncertainties amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amid the turmoil, the increasing demand for raising cross-border payments efficiency and the emergence of cryptocurrencies, such as stablecoins and other tokens, also gave rise to regulatory challenges, pushing global governments to update their currency policy in response.

According to the latest report published by the Bank of International Settlement (BIS), 90% of surveyed central banks worldwide are exploring the issuance of central bank digital currencies. The financial institution added that around two-thirds of central banks surveyed would take issuing retail CBDC into account in the near future.

The Bahamas became the first sovereign nation to issue CBDC since 2020, called the “Sand Dollar”, as the pioneer in adopting a new form of currency, driven by its geographical and the cost of delivering currency on its land.

“In countries with a weak currency or underdeveloped financial system, and a large unbanked population, the CBDC is more useful and can be more easily adopted by its citizens,” Chew explained.

Yet, the SAND Dollar’s potential benefits did not live up to its expectation.

A report from the IMF indicates that the island nation’s adoption of the SAND Dollar is merely less than 0.1% of the currency in circulation.

The issue of financial inclusion continuously troubles this Caribbean nation. World Bank defines financial inclusion as the access of individuals and businesses to valuable and affordable financial products and services for their financial that need to be delivered responsibly and sustainably. The Bahamas is also desperately to improve its cybersecurity for its digital currency.

Bogardi believes Hong Kong’s market enjoys a unique position with a well-developed retail payment landscape:

“Issues of financial inclusion are perhaps not as relevant as other jurisdictions who have chosen to press ahead with CBDCs (e.g. Bahamian Sand dollar).   As a result, it is correct that the focus of the HKMA’s exploration of the e-HKD is as a conduit to fuel digital innovation in Hong Kong, and to help position it for potential challenges from new forms of payment means such as stablecoins.”

Regionally, China has been conducting a wide range of digital Yuan (e-CNY) pilot tests since 2020, developed by the People’s Bank of China (PBoC).

The administration rolled out a massive pilot test during its Beijing Winter Olympic Games and currently, the e-CNY app is one of the most downloaded apps in the country. The app has recorded over 83 million downloads through iOS and Android systems so far.

“In China, electronic payments have been dominated by Alipay and WeChat Pay for several years now. The central government is keen to introduce the e-CNY to maintain control of the monetary system before private firms like Alibaba and Tencent become too influential in the country’s payment system. Since it is a large country, it has to do many pilot tests in numerous cities so that citizens can familiarize themselves with the e-CNY before it is officially launched, and this of course will take some time, “Chew said.

On the other hand, experts suggest geopolitical factors, such as war, might also accelerate the progress of CBDC issuance.

While the objective of introducing the CBDC among other countries or regions could be different, the HKMA has disclosed that “it is inclined towards the Coins-approach under which e-HKD would be solely issued by one single authority” in the long term.

By adding that, looking for tasking agent banks to handle all customer-facing activities relating to the distribution of e-HKD.

“If the technology is ready, the HKMA can consider doing some pilot tests in several stages to let Hong Kongers try out the e-HKD on their mobile phones so that they can familiarize themselves with it and learn about its usefulness,” said Prof. Chew.

The HKMA has reiterated that it has not yet decided on introducing the e-HKD.

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Crypto Expert Explains the Fear and Excitement in CAR of Accepting Bitcoin as Legal Tender

The booming of the crypto coins like Bitcoin in different regions and nations is unstoppable. This has recently been observed in the case of the Central African Republic (CAR). Of course, one of the major questions that have remained unanswered is whether Bitcoin adoption can work in such a developing country.

CAR betting on Bitcoin

The CAR overtook regional cryptocurrency front-runners like Nigeria and Kenya to become the continent’s first country to officially adopt Bitcoin as legal tender.

The Central African Republic has become the second nation in the world to adopt Bitcoin as its official currency after El Salvador took the same approach last year.

Late last month, lawmakers in the CAR’s parliament voted unanimously and passed a bill legalizing Bitcoin and other crypto assets, according to a statement from the presidency.

As a result, Bitcoin will be considered legal tender alongside the regional Central Africa’s fiat currency, CFA franc.

