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New York Stock Exchange to Release NFTs For Six Stocks

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The New York Stock Exchange, the largest stock exchange in the world, has announced that it will issue NFTs for six stocks recently listed on its platform.

The launch of the NFTs would commemorate the first trades of six publicly-listed companies (Coupang e-commerce company, Roblox online gaming company, DoorDash online food delivery company, Unity video game development firm, Spotify music-streaming service company, and Snakeflake cloud computing-based data warehousing company) on the public stock exchange.

In such a direct listing, shares of the firms are sold directly to the public instead of bringing them through intermediaries.

The NYSE plans to issue six NFTs to commemorate or celebrate the important listing of the six companies (Roblox, DoorDash, Unity, Snowflake, Spotify, and Coupang) in the past, with each NFT representing the exact moment when the six firms became public.

Traditionally, when a firm conducts its Initial Public Offering (IPO), its CEO will strike the first trade bell on the NYSE, thus marking the moment the firm joins the public market.

NYSE President Stacey Cunningham revealed that when a company goes public, the stock exchange processes over 350 billion orders, quotes, and trades messages across its markets on its busiest days. Each message is recorded on the exchange’s digital ledger.

Cunningham stated: “Only one of those messages marks the NYSE First Trade: the exact moment a company became public, creating an opportunity for others to share in their success. The NYSE First Trade NFT memorializes that unique moment in a company’s history.”

Cunningham revealed the exchange may release more NFTs in the near future. She said:

“While we are starting with these six, we know there will be many more NYSE NFTs to come as we continue to welcome new, innovative companies to our community.”

Popularity of NFTs Skyrocketing

The popularity of NFTs has significantly risen this year with the increase of the prices of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ether. The NFT market has experienced rapid growth, with some digital collectibles being sold for millions of dollars.

For example, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey sold the first-ever tweet for over $2.9 billion. Mark Winkelman, the artist popularly recognized as Beeple, sold his NFT (a piece of digital art) at a price of $69 million at Christie’s auction. This makes him among the top three most valuable living artists, the auction house said.

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Ethereum’s Perpetual Swaps Open Interest Hit a Two-Month High

The latest surge in the crypto market has made Ethereum’s perpetual swaps open interest to increase, as disclosed by IntoTheBlock.

The data analytic firm explained:

“Ethereum’s Perpetual Swaps Open Interest just reached the highest number since May 19. As Open interest increases with the price of ETH, it points to more longs being opened. Currently, there are $6.16 billion in open positions.”

It, therefore, shows that Ethereum price is positively correlated with open interest.

Ethereum has been experiencing an uptick in different areas. For instance, its crowd sentiment on Twitter recently hit a two-month high after the second-largest cryptocurrency based on market capitalisation jumped above the $2,400 level.

Furthermore, ETH 2.0 validators topped 200.000. Ethereum 2.0 was launched in December 2020 and sought to transit the current proof-of-work (POW) consensus mechanism to a proof-of-stake (POS) framework.

ETH hourly fees skyrocketed to $2.53 million following the sale of Stoner Cats

Meanwhile, the Ethereum network has been in high demand in the non-fungible token (NFT) sector.

For instance, Stoner Cats, an adult animated short series sold in NFTs, clogged the Ethereum network leading to the loss of more than 344 ETH in gas fees. Moreover, hourly fees surged to $2.53 million.

IntoTheBlock acknowledged:

“With the highly anticipated launch of Stoner Cats, over 10k NFTs were sold with a total value of 3,650 ETH. But what’s impressive was the high demand on the Ethereum blockchain, which resulted in over 344 ETH wasted in gas fees. Ethereum Hourly Fees skyrocketed to $2.53 million.”

On July 27, a total of 10,420 Stoner Cats in the form of NFTs were put up for sale at 0.35 ETH each, and the entire supply was sold out in 35 minutes.

NFTs have been playing a pivotal role in the Ethereum ecosystem. Recently, Coca-Cola revealed the launch of the first-ever NFT collectables to honour International Friendship Day, to be held on July 30.

New KPMG Report Suggests Potentials for Increased Maturation of the Cryptocurrency Space

Big four auditing firm KPMG has released a bi-annual report on digital technology advances dubbed the Pulse of Fintech H1’21. It dedicated a section to blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.

Per the report, the firm unveiled that the total investments into the blockchain world were more than double the record achieved in 2020.

The blockchain ecosystem journey into the year 2021 with increasing aspirations, not just with the possibilities of firms going public, but for these continuations of a bull cycle that was ignited toward the end of 2020.

