FLUF World and Snoop Dogg give back to Auckland charity, Adidas Originals and Prada call on fans to contribute to NFT project, UNICEF celebrates 75 years with an NFT collection and WAX to carry out largest NFT airdrop.
Tag: Wax
Where’s the Crypto Market Heading as We Near 2022? Top Most Promising GameFi Tokens
Crypto investors who pinned their faith on the prediction that Bitcoin would soar to $100,000 by the year-end now have to reconcile themselves to the reality that there won’t be a Santa Claus rally before the year is out. After it went above $69K in November, Bitcoin’s price retraced greatly and is now struggling to hold above the 50K mark, pulling the rest of the cryptocurrencies along with it.
However, technical analysis comes into play when we cannot see a clear trend and there are no strong fundamentals to help us make sense of how the market is going to behave.
There are often repetitive patterns in price fluctuations due to the psychology of the market, which is driven by emotions like fear or excitement. The technical analysis examines chart patterns to identify these emotions and subsequent market movements to discover trends.
The cryptocurrency Fear & Greed Index fell to 27 a couple of days ago, but currently it stands at 40. Although it’s still a fear territory, this could be a solid buying opportunity.
Source: Alternative.me
The current BTC price pattern resembles that of the consolidation phase we witnessed from May to July 2021. The weakness is likely to last until about early January or late February 2022, and then we might see a BTC rally that will take it to new heights, with ripple effects on the rest of the top cryptocurrencies.
Source: TradingView
Meanwhile, the $68 billion GameFi industry, which is a hybrid of blockchain gaming and DeFi, is on the rise and is expected to continue its rapid growth in 2022 even amid a sour mood in the wider crypto market.
As of now, the majority of wallets in existence — 1.12 million — are connected to blockchain games.
Source: DappRadar
The play-to-earn segment has been boosted by the metaverse narrative, allowing players to earn tokens for their gaming activities, which can be used to purchase in-game assets, or traded for other cryptocurrencies or fiat on exchanges.
GameFi games can be categorized into two types:
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Liquid mining games
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Games based entirely on mining
In liquid mining games, users must pledge tokens or NFTs before they can begin gameplay, whereas in the second game type, players can begin immediately and receive game props or NFT equipment which can be sold at a profit.
In order for a GameFi project to succeed, it is critical that the number of active crypto wallets continues to grow, as well as the volume of transactions and the value of the game.
Following are the top DApps in the Games category, ranked by unique wallet addresses, which continue to increase, so it makes sense that the tokens that power them would also thrive.
Splinterlands is the most popular game, with 315,447 unique wallet addresses interacting with its smart contracts over the past 30 days, and a total asset value of $664,862.
It is a collectible trading card game, with cards acting as non-financial tokens and its design reminiscent of Pokemon cards and World of Warcraft characters.
Throughout the game, a mystical world is revealed through a great deal of storytelling. This game is built on the Steem blockchain and offers high-speed transactions. Although Splinterlands is based on the HIVE blockchain, Splinterlands’ tokenized assets can be transferred to the WAX blockchain by means of the Splinterlands WAX bridge.
As of now, its SPS token is priced at $0.221667 and is not soaring due to the weak overall market, but the popularity of the project could lead to strong gains next year.
Source: CoinGecko
DeFi Kingdoms (JEWEL)
DeFi Kingdoms is a game, DEX, liquidity pool, and a market for rare utility-driven NFTs, all done in nostalgia-inducing fantasy pixel art.
The number of unique wallet addresses interacting with DeFi Kingdom’s smart contracts over the past 30 days reached 286,539, a whopping 439% increase from the previous month.
Its JEWEL token traded at $14.95 at the time of writing, up 21% for the past 7 days, and posting a 94% rise month-on-month.
Source: CoinGecko
MOBOX: NFT Farmer (MBOX)
This gaming platform combines yield farming and farming NFTs to create a free-to-play and play-to-earn model. The game had 200,916 unique wallet addresses in the past 30 days, up 30% from the previous month, and a balance of $175,456,016.93
As of last check, MBOX token was trading at $6.12, up 6.3% over the past 24 hours and up 19% over the past 7 days.
