Shortly after Meta, formerly Facebook, officially gave up on its stablecoin Diem, some of the key people in the project have become increasingly vocal about the uncensorable nature of Bitcoin (BTC).
David Marcus, a co-founder of Diem, originally known as Libra, took to Twitter on Tuesday to predict that Bitcoin will be the number one asset in the next two decades.
It’s become clear to me that #Bitcoin will be the one asset and L1 still around in 20+ years with increased compounding relevance over time. The #2 slot (for a different use case) is still tbd. #Ethereum is in the lead for now, but #Solana and others nipping at their heels. 1/2
— David Marcus – dmarcus.eth (@davidmarcus) February 1, 2022
“It’s become clear to me that Bitcoin will be the one asset and L1 still around in 20+ years with increased compounding relevance over time,” Marcus wrote, adding that BTC is “truly leaderless” and “censorship resistant.”
“In essence, it’s unique and cannot ever be replicated,” he added.
Marcus also went on to say that the second-biggest cryptocurrency is yet “to be determined” and will be related to a different use case. He suggested that Ether (ETH) is “in the lead for now,” but other cryptocurrencies like Solana (SOL) are “nipping at their heels.”
Marcus is former head of Meta’s cryptocurrency and fintech unit Novi, stepping down from his position in late 2021. He co-founded the Diem stablecoin with Morgan Beller and Kevin Weil.
Despite his hard work on Meta’s stablecoin, Marcus has been a known fan of Bitcoin. According to some industry observers, Marcus is considered “one of the first top Silicon Valley executives to adopt and support Bitcoin.” In 2019, Marcus said that he was a “big fan of Bitcoin,” calling it “digital gold.”
Does the creator of Libra own Bitcoin? “I’m a big fan of bitcoin and what I see as digital gold,” says @DavidMarcus on #btc pic.twitter.com/Zbkfw1elHy
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) October 16, 2019
Marcus is not the only Facebook exec who is a fan of Bitcoin. Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg hinted at being a Bitcoin bull in May 2021 by calling his pet goats Max and Bitcoin.
Related:Meta joins patent alliance, pledges free crypto patents for all
Marcus’ latest remarks came shortly after Meta announced the closure of its digital currency project Diem after initiating the stablecoin project in 2019.
Some prominent Bitcoin bulls like Twitter founder Jack Dorsey subsequently argued that Diem was a waste of time and effort, stressing that the tech giant should have focused on Bitcoin instead.
NFTs, or nonfungible tokens, have created a wealth of opportunities over the last year. Data from market tracker DappRadar found that NFT sales reached $25 billion in 2021. Artwork NFTs in particular have seen impressive growth. Financial services firm FinancePR recently determined that 257 artists generated at least $1 million in the past 30 days from selling NFT artwork. It’s also notable that NFT transactions have continued to increase, despite recent slumps in the crypto market.
Yet with so much revenue being generated over a short period of time, some may be wondering how NFT creators are applying these new streams of income. While this is a tough question to answer, industry experts believe that NFT philanthropy is becoming a major trend as sales from nonfungible tokens increase.
Alex Wilson, co-founder of The Giving Block — a nonprofit crypto fundraising platform — told Cointelegraph that the rise of NFT philanthropy has mirrored general growth across the NFT sector. Wilson said that NFT philanthropy started taking off about six months ago, noting that The Giving Block has already seen over $12 million in cryptocurrency, or 30% of its donation volume, come from NFT-giving initiatives:
“In most cases, creators are selling their NFTs and then have a portion (or all) of the proceeds donated to their favorite crypto-friendly charity. Since most NFTs are sold for ETH, many of the NFT-related donations have also come in the form of Ethereum.”
Given the amount of interest in NFT philanthropy recently, Wilson stated that The Giving Block is currently working with a number of major NFT platforms to make crypto donations easier by integrating the concept into their core product. “For example, we are working with NFT platforms to ensure that when someone is setting up an auction, they can select a charity from a dropdown and then have the proceeds automatically sent there,” he said.
