Avalanche (AVAX) has managed to rally its price up by 80 percent after last month’s lows. AVAX’s recovery now extends into its third week, mainly due to similar upside movement across the top crypto assets.
AVAX, a layer-1 smart contract platform built by Ava Labs, is a proprietary proof-of-stake blockchain that is Ethereum-compatible and allows developers to build and deploy dApps on the platform. On February 3, it rallied almost 16 percent to reach US$96.50, its best performance since January 14.
The massive single-day growth has been attributed as part of a recovery that began in earnest on January 22 after Avalanche’s token AVAX hit a low of US$53. Extrapolating from this data, AVAX’s net rebound has totalled more than 80 percent.
Big Thaw for ‘Crypto Winter’
Since the beginning of 2022, crypto markets have plummeted as investors assessed the US Federal Reserve’s monetary tightening prospect. AVAX, like many other coins, had lost 65 percent in value in what is now being termed as a potential “crypto winter”, after reaching a record high price of above US$150 in November.
However, the market has recovered almost half its losses after bottoming out in late January, pushing projects such as AVAX to recover. Added to this, AVAX’s price also rose as Avalanche – as a standalone blockchain project – reported massive network growth at 2021’s close.
Avalanche saw a rise in the number of its daily active addresses to 70,000 per day in Q4 2021 versus 10,000 per day in Q3. AVAX has also ascended the blockchain leaderboard as billions of dollars of investor capital return to the project and it sees a 714 percent rise in the TVL (total value locked). AVAX now has US$10.48 billion in TVL, giving it the fastest growth among its competitors within the layer-1 and layer-2 categories – after the arrival of leading Ethereum protocols Aave and Curve into its ecosystem.
According to three anonymous insiders, BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has plans afoot to launch a crypto trading service to its investor clients.
BlackRock is planning to offer crypto trading to clients.
Eventually every Wall Street firm will capitulate or they will be left behind.
Unsurprisingly, the Wall Street titan is no stranger to the world of crypto. For starters, BlackRock owns 16.3 percent of MicroStrategy, whose current Bitcoin exposure is north of US$5 billion.
And then last year it started “dabbling” in Bitcoin futures and, most recently, it filed for a blockchain ETF (exchange traded fund), which purports to track the performance of companies exposed to blockchain technology within the US and abroad.
But it doesn’t end there – BlackRock is also seemingly building up internal blockchain development capacities, based on a recent job posting for its wealth management platform, Aladdin.
Crypto Trading Offering
While BlackRock has declined to comment, it has been suggested that it intends to offer its clients leveraged crypto trading through Aladdin. In other words, clients (such as pension funds and hedge funds) would be allowed to trade using borrowed funds after posting crypto as collateral.
The move is somewhat anticipated, given the perpetual growth in institutional adoption within the space. This was seemingly confirmed by one insider who referred to an internal crypto working group of approximately 20, saying: “They see all the flow that everyone else is getting and want to start making some money from this.”
Another with knowledge of the matter, commented that BlackRock was “looking to get hands-on with outright crypto” and “looking at providers in the space”. Interpret this as you will, but the subtext appears to be that BlackRock is on the acquisition trail hoping to reel in crypto native companies.
Zooming out and focusing on macro trends, it’s been a big week for crypto, and Twitter knows it:
BREAKING:
Wall Street is coming towards the markets, as BlackRock is planning to offer #crypto trading to clients.
Institutions are coming. Countries are regulating.
The Sovereign Yidindji Nation, an indigenous micronation located in the Australian rainforest region of far north Queensland, has created history in launching its own digital currency.
The micronation’s self-proclaimed financial technology minister, Murrumu of Walubara (see YouTube video, above), formed the Sovereign Yidindji Nation (SYN) in 2014 after renouncing his Australian citizenship. Now also the territory’s minister for foreign affairs and trade, renewable energy and communications and broadband, Murrumu this week announced the launch of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), making SYN the first indigenous nation on the Australian continent to become fully digitised.
Murrumu of Walubara. Source: sbs.com.au
Murrumu describes the so-called Sovereign Yidindji Dollar as a significant step in building the nation. “It was too expensive to mint coins and to print physical notes,” he explains. “It just didn’t make sense because it’s cheaper and better for the environment to go down the digital currency road.
We actually create the money in accord with our laws and that is then minted and verified on a digital platform, so we’re not just printing money out of thin air.
