Categories
Crime Crypto Art Crypto News NFTs Scams

Adobe Photoshop to Add ‘Prepare as NFT’ Feature to Help Verify Art Authenticity

An unfortunate side-effect of the booming non-fungible token (NFT) market is that scammers are grabbing the opportunity to exploit it. In an effort to combat NFT art theft, Adobe will soon launch a “prepare as NFT” option to its Photoshop software.

Adobe’s Content Credential is a system built into Photoshop that can assist in proving that the person selling an NFT is the one who made it. The system will allow NFT sellers to link the Adobe ID with their crypto wallets, thereby allowing compatible NFT marketplaces to show a verification certificate to prove the art is authentic.

Fighting Theft in an Exploitable Market

Art theft has become rife in the NFT industry, chiefly because anybody can mint an NFT – even if they don’t own the content’s copyright. As it stands, there is not much the blockchain can do to stop this. Earlier this month, a 17-year-old 3D artist promised to deliver 8,000 NFT artworks but disappeared with US$500,000, leaving investors with the rug pulled right out from under them.

To help prevent similar events, Adobe’s authentication system is designed to counter an otherwise highly exploitable market. Scott Belsky, Adobe’s chief product officer, revealed in a recent Megaphone interview that the new feature will preview by the end of October.

The Content Credential attribution data will live on an InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), a decentralised method of hosting files where a network of people, rather than a single company or entity, is responsible for safeguarding data and making it available.

According to Adobe, NFT marketplaces such as Rarible, OpenSea, KnownOrigin and SuperRare will be able to integrate with its attribution data system.

To further enhance NFT copyright security, Crypto News Australia recently published a guide to the best 10 NFT websites to buy digital collectibles.

This system doesn’t make it harder to mint an NFT of media you don’t own the rights to, but it could make that NFT less attractive to the market.

Scott Belsky, chief product officer, Adobe

While Adobe concedes that it is still possible to click on an existing image of an NFT and mint it again, and that this may still fool buyers, it says its new system at least provides a means to prove that if you are selling an NFT, it is not stolen.

Twitter Gets on the Verification Train

Twitter recently announced it would be rolling out Bitcoin Tips, but is also looking into plans to integrate NFTs into its workings. The social media giant has said that it intends to “explore NFTs for authentication”.

According to Twitter executive Esther Crawford, “it’s a way to support creators making this art with a stamp to demonstrate authenticity”, and that “by allowing people to connect their bitcoin wallets, they can track and showcase their NFT ownership on Twitter”.

Categories
Blockchain Crypto News Markets NFTs Privacy

Privacy-Centric DeFi Token Secret Soars 90% Amid OpenSea Partnership

The Secret Network has partnered with leading NFT marketplace OpenSea to launch Secret NFTs with a “secret world-renowned artist”, spurring the project’s decentralised finance (DeFi) token up 90 per cent.

According to Secret Network’s official website, the project is “the first blockchain with data privacy by default”, with the aim of protecting users and securing applications for Web3. The blockchain recently announced its new production house called Iconic, a platform for artists, developers and other creatives to create the first NFTs with built-in privacy and access controls.

The initial launch of the partnership will be celebrated by having a world-renowned artist and creator – whose identity remains ‘secret’ for now – auction seven unique NFTs as part of a single collection in November. Interested parties can register for whitelist consideration for these Secret NFTs here.

The initial auction will be followed by a second, larger auction that will be open to the general audience to purchase and mint their new Secret NFTs.

Guy Zyskind, founder and CEO of Enigma, the core developers behind Secret Network, stated that a great deal of time had been spent preparing for this “hero event”. OpenSea evidently shared his enthusiasm:

OpenSea is excited to partner with Secret NFTs to help artists provide a multi-tiered experience for their collectors […] Private NFTs offer a new type of solution to all kinds of creators, and we’re excited to move the ecosystem forward together.