In addition to initiatives from The Giving Block, Graph Blockchain, a decentralized finance and altcoin company, announced on Jan. 24 that the company has entered a share exchange agreement with Niftable, a charity-focused NFT company. This agreement would essentially allow Graph Blockchain to own Niftable after the acquisition is closed.
Paul Haber, CEO of Graph Blockchain, told Cointelegraph that focusing expertise on NFTs in the charity space offers a number of benefits. He added that most charities today rely on volunteers and lack expertise in the emerging NFT world.
Betting big on NFT philanthropy
While emerging solutions from The Giving Block and Graph Blockchain could be game-changers for NFT philanthropy, artists and organizations have also begun using their own resources to ensure proceeds earned from NFT sales go to good causes. Many of these initiatives are focused on helping children.
For example, Sheqonomi is a project that uses NFTs to give back to children in need, particularly girls in developing countries. Anu Bhardwaj, founder of Sheqonomi, told Cointelegraph that the rewards-based podcast is designed specifically for low-income populations who don’t have access to streaming media services, like Spotify:
“This podcast was designed for people to listen, learn and earn, especially during COVID-19. We built Sheqonomi on KaiOS, which is a $10 mobile phone that has a partnership with the Indian telecommunication company Reliance Jio. This will incentivize 150 million JioPhone users to listen, learn and earn digital assets and rewards in the very near future.”
Bhardwaj further explained that users listening to the app have the ability to earn reward tokens as an incentive for providing the platform with user-generated data. Listeners are then able to hold these tokens in their virtual wallets or spend them on the NFT artwork soon to be featured on Sheqonomi’s platform. Bhardwaj said:
“On March 8, 2022, which is International Women’s Day, we will have an NFT gallery where people can purchase artwork NFTs with their tokens. Proceeds from each sale will be donated to participating charities on our platform. For instance, a minimum of 25% of NFT sales will be given to The State of Women Institute, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization championing the stories and issues faced by young women and girls.”
According to Bhardwaj, Sheqonomi uses NFTs for philanthropy since these digital assets represent the voices of women and girls everywhere. “The main thing we want to spotlight is divine feminism in all forms. For instance, one of the NFTs that will be featured in our gallery was created by an eight-year-old girl who wanted to have 50% of proceeds donated to refugees.”
NFT created by eight-year-old Isla Mostaque. Source: Sheqonomi
Moreover, Bhardwaj noted that giving back using NFTs allows Sheqonomi the ability to continually add charities to its platform while letting users understand where exactly those funds are going thanks to the transparency provided by blockchain technology.
This concept also resonated with UNICEF, or the United Nations Children’s Fund. In order to commemorate UNICEF’s 75th anniversary, the agency launched 1,000 NFTs to support digital connectivity among schools in underserved communities. UNICEF partnered with data visualization scientist and artist Nadieh Bremer to create the collection “Patchwork Kingdoms.”
NFT from the “Patchwork Kingdoms.” Source: UNICEF
Chris Fabian, co-founder and lead at Giga — UNICEF’s global school internet connectivity initiative — told Cointelegraph that all of the proceeds from UNICEF’s NFT sale went back to support Giga:
“The entire sale generated 235 ETH worth of revenue. Through the minting of the NFTs alone, we raised 175 ETH. We then had an in-person auction for one unique piece that sold for 40.9 ETH. Finally, royalties from OpenSea allowed us to receive 20% back from secondary sales, where we’ve generated 20 ETH. In total, we’ve raised 235 ETH, all of which was given back to UNICEF.”
To date, Fabian explained that Giga has connected over 3,000 schools to the internet, benefitting over 700,000 children, and mapped over 1 million more to help target investment in connectivity.
He explained that using NFT proceeds has allowed Giga to bring in a new community of donors seeking social good opportunities through cryptocurrency. Moreover, Fabian mentioned that the utility behind UNICEF’s NFTs allows donors the ability to continue giving back to underserved communities. “We have flipped the way of looking at NFT utility, which is refreshing,” he said.
In another example of NFT artwork being used for charity, American entertainment company iNDIEFLIX recently released a documentary entitled Angst, which features a series of film NFTs focused on raising awareness for children’s mental health.