Source: CoinGecko
X World Games (XWG)
X World Games is a themed gaming DApp on the BSC network that has an NFT marketplace. In addition to enhanced gameplay and earning mechanisms, players can acquire NFT assets which is expected to benefit them with long-term revenues generated through the game’s playing volume.
Its user base has increased by 159.72% over the past 30 days to 180,112 and the total value of assets in the DApp’s smart contracts came in at $2,909,449.32.
The project’s XWG token traded at $0.0969 at the time of writing.
Source: CoinGecko
P.S. This article was initially published by Cointelegraph Brazil.
Image source: pexels.com
5 times quickfire crypto traders bought the news for double (or triple) digit profits
Why do crypto traders “buy the rumor, sell the news”?
Simple. Because whispers of exchange listings or big-name partnerships reach very few people… while an article in Cointelegraph can reach hundreds of thousands of crypto enthusiasts in seconds. While insiders are quietly amassing tokens on rumors, the rest of us are completely ignorant of what may be coming.
But with rumors, there are no guarantees. Which can lead to disappointment and serious loss of investment for those traders who gamble that they’re true… and end up wrong.
So how can you possibly compete with thousands of other market participants when important news actually breaks? You’d have to be one of the very first to know in order to catch the price before it spikes.
Look at the examples below — the time between a closely-guarded announcement and a massive price spike of 144% can be just a few minutes!
NewsQuakes™ on the Cointelegraph Markets Pro data intelligence platform allow you to completely outsource monitoring the crypto news space to AI. The machine learning algorithm automatically combs through thousands of relevant sources and instantly alerts members via mobile notifications when potential market-moving events are detected.
NewsQuake™ announcements are snapped from primary sources such as exchange websites, Medium posts, or projects’ Twitter accounts, meaning that traders don’t have to wait for the media or their favorite influencers to turn raw information into a story.
Extensive research has identified three types of news — exchange listings, staking, and partnership announcements — that are most likely to spark strong rallies.
Here are 5 stories that alerted traders to massive profit opportunities in 2021… and a few dramatic illustrations of how NewsQuakes™ tipped off Markets Pro members.
WAX (WAXP): +144% in 2 hours
Exchange listings reliably boost crypto prices, especially when it is a small or medium-cap coin being listed on a major exchange.
On Aug. 23, before the news of WAXP’s listing on Binance came in, the token was trading at 18 cents. In two hours from the announcement, WAX’s price soared to reach 44 cents. In this situation, getting the news quickly was key.
As can be seen in the chart, the NewsQuake™ alert (red circle) came in just before WAX’s price exploded.
Decentraland (MANA): 111% in 96 hours
It is now hard to believe that in March 2021, long before Facebook’s rebranding into Meta and the associated hype around the group of assets now widely known as metaverse tokens, MANA was trading at just $0.55.
On March 12, the announcement of OKEx enabling margin trading for the asset got crypto investors stoked, and sparked a long rally that saw MANA go from $0.55 to $1.16 over the next four days. The earlier traders were in buying the NewsQuake™, the more profit they could have secured for themselves…
Polygon (MATIC): +90% in 50 hours
On Feb. 23, in the middle of a cool-off that followed the first leg of the week’s big rally, the announcement of MATIC’s debut on Binance Staking gave the asset a powerful second wind. (The red circle indicates the Markets Pro NewsQuake™.)
The resulting hike propelled the coin from $0.11 to its then-all-time high at over $0.21, an increase of 90%. Today, this can seem minor in the light of the token’s year-to-year return on investment of more than 11,000%, but on that day, traders were surely content with MATIC’s price “only” nearly doubling.
VeChain (VET): +46% in 52 hours
A great example of impactful partnership news is VeChain’s announcement of its collaboration with the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers that came up on Apr. 12.
It was not a huge surprise that the news of the enterprise-oriented blockchain project getting access to the client base of one of the Big Four firms pushed the token’s price 46% up over the fours of two days.
In this case, the NewsQuake™ from Markets Pro arrived significantly before the major rally.
Amp (AMP): +42% in one hour
On Nov. 23, a post on Binance’s Twitter account announced that digital collateral token AMP was slated to be listed on the exchange platform. Markets Pro users received their near-instant NewsQuake™ alerts within seconds.