Alexander Bercow, art partnerships manager, OpenSea

According to TradingView, Secret (SCRT) has made a 90 per cent gain since the news of the partnership broke. The token had been trading at around US$4.50 beforehand and doubled to $9 at its peak before stabilising around $8 at the time of writing.

The DeFi industry has been booming this year with the total value locked increasing 10 times since January. Australia currently ranks 12th out of 154 countries in terms of DeFi adoption.

Unseen First Issue Privacy-Based NFTs

The Secret NFTs featured in the auction will be the first of their kind to offer buyers “exclusive content viewable only to the holder – and that has also never been seen previously by anyone but its creator”.

We’ve secured IP for one of the greatest artistic creators to kick off our NFT ecosystem and punctuate our privacy-preserving technology. Secret Network is the first blockchain to support NFT assets that contain both public and private content. Programmable privacy for NFTs is fundamentally about choice – any holder of a Secret NFT can choose to make ownership and/or private metadata completely public for anyone to see.

Guy Zyskind, founder and CEO, Enigma

Traditionally, NFTs don’t allow users to choose if they want to keep the metadata and ownership private. Secret NFTs have changed the status quo by allowing these fields to remain private, whereas with other chains such as Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain and Solana, this data will always be public. An additional measure is allowing users to manage their access control where creators can choose who has full access to their content.

Traditional vs Secret NFTs: Secret network

With Secret NFTs, verifiable ownership of goods and experiences does not have to be public. Secret Network’s process of validation occurs without compromising any private data, including proofs of authenticity and transfers.

To learn more about the Secret Network, see embedded details in the tweet below:

Categories
Blockchain Crypto News DeFi NFTs Solana

Solana Reclaims $200 Amid Soaring TVL in DeFi

In recent weeks Solana (SOL) has been climbing the ranks of market cap and total value locked (TVL) among the top 10 protocols. The public blockchain has seen a noticeable gain in price along with the surge of DeFi and NFT projects being built on the chain, bringing it closer to the top five cryptocurrencies.

SOL, the native token of Solana, a public blockchain backed by Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of crypto exchange FTX, hit a record US$218.90 on October 25, according to TradingView. In the past week, Solana has gained 35 percent, mostly driven by DeFi and NFT projects.

Last week’s results have seen the total crypto market capitalisation pass the US$2.5 trillion mark, a new milestone for the cryptocurrency industry, with SOL flipping Ripple (XRP) to become the sixth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap.

SOL was a top performer over the last few months … [It’s] only natural for it to perform well during the next leg of the bull cycle.

Ashwath Balakrishnan, research associate, Delphi Digital

Solana’s Major Increase in TVL

One of the main factors pushing this ride up was the surge of DeFi, DAO and NFT projects on the Solana blockchain. Funds have been streaming into the decentralised finance (DeFi) economy, enabling users to loan funds, earn interest, swap tokens and generally make their money work for them.

According to DeFi data provider Defi Llama, TVL in Solana reached an all-time high of approximately US$14 billion on October 25. TVL is the US dollar value of the cryptocurrency committed to DeFi protocols.

Solana TVL: DeFi Llama

A handful of projects on the Solana blockchain have brought in billions for the chain, significantly increasing its TVL. The dominant project is Saber, an automated market maker (AMM) protocol that enables Solana users and applications to trade between stable pairs of assets and earns yields by providing liquidity, which has raked in US$2.05 billion.

Another four protocols – Radium (US$1.91 billion), Sunny (US$1.73 billion), Serum (US$1.69 billion) and Marinade Finance (US$1.63 billion) – have locked in over US$5 billion for the public blockchain.

Money Flows From Bitcoin to Other Layer 1 Platforms

Bitcoin (BTC) reached its new all-time high of US$66,974.77 last week as money flows from it to other Layer 1 solutions, resulting in an altcoin season. Layer 1 is the base layer, the main network on which a cryptocurrency such as bitcoin runs.