The film will stream until Jan. 31, 2022, on a blockchain network created by digital content management firm Eluvio.
Scilla Andreen, producer of Angst and chief operating officer iNDIEFLIX, told Cointelegraph that the production company wanted to use film NFTs to create a marketplace for creatives to directly connect with the film’s audience. “We wanted to use a story to build community. COVID hit everyone hard, so we pivoted by doing a hybrid approach to deliver content through different models, NFTs being one of those,” said Andreen.
Andreen explained that viewers can easily claim a free NFT by creating an Eluvio digital wallet from the film’s event page. There are three community NFTs featured, each containing a supply of 10,000 unique nonfungible tokens with a specific theme related to the film:
“The NFTs are meant to symbolize three stages of anxiety: revelation (to normalize and address our most common fears), action (tips and tricks to help children hack their brain to create calm), and change. A special thank you NFT will also be airdropped to the community following the event. Each NFT is linked with metadata that contains video clips from Angst.”
Angst “Change” NFT. Source: iNDIEFLIX
While the NFTs from the film are given to viewers for free, Andreen shared that a “special film” NFT will be available for purchase. She said that 50% of the proceeds from this sale will be given to the organizations Jack.org and Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation, both of which focus on children’s mental health.
Michelle Munson, co-founder and chief operating officer of Eluvio, told Cointelegraph that her firm has spent years working on incorporating blockchain technology with digital media content. For instance, in August of last year, Fox Corporation made a strategic investment in Eluvio to help develop Fox’s NFT business model. Munson explained that NFTs have opened a mechanism for value and engagement to occur through film content:
“NFTs are a new form of digital identity that can help reach youth. The backstory, though, is that NFTs can also be very profitable. NFTs can be viewed as a way to eventually provide a new type of equity finance, working as blockchain equity through NFTs. This is a huge area that our company believes will accelerate fast. Many projects are using NFTs to engage with an audience while funding their own work and charitable initiatives.”
Challenges could hamper adoption
While NFTs for charity are certainly a growing sector, challenges remain that could hamper adoption. For instance, as NFT sales gain traction, a number of scams have plagued the space. Therefore, it’s important for both donors and organizations to carefully consider each nonprofit accepting NFT donations.
For instance, Wilson mentioned that The Giving Block has vetted every nonprofit the organization works with, noting that these are all registered charities. In terms of ensuring that donations actually go to the intended recipients, Wilson added that The Giving Block is automating its distribution or payout models. “For example, on some platforms like Foundation, you can set a payout address so that a portion (or all) of the proceeds are automatically sent.”
Technical challenges aside, Munson pointed out that she believes the biggest challenge surrounding NFT philanthropy is awareness. “We need to educate the world on the possibilities. There is a real need to keep amplifying what is possible with NFTs.”
Even with the present challenges, NFT philanthropy is poised to be an ongoing trend. Alex Salnikov, co-founder and head of product at Rarible — an NFT marketplace — told Cointelegraph that there has been an increase in NFT philanthropy efforts lately. Salnikov said that while the number of donation volumes are impressive, the fact that NFT community members are becoming first-time donors is equally important:
“This presents an entirely new audience who might be even more generous than investors across other sectors. This trend is giving rise to a crowd that is just more comfortable with donating via NFTs and crypto, be it for tax reasons or just because they’re more comfortable with on-chain assets as opposed to fiat assets processed by centralized authorities.”
Bitcoin (BTC) seems to be on everyone’s mind lately as the world recently witnessed the price of BTC take a rather unexpected bearish turn this month. On January 21, 2022, Bitcoin reached six-month lows, sinking below $40,000 for the first time in months.
While some panicked, other industry experts pointed out that the Bitcoin network has become verifiably stronger than ever before. The growth of the Bitcoin network has become apparent, as hash rate figures for BTC continue to set new highs this month. For example, on Jan. 22, the BTC network recorded an all-time high of 26.643 trillion with an average hash rate of 190.71 exahash per second (EH/s).