It was a very clean breakout: Apparently, no-one front-ran the news, and the token’s price soared immediately following the public announcement, shooting up almost vertically from $0.050 to $0.071 in just an hour – a gain of 42%.
Timing was key here, and those Cointelegraph Markets Pro members who got the news early thanks to the NewsQuake™ alert found themselves ahead of the pack.
Cointelegraph is a publisher of financial information, not an investment adviser. We do not provide personalized or individualized investment advice. Cryptocurrencies are volatile investments and carry significant risk including the risk of permanent and total loss. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Figures and charts are correct at the time of writing or as otherwise specified. Live-tested strategies are not recommendations. Consult your financial advisor before making financial decisions.
NFT partnerships and protocol integrations boost Tezos, WAX and Aleph.im
The roller coaster ride that is the cryptocurrency market continued its volatile ways on Dec. 8 as Bitcoin (BTC) price briefly slipped below the $49,000 level. Despite the setback, there are still clear signs that crypto mass adoption is taking place, a prime example being Visa’s announcement the it will launch crypto consulting and advisory services for merchants and banks.
Analysts expect that Bitcoin will continue to search for firmer footing and while this process plays out, Ether and a handful of mid and low-cap altcoins are booking moderate gains.
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the biggest gainers over the past 24-hours were Tezos (XTZ), WAX (WAXP) and Aleph.im (ALEPH).
Ubisoft launches NFTs on Tezos
Tezos is a layer-one blockchain protocol that includes a built-in mechanism that allows the network to evolve and upgrade over time without the need for hard forks.
VORTECS™ data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro began to detect a bullish outlook for XTZ on Dec. 5, prior to the recent price rise.
The VORTECS™ Score, exclusive to Cointelegraph, is an algorithmic comparison of historical and current market conditions derived from a combination of data points including market sentiment, trading volume, recent price movements and Twitter activity.
As seen in the chart above, the VORTECS™ Score for XTZ began to pick up on Dec. 4 and climbed to a high of 87 on Dec. 5, around 21 hours before the price increased 60.5% over the next two days.
The surge in XTZ price took place after Ubisoft, one of the top-3 video game companies, announced that it would be releasing its first line of in-game playable NFTs on the Tezos network, beginning with Ghost Recon: Breakpoint.
WAX welcomes Amazon and Mattel to its ecosystem
WAX is a purpose-built NFT blockchain designed to provide brands with all the tools necessary to launch a NFT collection and make e-commerce transactions faste and more secure for all parties involved.
VORTECS™ data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro began to detect a bullish outlook for WAXP on Dec. 4, prior to the recent price rise.
As seen in the chart above, the VORTECS™ Score for WAX spiked into the green zone on Dec. 4 and reached a high of 81 around 40 hours before the price increased 84.8% over the next two days.
The spike in momentum for WAXP comes as it was announced that Amazon had entered the WAX ecosystem after making an investment in the collectible marketplace Dibbs while it was also announced that three leading toy companies, Funko, Mattel and Hasbro, have partnered with WAX for “Sellout Collections.”
Related: Bitcoin rebounds on Wall Street open as exchange BTC reserves plunge after $42K dip
Aleph provides analytics support for Serum
Aleph.im is a cross-chain protocol focused on the creation of a decentralized database including file storage, computing and a decentralized identity (DID) framework.
VORTECS™ data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro began to detect a bullish outlook for ALEPH on Dec. 5, prior to the recent price rise.
As seen in the chart above, the VORTECS™ Score for ALEPH hit a high score of 80 on Dec. 5, around 31 hours before the price increased 38% over the next two days.
The climbing price of ALEPH comes after the protocol announced that it is now providing its indexing solution to the Solana-based decentralized exchange Serum, a move which should help to increase the ability to obtain DeFi analytics on the Solana network.
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $2.373 trillion and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 40.1%.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
Metaverse and blockchain gaming altcoins rally while Bitcoin looks for support
Bitcoin’s (BTC) recent foray back below $56,000 sparked a wide-ranging sell-off across the cryptocurrency ecosystem and talks of the price hitting $100,000 by the end of the year quickly morphed into concerns about an impending bear market that could thrust prices into the doldrums for a year or longer.