According to TradingView, the bitcoin dominance ratio, which measures bitcoin’s market capitalisation relative to the total crypto market cap, dropped to as low as 44.62 percent last weekend before returning to roughly 45 percent on October 25. That decrease in the dominance ratio indicated that at least part of bitcoin’s momentum had shifted to other tokens.

When bitcoin momentum slows down, Layer 1 tokens often perform better than any category […] Layer 1s have been the best-performing tokens since the June bottom – and, quite frankly, they boast the highest year-to-date returns, too.

Delphi Digital market report
Categories
Crypto Art Crypto News Events Investing NFTs

Why Are Buyers Forking Out $7 Million for NFTs Not Yet Minted?

Non-fungible token (NFT) investors have piled US$7 million into Tyler Hobbs’ “Incomplete Control” NFT collection, without being able to view them. Participants poured money into an auction to stand a chance to win one of 50 Golden Tokens, which will grant them ownership over unminted NFTs.

Yes, you read that right. Investors have put US$7 million into a Dutch auction that has sold 50 tokens to confer them ownership of NFTs they have not yet been able to view, and that will only be minted in December this year.

The artist behind the popular NFT series “Fidenza”, Hobbs will soon launch 100 one-of-a-kind NFTs in his latest collection, “Incomplete Control”, from December 9-13 at Bright Moments Gallery in New York.

NFT Madness Scales New Heights

On October 22, fans of Hobbs contributed 1,800 Ether (ETH), worth an estimated US$7 million, in exchange for 50 of the 100 “Golden Tokens”, which will grant holders ownership rights to one of the NFTs that will only be minted during the exhibition.

The Golden Tokens were sold through a Dutch auction hosted by Mirror Protocol that lasted only 90 minutes. Each token was priced at 500 ETH, scheduled to reduce every five minutes until it reached 5 ETH. All tokens sold were priced between 30 ETH (about US$120,000) and 80 ETH (about US$320,000).

The 50 remaining Golden Tokens will be randomly distributed on November 5 to 50 wallets of those who currently hold works from the artist’s earlier series, “Fidenza”, or the “CryptoCitizens” NFT projects. Owners who receive the tokens will be able to buy a 15 ETH “Incomplete Control” NFT at a 50 percent discount.

According to Hobbs, this new collection reflects the theme of control in the analogue and digital worlds. On his website, the artist says:

Every work takes a certain amount of time to achieve impact, another length of time to achieve understanding, and a further length of time to reach exhaustion. The forces of chaos and entropy give the natural world a certain warmth, and there are patterns and lessons there that we can use. I like to introduce these elements into the digital world, and Incomplete Control continues that work.

Tyler Hobbs

Do You Think the NFT Market is Overheated? Then Short It!

Many are starting to think the NFT market is overheated, with some NFTs fetching absolutely ridiculous amounts of money. Recently, an EtherRock, a simple grey and black illustration of a rock, sold for over US$100,000.

If you, like many, are sceptical as to the longevity of this craze, Singapore-based decentralised derivatives exchange SynFutures is launching NFTures, a product that will allow its users to short, or bet against, the future prices of NFTs. Currently, the only way to derive profit from NFTs is by buying or selling them, but SynFutures is looking at ways to change this.

Categories
Australia Crypto News Melbourne NFTs Victoria

Melbourne Cup Enters the Metaverse in Historic Deal with Digital Horse Racing Platform

First run in 1861, the Melbourne Cup is Australia’s most famous annual thoroughbred horse race, garnering an estimated viewership of 750 million people worldwide. Next week’s race will see the coming together of the old and new worlds following a deal between the Victoria Racing Club and local digital horse racing platform ZED RUN.

Horse Racing in the Metaverse

ZED RUN is a futuristic horse racing game built on the blockchain, where thousands of stable owners participate in more than 1,500 live races a day which are broadcast 24/7 to millions.

