🏃 race to the top
NFT marketplace wars heat up, Elon extends support for Doge, Planetarium Labs raises Series A and more.
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Crypto Market Update 📈
The global cryptocurrency market cap stood at $865.92B, falling 4.44% over the last 24 hours. The total crypto market volume rose 17.74% to $54.03 billion during the same period.
Bitcoin (BTC): $20,490.63 (+1.80%)
Ethereum (ETH): $1,182.76 (+3.81%)
Tether (USDT) : $0.99 (+0.02%)
Binance Coin (BNB): $237.18 (-0.14%)
Top Stories 📰
1. Caution: NFT marketplace wars ahead
The NFT market is undergoing a dramatic change amid the crypto winter. And now, it seems that marketplaces operating in the industry are nearing a major clash.
According to DappRadar's new industry report, recent acquisitions in the NFT space could lead to potential marketplace wars. The report cited the aggressive expansion efforts by NFT platforms to include aggregation tools, which helps them accumulate NFT offers from various trading platforms without incurring high gas fees.
In particular, it talked about Uniswap's acquisition of Genie and OpenSea's purchase of Gem and its subsequent launch of Seaport—an open-source protocol that enables trading multiple NFTs at a time.
While both marketplaces are well-established within the crypto industry, they face intense competition from new firms entering the market, for instance, eBay, which recently purchased NFT marketplace KnownOrigin to expand its Web3 capabilities.
But that's not all. To maintain its current 75% marketplace dominance, OpenSea competes with several NFT platforms emerging across blockchains, especially Solana-based NFT marketplace Magic Eden.
Two months ago, Magic Eden surpassed OpenSea in daily transactions after the launch of the Okay Bears NFT collection. In the last 30 days, Magic Eden reported 14.1 million transactions, while OpenSea had only 929,000.
Why it matters? Despite a major pullback in USD values, the trade count and trade volume in ETH largely remained unaffected. As a result, many investors considered it to be a bullish indicator and continued to double down on the industry regardless of the falling prices.
2. The Boring Company will now accept Dogecoin
The Boring Company, a tunnel construction firm founded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, will now allow passengers to pay for using the Vegas Loop system with Dogecoin.
The payment option surfaced on Friday when the company opened its first Loop station outside the Las Vegas Convention Center.
While the company didn't announce the new payment method, Elon Musk responded to a tweet regarding the news.
The new Loop station, which already has three different stations, is situated beneath Resorts World Las Vegas—the first of more than 55 stops planned for the entire Las Vegas Strip. The company's 29-mile tunnel network plan first received approval from Clark County Commissioners last year.
For now, rides are free on Loop. But the company plans to charge $1.50 for a single ride and $2.50 for a day pass—way cheaper than public transportation services like DART and MARTA. Passengers can either scan the QR code at the Resorts World station and pay using Dogecoin or can make payments using cash or credit cards.
Shortly after, one Twitter user showed what the whole process looks like:
The announcement marks the latest integration by Musk of the popular meme coin. Previously, Musk accepted Dogecoin for purchasing Tesla merchandise and extended the payment option for his space company, SpaceX.
Why it matters? Ever since his first SNL appearance, Musk has consistently championed Dogecoin. At one point, his influence was so strong that the popular memecoin soared from 7 to 73 cents. While one might be dissuaded given the cryptocurrency’s falling prices amid the recent crypto market crash, Musk still remains optimistic about its future.
Deal Street 🤑
The world's first crypto water token is here
Over 2 billion of the global population live in water-scarce conditions. That number is estimated to rise by 50% in 2030. Moreover, the global funding gap for water infrastructure projects is projected to exceed $18 trillion during the same period. To tackle this issue, South African infrastructure firm H2O Water Securities has raised $150 million from GEM Digital to launch the first-ever crypto water token. Called the Water Network H20N, the project aims to incentivize H20 Water Network users through the H20N water token by allowing them to earn participation-based rewards. GEM Digital will hold the token and allocate the water delivery infrastructure to areas that lack access to fresh water. The token will be listed on crypto exchange BitMart on Monday and will be available on secondary markets by Thursday.
Planetarium Labs nets $32M in Series A
Planetarium Labs, a Singapore-based Web3 gaming technology firm, has raised a $32 million Series A funding round led by Animoca Brands. As part of the deal, Animoca Brands will also receive a board seat. Other investors include Samsung Next, Krust Universe, Kakao's investment arm, and WeMade. Founded in 2018, Planetarium Labs provides "A-Z tools" for building decentralized games and services such as incubation, technology, and publishing support to web3 gaming studios. The company is building a gaming ecosystem based on Libplanet, blockchain-based technology already home to Nine Chronicles—its open-source online RPG with over 300,000 users. The fresh funding will go toward hiring staff and expanding its network for supporting tools like gaming and player governance.
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