The research unit of Arcane Crypto predicts the Lightning Network will go parabolic as adoption of the Bitcoin (BTC) layer-two payment protocol ramps up over the decade. Arcane Research published the “State of Lightning” report on Tuesday and analyzed the Lightning Network in terms of current capacity, wallet payment volume, the growing rate of adoption, and the switch from online services to everyday usage. The report provides ambitious estimates for the future of the Lighting Network, such as 90% of Salvadorans over the age of 15 having access to Lightning payments by 2026, and 50 million Lightning users, representing $17 …

Artists have been amongst the first to take advantage of leveraging their art online through NFTs, also known as nonfungible tokens. The spectacular Beeple sale of his Everydays: the First 500 Days for $69 million made headlines across the world, quickly followed by huge sales by digital artist Pak, Warhol and even a Jack Dorsey Tweet – okay, it was his first tweet. It wasn’t just artists that crowded online; musicians could see how they might recuperate significantly better fees than are currently offered by Spotify. Kings of Leon launched their eighth album on the blockchain offering a hybrid of …

Facebook’s conglomerate of social applications, including Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and its virtual reality headset Oculus, all suffered a major power outage on Monday, switching the platforms offline for a total of six hours to the effect of billions of users and businesses across the world. The incident was first reported at approximately 3:16 pm UTC on Monday when a surge of complaints emerged from users worldwide claiming that they were unable to access their favorite social networking platforms. A Cloudflare post-analysis of the crisis concluded that Facebook “had stopped announcing the routes to their DNS prefixes,” which meant that the …

Twitter user Lauren Walker tweeted a message claiming she was “stealing” nonfungible tokens (NFT), only to have Crypto Twitter turn around and mint her words into a token listing for thousands of dollars. In a Saturday post on Twitter, Walker mockingly said her current collection of NFTs was valued at more than $8 trillion, given that she claimed she has right-clicked on the images and saved them to her drive. The message ignores the verifiable scarcity underpinning tokenizing images and artwork, but Walker said she had “a real job” and dismissed criticism from the community. i have stolen over 4 …

Dogecoin (DOGE) co-founder Billy Markus has set his sights on nonfungible tokens (NFT) and an Ethereum-to-Dogecoin bridge to help bring about mass adoption of the meme coin. In a Thursday tweet, Markus emphasized the importance of completing the Ethereum–Dogecoin bridge so that the asset could be integrated with top Ethereum-based NFT platforms such as OpenSea, enabling nonfungible purchases with DOGE. Markus said that there is “high demand” to purchase NFTs within the crypto community and that enabling NFT purchases with DOGE “greatly increases its utility.” DOGE being implemented into the NFT ecosystem would be a huge benefit to the community! …

Twitter has unveiled an in-development tool that will enable users to display a verified nonfungible token (NFT) as their profile picture. Mada Aflak, a senior software engineer at Twitter, shared a video demonstrating functionality that allows users to add NFTs to their accounts. Users can simply edit their profile, connect a cryptocurrency wallet, and import their OpenSea collection. Then, they can choose an avatar from their collection of NFT digital art. The profile picture will also be marked with a badge to verify that the image is the genuine article, thereby allowing users to flex their hugely expensive CryptoPunk or …

The floor price of Eternal Beings nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, plunged after affiliated celebrity rapper Lil Uzi Vert deleted his promotional posts about the project. The Solana-based NFT project consists of 11,111 computer-generated alien avatar NFTs that feature similar traits to Lil Uzi Vert, such as hair, tattoos and fashion style. The NFTs were minted at a price of 2.5 SOL, worth roughly $337 at the time of writing. While it is unclear if the popular rapper was on the team behind Eternal Beings or working purely as a paid promoter, the 26-year-old year apparently deleted his promo posts after …

Bitcoin (BTC) hit four-day highs of $45,000 on Sept. 24 as the market digested news that Twitter had enabled BTC tipping. Twitter stock surges 3.8% on Bitcoin news Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD reaching $45,180 on Bitstamp. The largest cryptocurrency had struggled to overcome resistance at $44,000, but the Twitter announcement provided some much-needed bullish momentum. The social network rolled out the first phase of its Lightning Network tipping feature via payments gateway Strike for iOS users Thursday. Other interfaces would soon follow, Strike confirmed, with other tipping partners in the pipeline and set to be …

Bullish optimism is on the rise across the cryptocurrency market on Sept. 23 as prices continue to recover from this week's volatility which was the result of regulatory pressure on the crypto sector, the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on the Fed's interest rate hikes and monetary policy, along with fears that the Evergrande situation would ripple out to impact global financial markets. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that after trading in a range between $43,000 and $44,300 during the early trading hours on Sept. 23, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) spiked above $44,800 in the early …

Social media giant Twitter will be enabling cryptocurrency options to its tipping jar, allowing any user to pay through the platform. In a Thursday blog post, Twitter staff product manager Esther Crawford said the crypto tips feature would be available for all iOS users globally and the platform plans to roll out options for Android in the coming weeks. The crypto option will allow users to link third-party apps, including Cash App, Patreon, Venmo, Chipper, Bandcamp, Razorpay, GoFundMe, PicPay, and Wealthsimple Cash — depending on their region — to their Twitter bios and individual Tweets to receive funds. “We want …

Hip-hop icon Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., also known as Snoop Dogg, has revealed himself to be the pseudonymous nonfungible token (NFT) collector “Cozomo de’ Medici.” While Snoop has not provided further clarification beyond a Sept. 21 tweet unveiling his digital identity, Medici’s NFT wallet is worth roughly $17.6 million, according to DappRadar. Snoop’s collection features a long list of NFTs, including highly sought-after CryptoPunks, Meebits and Art Blocks tokens. Snoop’s CryptoPunks represent most of his portfolio’s monetary value, with the tokens estimated to be worth $13.19 million. The collection includes CryptoPunk #3831, which depicts a green alien wearing a mask …

Amid all the recent price volatility seen by Bitcoin (BTC) and the rest of the crypto market, news of social media behemoth Twitter reportedly getting ready to enable Bitcoin tipping for content creators went relatively unnoticed. Reports suggest that the latest Twitter iOS beta is being devised in a way that will help BTC become part of the company’s upcoming Tip Jar module. If implemented, the move could have a substantial impact on the global crypto landscape, as it might instill the confidence necessary for other companies operating within the social media space to follow suit. Merrick Theobald, vice president …