In July this year, Crypto News Australia reported that Australian-based digital horse racing start-up, Zed Run, had raised over US$20 million to “build the future of virtual entertainment“. Since then, the company has grown in leaps and bounds.

‘The Race That Stops a Nation’

Following its recent success in raising funds, ZED RUN is now joining forces with the Victoria Racing Club, the custodians of the Melbourne Cup carnival, where their famous Flemington racetrack will be featured on the blockchain. In celebration, there will be a virtual event at ZEN RUN HQ , held in the metaverse.

Think of it as a watch party, but instead of attending in person, attendees transport themselves to a virtual land called the ‘metaverse’ where they can gather together and enjoy the festivities.

Melbourne Cup ZED RUN

In the metaverse, users will have everything provided, from musical entertainment and livestreaming of the event to free ‘fashion in the metaverse’ and Birdcage-esque attire giveaways that attendees will be able to wear. Attendees can also, if they so choose, buy additional custom-made avatar wearables to further impress at the carnival party.

Metaverse carnival schedule. Source: Melbourne Cup ZED RUN

NFT Auction From October 30 

A rare collection of 10 nostalgic NFTs will become available by auction from October 30 to November 4. Some of the more valuable NFTs will include the most legendary races, together with real-world experiences. In addition, all 10 NFTs will include a pair of tickets to the 2022 Melbourne Cup and one Victoria Racing Club VIP experience.

Categories
Crypto News NFTs Reddit

Is Reddit Building an NFT Platform for its 450 Million Users?

A new job posting for a senior backend engineer has many speculating whether social media giant Reddit might be building its very own non-fungible token (NFT) platform. If so, Reddit will join a host of companies that have recently announced native NFT marketplaces, such as Coinbase and FTX.US.

As the NFT market continues to grow at an explosive rate, more and more are joining in on the craze. Among other things, Reddit’s job posting said:

[We are] a new and exciting, rapidly growing team that aims to build the largest creator economy on the internet, powered by independent creators, digital goods, and NFTs. We are looking for strong engineers and leaders to help us seed the team, set its strategy, and build for the future.

Reddit job posting for senior backend engineer

With over 450 million monthly visitors coming to the site for news updates and discussion threads, Reddit needs to keep up the interest level. The news of a potential NFT marketplace comes soon after the company’s valuation shot up to US$10 billion following a Series F round funding.

Reddit is an important platform in the crypto world, allowing its users to vent their frustrations and generally share their views on cryptos. Its stated intention is to use the capital infusion to improve product features and upgrade the platform for newcomers to understand and explore.

According to the posting, the social media giant is looking for someone who can “design, build and ship backend services for millions of users to create, buy, sell and use NFT-backed digital goods”.

There is No End in Sight

Many thought NFTs would be a short-lived craze, but surely nobody can deny the phenomenon has solidified itself in the cryptosphere. Reddit concurs that the future growth of NFTs cannot be ignored:

With every new NFT project, a vibrant community of owners pops up with it. Fans of today’s biggest creators and brands are now flocking to buy digital goods directly from them – to support them, to gain exclusive access, and to feel a greater sense of connection with them. Over time, we believe this will only grow, and NFTs will play a central role in how fans support their favourite creators and communities.

Reddit job posting

Bestselling author and “new wave” entrepreneur Daniel DiPiazza tweeted his views on Reddit and NFTs, making no secret as to where he stands:

Categories
Crypto News Dogecoin NFTs Tokens Trading

Shiba Inu Coin Surges 500% Amid Shiboshi’s NFTs Launch and Exchange Listings

Shiba Inu (SHIB), the token that ate dogecoin, hit an all-time high on October 24 with a month-to-date gain of almost 500 percent. SHIB traded at US$0.0000455, topping its previous best of $0.0000388 on May 10, and at time of writing was trading at $0.0000394.

SHIB Also Subject to Listing Frenzy

Prices for the meme token had surged by nearly 50 percent in the previous 24 hours and its latest high-water mark comes amid rumours that online brokerage platform Robinhood may soon list the cryptocurrency. Brazilian exchange Novadax listed SHIB just a few days ago, and popular trading app Public followed suit soon after.