Murrumu of Walubara, Yidindji minister for financial technology, foreign affairs and trade, renewable energy and communications and broadband
Four Pillars of the Yidindji CBDC
The Yidindji CBDC has four distinctive features that differentiate it from others already established, such as the Sand Dollar in the Bahamas and Nigeria’s eNaira:
It is the first CBDC issued using the MetaMUI CBDC platform.
It has been issued exclusively in digital currency, without the need for paper bills.
It incorporates a payment system connected with MetaMUI’s service set identifier system, which can be used in all retail stores and government offices. Payments can be processed without using the dedicated network, there are no transaction fees, sales settlements are immediate, and cross-border payments can be made without using credit cards.
It is a convertible currency whose collateral assets are gold, silver, and other minerals and natural resources, such as green and blue carbon. Money issuance, backed by a digital certificate, is also backed with collateral assets.
MetaMUI combines the concept of a self-sovereign identity and a decentralised blockchain, thus safeguarding users’ privacy and avoiding centralised censorship and the abuse of private information.
Nation Already Using MetaMUI Identity System
The Sovereign Yidindji Government (SYG) has already built a national identity system using MetaMUI’s technology, meaning all Yidindji citizens, companies and organisations can create their own digital identities, own digital assets and make payments with the Yidindji Dollar.
The SYG has 17 ministers and 22 ministries, and plans to be the first government to become fully digitised. For the 40 SYN citizens with the digital identification app on their phones, using the new CBDC is simple. “Basically you can pay through a QR code,” Murrumu says.
The ultimate goal for Murrumu and the SYN is a treaty with the Australian Commonwealth. When that happens, Murrumu says, it will “enable our money to cross borders into the Australian system and vice versa”.
In a tweet, Wormhole confirmed that the bridge was down while the team investigated a potential exploit. The bridge’s official website simply reads: “Portal is temporarily unavailable”.
The hack was identified when on-chain analysts called attention to an 80,000 ETH transaction from Wormhole to an address currently also in possession of over US$250 million worth of ETH. According to the developer, the hacker also kept 40,000 ETH on Solana, where they have been selling for other assets.
In a tweet, prominent pseudonymous Paradigm security researcher “samczsun” confirmed that the Wormhole team had offered the hacker(s) a bounty for returning the stolen funds:
The exploit has caused alarm in DeFi circles because it means Ethereum that has been bridged to Solana may be unbacked. Cross-blockchain bridges often take assets, such as Ethereum, and lock them in a contract to issue a parallel asset on the bridge’s chain.
Virtual sporting company Raramuri is hosting the world’s first-ever marathon in the metaverse, where participants can earn digital rewards for running in real life (IRL). The event will take place on June 2, with this year’s annual Global Running Day to be built on the KardiaChain blockchain in what the company is calling its first “run-to-earn event”.
Screenshot of Raramuri marathon in action. Source: Raramuri
Metaverse Marathon Mashup
The in-browser event will host 500 registered participants who will run 26.2 miles (42km) IRL and will be traced using their mobile phones or watches. The race data will correspond to an avatar progressing through Raramuri’s virtual course.
According to Raramuri’s website:
The Metaverse Marathon, the first hybrid race of its kind, allows you to focus on what you love and do best in the physical world: RUNNING, while greatly enhancing your experience with the shared metaverse.
The company added that physical marathons hold so many logistical boxes to check that they are currently not accessible to a lot of people. The aim of this race is to bring people from around the world together to run in their home towns, all connected by their course.
The race will be coordinated in such a way that spectators can line the virtual course’s track and support their favourite runners by emoting a thumbs up or sending NFTs (non-fungible tokens) to their wallets as they run by in a watch-to-earn incentive model. Whenever a runner passes a competitor, their phone will buzz. Participants are also encouraged to dress their avatars in costumes showcasing their style, cause or inspiration to make the race more theatrical and interesting.
The metaverse has opened up a world of opportunities, but one Twitter user questioned why participating in a marathon would be the first thing to do:
You can do anything in the metaverse and you choose a run
The project’s backend is built on the KardiaChain blockchain. Runners who complete the marathon will be rewarded with a digital asset – an NFT to commemorate their experience, which will feature their race times and grant them early access to future marathon registrations. Participants will own their NFTs and have their race information permanently recorded on the blockchain.
More and More Events to Take Place in the Metaverse
As the metaverse continues to expand and more companies move into the space, various projects have embraced the innovative platform as a means of hosting. A new project called Animal Concerts is building a virtual touring company to host virtual live music events in the metaverse.