The hash rate will continue to grow, which is a good thing
Samir Tabar, chief strategy officer at Bit Digital — a publicly listed Bitcoin miner — told Cointelegraph that the BTC hash rate refers to the amount of computing power being contributed to the network at any given time. Tabar explained that when it comes to Bitcoin mining, a higher hash rate equates to a good hash rate. “The more computing power going towards maintaining a network, the more secure it will be and the more transactions it will be able to handle,” said Tabar.
As such, the recent hash rate figures for Bitcoin are extremely notable, even with the price of BTC being down. Peter Wall, CEO of crypto mining firm Argo Blockchain, told Cointelegraph that he wasn’t surprised to see the BTC hash rate hit close to 200 EH/s. Wall further stated that even with events that have recently disrupted BTC mining hash rate like the political upheaval in Kazakhstan, the hash rate will continue to grow higher each month:
“Argo Blockchain’s mining margin last year in 2021, which is our revenue minus our direct costs, was over 80%. It was a very good year for miners. In 2020, where BTC prices were much lower, our margin was 41%. So, this year I think we will still see strong margins in the space despite the recent drop in the price of Bitcoin and the increase in the hash rate.”
Darin Feinstein, co-founder and co-chairman of Core Scientific — a major publicly-traded blockchain infrastructure provider — told Cointelegraph that based on previous Bitcoin mining hash rate data, the BTC network grew by 200% following the mass exodus of miners from China:
“The Bitcoin network one year ago was approximately 143 EH/s. Following the mining ban in China, the network fell to 63 EH/s. Today, the hash rate has grown to approximately 198 EH/s. This recent increase represents three important metrics. One, it represents a 130 EH hash rate increase on the network. Two, it represents 130 EH of new hosting infrastructure and primarily new generation hardware deployment and three, this deployment has taken place in geographic regions that use far cleaner energy than the energy used in China.”
With this in mind, Feinstein noted that even though the BTC network has hit all-time highs in terms of EH/s, due to the massive improvements in miner chip technology and geographic distribution away from China, the network is now the most efficient and sustainable than it has ever been. Feinstein added that this data is important because it shows how much energy every terahash uses, which is generally represented by a metric called jules/terahash. He noted that this ratio has fallen greatly over the last several years, demonstrating a major increase in mining energy efficiency.
Michael Levitt, co-founder chairman and CEO of Core Scientific, told Cointelegraph that he fully anticipates for the BTC global hash rate to continue growing at an aggressive pace.
However, Levitt mentioned that this growth is dependent on the price of Bitcoin moving forward, along with the success of the infrastructure currently being built. “The amount of infrastructure expected will be challenged by global supply chain issues,” he remarked.
Feinstein added that infrastructure is the biggest challenge when it comes to mining Bitcoin. “The bottlenecks for Bitcoin mining are land, energy, equipment, and lastly, infrastructure. There is plenty of ASIC hardware to be purchased, energy and land are also readily available, but miners need a place to plug in power, and, historically, that is where miners run into issues,” he commented.
North America has become one of the world’s largest Bitcoin mining hubs, as per data from the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, which shows that 35% of the average monthly BTC hash rate comes from the United States, while 10% comes from Canada. Wall explained that North America has taken the lead as a global Bitcoin mining hub for a number of reasons. “This is the case due to the region’s crypto-friendly jurisdiction, its stable regulatory environment, pro-innovation nature and, most importantly, access to the most important thing miners need — low-cost power, preferably renewable.”
Wall elaborated that the low costs of power in the U.S. have been significant for miners, especially when organizations tap into the right part of the power grid. “We’ve seen significant growth in Texas over the last 12 months,” he said.
Cointelegraph previously reported that the Bitcoin mining industry in Texas consumed around 500 to 1,000 megawatts (MW) of power during Nov. 2021. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas reportedly anticipates that demand could increase as much as fivefold by 2023 and has planned an additional 3,000 to 5,000 MW.
