The Metaverse platform Metajuice recently carried out a poll, the results of which showed that the vast majority of collectors of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) do so for the sake of prestige and uniqueness. According to the results of the poll, seventy-four percent of respondents buy NFTs because of the status that they provide, while thirteen percent have future plans to sale their NFTs. One respondent to the poll gave the reasons of being unique and standing out as motivations for purchasing NFTs. They said that they prefer the fact that they are less likely to run across other individuals with the identical products. John Burris, the president of Metajuice, echoed this sentiment when he said that owning NFTs to display digital items brings added value and builds a communal notion of status-led trends in the metaverse. Burris said this in response to a question about how owning NFTs to display digital items brings added value.
Users continue to provide a variety of explanations for why they purchase non-fungible tokens (NFTs), despite the fact that current NFT sales are not as great as they were during the top of the market in 2021. Raoul Pal, CEO and co-founder of Real Vision, has voiced his conviction that non-financial assets (NFTs) would perform in a manner comparable to that of high-end homes during market boom cycles. In a video uploaded to YouTube, Pal drew parallels between the ownership of large NFT collections such as CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club with the ownership of luxury automobiles and residences. Pal is of the opinion that non-fungible tokens are quickly becoming status symbols within the crypto space, and he thinks that as the crypto space continues to develop, NFTs will most likely become even more valuable as symbols of prestige and wealth.
Ethereum-based project Status has started an incentivization program for node operators around its decentralized peer-to-peer messaging protocol, Waku.
In an announcement today, Status said it would be rolling out the first phase of a program to encourage people to set up and run nodes used by Waku, a private messenger based on the Whisper protocol. The project said it planned to offer up to $100 worth in its native token SNT to 100 people participating in a three-month program.
The Status team forked Whisper to create Waku in 2019. The protocol uses community owned and operated nodes to route messages through the network rather than the “traditional” client-server model, with the project working on a peer-to-peer messaging service aimed at competing with major firms like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal.
“Using peer-to-peer networks for personal communication is the only reliable way to escape censorship,” said former Cointelegraph reporter Andrey Shevchenko, who will be running one of the nodes. “Status has clearly put a lot of effort into this to make it technically viable so I’m curious to see where it goes.”
According to the project, one of the pushes for the development of the protocol was Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently encouraging developers to “go further” in innovating beyond the typical boundaries of decentralized finance, or DeFi. Buterin said that non-financial applications for Ethereum, including decentralized social media, could serve this purpose.
Related:Status, an Ethereum Private Messenger Goes Waku on Telegram
The Status rewards program provides a small incentive for participants to provide they have set up and maintained one of the nodes. The project ran a pilot in South Korea — where it plans to have 25 nodes up and running — but also aims for a large presence in Latin America.
Shortly after Tesla announced that it will allow customers to buy products with Bitcoin (BTC), a curious job posting from Amazon suggests that the company could also be working on a platform that will allow customers in Mexico to use digital currencies for making payments.
If Amazon jumps on the crypto bandwagon, it will immensely strengthen the possibility of cryptocurrencies going mainstream across the world.
Crypto market data daily view. Source:Coin360
Today Bitcoin price is showing a new spark of optimism after the Bank of New York Mellon announced that it would hold, transfer and issue Bitcoin on part of its clients. The bank is also said to be developing a platform that will process and custody digital currencies alongside traditional assets like treasuries and stocks.
Bitcoin’s future of becoming a widely accepted medium of exchange and investment vehicle appears to be becoming etched in stone. Meanwhile, several altcoins have been rising, buoyed by strong use cases and protocol upgrades.
Let’s analyze a few of the top performing tokens of this week.
QTUM/USD
Airdrops are an easy way to make some extra money, hence they remain extremely popular with investors. Qtum (QTUM) holders will receive an airdrop of Qi, the native cryptocurrency of the decentralized exchange QiSwap which is built on the Qtum blockchain. With crypto volumes rising and the demand for DEX’s picking up, the proposed airdrop scheduled from Feb. 14 may have attracted fresh buying from several investors.
The protocol has identified decentralized finance as a focus area and is taking steps to attract new DeFi projects. Qtum is planning a hard fork that will reduce its block spacing from 128 to 32 seconds in order to support the faster transaction speeds needed in DeFi.
Qtum is also developing Neutron, an agnostic interface that allows virtual machines to run on Qtum and other blockchains. The aim is to build a low-cost entry platform that is also easy to use. With an eye on DeFi, the Qtum protocol seems to be taking the necessary steps to attract projects and investors alike.
QTUM surged from an intraday low at $3.18 on Feb. 1 to an intraday high at $8.82 today, a 177% rally within two weeks. The breakout of $5.90 has completed a long-term bottoming formation, indicating the start of a new uptrend.
A long base readies a strong launchpad for the start of the next trending move. The longer the base, the stronger is the breakout from it.
QTUM/USDT daily chart. Source:TradingView
However, after the breakout from a long basing formation, the price retests the breakout level. The long wick on today’s candlestick suggests profit-booking at higher levels and the deeply overbought level on the relative strength index (RSI) also points to a possible correction.
The price may now dip back to $5.90. If the bulls can flip this previous resistance to support and the price rebounds off it sharply, it will increase the prospects of the resumption of the uptrend. The first target on the upside is $10.30 and then $14.7.
Contrary to this assumption, if the price drops and sustains below $5.90, it will suggest the current rally was a bull trap. The QTUM/USD pair could then dip to the 20-day moving average ($4.46).