While there appeared to be absolute carnage in the markets judging by peoples’ reaction to the BTC pullback, not all tokens were negatively impacted and gaming tokens focused on the emerging Metaverse have managed to stay in the green.
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that while the price of Bitcoin dropped below $57,000, the price of Metaverse tokens climbed higher, including a 160% gain for Gala (GALA), a 78% rally for WAX (WAXP), a 62% breakout for The Sandbox (SAND) and 45% for Decentraland (MANA).
The past couple of months has seen a growing focus on “the dawn of the Metaverse” as all manner of gaming protocols, nonfungible token (NFT) collections and projects focused on designing the landscape to the growing virtual world have seen a spike in interest after Facebook announced that it was rebranding its parent company to “Meta.”
NFTs pave the road to mass adoption
The skyrocketing popularity of Metaverse-focused projects is, in large part, thanks to its adoption by popular culture and well-known celebrities who have discovered the potential that exists within decentralized finance (DeFi) and NFT technology.
From Post Malone purchasing Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs that were featured in the music video “One Right Now,” to globally recognized brands like Gucci and Coca-Cola launching their own lines of branded NFT merchandise to engage with customers, the road to mass adoption is paving a route through the Metaverse.
As a result, projects that deal with the growing field of virtual real estate such as The Sandbox and Decentraland have seen significant growth in both token price and the number of users interacting with their protocols over the past month.
VORTECS™ data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro began to detect a bullish outlook for SAND on Nov. 17, prior to the recent price rise.
The VORTECS™ Score, exclusive to Cointelegraph, is an algorithmic comparison of historical and current market conditions derived from a combination of data points including market sentiment, trading volume, recent price movements and Twitter activity.
As seen in the chart above, the VORTECS™ Score for SAND climbed into the green zone on Nov. 17 and reached a high of 79 around three hours before the price increased 48.5% over the next two days.
Related: $400M funding round to help Gemini build in the decentralized metaverse
Digital collectibles are on the rise
The rise of the metaverse and digital collectibles has come at an interesting intersection in the development of our global society, especially considering that issues related to environmental sustainability and global supply chains have increasingly come into focus.
Crafting things in the digital world actually solves many of the problems currently facing humanity because there is no need for physical inputs to craft the final products, nor is there the need for a vast system of shipping when the items are digital and can be transferred via the internet.
Rather than vast production lines creating the latest collector’s cards or action figures from popular sports, games or movies, protocols like WAX (Worldwide Asset eXchange) offer digital versions of the same items that can easily be stored in personal digital wallets or transferred around for little to no cost.
VORTECS™ data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro began to detect a bullish outlook for WAX on Nov. 2, prior to the recent price rise.
As seen in the chart above, the VORTECS™ Score for WAX climbed into the green zone on Nov. 2 and reached a high of 74 around 24 hours before the price began to increase by 154% over the next two weeks.
While the short term outlook for Bitcoin and the wider cryptocurrency market remains uncertain and half the crowd is worried about the start of a crypto winter. The more experienced traders view the dip as just another opportunity to buy the dip and the trajectory of the Metaverse continues upward as projects focused on laying the foundation for the future of commerce and socialization are likely to be the most profitable investments over time.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
Metaverse Gaming Tokens Defy Recent Market Dip
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The Metaverse-themed gaming projects Decentraland and The Sandbox have bucked the crypto market trend, putting in double-digit gains while other assets post substantial losses.
Metaverse Tokens Hold Strong
Metaverse coins are outperforming the rest of the market.
Tokens of the two most popular crypto Metaverse projects, Decentraland, and The Sandbox, have shown strength this week while the wider crypto market has fallen.
Decentraland’s MANA token has held strong above $3, gaining 29% over the past seven days. The Sandbox, a similar virtual Metaverse, has done even better, with the SAND token continuing its month-long rally, reaching a new all-time high of $3.63 Tuesday evening.
In comparison, Bitcoin has dropped more than 11% over the past week, falling below $60,000 and bringing many major coins down with it. Historically, when Bitcoin turns bearish, the wider crypto market usually follows, indicating a high degree of correlation between the two. However, this time, Metaverse gaming projects appear to be finding strength elsewhere.