Wall elaborated that many miners are moving to Texas due to the fact that the state operates its own power grid that consists of a high degree of power from sustainable generation sources, but needs more flexible demand, or load:
“Miners can provide a consistent load that is flexible. It’s also helpful that Texas has demand response programs in place, where miners will shut down and give power back to the grid when there is high demand. This makes the grid more resilient.”
Benefits such as these have prompted Argo Blockchain to build its next 200 MW facility in Dickens County, west Texas, directly next to a 5.5-gigawatt substation. “There is a lot of congestion at that substation and they need local load to relieve it. The power from west Texas needs to go a long way to reach major urban cities like Dallas and Houston. But, if we can use that energy much closer to where it’s being generated, that relieves the congestion,” remarked Wall.
By drawing power from a nearby substation, Argo Blockchain is demonstrating the use of sustainable energy. According to Wall, the mining company has been carbon negative since 2020. This is important, as Tabar stated that a massive environmental, social and governance movement is currently facing the crypto mining industry:
“Miners must draw from clean sources of power or else they will be regulated out of business. It can’t always be about the cheapest sources of power. Miners will eventually suffer valuation discounts if they use dirty power, even if that source is cheap.”
The perks of going public
A rush of mining firms to go public is another trend the Bitcoin mining industry is likely to witness this year. Most recently, Texas-based Bitcoin mining company Rhodium announced plans to offer 7.69 million shares at $12–$14 each in an initial public offering (IPO).
Core Scientific went public on Jan. 20 after merging with Power & Digital Infrastructure Acquisition in a SPAC transaction. Although shares of Core Scientific have
The CEO of Swiss-based financial institution SEBA Bank shared his predictions for Bitcoin in 2022. A boon for BTC bulls, Guido Buehler was optimistic about institutional adoption and a price increase to $75,000 per coin.
He explained in an interview that, at SEBA, asset pools are looking for the right time to invest. However, they need the right counterparties and the necessary regulation in order to deploy capital.
When pressed on whether Bitcoin (BTC) would hit new highs this year, Buehler thinks it’s possible, “the question is always time.” He noted that with BTC dominance bottoming out at 40%, it’s a pivotal moment for investors looking for a directional play.
The interview took place at the Crypto Finance Conference in St. Moritz, Switzerland, where “sophisticated” players across the crypto space came together to discuss potential business deals.
The reasons behind price increases clash with the CEO of Ledger’s musings. At the same conference, Pascal Gauthier agrees on BTC hitting new highs but it’ll be retail leading the charge.
Related: Fidelity exec says Bitcoin is ‘technically oversold,’ making $40K a ‘pivotal support’
SEBA bank is building a reputation as a crypto-friendly banking institution. The bank recently completed a Series C funding round of 110 million Swiss francs ($119 million) in which FTX and Alameda Research were investors. In October last year, the bank said that customers would soon be able to earn yields on their crypto holdings.
A crypto enthusiast himself, in Buehler’s words, the technology behind Bitcoin will “redefine finance.”
Bitcoin bull and founder of Edelman Financial Engines Ric Edelman has made some promising predictions about the future of the seminal cryptocurrency.
In an interview on CNBC program ETF Edge on Jan. 10, Edelman said:
“We’re already at a quarter of that number with 24% of Americans owning Bitcoin. It won’t be that much of a stretch for it to get to one-third. Bitcoin is becoming more and more mainstream. People are hearing about it everywhere–it isn’t going away.”
While 2022 got off to a rocky start, In his view, governments corporations, foundations, pension funds are investing in BTC: “there is major institutional involvement.”
As the author of soon-to-be-released “The Truth about Crypto,” Edelman is a long-standing crypto proponent. In 2019, he described Bitcoin as the first “genuinely new asset class” in 150 years, and back in December 2018, he recommended that investors load up on the orange coin.
In a follow-up interview with CNBC yesterday, he lamented that while he has predicted a Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) for the past seven years, he’s convinced that by 2023, there will be spot ETF approval.
Similar to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissioner Hester Peirce’s thoughts on the matter, Edelman articulates that the SEC is running out of excuses to say no:
“A lot of the concerns the SEC has have been resolved by the industry through their own maturity, innovation and development. I am confident that we will see the SEC say yes because there is no legitimate reason for them not to.”