Blockchain.News invites Marie Tatibouet, the Chief Marketing Officer, at Gate.io cryptocurrency exchange, to help us explore whether Bitcoin can work in the Central African Republic as a legal tender and to propose a way how the cryptocurrency can be adopted in the region.

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Tatibouet has lived and worked in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Before joining Gate.io, she was the CEO of a Digital Marketing Agency in Hong Kong, working with clients in the blockchain technology sector. That puts her at the forefront of the industry, which poses a challenge to traditional currency.

Tatibouet acknowledged that the decision by the CAR parliament to unanimously pass a law in favour of the adoption of Bitcoin was driven by the need to solve currency and exchange rate challenges.

The executive told Blockchain.News:

“The main thing that CAR wants to solve by legalizing Bitcoin is attracting foreign capital. However, CAR has rich natural resources and ranks low in human prosperity. Therefore, attracting foreign capital could enable exponential infrastructure growth.”

Dependence on the US dollar across developing nations leaves them “vulnerable” to currency fluctuations.

CAR’s adoption of the most popular crypto was likely a result of wanting to try something different to try and address long-standing fiscal challenges.

The government suggested that adopting Bitcoin as a legal tender would spur CAR’s economic recovery and growth, while also helping stabilize the nation, which has been wracked by a decade-long civil war. The country, which is landlocked in the heart of Africa, has been gripped by violence and political instability for years.

Challenges facing the crypto program

Although the move to consider Bitcoin legal tender has been praised by the crypto community and was welcomed as another step toward mainstream adoption of cryptos. Tatibouet was worried about Bitcoin’s adoption in the CAR, disclosing that the decision by CAR to adopt Bitcoin has been viewed as controversial, which will make implementation quite difficult.

The decision made by the administration has also drawn criticisms from opposition parties. The regional central bank, which manages a common currency used by six countries, including the Central African Republic, also said that decision was made without consulting the financial regulator.

CAR is among about six central African nations—Cameroon, Chad, Republic of Congo, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea—that use the Central African CFA franc unit of exchange, “a regional currency backed by France,”

While the CAR government regards Bitcoin adoption as a way to bootstrap payments in the country, it is not clear how. Tatibouet explained:

“At this point, it isn’t easy to understand how Bitcoin and crypto will affect the common people in the short term. You need the internet to interact with crypto, yet just 4% of the population has access to the web. It is difficult to understand how BTC could gain widespread public usage without deeper internet penetration.”

Internet coverage in the CAR is merely 11%. The country has a low life expectancy and extreme poverty, with just 557,000 of its 4.8 million people having access to the Internet.

The way forward

So far, the Central African Republic has provided few details on how it plans to address these challenges. While the government said that the move made CAR one of the world’s “most visionary countries”, residents in the capital Bangui, where most are familiar with mobile money to buy goods and pay bills, were baffled with the idea of adopting Bitcoin as legal tender, making the cryptocurrency an accepted means of exchange for goods and services.

“The issue here is to understand the main purpose behind CAR making BTC legal tender. At no point did they say words like ‘banking their unbanked masses’ or anything like that. Instead, their main purpose is to achieve global economic inclusion. So, what that tells me is that general public usage may not be their immediate goal,” Tatibouet explained.

The government approved the decision without proper consultation with major stakeholders. This not only implies the breakdown of the rule of law, but also will eventually provoke that the social, economic, and environmental costs and potential unrest that must be assumed by the entire society as a whole.

Tatibouet further stated that “now it remains to be seen whether CAR will be able to attract crypto entrepreneurs or not.”

Since the country has already witnessed some of its mistakes as well as challenges it faces, it may be willing to learn and take appropriate measures.

Tatibouet believes that if CAR can implement its Bitcoin program well, then it will attract some of its neighbours (Countries like Cameroon, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of Congo, which all face the same financial situation) in the long term to see the cryptocurrency as the future of finance and a provider of great freedom. 

