Tron founder Justin Sun has left his CEO position at the Tron Foundation to get involved in politics. To be more specific, he’s joining the Grenadian Government to serve as Ambassador.
📢@justinsuntron's Open Letter on #TRON's decentralization and Justin's appointment as the Ambassador.
✅The #TRON Foundation has settled to dissolve itself on July 25, 2021 ✅Justin Sun has accepted the appointment as Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Grenada to the @wtohttps://t.co/UbBMgrRkMh
While Sun has left his position as CEO at Tron, he will remain involved with its community now that the Tron network has been officially decentralised.
On July 25, the Tron Foundation settled to dissolve itself, with the three super nodes associated with Sun having been retired from the network. This leaves the 27 Super Representatives (block producers) in charge of the network, which the community will have to choose by next year.
Now Sun is seeking to expand blockchain adoption by governments starting with Grenada, as he obviously thinks the Caribbean island nation is a good starting point.
I have accepted the invitation and appointment of the Grenadian Gov. to officially serve as the Ambassador, Permanent Representative of #Grenada to the World Trade Organization in #Geneva. I will be working in full capacity to represent Grenada’s national interests, to the @WTOhttps://t.co/9Ke37rD7KQ
The TRX currency didn’t react so well after the event, however. The token was down -2.72 percent on the news, and -25.93 in the last month, according to data from Messari. Despite the negative numbers, Sun believes the impact of the Tron community will be positive in the long run, boosting TRX to new heights.
This is not the first time Tron has been in hot water. Previously, Sun was caught shilling the TRX token, trying to get a popular YouTuber and influencer to promote the crypto on his social channels.
Crypto Community in Doubt
The crypto community had a mixed reaction to the news, with some wondering what will happen to the Tron network and others signalling it as “absurd”.
This picture perfectly describes the absurdity of it all
Cryptocurrency scams, particularly rugpulls – when a team behind a project cuts and runs with investors’ funds – have become the main issue for trusting the crypto space, especially for newcomers. Now a recent report from Chainalysis has revealed that crypto scam revenues have risen by 81 percent in 2021.
Crypto Scams Skyrocket in 2021
In 2020, the number of scams dropped considerably compared to 2019, but it appears that new forms of deceiving investors, such as rugpulls, are dramatically increasing, according to Chainalysis’ 2022 Crypto Crime Report.
Crypto scam value by year. Source: Chainalysis
Rugpulls accounted for 37 percent of 2021’s crypto scam revenues. Another factor that propelled scammers to deceive naive investors was the rise of Finiko, a massive Ponzi scheme targeting Russian-speaking countries. Finiko was shut down by authorities and its founders were arrested, but not before investors lost US$1.5 billion worth of crypto.
However, things aren’t as bad as they look, as Chainalysis has found a way to protect users from scams. Cryptocurrency platform Luno partnered with Chainalysis to help the blockchain to identify scammers’ addresses, thus halting users’ transfers before they were processed.
The other good news is that the average scam lifespan has been decreasing compared to previous years, starting from 2013.
Lifespan of scams by year. Source: Chainalysis
The Market is Maturing
Another glimmer from Chainalysis’ report is that the crypto market appears to be maturing, as the relationship between crypto prices and scam activity appears to have ended.
New scams by year and average victim transfer size. Source: Chainalysis
Chainalysis Makes Waves in the DeFi Ecosystem
Chainalysis is one of the most trusted blockchain data platforms in the space. Besides crypto crime reports, the firm also provides an annual Geography of Cryptocurrency report, outlining the fastest-growing crypto adoption rates in countries worldwide.
Six-time NBA champion and basketball legend Michael Jordan is diving into Web3 with a new app called HEIR, designed as a fan engagement platform built on the Solana blockchain.
Connecting Fans to their Favourite Athletes
According to Variety, Jordan is launching HEIR alongside his son, Jeffrey Jordan, together with marketing consultant Daniel George and Jeron Smith, co-founder and CEO of Steph Curry’s media company Unanimous. The firm has raised US$10 million in seed funding from several VC firms including Thrive Capital and Solana Ventures, and it’s expected to be launched in 2022.