Amongst the major highlights in the report is the investors’ outlook. The industry’s growth has also notably rubbed off on those who invest in the space as they now do so with an adequate understanding of how the entire terrain functions.

“In H1’21, a significant amount of institutional money flowed into the crypto space, highlighting the broadening of the investor base. Investor awareness and knowledge of the sector is growing, with investors now having a much better understanding not only about crypto assets but also the operational and procedural side of crypto — from custody and storage to storekeeping and the competitiveness and maturity of service providers,” The KPMG report highlighted.

As Bitcoin (BTC) met the public expectation, stirring the global market cap to a high above $2.5 trillion atop an All-Time High (ATH) of $64,500. According to the KPMG report, this growth trend permeated all aspects of the ecosystem, including Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).

The continued maturation of the crypto ecosystem is bound to continue in the second half, as postulated by the auditing firm. Many hurdles, including those bordering on regulations, are also bound to increase in the year’s second half. In all, the report noted that the remaining half of the year would witness a “stronger separation between cryptocurrencies and the use of blockchain technologies.”

WWE Launches John Cena-Inspired NFTs Just in Time for SummerSlam

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), an American integrated media and entertainment company mainly known for professional wrestling, announced the creation of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) inspired by 16-time world champion John Cena.

Scott Zanghellini, WWE senior vice president, stated:

“Summer of Cena will be capped off by a phenomenal main event at SummerSlam as well as an opportunity for the WWE Universe to own unique collectibles inspired by one of the biggest stars in Hollywood today.”

The digital collectables will be dropped just in time for SummerSlam, a professional wrestling pay-per-view event by WWE scheduled to start on August 21. The NFTs will include a 500 limited edition and will be sold along with memorabilia and experiences.

The launch will include a platinum tier auction, which will consist of a one-of-one exclusive NFT. Per the announcement:

“The top bidder for the platinum tier will receive a one-of-a-kind NFT; a once-in-a-lifetime experience for two at WrestleMania 38 in 2022; a personalized WWE Championship Title Belt; and John Cena’s “Dr. of Thuganomics” style chain.”

The booming NFT sector

The NFT sector has experienced an uptick in activities, given that the tokens offered are different from the typical ones because of fungibility.

NFT is a blockchain-based ownership digital asset, and its value is pegged on its uniqueness, given that the tokens are non-divisible and have to be bought in their entirety.

Therefore, these traits create intrinsic value for NFTs because of their limited supply.

Different industries have entered the NFT space. For instance, Coca-Cola recently launched its first-ever NFT collectables to honour International Friendship Day.

On the other hand, the sale of Stoner Cats, an adult animated short series sold in NFTs, clogged the Ethereum (ETH) network making hourly fees surged to $2.53 million. ETH has emerged to be one of the sought-after networks in the NFT sector.

Visa Steps into NFT Craze with CryptoPunk Purchase of $150,000

Visa Inc has become the latest major firm to get in on the NFT craze. The Major US payment company announced on Monday, August 23, that it purchased a “CryptoPunk”, one of the thousands of non-fungible tokens (NFT)-based digital avatars, for almost $150,000 on Ethereum.

Cuy Sheffield, head of the crypto at Visa, talked about the development and said that the key purpose behind Visa’s purchase was to learn more about the rising popularity of the NFT market.

Sheffield stated that Visa thinks that NFTs will play a significant role in the future of commerce, retail, entertainment and social media to help its clients and partners participate, “we need a firsthand understanding of the infrastructure requirements for a global brand to purchase, store, and leverage an NFT,” he added.

Sheffield also mentioned that Visa wanted to show its support for the artists, creators, and collectors developing NFT commerce.

He further stated that CryptoPunks has become a “cultural icon for the crypto community,” saying that Visa wanted to collect an NFT that symbolizes the opportunity and excitement of that particular cultural moment.

Sheffield compared NFTs to the early days of e-commerce, in which small businesses were empowered to sell online and reach customers worldwide. “We can envision a future in which your crypto address becomes as important as your mailing address,” Sheffield said.

NFTs Opportunities for Brands

NFTs have proven to be extremely popular and valuable.

One NFT by US artist Mike Winkelmann, known as Beeple, sold in a JPF file at an online auction for $69.3 million. Jack Dorsey, Twitter and Square CEO, sold the first-ever Tweet as an NFT for $2.9 million and donated the proceeds to charity.

Visa has joined numerous big firms that have been experimenting with NFTs lately. Big brands such as Team GB British Olympic team, the NBA professional basketball league, the South China Morning Post media outlet, Asics sports equipment manufacturing company, and Coca-Cola multinational beverage corporation, have all been experimenting with NFTs as efforts to tap into the growing popularity of virtual worlds and connect with consumers.

