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Exploring the Thriving NFT Market and the Rise of Bitcoin NFTs

Exploring the Thriving NFT Market and the Rise of Bitcoin NFTs

According to data provided by NFT aggregation site CryptoSlam, non-fungible token (NFT) sales saw a significant rise of 8.5% during the period from February 10 to February 16 on a global scale.

The total sales volume for the week reached a staggering US$304 million, marking an increase from the previous week’s US$280 million in NFT sales.

The last two days of this seven-day period saw a notable spike in sales, with Thursday alone accounting for over 30% of the total sales volume, reaching a daily sales sum of US $92.9 million.

This single-day sales figure is the highest it has been since May 2022. The average price for NFT assets sold on Thursday was US $463.09, which is approximately 265% higher than the average price of US $175.57 on Tuesday.

According to Yohann Calpu, the chief marketing officer at CryptoSlam, this sudden surge in sales can be largely attributed to the Blur token airdrop that occurred on Tuesday.

The NFT market continues to thrive, with significant increases in sales indicating a growing interest in this innovative and exciting sector.

Blur, a feeless NFT marketplace, recently unveiled its Blur tokens and granted a 60-day window for users to collect their airdropped coins. As of 2:30 p.m. Singapore time, the cryptocurrency was valued at US $0.90, based on CoinGecko data.

Based on the DappRadar, Blur’s NFT marketplace has experienced a trading volume of US $471.7 million in the last 30 days, overtaking OpenSea, the current market leader with US 448.9 million.

While many are talking about Blur, I am watching Bitcoin NFTs closely.

Bitcoin NFTs are quickly becoming a hot new trend in the world of digital collectibles. The launch of the Ordinals protocol on the Bitcoin blockchain by software engineer Casey Rodarmor has provided a novel way to mint NFTs on the Bitcoin blockchain.

This has led to a surge in interest in Bitcoin assets, with many people excited about the possibilities of this new technology.

The Ordinals protocol allows users and builders to inscribe each “sat” (short for Satoshi) with data, including smart contracts, which can then be used to create NFTs on the blockchain.

One of the key differences between Ethereum-based NFTs and Bitcoin NFTs is that Ethereum NFTs typically point to off-chain data on the IPFS system, while all the data for Bitcoin NFTs is inscribed on-chain using the Ordinals protocol.

This provides a more secure and trustworthy way of creating and trading NFTs.

The introduction of Ordinal Punks is expected to change the game for Bitcoin NFTs. These digital collectibles are tradeable artifacts that are inscribed on the Bitcoin blockchain, and they have been incredibly popular with buyers so far.

The 10,000-piece collection has already been sold out, with some individual pieces selling for millions of dollars. However, one of the challenges with the project is that there is currently no centralized marketplace to buy and sell the crypto art once it has been minted.

This means that buyers and sellers must rely on social media channels like Discord to find each other and negotiate transactions.

Despite the popularity of Bitcoin NFTs, some Bitcoin maximalists have pushed back against the trend, arguing that it goes against the idea of Bitcoin as a financial asset. They believe that NFTs are simply a waste of network space and resources.

However, proponents of Bitcoin NFTs believe that they represent a new and exciting way to create digital collectibles that are secure, trustworthy, and unique.

Scott Tripp, President of Redecentralise Canada, commented: “Bitcoin is often considered to be one of the most decentralized cryptocurrencies due to its distributed network of nodes and miners.

The Bitcoin blockchain is maintained by a decentralized network of nodes that are spread across the globe and work together to validate transactions and add new blocks to the chain.

The decentralized nature of the Bitcoin network may appeal to creators and collectors who are looking for a more secure and censorship-resistant platform for their NFTs. Overall, while the potential for Bitcoin NFTs exists, it remains to be seen how popular they will become in the future.”

To buy a Bitcoin NFT, users must first download a Bitcoin-compatible wallet and make it compatible with Ordinals. They can then either create and inscribe their own Ordinal or find an existing owner and purchase one from them.

However, buying Bitcoin NFTs can be a risky process as there is no centralized marketplace or regulation. Buyers and sellers must navigate social media channels and online communities to find each other, and there is always the risk of fraud or scams.