Image source: Marie Tatibouet

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Radio Caca’s Vitaliy Tyan on the “truest” DAOs, NFTs, Metaverse, and Web 3.0 Reshaping Reality

Mike Ermolaev, Head of PR at ChangeNOW, conducted an exclusive interview with Vitaliy Tyan, the Head of Marketing at Radio Caca (RACA), a pioneer in the metaverse arena. He learned what drives giant DAOs like RACA to succeed, what the future of education will look like in the Metaverse, and how the organization plans to expand. They also discussed NFT interoperability and escapism in the Metaverse.

Radio Caca is a decentralized organization (DAO) run by internet-savvy individuals from around the globe who share a vision of building a brave new virtual world. It exclusively manages Maye Musk Mystery Box (MPB) NFT. Radio Caca has its own native RACA token for blockchain-based blockbuster game Metamon Island and for United States of Mars Metaverse (USM), one of the largest Metaverses on the BNB Chain. 

 

(Mike Ermolaev) – Can you describe how it feels like working in a DAO company in contrast to companies with a traditional corporate governance model? Are DAOs more or less flexible than traditional structures? 

 

(Vitaliy Tyan) – Great question. In my opinion, there are multiple factors that are involved in running a successful DAO company.

 

Factor #1: a community that is loyal, organic, and passionate about the vision. The origin story of the project matters because it shows the transparency, fairness, and integrity of the project. You can’t have a true DAO if any community members feel like second-rate citizens.  Radio Caca is one of the “purest” and “truest” DAOs because we are a fair-launch token. That means we did not pre-sell RACA tokens to anyone. Everyone, including the dev team, chose to get RACA at a market price just like everyone else. Everyone feels like a true member of the community and is devoted to it wholeheartedly. There is a unified vision and belief that RACA will continue to lead the world into the age of Web 3.0. 

 

Factor #2: a development team that delivers on its promises. Our dev team continuously develops our products and services. Our NFT marketplace, Metamon P2E, and Metaverse are on a world-class level. Because there is no question that our development team is exceptional, people can easily and confidently imagine that we will continue to accomplish more and more. This shows the community that not only is there passion but that there is real work being done. 

 

Factor #3: Leadership. Passionate Community + Development = Infinite Potential. Leadership must be laser-focused on continuously growing the community and adjusting development efforts to better serve the community. People are smart; they can clearly see if you walk the talk.

 

Factor #4: Transparency & Adaptability. Be transparent about successes and what is being worked on, or if there are any modifications. Continuously adapt. Be ready to make strategic pivots. Never fall prey to sunk cost fallacy. We are building a new world here, it’s always about doing what’s right for the community and not about having your personal opinions validated. 

 

Factor #5: Always Think Bigger. Some people make the wave, some people join the wave, and some people are not even aware that there is a wave. Make the wave or join the wave and make it bigger. Thinking small takes no courage. 

 

– Aside from the fantastic partnership with French Montana, whose huge following will now turn its attention to Radio Caca’s ecosystem, do you have any other major partnerships on the horizon? Are there any particular spheres where you see the greatest potential for future collaborations and partnerships?

 

– Anyone who has researched us and seen what we’ve done from the beginning and continue to do definitely knows that the Radio Caca ecosystem will continue to increase the number of its allies and partners. We will continue to bring in and onboard more and more people into our ecosystem. We will continue to create innovative offerings. 

 

So many top universities have partnered with us, we are planting very important seeds across top education institutions that will get the best and the brightest to build incredible things in our Metaverse. What we are doing with French Montana is unlike anything that’s out there – the drop will be the first of its kind. This is going to cause a cascade of positive changes in the music industry, too. 

 

We’ve recently been selected for Tachyon ConsenSys Mesh Accelerator as well. We are getting more and more people learning and joining our team in various roles. There is always more to share, so for those who want to stay in the know, I highly recommend following our socials and reading our medium. It will give a good idea of what we are working on, and you will see our track record. 

  

NFTs lend themselves well to interoperability, so the technology’s advocates support the idea that items purchased in one virtual world should also be available in other virtual worlds. Why hasn’t this been implemented yet? What is the root cause of the problem? Is it the fact that original assets cannot be transferred, or economic self-interest on the part of developers?