Decentraland and The Sandbox are not the only gaming projects doing well. The Worldwide Asset eXchange (more commonly known as WAX) is also staging its own rally, gaining 61% over the past week. WAX is a carbon-neutral blockchain dedicated to gaming and NFTs. WAX’s most popular game, Alien Worlds, averages over 250,000 players daily, according to data from DappRadar.
Metaverse gaming projects received a boost last month when Facebook rebranded to “Meta,” signaling the company’s intention to focus on building online virtual spaces. Since then, several Metaverse gaming tokens have rallied, with both Decentraland and The Sandbox up more than 300% since the announcement.
Additionally, October was the first month that blockchain gaming made up the majority of decentralized application activity. Over 1.19 million unique active wallets connected to crypto gaming dApps last month, accounting for 55% of all dApp activity.
Disclosure: At the time of writing this feature, the author owned BTC, ETH, and several other cryptocurrencies.
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Crypto Gaming Booms Amid Metaverse Hype
Data from analytics platforms DappRadar and Token Terminal shows a boom in crypto gaming. In October, 55% of all unique active wallets connected to blockchain games, marking the third consecutive…
Facebook Changes Company Name to Meta, Plans NFT Support
Mark Zuckerberg has announced that Facebook will change its company name to Meta, though the company’s signature social media platform will retain the name Facebook. The company’s shares are set…
Metaverse Tokens Are Soaring on Facebook’s Rebrand News
The Metaverse-related crypto projects Decentraland and Axie Infinity are rallying after Facebook revealed that it would be rebranding and turning its focus to virtual reality worlds yesterday. Metaverse Tokens Rise …
A Guide to Yield Farming, Staking, and Liquidity Mining
Yield farming is arguably the most popular way to earn a return on crypto assets. Essentially, you can earn passive income by depositing crypto into a liquidity pool. You can think of these liquidity…
Blockchain Gaming Is Here To Stay, But, Is The Industry Facing Talent Scarcity?
Some say that blockchain gaming will inspire the next wave of cryptocurrency adoption. Play-to-earn games are certainly ever-present in headlines and conversations around the world. Are they close to mainstream adoption? Not in the slightest. The industry is just beginning and there’s a long way to go. The companies producing the games are well funded and make incredible amounts of money. However, they don’t seem to have that many employees.
Related Reading | The 100x ROI for Gamezone’s $GZONE Confirms the Viability of Blockchain Gaming
Besides being a nascent industry, blockchain gaming production requires a special set of talents that are not commonly found. This presents an immense opportunity for young students and people looking to pivot and make a career change. Since monetization is built in the ecosystem, chances are blockchain gaming is here to stay. And you can be a part of it. Let’s look at the numbers and you’ll see what we mean.
How Big Is The Blockchain Gaming Market?
In his report titled “Blockchain Gaming Beginnings: From Crypto Craze To Decentralized Fun,” author Joost Van Dreunen offers concrete numbers:
- How many people are playing? “Total addressable audience for blockchain gaming is still in its infancy. Mobile, PC, and console total 1.49 billion monthly actives.”
- What devices are they using? “The platform of choice is PC, which includes browser-based (40% of total titles), local clients for Windows (16%) and Mac (6%), and Linux (3%)”
- What blockchains are they interacting with? “The most popular blockchain is WAX (36%), based on an aggregation of top titles organized by protocol. Ethereum (10%) is much less prominent.”
- However, “The success of Alien Worlds, which counted 1 million users in August, 2021, almost single-handedly accounts for the success for WAX.”
- “There is a massive difference in popularity among the top titles: Alien Worlds has 59x more players than the #15, Zoo – Crypto World.”
WAX price chart on Bitfinex | Source: WAX/USD on TradingView.com
What Else Do We Know About The Blockchain Gaming Market?
We found even more data for you, let’s dive into the Unique Active Wallets, courtesy of Naavik’s Blockchain Games report:
- Believe it or not, “DappRadar notes that games accounted for over half of blockchain wallet activity in the third quarter.”
- Not only that, “blockchain gaming daily unique active wallets (UAWs) averaged 1.2 million in October 2021 or up 44% compared to September.”