Despite these challenges, the growing popularity of Bitcoin NFTs suggests that they are here to stay and will likely continue to evolve and grow in the coming years.

Intergovernmental expert and best-selling book author Anndy Lian echoed, “Bitcoin NFTs, as unique digital assets created and traded on the Bitcoin blockchain, can certainly be seen as a decentralized innovation.

While the technical limitations of the Bitcoin network mean that the creation and transfer of NFTs may not be as seamless as it is on other blockchain platforms such as Ethereum, the potential for Bitcoin NFTs to be a more decentralized and secure option for creators and collectors is certainly noteworthy.”

Some people in the NFT industry have expressed concerns about the environmental impact of Bitcoin NFTs. Bitcoin is known for its high energy consumption due to its consensus mechanism, which uses a lot of computational power.

Minting NFTs on Bitcoin could therefore contribute to the carbon footprint of the blockchain.

Despite the concerns, the rise of Bitcoin NFTs and the Ordinals protocol has created a new avenue for the NFT industry to explore.

As the industry continues to evolve, we can expect to see more experimentation with different blockchain protocols and the emergence of new use cases for NFTs beyond art and collectibles.

In conclusion, the rise of Bitcoin NFTs and the Ordinals protocol has created a new way of minting and owning unique digital collectibles on the Bitcoin blockchain. While the concept may face some backlash, it also presents an opportunity for the NFT industry to evolve and expand.

 

Source:  https://hackernoon.com/exploring-the-thriving-nft-market-and-the-rise-of-bitcoin-nfts

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.

Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.

www.anndy.com
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ETH to BTC prediction: Will post-Merge Ethereum rise to challenge Bitcoin domination?

ETH to BTC prediction: Will post-Merge Ethereum rise to challenge Bitcoin domination?

Bitcoin (BTC), the crypto market pioneer, is, by market capitalisation, twice the size of ethereum (ETH), the second largest coin. Will ETH eclipse BTH following successful completion of The Merge that saw it switch to the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism?

Here we take a look at the ETH to BTC exchange rate, and what factors are shaping ETH/BTC in 2022 and beyond.

What is ETH/BTC?

ETH/BTC represents the exchange rate between ether, the Ethereum blockchain’s native coin, and bitcoin, the native coin on the Bitcoin Network.

ETH/BTC represents how many bitcoins can be bought for one ether, with the rise in ETH/BTC signifying either a rise in ETH or fall in BTC, and vice-versa.

BTC was meant to be “a purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash”. However, over the years the cryptocurrency has also become a store of value and a comparison to gold as a hedge against rising inflation.

Bitcoin mining relies on a blockchain that connects all public transactions. Using a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus, BTC miners compete against one another to solve mathematical equations and confirm the legitimacy of transactions. They are rewarded in BTC tokens.

In order to reduce the rate at which new BTCs are given as rewards, the cryptocurrency was designed to undergo halving events roughly every four years. A halving reduces the number of bitcoins released into circulation by half, limiting supply.

Ethereum, a programmable network for building decentralised applications (dApps), was launched in 2015, and was inspired by bitcoin’s limitations.

“While Bitcoin is only a payment network, Ethereum is more like a marketplace of financial services, games, social networks and other apps that respect your privacy and cannot censor you,” Ethereum’s website says.

Another key element of Ethereum is the blockchain’s ability to run smart contracts – computer programmes on the blockchain that allow for the creation and smooth running of dApps.

Just like BTC, ETH initially used a PoW mechanism, but since 15 September 2022 relies on PoS. The change became known as ‘The Merge’, and was designed to reduce Ethereum’s energy consumption by around 99.95%.

The Merge is one of a series of upgrades. In a July presentation, the platform’s co-founder, Vitalik Bouterin, named the following development stages, but did not specify when they will happen:

  • The Surge – the addition of Ethereum sharding, which will lower the cost of bundle transactions and make operating easier.
  • The Verge – users will be able to become validators without having to store large amounts of data.
  • The Purge – will simplify the Ethereum protocol and cut down on the amount of space the blockchain uses.
  • The Splurge – this upgrade includes “all of the other fun stuff”.

These updates also have potential to affect the ETH price  shaping the ETH to BTC exchange rate.