SNT/USD
The recently proposed changes in the WhatsApp privacy policy triggered outrage among users and resulted in millions of users switching to other messaging platforms. While a few users shifted to other centralized apps, others who wanted to keep their privacy in their hands opted for Status App.
This app has witnessed a sharp increase in the number of downloads on Android, which crossed above 600,000 recently. The latest update in Status allows users to bookmark their favorite DApps, enabling one-tap access to some of the popular DeFi projects.
Along with its features on mobile, Status Network (SNT) also rolled out Beta versions of its Desktop app that allow users to stay connected even from their laptops.
The Nimbus team also rolled out a new release that aims to increase sync speed by 50% while reducing CPU utilization by half and providing protection against accidental slashings. Nimbus will eventually be integrated into the Status-desktop and Status mobile app in order to improve the user experience.
SNT rose from $0.0465 on Feb. 1 to an intraday high at $0.1260 today, a 170% rally within two weeks. However, the long wick on the day’s candlestick suggests traders are booking profits at higher levels.
SNT/USD daily chart. Source:TradingView
The SNT/USD pair may now drop to the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level at $0.0935 and then to the 50% retracement level at $0.0835. If the price rebounds off either level, it will suggest that traders are buying on dips. They will then try to resume the uptrend.
If the bulls can propel the price above $0.1260, the uptrend could reach $0.1786 and then $0.20.
This bullish view will invalidate if the bears pull the price below $0.0835. Such a move will suggest that supply exceeds demand and that may result in a drop to the 20-day EMA ($0.066). A deep fall is likely to be followed by a range-bound action before the next trending move starts.
MIOTA/USD
Iota recently launched its oracles to bring off-chain data to smart contracts on its network. An oracle is only as valuable as the quality of data it streams and in order to reduce the possibility of data manipulation, Iota will use First Party Oracles, which only reflect the data submitted by the data issuer. This will reduce the possibility of data tampering.
Modern technology relies on various data sources for taking automated decisions, hence the data should be trustworthy. To ensure this, Iota and Dell Technologies partnered on a demo project called Alvarium. The platform ensures that the data’s journey from initiation to its final destination is given a trust rating to increase the confidence in the data in a measurable way. This can have real-world use cases in industries that need a high degree of compliance and security.
Expanding its offering, Iota partnered with the South Korean Observer foundation and Tanglehub to apply for smart city projects in Asia and Europe in 2021.
Along with these new offerings, the protocol is also getting ready to launch the second part of its Chrysalis upgrade, which according to Iota is the most extensive in its history. With the launch of the new update, the community can build scalable Automated Market Makers, fee-free decentralized finance platforms, and smart contracts to leverage the protocol.
Chrysalis will also introduce steps needed for the removal of the coordinator and bring in a greater amount of decentralization.
Iota had been stuck in a bottoming formation for over two years. It rallied from $0.4367 on Feb. 5 to $1.29 today, a 197% gain within seven days. The altcoin picked up momentum after it broke above the resistance at $0.55.
MIOTA/USD daily chart. Source:TradingView
The sharp rally has pushed the RSI above 91, which suggests the rally is overextended in the short term and may witness a minor correction or consolidation. If the MIOTA/USD pair turns up from the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level at $0.94, it will suggest strength.
The bulls will then try to resume the uptrend. If the buyers push the price above $1.29, the pair could extend its rally to $2.00 and then to $2.60. As the price has spent a long time in a basing pattern, the rally is likely to surprise to the upside.
Contrary to this assumption, if the price turns down from the current level and breaks below the 50% Fibonacci retracement level at $0.83, the pair may drop to the 61.8% retracement at $0.72. Such a deep fall will suggest the momentum has weakened.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
As the crypto market crossed the $1 trillion market cap, Status (SNT), Verge (XVG), and Nano (NANO) have come off as the cryptos with the biggest gains in the market today.
The cryptocurrency market has entered new realms of price discovery as it surpassed the $1 trillion market capitalization today, a move that is catalyzed by the profound surge in the prices of the individual cryptocurrencies that makes up the market. While the market has seen extreme volatility in the past days, the growth of some coins besides Bitcoin (BTC) and the top ten cryptocurrencies also stands out.
The Cryptos Making Big Moves Today
In the market today, the coins with the biggest growth trajectory in terms of the percentage gains include Status (SNT), Verge (XVG), and Nano (NANO).
The Status coin has seen remarkable growth since it came into the limelight in 2016 with the previous year marking one of its most remarkable fiscal years. Coming off as a mobile operating system billed to completely change the way the world interacts with the Ethereum network, Status has grown its user base, and adoption fueling its 709% growth last year. The coin is up by 68% in the past 24 hours marking its significance as one of the top gainers today.
Verge (XVG) has defied the increasing calls to ban privacy coins in recent times by rallying to new heights. The coin has surged by 81.9% in the past 24 hours according to Coingecko, complementing the bullish run it ended 2020 with. Verge is arguably one of the best performing privacy coins in the market to date closing 2020 with a growth of more than 350% and recording an additional 108% growth this new year.
Nano (NANO) is arguably the best performer of the top 100 coins in the market today. The coin built as a low-latency cryptocurrency with no transaction fees has seen a 109% growth in the past 24 hours to continue the bullish rally it ended last year with.
More Surges Imminent
The cryptocurrency market is in a state of consolidation and more imminent growth is bound as many investors are beginning to get drawn to the potentials of the emerging digital currency asset class.
With the continuous adoption of Bitcoin by institutional investors, altcoins may also tag along in the rally and if this happens, the $1 trillion market cap reported today may be the least the market will record in the near future.