HEIR Inc is the firm, and its first product is Heir.app, designed to allow pro athletes from all fields to connect and engage with their fans, especially targeting generation Zs and millennials. As Jeffrey Jordan explained, the Jordan brand has “cultivated a loyal community for over 35 years – the focus now is passing that legacy on to the next generation”.
HEIR is on a mission to define a new era of digital culture where innovators and their supporters are empowered and rewarded through web3.
The app will have its own token minted on Solana, which users can leverage to get exclusive access to athletes’ VIP seats and receive unique first-person NFT drops. Supporters will also have the chance to buy one-time digital assets or join an athletes’ “huddle”.
Solana and Web3
Solana (SOL) has been one of the best-performing DeFi tokens this year. On November 5, Solana’s price surged to almost US$250 following a US$8 million Web3 investment by Syndica, which is building a next-generation blockchain infrastructure for the Solana ecosystem.
However, Solana recently suffered a DDoS attack, which jammed the network and caused huge transaction delays. The token didn’t suffer a huge price drop, but the incident did raise concerns about the security of its consensus algorithm, Proof of History (PoH).
December is the month in which several non-fungible token (NFT) projects are launching, and a lot of them are calling the attention of NFT enthusiasts for their P2E modality, allowing them to earn money while playing and trading some of their favourite tokens.
A few days ago, we compiled a list of 9 interesting NFT projects launching this month; now let’s take a look at some new NFT and metaverse projects launching specifically on the Cardano network.
If you’re curious about the Metaverse and want to learn more about it, you can also check out our top 10 metaverse projects, which include some of the most popular titles such as Decentraland, Axie Infinity, and The Sandbox.
1. MAD Orakel
Mad Orakel screenshot. Source: Dartsnft.co.uk
MAD Orakel is a soon-to-be-released DeFi platform dedicated to darts memorabilia where users can buy, trade and collect their favourite players. It’s currently the market leader in NFT dart cards across the UK. What will be the first sports NFTs payable with fiat currency and ADA, the project is being built on Cardano.
2. Project 2090
Project 2090 integrates a full cyberpunk experience into the Cardano Metaverse.
Project 2090 is a Metaverse and NFT collection of 5555 unique Cyborgs XX, minted onto the Cardano blockchain and created by Deca Labs. The project aims at integrating a full cyberpunk experience into the Cardano Metaverse.
The Cyborg XX is the first series of Project 2090, in which Cardano NFTs serve as the primary avatars for players. Any sci-fi enthusiast keen to mint a Cyborg XX must do so using a Cardano wallet such as Adalite or Nami. Using a Binance or Coinbase wallet will not provide players with the NFT.
3. ADA Headless Samurai
ADA Headless Samurai comes with giveaways and a comic announcement.
ADA Headless Samurai is an NFT project launching on the Cardano blockchain consisting of hand-drawn samurais in the form of NFTs with multiple combinations. The project launches on December 16 with giveaways and a comic announcement.
4. Cardano Village
Cardano Village enables land ownership and home decoration.
Cardano Village is an upcoming metaverse project and NFT collection of unique villages, where every house has different traits. The metaverse consists of a whole continent where users, called Cardanians, can interact with each other and perform various activities, such as land acquisition and home decoration.
5. Clay Mates
Clay Mates are animated figures created by Clay Nation.
Clay Mates is a collection of unique animated NFT figures on the Cardano blockchain, created by Clay Nation. Each Clay Mate will be up for sale this month, announced via its official Discord and Twitter. Clay Mates will be delivered to the user once the adoption days are announced. However, users must order their NFT using ADA from a Cardano wallet, otherwise they won’t receive their Clay Mate.
Clay Mates are divided according to rarity. The average price ranges between 35-75 ADA (US$46-98), and can be traded between players through the ESCROW services in the CNFT (Cardano Non-Fungible Tokens) marketplace.