- Let’s dive deeper into those numbers. “The growth in UAW over the past month has mostly been driven by growth in Axie Infinity and Splinterlands wallet activity, which have increased 24% and 57%, respectively.”
- This one mirrors the previous report. “The top title by monthly UAWs, Alien Worlds, has 10x the activity as the number ten title, Jelly Squish.”
- September 2021 saw a decline in blockchain gaming, but the numbers are once again looking impressive. “Trading volumes grew 762% quarter-over-quarter in Q3 2021 to $2.32 billion.”
What’s All That Noise About A Talent Shortage?
The wildest stat in Van Dreunen’s report is the number of employees the most successful firms in the space function with. Dapper Labs employs 242, Mythical Games 123, The Sandbox 94. Projects that are on the news all the time suffer the same fate, Decentraland has 52 employees and Open Sea 43. Compare that to, “to 9,500 f/t employees at Activision Blizzard, 11,000 at Electronic Arts, 6,495 at Take-Two Interactive, and 960 at Roblox.”
While we could interpret that the data reveals we’re dealing with efficient companies, Van Dreunen thinks otherwise. “A year-over-year increase of +102% in headcount across top blockchain game devs indicates that talent is likely to become a major bottleneck in search of the killer app.“ It may be so, but, that was until NewsBTC published this article. Young people reading this will realize the immense opportunity it represents and will take the appropriate measures.
Related Reading | Blockchain Gaming Enthusiasts Can Now Swap ATRI Tokens Faster And Cheaper
Remember that, besides in-game monetization, these companies raise money for new projects constantly and with ease. That means, “Abundant investment money will force firms to compete on hiring experienced developers, engineers, and producers in the short term.” They’re dying to hire you. Go and get the necessary knowledge, this story is just starting.
Featured Image: Matryx on Pixabay | Charts by TradingView
WAX, Gnosis and IOST pack on gains after Bitcoin price hits $50K
The bull market narrative has returned now that Bitcoin (BTC) price managed to briefly climb above $50,500 on August 23.
A handful of altcoins have also seen their prices charge higher as the momentum in the market continues to build. For many tokens, the price has been buoyed by new exchange listings and cross-protocol collaborations that have brought a new level of activity and attention to their ecosystems.
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the biggest gainers over the past 24-hours were WAX (WAXP), Gnosis (GNO) and IOST (IOST).
WAX benefits listing on Binance
The top performer on the 24-hour chart is WAX, a delegated proof-of-stake (DPoS) blockchain protocol that claims to offer the “world’s most proven and eco-friendly blockchain for NFTs, video games and collectibles.”
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that after hitting a low of $0.161 on Aug. 19, the price of WAXP surged 242% to an intraday high at $0.55 on Aug. 23 as its 24-hour trading volume rose 21,756% to $2.24 billion.
According to the NewsQuakes™ alert system from Cointelegraph Markets Pro, the sudden spike in price came after Binance announced that it would list WAXP.
Gnosis surges after a partnership announcement
Gnosis, an Ethereum-based decentralized prediction market pushed higher after revealing that the team had joined the ZK Open Legal Working Group to create “legal clarity around the use of ZKPs to unleash their full potential for privacy and scaling applications.”
VORTECS™ data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro began to detect a bullish outlook for GNO on Aug. 19, prior to the recent price rise.
The VORTECS™ Score, exclusive to Cointelegraph, is an algorithmic comparison of historic and current market conditions derived from a combination of data points including market sentiment, trading volume, recent price movements and Twitter activity.
As seen in the chart above, the VORTECS™ Score for GNO has been elevated for some time and reached a high of 78 on Aug. 19, around 6 hours before its price increased by 26% over the next four days.
IOST’s staking competition attracts investors
IOST is a decentralized blockchain network that utilizes a novel consensus protocol called “proof-of-believability” to validate transactions at a higher speed than competing networks.
VORTECS™ data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro began to detect a bullish outlook for IOST on Aug. 22, prior to the recent price rise.
As seen in the chart above, the VORTECS™ Score for IOST began to register green on Aug. 21 and climbed to a high of 72 on Aug. 22, around 8 hours before its price increased by 29%.