 

– Right now the focus of most projects out there is primarily to build their community and differentiate themselves from others. They are experiencing competition and they want to cut through the noise. It’s understandable. Many projects out there don’t have a large development team or an established community that can organically make their products be in high demand. They have to focus on themselves right now. Right now, it is quite rare for a project to think out of their own box and look at a larger picture. Or, in most cases, many teams do have amazing ideas but don’t have the experience, resources, and community to execute them successfully. 

 

One of the reasons we launched OpenPFP.com in late March of this year (2022) is to work with other NFT communities and creators and have their NFTs integrate with our ecosystem (marketplace, metaverse, metamon, etc.). Since we already have a thriving ecosystem, a very large community, and multiple strong partnerships, we now want to do something that very few projects can execute and deliver. We understand that the next step for the Web 3.0 community is achieved by empowering and serving each other (e.g. NFT Communities) with our products and services. This is an important component of our Metaverse vision. We want top NFT communities to know that in our Metaverse, they can have a place to gather, network, and trade, and take pride in who they are. We believe every NFT community should maintain their individuality & spirit – our ecosystem is to make their existing experience more special, more fun, more Metaverse. This is the spirit of Web 3.0 – convergence & collaboration done the right way – all to better user experience and to shape the future in a way we can be truly proud of. 

 

– Is a future where players can freely move their assets from one game world to another really possible?

 

– People should be able to move their assets anywhere they want. However, for people to move their assets from one place to another needs to make sense. Your NFTs should have the most support/features/perks in the ecosystem that created them. But most projects only specialize in the creation of NFTs, not continuously developing for and around them. 

 

The best NFTs don’t just enhance your game experiences, they are also digital assets that should gain more benefits over time (beyond simple appreciation). That’s why you want to make sure that your NFTs have both the development and the community to go along with it. If your existing NFTs are not being supported by the original dev team, your next best bet is to find an ecosystem that can welcome and work with you to integrate them so your community has a place to call “home”.

 

– Cambridge University and Princeton University are two of the top world’s universities that have partnered with Radio Caca to build a metaverse for students. Is this an affordable alternative to a high-priced higher education system and one that could solve the global education crisis?

 

Technology evolved much faster than our education systems. There is a need for a more engaging and immersive learning environment where students can further their creativity and collaboration. Instead of competing with existing institutions, we should work with them and combine the best of both worlds. By directly working with top universities and getting their student bodies engaged in Web 3.0/Metaverse/NFT as early as possible we are facilitating a true exchange of ideas among people who have both the optimism, time, and energy to educate, onboard, and lead a new generation into this new age. We, at Radio Caca, believe that if we continue to empower universities and students and give them all the tools to develop in our Metaverse, they will build and continually support their Metaverse presence in the ways that serve them most effectively. 

 

– In one of the previous interviews dedicated to the metaverse, I had a question about escapism. In your opinion, is it going to be one of the global problems of the metaverses? What other human-related problems of virtual worlds can you see? 

 

– In their own way, every person seeks fulfillment in life. And every person also faces challenges and setbacks. Technology is a tool, and learning how to properly use and relate to it properly will further evolve our society. Any potential human-related problems that may arise I see as challenges that society will evolve through together. The reason we are where we are now is that humanity continues to evolve and adapt. No one can stop our drive for expansion and higher fulfillment. 

 

What is the difference between a real hobby and escapism? You engage in a hobby because it brings you happiness in some form or way. You engage in escapism because you need to take a psychological/mental/physical break from something. There is value in both.

 

Metaverse can be a place where you can create, succeed, win, enjoy, collaborate, experience new things and experience old things in a new way, learn, make new friends, and re-meet your old friends. That is beautiful, right? It’s empowering. Just like in real life, your options here are limitless.

 

And if some experiences in the Metaverse allow you to take a break from your challenges in life, then people should take as much time as they need to heal and re-energize themselves. Just like in real life, we need people who are there for us – to celebrate victories with and to support us during adversities. It is up to us to be good humans to others in the real world and in the Metaverse. And as both worlds will converge more and more, the responsibility of the human stays constant – be a good neighbor to your community and continue to try your best. 