Matthew Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise Asset Management agreed with him in the second interview.
Related: Crypto mainstream adoption: Is it here already? Experts answer, Part 1
Hougan stated that there would be even more investor protections and a better product thanks to the “cumulative weight of the evidence that will force them to move forward with approval.” Consumer protection provided by an SEC-run ETF is the cherry on top of a slick product.
ETF speculation aside, Edelman is clairvoyant about the banality of Nakomoto’s invention in the future. He summed it up succinctly; Bitcoin is “going to be as common in the next couple of years as any other portion of a portfolio.”
Another promising price prediction has appeared for Bitcoin bulls in 2022. Antoni Trenchev, co-founder and managing partner of Nexo said that Bitcoin could hit the $100,000 milestone as soon as the summer in an interview with CNBC.
Despite BTC opening the year with bearish price action, while the fear and greed index shows “extreme fear,” the Bulgarian business mogul set the record straight:
“Every time that investors and the broader community write off Bitcoin, it outperforms significantly. This has been the case in 2020–when it rallied close to 1,000%, and in 2021 where it rallied 63%. I’m quite bullish on Bitcoin.”
As one of the world’s largest lending institutions in the digital finance industry, Nexo is privy to insights from serving 2.5 million users across 200 jurisdictions. As a competitor to platforms like BlockFi and Celsius, it recently became one of the first crypto lenders to allow customers to borrow stablecoins, Ether (ETH) and other cryptocurrencies using NFTs as collateral.
Related: Brock Pierce and Tom Lee tip $200K BTC in 2022, despite missing the mark in 2021
While Nexo was forged in the bear market of 2018, Trenchev says that access to “cheap money,” and institutions filling their bags with cryptocurrencies will propel Bitcoin over the $100,000 wall.
There’s plenty of evidence that institutional adoption is brewing. Last month, Fidelity Investments partnered with Nexo to offer crypto custodial services, products and lending services for institutional investors. Yesterday, Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX (which just listed NEXO token on his exchange), said that regulatory clarity would “help a ton on institutional adoption.”
In a nod to further Bitcoin adoption in developing countries, Trenchev concluded that “Latin America is the poster child” for cryptocurrency use cases. He joked that “all of them (countries) could be potential candidates for adopting cryptocurrencies as legal tender.”
Rounding up the last decade, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin revisited his predictions made over the years, showcasing a knack for being right about abstract ideas than on-production software development issues.
Buterin started the Twitter thread by addressing his article dated Jul. 23, 2013 in which he highlighted Bitcoin’s (BTC) key benefits — internationality and censorship resistance. Buterin foresaw Bitcoin’s potential in protecting the citizens’ buying power in countries such as Iran, Argentina, China and Africa.
However, Buterin also noticed a rise in stablecoin adoption as he saw Argentinian businesses operating in Tether (USDT). He backed up his decade-old ideas around the negative impacts of Bitcoin regulation.
My views today: sure, Bitcoin’s decentralization would let it still *survive* under a super-hostile regulatory climate, but it could not *thrive*. Successful censorship resistance strategy requires a combination of technological robustness and public legitimacy.
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) January 1, 2022
The entrepreneur still believes that “the internet of money should not cost more than 5 cents per transaction” and highlighted Ethereum’s continued efforts to improve the blockchain’s scalability capabilities.
5. I should also add that the core *idea* of sharding has survived unscathed.
Blockchain 1.0: each node downloads everything, have consensus
BitTorrent: each node downloads only a few things, but no consensus
Ideal: BitTorrent-like efficiency but with blockchain-like consensus
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) January 1, 2022
“I liked altcoins before altcoins were cool,” added Buterin citing an article where he based this claim via three arguments: different chains optimize for different goals, costs of having many chains are low and need of an alternative in case the core development team is wrong.
On the flipside, Buterin backtracked on his support for Bitcoin Cash (BCH), stating that communities formed around a rebellion, even if they have a good cause, often have a hard time long term, adding that “they value bravery over competence and are united around resistance rather than a coherent way forward.”