Activity for the blockchain has been on the rise thanks to an ongoing staking competition done in conjunction with Moonstake which offers a top prize of 15,500 IOST tokens.
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $2.139 trillion and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 43.5%.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
Record network activity and a second NFT boom send WAX price higher
Just a few days before Bitcoin (BTC) price plunged below $30,000, the NFT sector was dominating headlines for the second time in 2021, led by a month-long 972% surge in the price of Axie Infinity.
Another NFT-focused protocol that has been gaining fundamental strength in recent months is Worldwide Asset eXchange, also known as WAX — a protocol that claims to “deliver the safest and most convenient way to create, buy, sell, and trade virtual items to anyone, anywhere in the world.”
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that between June 27 and July 9, the price of WAX’s WAXP token climbed 70% to a high of $0.151 before the Bitcoin-led sell-off pulled the price to its current value of $0.11.
Three reasons for the rally in WAXP include the growing list of well-known brands launching collectibles on the project’s blockchain, an active network with fast transaction times and its integration to decentralized finance via cross-chain compatibility with the Ethereum (ETH) network.
Popular brands launch NFT projects on WAX
Nostalgia can be a potent source for attracting an audience willing to engage with a product and WAX has managed to capitalize on this by partnering with somewell-known brands in the United States.
Current partners include Atari, Topps, William Shatner and Capcom and a scroll through the project’s Twitter feed shows recent campaigns for Street Fighter V Series 2 cards and special edition Bratz collectibles.
Got an ultra-rare Shimmerin’ vIRL® from the @Bratz collection? Redeem it for an IRL #collectible!
Collectors can NOW trade in their digital #tradingcards for physical dolls. Bratz #WAXPacks are still up for grabs on $WAXP-powered secondary markets.
Details:
— WAX NFT Blockchain (@WAX_io) July 20, 2021
Popular collectibles like baseball cards and Garbage Pail Kids, along with more modern games like Alien Worlds (TLM) offer users a variety of options that help attract a wide audience to the WAX network and this has resulted in an increase in on-chain activity.
WAX boasts the highest activity of any network
A second sign of the growing strength of the WAX network can be found by looking at the 24-hour activity of the top-ranked blockchains, which WAX leads by a wide margin.
Data from Blocktivity shows that the 24-hour activity on WAX is now higher than 17 million operations and more than double that of Stellar (XLM), which is its closest competitor. WAX more than six times the amount of activity on EOS, the creator of the EOSIO software which is utilized by the WAX network.
WAX surpassed 5 million user accounts ! Did you know the WAX blockchain has more users and daily TX than any other blockchain? Top that off with the fact that we are fully CO2-neutral, and it’s safe to say our momentum is off the charts exciting. Thank you for your support! pic.twitter.com/BmO1AAuDag
— WAX NFT Blockchain (@WAX_io) July 19, 2021
Yield opportunities arrive through DeFi and staking
The recent introduction of a cross-chain bridge to the Ethereum network allowed WAX to of yield farming and staking on the protocol, which has been enhanced through the introduction of a cross-chain bridge to the Ethereum network.
The WAX blockchain operates with a delegated proof-of-stake consensus model, meaning the simplest way that token holders can earn a yield on their holdings is by staking WAXP on the network to earn an annualized reward rate of 4.42% according to data from Staking Rewards.
Related: Altcoin Roundup: Data shows social metrics surge ahead of DeFi and NFT price rallies
Token holders can also convert their WAXP into WAXE, a version of the token that can operate on Ethereum and be used to participate in decentralized finance (DeFi) by providing liquidity on decentralized exchanges and yield farms.
Through offering opportunities related to NFTs and DeFi, two of the hottest sectors in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, the WAX network is well-positioned to continue to attract new users and maintain a high level of on-chain activity.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
Nifty News: Earn NFTs watching TV, DAO pays $1M for Aoki and 3LAU track … and more
Blockchain-based streaming service Sator has developed a decentralized app that will enable users to earn NFTs, tokens and “other rewards” by watching TV and playing games.
While details are sparse on the exact amount of rewards users can receive, according to the website, NFTs awarded will be directly tied to amount of shows watched, and time spent engaging with puzzles and TV trivia on the app.