Prices bumped over 200 percent in early October on the back of increased buying by whales and other large investors. While SHIB has gone ballistic this month, DOGE has gained just 27 percent and still trades well below its August high of US$0.35. Like SHIB, DOGE had hit a peak of just over $0.73 in early May.

Shiboshi NFTs Sell Out in Just Over Half an Hour

Adding to this month’s SHIB fever, the Shiboshi NFTs released on October 14 sold out in just over 35 minutes, fetching between US$350 and US$1050 apiece. And SHIB holders perhaps owed Tesla CEO Elon Musk a vote of thanks for posting an image of his new Shiba Inu puppy, Floki, which was at least partly responsible for the meme coin’s price surge.

The irony is that Musk, originally a champion of Dogecoin, confirmed on Twitter that he does not own any SHIB:

While some in the SHIB community hit out at Musk for damaging the price of SHIB (it dropped 20 percent after Musk’s tweet), some noted that Shiba Inu could survive handsomely without the influence of celebrities and should instead focus on the community.

$1,000 Invested in Shiba Inu on January 1, 2021, Is Now Worth $500 Million

SHIB’s market capitalisation now exceeds US$15 billion, placing it well within the top 15 coins. SHIB/USDT is also the most traded pair on Binance over the past 24 hours, surpassing US$2 billion in traded volume.

SHIB traded at a mere $0.000000000077 on January 1, 2021. This means that the meme coin is up by a colossal 50,649,250 percent year-to-date. As such, a hypothetical investment of US$1,000 made on January 1 would be worth over US$500 million today.

Categories
Blockchain DeFi NFTs Solana Tokens

Solana’s SOL Pumps 25% in Two Days, Driven by Surge in DeFi and NFTs

Solana’s SOL token has pushed higher by up to 25 percent on the back of numerous bullish developments this week.

By October 21, SOL was trading at its highest point in more than a month and was just 10 percent off its all-time high of US$214.36. Since then it has pulled back slightly, trading at US$201.85 at the time of writing.

Solana Runs With the Bulls

“Solana has moved into bull market territory,” notes Joe DiPasquale, CEO of cryptocurrency hedge fund manager BitBull Capital. “With this week’s jump from $160 to above $190, it placed a bullish flagpole in the chart.

Analysts will now wait to see if that pole leads to a bull flag, meaning a steadying of the price, which would signal further bullish moves and new support. If it consolidates around US$180, this could create a strong support flag leading to further gains.

Joe DiPasquale, CEO, BitBull Capital

The token has broken through some important resistance levels lately, which confirms that buyers are “not concerned about downward pressure”.

Nick Spanos, co-founder of Zap Protocol, concurs with DiPasquale’s view that SOL’s short-to-medium-term outlook looks “very bullish”.

We have seen SOL build momentum this month and it has attracted plenty of new buyers in the past few weeks, with the number of active token holders increasing considerably.

Traders will be keeping an eye on the RSI [relative strength index], but the price action is more important. In particular, the bulls will be looking for SOL to convincingly breach the US$188 resistance level before targeting a breakout through the token’s all-time high of $191.04, as this would pave the way for even stronger gains.

Nick Spanos, co-founder, Zap Protocol

Synchrony Raises $4.2 Million in Strategic Funding, MonkeyBall Makes $3M

Yesterday, Solana-native asset management protocol Synchrony closed US$4.2 million in a strategic funding round led by Sanctor Capital, with participation from Wintermute Trading, GBV Capital, HashKey Group, Magnus Capital and 0xVentures, among others.

This week also saw MonkeyBall, a crypto startup building a play-to-earn NFT soccer game based on Solana, raise US$3 million in a seed funding round. Investors included Jump Capital, CMS Holdings, Solana Capital, 6th Man Ventures and NFX.