The owner of a Bored Ape NFT (non-fungible token) has been mistakenly sold for US$3,000 (A$4,212) instead of its intended market price of US$300,000 (A$421,205) in what turned out to be a classic keyboard typo.
Bored Ape #3547 is a highly coveted NFT from the Bored Ape Yacht Club, a famous collection of 10,000 NFTs on the decentralised marketplace OpenSea. The owner goes by the Twitter username Maxnaut.eth, an NFT enthusiast who apparently forgot to put the right price on the auction.
Instead of pricing the NFT for $300,000, he committed a typing error when listing the NFT at OpenSea, misplacing a decimal point in pricing it at 0.75 ETH instead of 75 ETH. An automated account subsequently bought the NFT and put it back on sale for around US$250,000 (A$351,000).
Sometimes you fuck up, make a bad buy, out of gas fail, send Eth to the wrong wallet or fat finger a listing 👀
It's going to happen. But, letting it occupy your mind for even one second after you can no longer affect the outcome is purely hurting yourself twice ❤️
In banking transactions, this kind of error can be remedied but incorrect transactions are irreversible in the blockchain space.
A similar incident occurred on August 31 when the owner of Mutant Ape #5275 sold the NFT for just US$17 (0.0035 ETH at that time), instead of 17 ETH ($54,000). The owner had sent the seller the purchase bid in USDC instead of ETH.
However, the NFT field witnessed its most catastrophic mistake when the owner of CryptoPunk 3860 put up the NFT for sale in the general market instead of creating a whitelist sale, meaning that anybody on the market could see the listing go live and snipe the auction.
And it did. The NFT was bought for less than one cent on August 4 and was quickly flipped for US$136,675.
Crypto exchange AscendEX has lost over US$77 million worth of several high-profile cryptocurrencies, including Ether (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB) and various Polygon tokens, in a breach of its hot wallet.
Three Blockchains Affected
On December 11, AscendEX tweeted about the incident, reporting that it had detected a “number of ERC-20, BSC, and Polygon tokens transferred from our hot wallet”. More than US$77 million worth of various tokens across three blockchains was drained by the hacker(s).
22:00 UTC 12/11, We have detected a number of ERC-20, BSC, and Polygon tokens transferred from our hot wallet. Cold Wallet is NOT affected. Investigation underway. If any user’s funds are affected by the incident, they will be covered completely by AscendEX.
The amount stolen was known after security firm PeckShield conducted research on the incident. According to the firm’s experts, the estimated losses were: US$60 million on Ethereum, $9.2 million on Binance Chain, and $8.5 million on Polygon. Stolen tokens included several stablecoins such as Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC), along with DeFi tokens including Compound (COMP), Aave (AAVE), and the popular memecoin Shiba Inu (SHIB).
We'll continue providing updates to users on resuming deposits and withdrawals. Any impacted users will have their funds 100% covered by @AscendEX_Global .
The event comes shortly after Crypto News Australiareported the US$200 million hack on centralised US crypto exchange BitMart, which suffered one of the biggest security breaches in crypto history on December 4.
Another exchange to have suffered a major security breach is Hong Kong-based platform Bilaxy, which lost US$450 million worth of several ERC-20 tokens in an August incident.
Here’s a list of some of the most interesting NFT (non-fungible token) projects coming out this month. Some are P2E (play-to-earn) with innovative features while others are joining the metaverse frenzy.
1. Meta Legends
Allow your avatar to roam the metaverse in Meta Legends.
Meta Legends is an upcoming NFT collection of 12345 avatars categorised by levels of rarity, and stored as ERC-721 tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. The auction starts on December 11, and the funds will be used to start a number of initiatives, such as building a metaverse called Meta Life, where the community will be able to stack crypto, own property and more.
2. ReforestNation
Grow your own forest and earn carbon credits on ReforestNation.