Sator CEO Isla Perfito said the firm has created: “An easy and powerful solution for TV producers to turnkey deliver a unique NFT experience of their shows while viewers are tuned in.”
He added that, “NFTs will bring lots of activity to the platform, a fantastic jumping off point for a user looking to dive in to blockchain technology.”
While it hasn’t been revealed what TV show rights the app is planning to acquire, the company did announced that it recently closed a $2 million seed round which included investment from Faculty Capital, Genesis Block Ventures, Digital Strategies and PetRock Capital.
Jenny from the blockchain
The Jenny DAO has paid $1 million for a one off NFT track produced by DJ’s Steve Aoki and 3LAU.
FIRST NFT FOR #JENNY DAO!
We got an unreleased song called “Jenny”, 1/1 by @steveaoki and @3LAU.
Visual art by @peiterhergert ✨
So excited to be part of Aoki and 3LAU’s first ever collab. #Jenny making history! https://t.co/dbaNHdfHov
— Jenny Metaverse DAO (@JennyMetaverse) May 16, 2021
The one-of-one NFT is a tokenized song named “Jenny” and was commissioned to celebrate the recent launch of the Jenny Metaverse DAO, or Decentralized Autonomous Organization, on Unicly. The NFT contains an unreleased track by Aoki and 3LAU, and is accompanied by visual art from Pieter Hergert.
The NFT was minted on OpenSea by 3LAU, also known as Justin Blau, and then transferred to vault controlled by a smart contract on the Unicly Protocol which enables users to combine, fractionalize and trade their NFT collections.
DAOs are crazy.@steveaoki and @3LAU launching an unreleased song via the @JennyMetaverse DAO
At what stage do DAOs make up the majority of economic activity in the metaverse? https://t.co/K8ZOZMbuHw
— Andrew Steinwold (@AndrewSteinwold) May 17, 2021
The metaverse DAO recently pulled together $7 million to fund NFT acquisition for shared ownership between its governance token holders — with the Aoki and 3LAU NFT being the first choice for its collection after the community voted for it earlier this month.
The organization paif Aoki and 3LAU $499,000 each to produce the track, with the transactions conducted outside of OpenSea to avoid fees.
The NFT is likely to be locked up for some time. According to Jenny, the NFTs stored in the Unicly vault can “only be released if consenting Jenny Token holders reach a certain threshold and instruct the smart contract to unlock the vault.”
Comedian Steve Harvey’s NFTs are no joke
While many celebrities have flocked to NFTs in hope of making a quick buck, comedian Steve Havery appears to have entered the game for more selfless-purposes.
I’m always adapting, learning, and growing. Classic Steve Harvey NFT Dropping TODAY, Friday 5/14 at 12pm est on @rariblecom. I’m donating all proceeds to @thesmhf. Link for more info: https://t.co/GgbDB9JNeR pic.twitter.com/v96MJzDBWQ
— Steve Harvey (@IAmSteveHarvey) May 14, 2021
The comedian dropped a series of NFTs via Rarible on May 14 to raise funds for his non-profit “Steve and Marjorie Harvey Foundation” that provides outreach services for the disadvantaged youth.
The series includes an open edition with 112 minted tokens depicting a GIF from Harvey’s stand up comedy, and a limited edition of three minted tokens depicting an autograph portrait, and a one-of-one edition. The one-of-one is a tokenized GIF that depicts Harvey’s confused reaction to hearing about NFTs for the first time on his TV, and is on auction until May 21.
Bidding has been slow however, the auction started three days ago and the current highest bid is 2.2 Wrapped ETH, or WETH, worth around $6,770.
WAX announces more partnerships for NFT drops
Decentralized entertainment network WAX has announced more partnerships with entertainment brands to release licensed NFTs.
The new partnerships include cult-favorite anime franchise Robotech from Funimation and Harmony Gold, the movie Five Nights at Freddy’s from ScottGames, the Bears vs Babies card game from Exploding Kittens and The Princess Bride movie from Act III.
The new partnerships add to an already impressive list of partners such as Major League Baseball, Capcom, Atari, Reebok and DeadMau5.
In June this year, the cult-favorite collectibles creator Funko Pops partnered up with WAX to drop packs tokenized Funk Pop collectibles.