 

Is there any truth to the phrase that we’ll soon all live in the metaverse? If so, how is it going to affect our mental health? Will the world turn to the Hikikamori lifestyle or do you believe that movers will still move and pushers will still push in the physical world?

 

– We already live in somewhat of a Metaverse, we just go to different apps and sites to curate our digital experiences. Because they are all separate from each other, you don’t get the feeling of immersion and it is also more difficult to develop and participate in the community. This is why people experience loneliness and separation from society. The amount of time we spend on our phones and laptops will be replaced by Metaverse. The metaverse is going to be a part of our lives because it is an evolution of the internet, social platforms, and economies. Like any breakthrough technology, it will affect the way people live their lives on a daily basis. It will empower our experiences but it will also streamline some experiences thus increasing the overall productivity and efficiency of our society. When higher levels of efficiency are reached, even more room for innovation and creativity will be created. 

 

Metaverse is the next evolution of your digital life and a sense of community and shared experiences is what makes it truly special. Some people will be fully fulfilled by the Metaverse and naturally, they will spend more time in it. Some people will only be partially fulfilled by it and they will go to the real world for the remaining needs. That is what we actually do already. 

 

Free will, freedom of choice, and creative collaboration are what make humans the most evolved species. All technology and companies will evolve to serve us better. And those that do not, will not last. Within all of us, we have a sense of what is right and wrong. Every person should strive to do what is right. “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

 

Mike Ermolaev, the Head of Public Relations at ChangeNOW.io, conducts an expert interview series with different notable people in crypto to provide both crypto beginners and veterans with an inside perspective on the crypto market. This interview was originally published on Benzinga and ChangeNOW’s blog.

Image source: changenow.io/blog

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HolyShxxt!’s NFT and Future GameFi plans Shows HK’s Potential

Hong Kong-based non-fungible token (NFT) and blockchain developer HolyShxxt! recently released its NFTs. Their plan to launch a strategic football management simulation, GamfeFi, shows the potential of GameFi’s growth in the city and globally.

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HolyShxxt! launched a set of generative art collectables that includes 8,888 unique soccer players’ NFTs that are created by a combination of 15 traits and over 480 attributes in addition to special functional features.

Although GameFi is still at an infant stage globally and their popularity is yet to rise, HolyShxxt! told Blockchain.News that “there is going to be a growth in the number of audiences entering GameFi.”

“When people get to learn more about NFTs, they will seek more utilities; gaming is always the first in mind. The competition will be fierce in the future of GameFi when more big players from Hong Kong are tapping in the market.”

The rise in the value of crypto-based assets known as NFTs has been the critical factor for developing GamFi in recent years. Both NFTs and GameFi fall under the decentralized finance (DeFi) model of business, where token-based transactions take place on blockchains.

While NFTs are non-interchangeable units of data stored on a blockchain – a form of the digital ledger – which can represent works of arts in various digital forms such as photos, videos and even music; on the other hand, GameFi refers to decentralized applications (“dapps”) with economic incentives.

One of the most appealing factors that differentiate a regular free-to-play game and GameFi is the ownership of assets that can be traded, lent or rented out.

Speaking to Blockchain.News, Hong Kong’s leading blockchain game developer and investor Animoca Brand’s group president Evan Auyang, shared his outlook towards how this game-chaining industry might imply to 

“In a regular free-to-play game or console game, the skin that you have and all the upgrades that you have, the money spent in those games, they are not owned by you. But with respect to what we do is that we’re trying to enable true digital asset ownership through the blockchain. And what happens is that your engagement level or gamers’ engagement level becomes completely different,”

GameFi VS E-sports?

While in terms of differences with E-sports, HolyShxxt! explained that “E-sport is about excitement and fun, giving those who are good at the game to compete with each other on a big stage. While GameFi emphasizes tokenomics, revenue sharing to maintain the ecosystem. You do not have to be the best in the game to join.”

Besides ownership, the fundamentals of the GameFi is experience and monetization or play-to-earn-based feature.

