“I like to call myself a future, or aspiring, cult leader,” Meltem Demirors, chief strategy officer of CoinShares — a publicly listed investment firm managing around $5 billion in assets — told Cointelegraph. Demirors, who first entered the Bitcoin (BTC) space in late 2012, further mentioned that it has been “fun to see how big the crypto sector has become,” noting that people from all walks of life are now interested in the cryptocurrency space. As such, Demirors explained that “crypto cults” are bringing people together in a positive manner, especially since it gives people a sense of purpose and …

Not only is the number of nonfungible token (NFT) collections growing at a phenomenal rate, but so are the NFT marketplaces. Previously, NFT marketplaces were mainly decentralized applications (dApps) on various blockchains, but nowadays, crypto exchanges are also seeing the benefits of having their own NFT marketplace. This includes Coinbase, the exchange with the most users worldwide, which, of course, cannot lag behind the competition. Related: What are DApps? Everything there is to know about decentralized applications The American crypto exchange was founded in 2012 and was initially mainly involved in the buying and selling process of cryptocurrencies. Over the …

On Tuesday, Romania’s National Institute for Research and Development In Informatics, also known as ICI Bucharest (ICI), announced that it would be building an institutional nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace and a decentralized Domain Name System (DNS). Both services will be built on the Elrond blockchain, which is known for its ability to speed up transactions via sharding. ICI was founded in 1970 and is currently the most institution for government-sponsored research in the field of information technology in Romania. It currently supervises the Romanian National Register for Domain Names. As told by Elrond, the initiatives would be the first of …

On Tuesday, OpenSea, the most popular nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, marketplace by trading volume, announced that it was migrating to Seaport. Among many perks, the protocol says it will feature lower gas fees, the ability to make offers on entire collections, removal of new account initialization fees and more user-friendly signature options. As told by OpenSea, users would pay 35% less for gas fees when transacting on Seaport. Based on data from 2021, it would amount to an estimated $460 million (138,000 ETH) in total savings. In addition, the removal of the setup fee would potentially result in $120 million …

“Everything is bigger in Texas” proved to be true during Consensus 2022. The crypto conference took place June 9–12 in Austin, Texas, this year, attracting over 20,000 people from across the globe, despite the 100-degree plus weather. According to the event sponsors, Consensus 2018, which was held at the Hilton Hotel in New York, had previously drawn in almost 9,000 attendees. Caitlin Long, CEO of Custodia — the Wyoming-based digital asset bank — told Cointelegraph that the event this year speaks volumes. “New York has sent a lot of this industry fleeing to places like Austin, Wyoming and Miami. It …

When people began communicating with one another over a wired communication system, the internet, not long ago, it ushered in a revolution in the rate of user acceptance of the technology involved. Users could converse more readily anywhere and anytime when wired technology gave way to mobile technology. For example, smartphones are now bringing a flood of other services to the Metaverse. The Metaverse is a three-dimensional virtual place that works as a metaphor for the real-world . The term “metaverse” is derived from "meta" (beyond) and "universe." In this article, we will discuss the MetaPay project and how to …

Zcash (ZEC), a privacy coin that launched in 2016, unveiled an upgrade to its system on May 31 that will allow users to more easily make private, trustless digital cash payments on mobile phones. Not everyone would view this as a good development. The unfamiliarity, uncertainty and public intrigue surrounding privacy — including its complexity, misuse and speculative activity — presents a number of challenges and reputational issues for innovating crypto projects. While a core tenet and source of pride among crypto projects such as Zcash, privacy has been demonized by those in power, including lawmakers, regulators, banks and academics. …

What is an investment DAO? A decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that raises and invests capital into assets on behalf of its community is an investment DAO. Investment DAOs tap into the power of Web3 to democratize the investment process and make it more inclusive. DAOs can have their units in tokens that are listed on a crypto exchange. The community rules are agreed upon and governance is enforced through smart contracts. Governance rights (voting) can be prorated based on the holdings in the DAO. Related: Types of DAOs and how to create a decentralized autonomous organization A decentralized organization that …

In the wake of the rising popularity of games like Fortnite, Roblox and Minecraft and the concept of the Metaverse, the ability of “avatars” to escape unpleasant realities, or simply have fun, is emphatically relevant. It warrants a discussion on digital citizenship and the “inclusivity” of individuals and their identities in the virtual realm, and it provides new meaning for those with gender dysphoria or who identify as genderqueer. In the real world, there is a known bias against those who do not identify with the sex assigned to them at birth. According to a recent study, approximately 2.7% of …

In modern times of rapid globalization and digitization, technological developments have now reached such proportions that the usage of cryptocurrencies is no new phenomenon. The technology behind blockchain opens the internet for financial services by replacing trust, a fundamental component of the financial system for centuries, with transparency integrated into a decentralized network. Thereby, blockchain bears the potential to help achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by empowering the unbanked, predominantly women, reducing transaction fees as well as creating an alternative source of liquidity. Only 57.7% of adults in Ghana in 2021 had a bank account. Unable to …

The funny thing about many of the absolutely insane things happening in the world today is that from a certain perspective, they actually make perfect sense. Take the famous brands buying metaverse real estate, for example. At first glance, it makes no sense at all. At second glance, assuming the user base of the respective projects grows over time, it’s like buying an ad banner on a website, just at a higher markup. Considering how many headlines you get on the purchase, the purchase becomes quite sensible even if you do nothing with your plot of virtual land. It’s quite …

To put things into perspective, since November 2021, the total market capitalization of the digital asset industry has plummeted from it’s all-time high of $3 trillion to its current levels of approx. $1.27 trillion, thus showcasing a loss ratio of over 55%. While this massive monetary downturn can be attributed to a range of factors, including the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, rising inflation figures and worsening macroeconomic conditions have had a major impact on the crypto job landscape. For example, earlier this month, Gemini, a cryptocurrency exchange helmed by the Winklevoss twins, announced that the bear market had forced them to …