ReforestNation is a collection of real estate NFTs issued on the Cardano blockchain, where each NFT is a forest plot with its own carbon credit score, allowing users to offset their crypto carbon footprint. By becoming a member of ReforestNation, users gain access to the ecosystem, including the platform’s marketplace, and a personal portfolio that can be managed through the mobile app or website.
The protocol wants to bind the tokens to real-world lands and forests and benefit from them. Every NFT owner has the opportunity to participate in collective decisions on real-life forests and land.
3. Sugar Village
Sugar Village features customised sweet shops.
Sugar Village is a P2E virtual village where users can promote their virtual sweets. To get involved, users have to participate in the initial public sales or buy SHOPs from NFT markets such as OpenSea or Rarible. SHOPs are the customised stores on Sugar Village, which can be prepared to promote the users’ artworks or sold on the aforementioned marketplaces.
4. Inuland
Players can interact with their NFTs in the Inuland Metaverse.
Inuland is multiplayer P2E game where users can collect NFTs in the form of fantasy cosmos creatures known as Inhabited Inues. These creatures can be gathered, bred, and sold in the marketplace.
The community-governed Inuland Metaverse is where users can explore the wide range of more than 170 traits across nine different categories from 10,001 NFTs. By buying the protocol’s native token, INU, players have access to the INULAND P2E game and can earn rewards in the form of INU tokens.
5. Spatial
Spatial is a VR ecosystem accessible by phone.
Spatial is a platform where users can create 3D avatars by taking a selfie with their phones and interacting with other users online while exploring community spaces. The protocol provides a virtual reality ecosystem where anyone can share ideas and visualise them in their own spaces.
6. Property’s
Explore the metaverse and play P2E games in Property’s.
Property’s is an Ethereum-based metaverse hosting 6000 NFTs that users can own in the Property’s metaverse. Besides exploring the metaverse and interacting with other users, players can compete in P2E games or even create their own (and receive) rewards.
Pretty much whatever you do in real life can be done in the Property’s metaverse, from admiring art pieces and purchasing them to attending music festivals and events.
Presale began on December 10, public sale from December 12.
7. World of Norja
Be an orc, a paid mercenary fighter in the World of Norja.
World of Norja is a P2E game where users (orcs) embody mercenaries and embark on a journey in the land of Norja, conquering and exploiting other lands to earn money. Every mercenary is rewarded with $NORJA, the game’s native token. Players receive tokens via airdrop for being part of the army, but they can win more by participating in quests, dungeons, and disputes over territory control. There are 10,000 orcs stored as ERC-721 tokens, each orc unique with equipment and characteristics randomly generated.
8. Lilims
Lilims are an NFT collection of 3,666 hybrid demons with feminine aspects, each of them unique with different traits.
Hybrid feminine demons pose as hand-drawn assets on Lilims.
Lilims will be revealed on December 15, all of them generated via hand-drawn assets. Buying a Lilim is straightforward – simply click the “Mint a Lilim” button to get one. To avoid expensive gas fees, the protocol has chosen the Matic network over Ethereum.
9. Remember
A dedicated commemorative artwork in the Remember metaverse.
Remember is billed as the first commemorative metaverse. Users can craft Memorial Stones, which are dedicated artworks to commemorate the stories of loved ones as NFTs. These also provide users with a key to their personal Memorial Hall, where they can keep, curate and celebrate their memories.
Hardware wallet maker Ledger is launching the Crypto Life card, a debit card that allows its users to spend crypto on goods and services or use it as collateral for cash purchases.
The ‘Crypto Life’ is Set for 2022
The new debit card was announced on December 9 during Op3n, Ledger’s biannual conference, and it’s set to debut in early 2022 for users in the UK, Germany and France, but those in the US will have to wait until the second quarter.