Future looks bright for Solana after mixed fortunes in September.

Last month was one of mixed fortunes for Solana. On the one hand, the mass migration of content creators from Ethereum to Solana flagged its expansion in the NFT marketplace, with non-fungible tokens proliferating faster on Solana than in any other protocol.

But around the same time, resource exhaustion in the network caused Solana to suffer a DoS (Denial of Service) episode, which resulted in the SOL token taking a 15 percent tumble. Just two days earlier, Solana had recorded its first million-dollar NFT deal.

Categories
Blockchain Crypto News Gaming NFTs

Galaxy Interactive Raises $325 Million for NFT and Blockchain Gaming Startups

Galaxy Interactive, a division of Galaxy Digital Holdings and a VC firm focused on gaming startups and interactive technology, has raised US$325 million to invest in blue chip NFTs.

Galaxy Digital announced the fundraising on October 19, stating that the capital will go to Galaxy Interactive’s second fund, combining a total of US$650 million in assets under management.

According to the statement, Galaxy Interactive has already allocated US$150 million to new companies, including 1047 games, Republic, Art Blocks, and Elodie.

Younger Generation Moving En Masse From Physical to Digital World

Galaxy Interactive was established in 2018 by general partners Sam Englebardt and Richard Kim. The fund, which is now more flexible for investors, aims to appeal to a wider demographic of investors, especially in the knowledge that younger generations are moving from the physical to the digital world as technology innovation grows exponentially.

What would you invest in if you believe that younger generations are moving en masse from the physical to the digital world? Today, the implications of that question present themselves everywhere, in so many fascinating ways and through the utilisation of revolutionary technologies.

Sam Englebardt, partner, Galaxy Interactive

More Capital Flocking to NFTs and the Metaverse

A lot of money is swirling around NFT projects and the Metaverse, which could host a new way of interaction and trade with people in a global virtual reality world.

The P2E (Play-To-Earn) movement has generated massive profits in 2021, with titles such as Axie Infinity frontrunners in the space.

While most blockchain-based games are built on Ethereum, other projects have taken to Solana to compete in an alternate ecosystem. These include Star Atlas, Aurory, and Genopets – three titles gaining the attention of gamers and investors alike.

Categories
Crypto News DeFi Ethereum NFTs

Polygon ‘Becoming Independent of Ethereum’ as dApps Grow 100x Over Past Year

Popular Layer-2 scaling solution Polygon is inarguably on a growth trajectory. The number of decentralisation applications (dApps) running on its scalable network has significantly risen in the past 12 months and most of those dApps were natively launched on the network, meaning Polygon is becoming less dependent on Ethereum, according to recent data from Alchemy. 

Polygon Growth 2x Ethereum

The data revealed the rate of adoption for Polygon is increasing 2x faster than Ethereum at a comparable time in its history. For context, the number of protocols launched on Polygon has increased to about 3,000, which represents 9,900 percent or 100x growth on the previous 30 recorded in October 2020. 

More interestingly, 62 percent of all the dApps are Polygon-native, meaning they are only hosted on top of Polygon. QuickSwap is one such platform, a fork of Uniswap that was natively launched on Polygon to harness its properties for quick and cheap trades. The remaining 38 percent, which includes SushiSwap, Curve, Aave, Balancer and others, exists on both Polygon and Ethereum. 

Growth Strategy Relies Less on Gas

Polygon employs several solutions to enable developers to scale their projects on Ethereum. The growing number of Polygon-native dApps simply points out that more developers are confident and are relying on the layer-2 network more than Ethereum, which suffers expensive gas prices following the frenzy in the non-fungible token (NFT) and Decentralised Finance (DeFi) markets.

We can expect the number to skyrocket from here, as Polygon recently announced plans to onboard the next 100 million users into its DeFi ecosystem. To achieve this, Polygon has committed about US$100 million to develop a decentralized autonomous organisation (DAO) to also improve the DeFi experience.