ETH to BTC historical rate chart

The ETH to BTC exchange rate surged by 2,518% in the first two years after the pair started trading, from 0.005767BTC in August 2015 to the all-time high of 0.151BTC in June 2017, signifying the quicker rise in ether’s price.

However, this peak in the ETH to BTC price chart did not last long. The exchange rate fell to 0.02427BTC in December 2017 – down 83.9% since the June peak.ETH to BTC exchange rate, 2015 - 2022

The ETH value reached $1,396.42 in January 2018, and the ETH to BTC rate jumped to 0.09724 BTC.

ETH to USD exchange rate, 2015 - 2022

ETH managed to uphold its positive trend against BTC for the next three weeks as the price chart gained 16% more, peaking at 0.1131BTC on 1 February 2018.

ETH to BTC performed fairly well for the duration of 2021, peaking in mid-May at 0.08178BTC, when the ETH price reached $4,168.7 and BTC was trading at $50,000.

The ETH/BTC pairing was not hugely affected when the BTC value reached its all-time high of $66,971.83 in November 2021, It did peak in December 2021 at 0.0879BTC after briefly falling to 0.06034BTC on 19 October 2021.

BTC to USD exchange rate, 2015 - 2022

Following the collapse of the TerraUSD (UST) stablecoin and its sister token LUNA and the wider crypto crash that followed, the ETH to BTC exchange rate fell by nearly 30% from 0.07554BTC in May 2022 to 0.05373BTC in July, indicating a faster decline of ETH price.

ETH’s price dipped to as low as $993 in June, with BTC slumping to $19,017 amid the bearish sentiment in the cryptocurrency world sparked by LUNA collapse and tightening monetary policy.

Ether rose  to 0.0846BTC in September 2022 in anticipation of The Merge. The current exchange rate stood at 0.07088 BTC, as of 20 September.

Is The Merge driving ETH/BTC?

On 15 September Ethereum successfully upgraded its system from PoW to PoS after a six-year build-up. However, the ETH price did not rally as much as investors were anticipating.

Anndy Lian, chief digital advisor at the Mongolian Productivity Organisation and author of NFT: From Zero to Hero. noted that right after The Merge, the price swung above $1,640 and fell shortly after:

“This is very much expected. There was much influx of ETH into various exchanges since the 12th and then building up to around 1.8 million ETH before the completion. In this case, I see that investors could be planning to sell off before the price fell.”

Lars Seier Christensen, chairman of the Concordium Foundation and founder of Saxo Bank, said that the Ethereum community anticipated a “much more positive reaction to the successful Merge”. He added that the recent rally was what in TradFi we call “buy the rumour, sell the fact” and that whoever saw The Merge as upbeat news had already bought ETH.

“Merge is really a non-event. It changes nothing in terms of scalability or fees, and actually antagonises a number of long-term Ethereum supporters – the miners,” he added.

Eugene Zomchak, CoinLoan’s head of product, told Capital.com that the value of ETH to BTC is likely affected by other microeconomic factors such as the cryptowinter and the Fed’s policy tightening than The Merge, noting:

“There are some positive forecasts coming in from enthusiasts who note that the Merge was a landmark event and the price of ether could surge by two, three and even five times.”

Since The Merge, the BTC price has been fluctuating between $19,000 and $20,000. ETH reached $1,469.74 on 17 September before falling to around $1,300, as of 20 September.

Lian stressed that it is important investors remind themselves that the effects of The Merge, possibly including the ETH to BTC price, will only be felt in the long-term:

“The gas fees will remain the same, and other scalability issues are still unsolved. The community at large must wait for Surge, Verge, Purge, and Splurge improvements to see a reduction in transaction costs and boost scalability significantly.”

Concordium Foundation’s Christensen also noted that the current market environment is challenging:

“The correlation to broader asset markets is very clear, and if stocks don’t recover, this will add to negative sentiment. If Ethereum goes decisively below 1,400, I think we could see a significant sell-off.”

Christensen added that the next Ethereum upgrades will be in focus:

“The most important thing is increased scalability, which will reduce fees. Until that happens, Ethereum is in effect not much use, and entirely reliant on Layer 2 solutions that provide much less security than Ethereum itself.
“Considering how difficult the Merge has been to execute, with years of delay, my personal belief that Ethereum can deliver the next stages in a speedy fashion is limited. Ethereum has one advantage and one advantage only: a very loyal ecosystem that will go through the most extraordinary and irrational hurdles, just to stay loyal. I wonder how long that will last.”