BREAKING: We are launching the Crypto Life card, powered by Ledger – in partnership with @BaanxGroup. You'll be able to manage your crypto life through your @Ledger wallet, convert to fiat at time of purchase, and more. Join the waitlist here: https://t.co/tkRq6oL1gM#LedgerOp3n
The Crypto Life (CL) card will carry out transactions using the Visa network. Users will be able to buy goods and services using the card, which is linked to Ledger Live, the desktop and mobile app that enables users to trade cryptocurrencies.
Funding the card is straightforward – users can top it up from the Ledger live app using a handful of coins such as BTC, ETH, USDT, and more. When it’s time to make a purchase, the funds are instantly converted to the fiat amount. Additionally, users can receive their paycheques using the card account and convert a percentage into BTC or ETH.
Users can also open a line of credit to spend on their card using crypto as collateral with rates going as low as zero percent. However, this feature depends on the region. US citizens won’t be able to take crypto loans due to regulatory issues in the country regarding crypto loans and transactions.
Moving to a Wider Audience
Ledger’s move comes as part of its plans to reach a wider audience. Rather than stick to making hardware wallets, it’s now following in the wake of Coinbase and other crypto companies by providing traditional banking services.
In August, Crypto News Australiareported that Ledger had enabled ETH staking directly form the Ledger Live wallet, thanks to a partnership with Lido, an ETH 2.0 liquid staking platform.
Paying homage to the brand’s roots in music, Pepsi is creating 1,893 unique generative-style NFTs that will go live on the Ethereum blockchain at 12:00 EST, December 10. You may ask why Pepsi would want to mint 1,893 NFTs? Well, it’s to mark the year Pepsi was born.
Pepsi Microphone NFT collection.
Unlike rival Coca Cola’s NFT drop, they will be free for users, other than the cost of gas fees. The NFTs themselves will be randomly generated by an algorithm so that each possesses unique traits. According to Pepsi, they will be “grounded in variations of a microphone visual and inspired by iconic Pepsi flavours including classic blue Pepsi, silver Diet Pepsi, red Pepsi Wild Cherry, black Pepsi Zero Sugar – even fan-favourite Crystal Pepsi and many more”.
Pepsi has always been a brand with a strong heritage in music and pop culture, so it’s only fitting for us to bring that legacy into the new world of NFTs with a ‘mic drop’ of epic proportions … This collectible series of microphones is not only inspired by our history, but also represents the scale and scope of how accessible we see this space becoming in the future.
Todd Kaplan, VP of marketing, Pepsi
How to Get Your Free NFT
Pepsi has put in a place a waitlist process to give everyone an equal chance to participate without blowing up the gas fees. The waitlist opened December 10 at 12:00 EST at micdrop.pepsi.com.
On Tuesday, December 14 at 12:30 EST, consumers who have been waitlist-approved will be able to mint one of 1,843 Pepsi Mic Drop NFTs free of charge (not including ETH gas fees).
Users should also stay tuned as 50 of the remaining NFTs will be held back for initiatives in the near future.
Once a consumer is verified, the token will be minted and directly sent to their wallet.
Shortly after, users will be able to list their NFTs for sale if they so wish on any third-party NFT platform.
Crypto Island is a group of investors that incentivises business, nonprofits and individuals to join its DAO of over 22,000 members. The Crypto Island DAO was born after the success of ConstitutionDAO.
Through crowdfunding, the DAO plans to buy a private island in the Bahamas – Little Whale Cay, 37.6 hectares in the Berry Island group – with a price tag of US$35 million. This would be the first decentralised and community-owned island, with every member of the DAO having membership rights by holding CISLA.
CISLA can be bought only with BNB on PancakeSwap. Members of the DAO will co-own the fully operational private island with its own airstrip. The DAO has already completed all the necessary negotiation and legal works. New investors only need to buy the token to help the DAO reach its US$35 million goal to buy the island.
Benefits of Tokenising Properties
The tokenisation of properties is an emerging real-estate ownership alternative with a wide set of benefits. To name a few, it provides higher liquidity for investors, making it a more accessible market for everyone, along with the benefits of using blockchain technology such as transparency and cheaper transactions.