11. Applications envisioned in the Ethereum whitepaper:https://t.co/6HCoO2CSW8
* ERC20-style tokens
* Algorithmic stablecoins
* Domain name systems (like ENS)
* Decentralized file storage and computing
* DAOs
* Wallets with withdrawal limits
* Oracles
* Prediction markets
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) January 1, 2022
“A lot correct (basically predicted “DeFi”), though incentivized file storage + compute hasn’t taken off that much (yet?), and of course I completely missed NFTs.”
Concluding the findings, Buterin supported the instincts that helped him correct mistakes early on, stating: “On tech, I was more often right on abstract ideas than on production software dev issues. Had to learn to understand the latter over time.”
Related:Vitalik Buterin outlines ‘endgame’ roadmap for ETH 2.0
In early December, Buterin shared his vision for a “plausible roadmap” for ETH 2.0, suggesting “a second tier of staking, with low resource requirements” for distributed block validation.
Additionally, he proposed the introduction of fraud-proof or ZK-SNARKS that can serve as a cheaper alternative for users to check block validity. According to Buterin:
“[With these updates] We get a chain where block production is still centralized, but block validation is trustless and highly decentralized, and specialized anti-censorship magic prevents the block producers from censoring.”
As Bitcoin (BTC) continues to trade sideways around $48,000, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell is not counting out a potential crash on cryptocurrency markets in the short term.
A crypto winter is now “possible,” Powell said in a Dec. 14 interview with Bloomberg Technology, noting that Bitcoin and the crypto ecosystem have historically evolved around cycles based “sort of around the Bitcoin halving.”
But despite a potentially looming crypto winter, Powell is confident that the market will bounce back from a bear market once investors start buying should BTC drop below $40,000:
“I think a lot of people see anything under $40,000 as a buying opportunity. I was personally buying when we dipped back close to $30,000 a few months ago and I think a lot of people are just waiting to come back in at rock bottom prices.”
In the interview, Powell mentioned some of his previous Bitcoin predictions, including his $100,000 Bitcoin forecast for late 2021. The CEO made this prediction in August, stating, “I think we could see $100,000 plus a coin late this year-early next year.” He also predicted that Bitcoin price is going to ‘infinity’ in March.
“It’s hard to know where it goes,” Kraken CEO said in the latest interview, noting that he is still bullish on Bitcoin in the long term. “When you look at a long-term trendline of Bitcoin and it’s just up consistently. I always tell people ‘If you think about buying Bitcoin, think about it as a five-year plus investment.’”
Related:Bitcoin sheds ‘dumb money’ as retail buys most BTC since March 2020 crash
Many prominent figures in the crypto community predicted BTC to hit $100,000 by the end of 2021, including stock-to-flow model creator PlanB, Morgan Creek Digital Assets co-founder Anthony Pompliano, SkyBridge Capital CEO Anthony Scaramucci and others.
Last week, Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan claimed that $100,000 by the end of the year was a “difficult prediction to make,” suggesting that the price level could come in 2022.
As 2022 draws closer, some cryptocurrency investment experts are now doubtful on whether Bitcoin (BTC) has enough time to hit $100,000 in 2021.
Following a major flash crash in the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin is unlikely to break new all-time highs in the next three weeks and go all the way up to $100,000, according to Bitwise’s chief investment officer Matt Hougan.
“$100,000 by the end of the year is a difficult prediction to make […] I think $100,000 could be in target in 2022 but this year, I’m not so sure,” Hougan said in a Dec. 6 interview.
He noted that a potential cryptocurrency rally in 2022 will be largely thanks to growing institutional support. “I think as we look into 2022, we still have these fundamental drivers, the institutions we speak to everyday at Bitwise,” Hougan said, adding that many institutions are still moving into the market for the first time.
The CIO also predicted that 2022 will see an “explosion of activity built on Ethereum” and layer-one solutions, or those aiming to improve the base protocol itself to scale the overall system rather than creating a different protocol.