The Ethereum network’s hashrate has been on a steady incline since its inception but has now reached a significant milestone of 1PH/s and went on to break its previous all-time high, reaching 1.11 PH/s nearing the move to Proof-of-Stake (PoS).
During the past year, usage of the Ethereum network has increased significantly with many projects opting to build on the largest smart contract-enabled blockchain. According to recent data from on-chain market analytics platform Glassnode, Ethereum has pushed a new peak for its hashrate:
The hashrate of any Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism specifies an estimate of how many hashes are being generated by miners trying to solve blocks. The increase in hashrate shows more computers adding power to the network, thus increasing security and decentralisation of the network.
Due to the increase in value on Ethereum, it even flipped Bitcoin (BTC) at one stage in terms of returns, making it more profitable to mine. So much so that more potential miners jumped on the mining cart to urge the increase of the hashrate.
ETH Flips BTC Hashrate
As of late December, Ethereum overtook Bitcoin (BTC) with its improved hashrate. However, the network is scheduled to move to PoS, which will affect miners. Referred to as “the difficulty bomb”, it will essentially shut down ETH mining in the future.
As previously reported, the Ethereum Foundation has decided to change the name of ETH2 to ‘Consensus layer’ and adjust all associated terminology in order to improve clarity for new users and reduce scams.
There have also been pointers to what Ethereum plans to do with the miners, instead of just shutting them all down and asking them to go away. Ethereum has been achieving some major milestones, among them managing to capture US$10 billion in transaction fees in 2021.
The Picasso family plans to auction off more than 1,000 digital copies of a never-before-seen ceramic work by the Spanish artist, with the collection divided into multiple drops from January 28.
Marina and Florian Picasso with Pablo’s prized ceramic work. Source: bloomberg.com
The first collection consists of five limited sets of 200 NFTs entitled “Visage de Couleur” and will be sold via the family’s own marketplace, “ManAndTheBeat.com”, before the final collection of 10, titled “Visage de Lumière”, is released via Nifty Gateway.
The collection released by the family will be further commemorated by Florian’s new song Tomorrow, which also features soul singer John Legend and rapper Nas, set for release on February 4. Marina will extend the NFT drop into March by partnering with an auction house for the sale of a one-of-one NFT paired with an exclusive piece from her private collection.
A portion of the proceeds from Picasso’s family NFT project will be donated to Nurse Heroes – a charity devoted to keeping nurses in the workforce – as well as Carbon180, a climate-focused NFO.
NFTs and Fine Arts Mesh
Blockchain and art enthusiasts are continually able to enjoy the two worlds come together. Last year, Australian multimedia artist Dave Court became the first in his field to stage a physical NFT exhibition. Court decked out an ordinary brick house in colours and light as part of a unique art installation. The house has since been demolished, but collectors can still purchase a digital piece of it online.
Blockscan, the team behind the Etherscan blockchain explorer, has released Blockscan Chat in beta, an Ethereum-based wallet-to-wallet instant messaging service.
🚨 ethereum instant messenger!!🚨
blockscan app, by @etherscan folks let’s u: ⁃instant chat bw wallets -use multi device login ⁃block addresses ⁃notifications
As well as enabling users to engage in instantaneous wallet-to-wallet chat, Blockscan will allow them to:
access chats from multiple devices;
block spam or unwanted addresses; and
be notified on the block explorer when a message has been received.
Negotiating Power with White-Hat Hackers
Above all else, the new feature may prove itself invaluable for dealing with white-hat hackers, who tend to leave messages embedded in Ethereum transactions in order to communicate with individuals and exploited crypto platforms.
It would have proved particularly useful in last week’s ongoing Multichain exploit, in which an assumed white-hat hacker returned 322 ETH (about US$770,000) but kept a hefty finder’s fee, not to mention last year’s US$610 million Poly Network hack. In both cases, anonymous discussions via Ethereum transactions formed part of negotiations between culprit and victims.
Blockscan Also Has NFT Applications
Apart from pleading with hackers to return funds for a bounty, the service could also prove useful in negotiating NFT purchases between buyers and sellers. If the transaction were to be conducted by a decentralised exchange, both parties could reduce the fees associated with NFT platforms such as OpenSea.
wow .. .. No we can chat to make a good deal for certain NFTs holders without diving into Discord, Twitter, Telegram.