Meanwhile, several media publications such as Fortune Magazine, the New York Times, and CNN have sold their NFTs. And consumer goods companies like Taco Bell and Pringles have already issued and sold some of their NFTs as a way to promote their products and brandings to their target audiences.

Most recently, General Mills, a US food company, auctioned 10 digital artworks as NFTs to promote the return of its chocolate-flavoured Dunkaroos, a popular snack brand discontinued in 2012.

Fundraising by Crypto Companies Accounts for $8.2B in Q3

As cryptocurrencies continue gaining steam, crypto companies raised capital worth $8.2 billion in the third quarter of 2021.

Mason Nystrom, a research analyst at MessariCrypto, explained:

“Total Q3 crypto company fundraising surpassed over 300 funding rounds accounting for $8.2 billion dollars.”

Centralized finance (CeFi), whose use cases include earning interest on savings, borrowing money, and spending with a crypto debit card, took the lion’s share with $4.1 billion, followed by infrastructure and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) at $2 billion and $1.4 billion, respectively.

Web 3 and decentralized finance (DeFi) took the fourth and fifth position with $410 million and $342 million, respectively.

This study shows that crypto adoption continues to gain traction as more companies seek to enter this space.

Furthermore, crypto users are upward because Coinbase has emerged as the most sought after iPhone app, surpassing social media applications like TikTok and Instagram. Coinbase is a leading American crypto exchange.

Where is Bitcoin heading?

After surging from lows of $28K to highs of $66,900 in three months, Bitcoin (BTC) has shown how a paradigm shift can be witnessed in this market.

Bitcoin has been correcting since it hit a new all-time high (ATH) of $66,900 on October 20. The leading cryptocurrency has been down 9.13% in the last seven days to hit $60,493, according to CoinMarketCap.

Reportedly, this trend has been triggered by long-term BTC traders taking profits.

Some analysts believe that it might drop to the $57K and $58K levels. Market analyst Michael van de Poppe noted:

“Bitcoin couldn’t break through $63.6K and tests the other side of the range. Might be dropping another time if $61.6K can’t break, and then I’m looking at $58K next.”

On the other hand, crypto trader Joseph Young said:

“Bitcoin is at $59K~$60K but doesn’t feel like a blow off top at all. – Overall leverage is a bit high but not very high – Decent support – Strong fundamental news coming from Asia – Institutional catalysts continue to emerge. Eyes on $57K but not worried yet.”

As crypto adoption continues experiencing an uptick, it remains to be seen how the top cryptocurrency plays out in the short term.

United Nations Showcases NFTs Meant to Foster Climate Change Awareness

The United Nations, through its UN-Habitat program, partnered with Unique Network, Exquisite Workers, and IAAI GLOCHA to take advantage of NFTs to create awareness about the global climate crisis through an initiative called DigitalArt4 Climate.

During the United Nations Climate Change Conference or COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, the UN showcased the results of the NFT art with Philippian digital artist Bricx Martillo Dumas bagging the top spot.

Alexander Mitrovich, the CEO of Unique Network, welcomed this move and said:

“We believe that the future of human expression will be through NFTs, and we are dedicated to showing the whole world how it can unite our disparate communities in the fight to save our planet.”

He added that the DigitalArt4 Climate initiative illustrated the ethos of open data and distributed ledger technologies in taking amicable climate actions.

Empowering digital artists

Given that NFTs are blockchain-based, they create intrinsic value because of their limited supply. The secondary sales of the non-fungible token (NFT) recently has surpassed $10 billion, the NFT sector continues to take the world by storm.

The U.N. expects the initiative to empower activists, designers, and artists to create digital art that would inspire the global populace to take action against the climate crisis. As a result, monetizing their work in unique ways.

Blockchain technology also has been playing a pivotal role in tackling the climate crisis. For instance, Acciona, a leading Spanish renewable energy company, teamed up with Climate Blockchain Initiatives (CBI), a Valencia-based startup, to boost the sale of its carbon offsets using the latter’s blockchain-powered trading platform.

Carbon offsets help reduce climate change by prompting compensations for minimizing carbon dioxide emissions or other greenhouse gases.

Furthermore, the World Economic Forum (WEF) launched a unique proof of concept to track greenhouse gas emissions across the value chain using distributed ledger technology in 2020.

NFT Secondary Sales Surpass $15b amid Monthly Volume Constantly Topping $1b

The non-fungible tokens (NFTs) sector continues to take the world by storm based on the massive growth experienced. For instance, secondary sales surpassed the $15 billion mark.