“Investors are going to be looking at Ethereum, Solana, or Polygon. Investors are starting to realize there’s more to crypto than just Bitcoin. If there’s one bigger story for next year, it’s going to be everything else: crypto as DeFi, NFTs, Web3, or metaverse,” Hougan predicted.
While Hougan noted the growing potential of altcoins — or coins other than Bitcoin — some prominent figures in the crypto community are still sticking with BTC.
Bobby Lee, founder and CEO of crypto hardware wallet Ballet, argued Dec. 6 that Bitcoin is “more valuable” than altcoins because Bitcoin is not backed by “any sort of project, or a promise that can fail.”
The crypto community has been watching the Bitcoin price closely this year with notable figures in the industry predicting BTC to hit $100,000 by the end of 2021, including Standard Chartered’s cryptocurrency research unit, stock-to-flow model creator PlanB, Morgan Creek Digital Assets co-founder Anthony Pompliano, SkyBridge Capital CEO Anthony Scaramucci and others.
Related:Bitcoin to hit $250K in January 2022 but ‘invalidate’ S2FX BTC price model — New prediction
Others in the crypto community have taken a more skeptical view.
The year is 2050:
“One more shakeout for #Bitcoin and then it’s moon time! 100k EOY”
Ok Grandma let’s get you to bed. pic.twitter.com/F9RoBF8qdo
— Lunch Money (@LunchMoneyMitch) November 10, 2021
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $51,290, notably recovering after dropping below $47,000 on Dec. 4, according to data from CoinGecko. After starting 2021 at around $30,000, Bitcoin hit its all-time high above $67,000 in mid-November.
As popular music streaming services like Spotify cut much of musicians’ revenues, new technologies like nonfungible tokens (NFTs) are likely to help artists grab back their fair share, Saxo Bank predicted.
According to one of Saxo Bank’s Outrageous Predictions 2022: Revolution, music creators would benefit from NFT-based streaming platforms as they allow distributing music directly to listeners without centralized middlemen charging a fee.
Saxo Bank’s cryptocurrency analyst Mads Eberhardt argued that mainstream music streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music take a substantial cut, which together with the cut paid to labels is some 75% or more of the total revenue.
“These models don’t guide individual subscribers’ fees to the actual music an individual subscriber listens to,” Eberhardt stated, adding:
“The use case for NFTs could prove particularly compelling in the next step for the technology for content generators in the music industry as musicians feel unfairly treated by the revenue sharing models of the current streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.”
The analyst noted that NFT-based music streaming projects are likely to start kicking off in 2022, including initiatives like Audius, a blockchain music platform backed by Katy Perry, The Chainsmokers and Jason Derulo. Based on blockchain, the Audius platform is a decentralized music-sharing and streaming protocol designed to cut out the middleman from the music industry and allow fans and creators to interact with each other directly.
In contrast, the future of traditional streaming platforms like Spotify is “bleak,” according to Saxo Bank. The company predicted that Spotify shares would tumble 33% in 2022. SPOT has already been dropping in 2021: starting the year around $300, Spotify shares dropped to as low as $204 in August, according to data from TradingView. At the time of writing, SPOT is trading at $229.
In the meantime, Spotify’s revenues have been steadily growing over time, reflecting much potential for NFT-based music platforms to disrupt. According to Spotify’s official 2020 financial results, the company generated 7.85 billion euro ($9.5 billion) revenue last year, a 16% increase from 2019. Spotify’s financials continued growing in 2021, with the total amount of monthly active users surging 19% year-on-year to 381 million in Q3 2021.
Source: Business of Apps
Related:NFT music marketplace Royal raises $55M in Series A round
As previously reported, Spotify has been paying attention to the cryptocurrency industry, looking for talent with a crypto background in late 2020. The firm is also well aware of the rise of NFTs as it mentioned NFTs in its Spotify Wrapped 2021 compiled for users on Dec. 1, 2021.
I will say I was not expecting to see an NFT reference in my Spotify Wrapped today but here we are pic.twitter.com/KnpwrR90Y4
— Meghan Bobrowsky (@MeghanBobrowsky) December 1, 2021
Spotify did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.