In related news, Unstoppable Domains – a US-based company that provides blockchain-based domain names – announced a fortnight ago that Ethereum and Polygon NFT domains can now be used for single logins. The service allows users to sign in to their favourite apps with an NFT portable name, thus eliminating the need to provide any additional information.
Litherium follows the giant step of Elon Musk’s new energy strategies in Western Australia
Litherium Australia Mining is a professional mineral exploration and mining broker service company headquartered in Western Australia that seeks new energy-related mineral resources for global mining developers. In 2021, with the support of SMK Partners & Associate, the group issued the Litherium token (LITH).
Litherium Australia Mining successfully acquired a strategically important nickel sulphide mine on January 8, 2022. The new tenement (E69/3371) is located in Rawlinna, Western Australia’s southern region, near the Kalgoorlie main mining site, and is also one of the mining belts in which Nickel West, a subsidiary of BHP Billiton, is located.
Source: Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety
Australia has the world’s largest nickel reserves (24%), estimated to be 19 million tonnes. Western Australia is currently Australia’s sole nickel producer. The state’s nickel resources include nickel sulphide ore and laterite nickel ore, and most of the output comes from nickel sulphide ore.
The first major nickel sulphide deposit in Western Australia was discovered at Kambalda, just 400 kilometres from the newly acquired tenements, by Litherium Australia Mining. Litherium Australia Mining laid out nickel sulphide mines on new mining rights as early as 2015. The group’s foresight of energy development trends enables it to quickly grasp the general trend of new energy development and aid in the development of new energy in Western Australia.
Credit: news.com.au
The new tenement is located near the large Kalgoorlie exploration area, which is home to world energy tycoons such as BHP, Rio Tinto, and Fortescue Metals Group (FMG).
BHP began acquiring a large number of mineral rights in this area in 2019 and vigorously deployed nickel ore energy reserves.
With the implementation of the global decarbonisation concept, low-carbon and environmentally friendly new energy vehicles have gradually gained prominence, and market demand for lithium batteries used in automobiles has risen tremendously. According to the Deloitte research report, global lithium battery market demand is expected to reach 122.3 billion watt-hours in 2025. The price of lithium battery raw materials continues to rise, the lithium battery sector is growing rapidly, and the development of new energy is unstoppable, with nickel sulphide as the primary raw material ushering in a new era. Nickel is an indispensable raw material in the manufacture of ternary lithium batteries.
In general, the higher the nickel content, the higher the energy density of the battery cell, thereby improving the cruising range of electric vehicles. Nickel resources are relatively scarce when compared to lithium. It is also a hot spot for new energy companies to improve their layout and competition.
Tesla, a world-renowned sustainable energy company, has urged global nickel miners to increase their mining volumes, according to Reuters.
Litherium Australia Mining Pty Ltd’s E69/3371 is surrounded by BHP NICKEL WEST PTY LTD’s sites (Source: Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety)
Reuters also quoted sources as saying that Tesla could finance the project, possibly in exchange for equity. All of the above show Tesla’s favour and desire for high-nickel battery materials.
Since then, Tesla has signed major contracts for nickel ore with many mining companies around the world, such as Prony Resources, Giga Metals, Talon Metals, etc.
Mr Xiao (executive director of Litherium Australia Mining Pty Ltd) announced on 2022 Metaverse Forum
On July 22, 2021, Tesla and BHP signed a nickel supply agreement. Nickel West, a subsidiary of BHP, supplies Tesla with nickel as a raw material for battery manufacturing. Tesla is a globally recognised manufacturer of electric vehicles and battery energy storage systems. This cooperation is also a recognition of the nickel ore reserves and ore quality in the Western Australia mining area.
Elon Musk has also said that Tesla expects global sales to reach 20 million vehicles by 2030, and is confident of maintaining a growth rate of at least 50% in deliveries. If this target is prepared, Tesla may also need to purchase more nickel to meet its battery production.
In addition to Tesla, LG Energy, a leading Korean battery company, has long cooperated with Australia’s nickel-cobalt smelting company to ensure continuous nickel supply for the next 10 years.
As BHP Chief Commercial Officer Vandita Pant said: “It is estimated that demand for nickel in battery manufacturing will grow more than fivefold over the next decade, primarily to support the world’s growing electric vehicle market.”
Litherium Australia Mining successfully completed the acquisition and transfer of nickel ore mining rights this time, which will provide support for the development of new energy and low-carbon environmental protection, boost market confidence, and lay a good foundation for the company’s long-term business development.