Mason Nystrom, a research analyst at Messari Crypto, confirmed:

“Over the past year, the NFT landscape emerged from a small ecosystem with a few hundred million in sales volume to a multichain ecosystem amassing billions in capital. The NFT multichain future is emerging with blockchains like Ethereum, Solana, Flow, and Ronin leading the way.”

With NFTs expected to be the revenue model of the Metaverse, the sky seems to be the limit for this sector.

For instance, monthly NFT secondary sales from August have been topping $1 billion, representing a 10 to 20 times surge from the beginning of the year.

Furthermore, OpenSea, a popular marketplace, processed $95 million worth of NFT transactions in two days compared to the cumulative volume of $21 million recorded in the entirety of 2020.

What is NFTs’ catch?

NFTs are blockchain-based ownership digital assets whose value is pegged on their uniqueness, given that the tokens are non-divisible and have to be bought in their entirety.

As a result, these traits create intrinsic value for NFTs because of their limited supply. NFTs are continuously being embraced in different fields based on the value generated.

For instance, the United Nations recently took its climate change awareness quest a notch higher by empowering activists, designers, and artists to create NFTs to inspire the global populace to take action against the climate crisis.

The African Blockchain University also enriched African artists about the value they can harness from the NFT sector. This was expected to generate more wealth creation avenues and bridge the gap between traditional and digital art.

Therefore, NFTs are unravelling a story of wealth, cultural change, and human achievement.

Ethereum's Revenue Hit $9.9B in 2021 as ETH Emerges as the Most Searched Project

Ethereum (ETH) scaled the heights in 2021 by generating revenue to the tune of $9.9 billion, thanks to a couple of use cases on its network.

The second-largest cryptocurrency also closed 2021 on a high with an annual return rate of 399.2%, according to crypto insight provider CoinGecko.

On the other hand, Ethereum’s on-chain volume increased by 36.4% on a year-to-date (YTD) basis, topping 2.14 billion ETH.

Ethereum has emerged as one of the sought-after networks in the booming decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) sectors. This explains why ETH is the most searched project as disclosed by market insight provider Token Terminal.

Taiwanese pop singer and musician Jay Chou recently entered the metaverse NFT market, earning nearly $10 million in the process. He follows in the footsteps of other celebrities like NBA star Stephen Curry and Singaporean singer Lin Junjie who also entered the NFT world by either purchasing or collaborating in NFTs.

Ethereum, together with other networks like Solana, Polkadot, and Cardano, provides smart contracts needed in the DeFi and NFT industries.

Meanwhile, the aggregate stablecoin supply hit $145.8 billion. On-chain analyst Dylan LeClair confirmed:

“The explosive growth of stablecoins in the crypto ecosystem has been fascinating to watch, to say the least. Aggregate stablecoin supply now at $145 billion.”

On the other hand, market analyst Michael van de Poppe believes that Ethereum needs to retest the $3,500, which will trigger a surge above $4,100. He stated:

“A beautiful retest of that region around $3,500, which should be enough for this correction. Clear confirmation = break above $4,100.”

Ethereum was down by 1.2% in the last 24 hours to hit $3,777 during intraday trading, according to CoinGecko.

Nvidia Plans to add Innovation in the Metaverse with Software, Marketplace Deals

Leading American multinational technology company Nvidia Corporation has set its eyes on adding more creativity in the metaverse with various marketplace and software deals.

The company disclosed that it had rolled out plans to offer software to artists and other creators for free needed in developing virtual worlds for the metaverse. Nvidia also acknowledged that it intends to avail a free version of its “Omniverse” software to individual artists for this purpose.

Furthermore, the firm has struck technology deals with different marketplaces, allowing artists to sell their three-dimensional content.

The metaverse continues to gain steam in the modern era because it entails shared virtual worlds where avatars, buildings, land, and even names can be bought and sold, often using cryptocurrencies.

Therefore, these virtual worlds are made more lifelike using technologies like augmented and virtual reality that is heavily dependent on graphics computing availed by companies like Nvidia.

As per the announcement:

“Nvidia is seeking to turn its leading position in supplying the computing hardware for the metaverse into a set of software tools for creating and selling content within virtual worlds, a business opportunity that has helped Nvidia shares more than double in value over the past year.”

In September 2021, William Quigley, the co-founder of stablecoin Tether (USDT), disclosed that non-fungible tokens (NFTs) would become the revenue model of the metaverse.

He added that when reality is combined with digital numbers, unimaginable changes would be produced based on how the world interacts.

Some celebrities are already reaping the dividends of entering the metaverse. Reportedly, Taiwanese pop singer and musician Jay Chou earned nearly $10 million after venturing into the metaverse NFT market.