According to Bloomberg, the play-to-earn approach in GameFi generally involve tokens granted as rewards for performing game-related tasks such as winning battles, mining precious resources or growing digital crops.

In GameFi, tokens are crafted to work as full-fledged cryptocurrencies which can be converted into cash on a number of decentralized exchanges, but similar to the volatility of cryptocurrencies, they are not pegged to a traditional currency.

Although tokens have always been prevalent in gaming, the earlier versions could not be easily or legally sold outside of games or converted into cash. 

HolyShxxt! said, in terms of attracting people into exploring GameFi:

“We believe that blockchain can bring players unprecedented gaming experience, and blockchain also enables monetization for play to earn. One of our missions is to share profits from popular games with our game players in return for their continuous in-game efforts and support. Active participants will be rewarded.”

Details governing ways to generate income via GameFi can differ. Initially, players typically put in an allocated amount of money to buy game characters or NFTs and later get paid in tokens for winning battles and completing quests.

HolyShxxt! ’s community-based GameFi model slightly differs from other traditional models. Here, NFT holders can join the play-to-earn football management simulation game “so that all community members can collaborate and co-create their dream team” and winners will earn “Key0Coin”, tokens for subsequent rare NFT and special merchandise transactions in the future.

“The more players play the game, the more Key0Coin they may potentially get. The earned Key0Coin can be converted into new NFT and special merchandise that can only be bought with game tokens. The project aims to redefine the value of NFT instead of its revenue,” HolyShxxt! told Blockchain.News.

The company also stated that their NFTs are artwork, not a mining tool with a stable 1:1 game token issue mechanism to prevent crypto scams.

According to Bloomberg, GameFi games can be extremely rewarding. Earning tokens in a game that grows in popularity can rise in value: in 2021, the price of AXS tokens from the popular GameFi game Axie Infinity went from 54 cents to $94, which implies that it could also be a form of currency speculation, it reported.

Although the major selling point of GameFi has been the accessibility for players to earn money and own assets, many proponents see it as a way for them to gain independence from traditional game makers. According to Bloomberg, GameFi products are governed by their communities of users who decide on things like new updates and fees.

HolyShxxt! said that for their football simulation GameFi “all major proposals of the project development will be made by ballot within the community.”

Bright future towards GameFi?

Venture capitalists have poured $4 billion last year alone into GameFi companies and according to DappRadar, the number of blockchain games grew to more than 544 active dapps by the end of 2021, up from about 200 the year before.

Among the many success stories, Hong Kong-based Animoca Brands – a blockchain game developer and investor in NFTs – reached a valuation of $2.2 billion after pulling in fresh capital from investors, including France’s Ubisoft Entertainment and Sequoia China, in October 2021. 

Following which the company said it plans to use the capital to fund strategic investments, acquisitions, product development and licenses for intellectual properties.

The company is popularly known for its play-to-earn blockchain games that allow players to collect and trade NFTs on its platforms. Among Animoca’s most popular titles is The Sandbox, which is similar to the world-building video game Minecraft. In The Sandbox, players can create and monetize in-game assets such as lands, wearables, and equipment. 

As GameFi seems to gain value and popularity with new blockchain-based features slowly, many hardcore gamers have turned sceptical and begun to argue that game makers will exploit these features to milk them for money. These resentments among gamers have developed over the years as game makers have found various ways to profit from users by making them pay to upgrade characters or enhance their level of play inside the games, according to The New York Times.

Meanwhile, general sceptics believe cryptocurrencies and NFTs to be digital Ponzi schemes whose prices have been inflated beyond their true value. Also, questions regarding the long-term utility of the blockchain and cryptocurrencies have remained unanswered.

In recent months, many game studios have revealed plans to add NFTs to their games which could also potentially be transferred among games in the future, meaning an interconnection of game franchises that could affect gameplay. Many players have said that these moves seem to be a way for game publishers to upgrade or update gaming experiences but are actually blatant ways to grab cash.

Besides all the praises and criticism, the overall crypto developments at this point are still young, and much remains to be unravelled. Still, the major factor that could change the future outlook is regulation.

Image source: HolyShxxt!

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