It is reported that in the next stage, Litherium Australia Mining will conduct exploration on this new tenement and determine the drilling target area for preliminary exploration through detailed geological mapping, ground magnetic surveys and gravity measurements.
Litherium Australia Mining first disclosed the tenement layout at the 2022 Metaverse Forum and joins the exploration of nickel mining over the next four years
The 2022 Metaverse Forum was divided into English and Chinese sessions, and held in Crown Perth. Amid the Covid pandemic, more than 120 guests from various fields – including business brokers, financial planners, legal advisers and the local crypto community – came to the venue to experience the charm of the Metaverse. At the same time there was a live webcast, and more than 10,000 users around the world participated.
In the English session in the morning, Mr Keith, Meta brand ambassador of Facebook’s Asia-Pacific region, introduced the development of the Internet since Web 2.0 to the guests and explained the use of blockchain technology and metaverse technology in music and gaming. Applications in finance and other fields showed how international companies such as Meta, Google, Microsoft, etc are deploying the metaverse. The audience also actively participated, and the atmosphere was relaxed and pleasant.
Dr Cheng, Project Director and Senior Partner of SMK Partners & Associate, also addressed the guests. It is understood that the company, under the banner of Meta-Fintech, uses the end of the blockchain as a basic framework to help companies solve their problems. Last year, SMK Partners & Associate assisted Litherium Australia Mining to issue the LITH token. This year, SMK Group also assisted an art organisation to launch Goggles NFT Marketplace, an NFT digital trading platform, to help companies that are keen on electronic arts and chain games to realise their entrepreneurial dreams.
Dr Cheng interacted with both online and offline audiences, answering questions about the metaverse, mining development, cryptocurrency, and so on. His speech and lively conversations often prompted the audience to burst into applause and laughter.
Dr Cheng, Project Director of SMK team, interacts with the audience
Mr Tony, IT Director of the SMK Team, took the lead with his opening speech. From a technical point of view, he introduced blockchain technology to the audience and how its “unforgeable, traceable, open and transparent” feature can effectively prevent fraud and data tampering, greatly improving the security of transactions.
Mr Xiao Ziqiang, Executive Director of Litherium Australia Mining Pty Ltd, described how the group obtained a nickel tenement in the Nickel West mining belt of BHP with the help of SMK Group, and how to use smart contracts. He also explained the “decentralisation, transparency, and efficiency” advantages of blockchain technology combined with mining exploration, and demonstrated the strategic strategy of Litherium Australia Mining to deploy new energy and new materials such as lithium mines and nickel mines in Western Australia. The plan has created a model that perfectly combines mining entities and blockchain technology.
Ethereum developers have moved away from old terminology and opted to phase out the terms ‘ETH1’ and ‘ETH2’ and pretty much everything related to them in what the foundation calls “the Great ETH2 Renaming“.
Ethereum.org is shifting much of its fundamental terminology to reflect the integration of ETH1 – the existing Proof-of-Work (PoW) chain – which will now be called the “Execution layer”, to ETH2 – the new Proof-of-Stake (PoS) chain – now known as the “Consensus layer”, making the chain greener and faster.
In late 2020, Ethereum Foundation developer and researcher Danny Ryan showed how ETH1 and ETH2 are layers in the Ethereum stack, and how they can work together to make the migration to PoS faster.
The bottom line is that the execution layer will act as an engine where all the smart contracts and network rules reside, driving user interaction, while the consensus layer ensures all the devices contributing to the network are acting in line with the rules. This means that Ethereum can move to PoS without having to abandon the current network. In essence, ETH1 (Execution layer) + ETH2 (Consensus layer) = Ethereum.
However, no changes will be made to the roadmap, with Proof-of-Stake and sharding still in the pipeline for 2022/2023.
Ethereum upgrade path. Source: Ethereum Foundation
Reasons for the Rebranding
According to the announcement, in late 2021 developers stopped using the ETH1 and ETH2 terms to address possible confusion for users. One of the major problems was that the previous terminology showed a continuum of iterations rather than stacks working together. Thus the foundation has decided it wants to “be understood by the broadest audience possible”:
By removing ETH2 terminology, we save all future users from navigating this confusing mental model.
Ethereum.org
Additionally, this also helps in scam prevention since some swindlers would try to use the ETH2 misnomer to scam users by having them swap their ETH for ‘ETH2’ tokens.