ETH/BTC exchange rate forecasts

Based on its analysis of past price performance as of 20 September, algorithm-based forecasting service Wallet Investor predicted that ETH/USD could trade at $2,391.383 in 2023 and reach $7,135.056 by 2027.

In terms of bitcoin prediction, the site saw BTC/USD trade at $33,668.92 in 2023 and reach $79,969.28 by 2027.

While Wallet Investor did not provide a direct ETH/BTC exchange rate forecast, the data suggests that they expected the rate to be 0.335BTC in 2023 and 0.421BTC in 2027.

DigitalCoinPrice supported a positive ETH/USD forecast, as of 20 September, and expected the coin to grow to $1,832.85 by the end of 2022, $3,032.72 in 2023 and $5,417.40 in 2025. Its long-term prediction saw the token surge past $18,000 in 2030.

The site also gave an upbeat BTC/USD forecast, expecting the coin to grow to $27,580.79 by the end of 2022, $41,874.03 in 2023 and $76,453.11 by 2025, passing $264,000 in 2030.

DigitalCoinPrice expected the rate to be 0.0665BTC by the end of 2022, 0.0724BTC in 2023, 0.708BTC  by 2025 and 0.068BTC by 2030.

Note that forecasts and analysts’ expectations shouldn’t be used as a substitute for your own research. Always conduct your own due diligence and rely on your own projections. And never trade money you cannot afford to lose.

 

Source: https://capital.com/eth-btc-prediction-ethereum-bitcoin-merge-domination

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.

Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.

www.anndy.com
j j j

Elon Musk again sparks 10% rise in Dogecoin. Does it have more steam left?

Elon Musk again sparks 10% rise in Dogecoin. Does it have more steam left?
Synopsis

Anndy Lian, Chairman, BigONE Exchange said, “Dogecoin continues to rally after Elon Musk’s tweet on meme coin. This has triggered retail investor buying. Together with this trend, the number of long term holders of dogecoin rises.”

New Delhi: After a brutal correction, Dogecoin was back in demand, zooming as much as 10 per cent during Monday’s trade. The largest and biggest meme coins market cap once again topped the $20 billion mark.

Volume on the counter remained strong, with Dogecoins worth over $1.5 billion having exchanged hands in the last 24 hours.

Analysts said that Elon Musk’s tweet again sparked the rally in Dogecoin. Musk, the owner of Tesla Inc, is also known as ‘Doge Father’ among crypto fanatics.

Musk on Sunday tweeted that he is giving “serious thought” to building a new social media platform, a day after he put out a poll on Twitter asking users if they believe the social media giant adhered to the principle of free speech.

When a follower suggested that Musk buy the company (Twitter) and change the logo from a bird to a Dogecoin, Tesla Inc CEO indicated that he likes the idea.

Anndy Lian, Chairman, BigONE Exchange said, “Dogecoin continues to rally after Elon Musk’s tweet on meme coin. This has triggered retail investor buying. Together with this trend, the number of long term holders of dogecoin rises.”

The various factors give a very bullish outlook for Dogecoin, with many analysts forecasting an ascent of around 50 per cent, Lian said.

Market experts said Dogecoin has been in momentum over the last few months, experiencing a roller-coaster ride in price movements.

In a period of little more than two weeks, Dogecoin has jumped as much as 50 per cent, scaling $0.15 on Monday. However, it is still about 80 per cent below its all-time peak of $0.6848.

The volatility in Dogecoin is fairly high and investors should remain cautious while investing in it, suggested Praveen Kumar, Founder & CEO, Belfrics Group, adding that going forward, the volatility would continue and investors should look at some level of profit booking in this upwards price movement.

Experts are swearing by the ever-growing popularity of Dogecoin among retailers on a global level. The rising volumes of the token is indicating the same.

Dogecoin has a tremendous future and will see better upside due to its massive retail involvement, enhanced acceptance, and backing of legendary Elon Musk, said Rahul Kumar, CEO of Lyca Nation, a metaverse based crypto island.

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.

Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.

www.anndy.com
j j j