Major cryptocurrencies see gains, market capitalization surpasses $1 trillion.
Bitcoin has crossed $20,000, having experienced 11 consecutive days of upward movement.
The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, Bitcoin has spiked above the psychologically important barrier of the $21,000 mark. Saturday’s move brought cheer to the subdued markets, which have been rattled by the collapse of several high-profile companies, including cryptocurrency exchangeFTX.
The rally in prices of major cryptocurrencies like Polygon and Solana and memecoins like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, is fuelled by optimism that digital currencies may have bottomed.
This is the first time since Nov. 8, 2022, that Bitcoin has crossed $20,000, having experienced 11 consecutive days of upward movement.
Other notable cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum and Cardano also saw substantial gains, pushing the total market capitalization of the cryptocurrency market over the $1 trillion mark for the first time since November.
The current spike in Bitcoin’s value comes after the Labor Department issued data showing that top-line inflation rose by 6.5% in December, down from 7.1% in November.
On Thursday, Federal Reserve policymakers expressed relief that the inflation rate continued to decrease in December.
Bear Market Not Over
Anndy Lian, Chief Digital Advisor, of Mongolian Productivity Organization tells Benzinga says investors should take a cautionary stance and not become too bullish on the digital currency.
“This does not mean that the bear market is over. Firstly, the lack of Bitcoin trading volume around the region of $18,000 and RSI shows that bitcoin is over-bought, showing that the rally could be short-lived. Secondly, the massive layoffs by the crypto companies and the SEC’s new charges on Genesis and Gemini for the Unregistered Offer and Sale of Crypto Asset Securities looks like it would take a longer time to see a real sustainable bull run,” he says.
He added that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies tend to respond more quickly to macroeconomic changes and shifts than stocks do and that we may be currently witnessing such a shift.
“I do see more investors putting more capital over the week. Overall, this is still a positive sign for the market,” he adds.
Mainstream Adoption Will Lead To More Stability
According to Scott Tripp, a member of redecentralise.com, a not-for-profit organization, the increasing mainstream acceptance and institutional adoption of Bitcoin will lead to more stability in its price over time, the current rally is driven by speculative mania and may not be sustainable in the long run.
Bitcoin May Shoot Up Further Over 2024
Raj A Kapoor, the founder of India Blockchain Alliance, predicts that 2024 could be the year when Bitcoin experiences a significant price increase due to the halving event.
According to Kapoor, this event could be responsible for the current positive sentiment and upward trend in Bitcoin’s value.
“I also feel that large investors or Bitcoin Whales have resumed their Bitcoin holdings. The large Bitcoin whales are keeping between 1,000 and 10,000 BTC in their wallets, according to data from Santimen clearly indicating that investors have been stocking up on Bitcoin, which may be a hint of a recovery in the price of Bitcoin,” Kapoor adds.
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”.
Users could earn and spend virtual currency within the metaverse to buy and sell goods and services.
The metaverse could also support the creation and trade of unique digital assets.
The development of the metaverse, as a virtual world that combines elements of the real world with digital creations and experiences, has the potential to generate a new economy. The metaverse could offer users various activities and applications, including social interaction, entertainment, education, commerce, and more. These activities could generate value and economic opportunities for individuals, businesses, and other entities within the metaverse.
Users could earn and spend virtual currency within the metaverse to buy and sell goods and services or use decentralized finance (DeFi) tools and platforms to manage and trade their assets.
The metaverse could also support the creation and trade of unique digital assets, such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which could have value within and outside the metaverse. In addition, businesses and other organizations could use the metaverse for marketing, advertising, and other activities that generate revenue.
In my humble opinion, I think it is possible that the development of the metaverse could facilitate the growth of sustainable decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystems. The metaverse is a virtual world that combines elements of the real world with digital creations and experiences, and it has the potential to support a wide range of activities and applications, including financial ones.
DeFi’s Future
These tools and platforms allow users to access and interact with financial services and assets more openly, transparent, and securely, potentially enabling greater financial inclusion and autonomy. DeFi is still a largely nascent and evolving field, and its potential impact and limitations are still being explored and debated. Since both metaverse and DeFi are new and debatable. It has potential upsides.
In a metaverse context, DeFi could potentially offer users a more immersive and interactive experience for managing and using their assets, as well as access to a wider range of financial services and opportunities. This could potentially lead to more sustainable DeFi ecosystems, as the increased accessibility and user engagement could drive adoption and growth.
Thoughts on How Decentralization Can Be Used in Metaverses:
1. Use decentralized exchanges to trade assets within the metaverse.
2. Use decentralized lending and borrowing platforms to access credit and earn interest on assets within the metaverse.
3. Use decentralized insurance platforms to protect against risks within the metaverse.
4. Use decentralized prediction markets to speculate on events within the metaverse.
5. Use decentralized governance mechanisms to make decisions and govern communities within the metaverse.
6. Use decentralized identity systems to securely manage and verify identities within the metaverse.
7. Use decentralized reputation systems to assess the trustworthiness of individuals and entities within the metaverse.
8. Use decentralized oracles to provide reliable data and information for use within the metaverse.
9. Use decentralized storage and data management systems to securely store and manage data within the metaverse.
10. Use decentralized automation and smart contract platforms to facilitate and automate transactions and interactions within the metaverse.
In theory, a metaverse could facilitate the growth of decentralized finance (DeFi) systems by providing a platform for people to access and interact with these systems in a more intuitive and user-friendly way.
One potential benefit of a metaverse is that it could make it easier for people to understand and use DeFi systems, which can sometimes be complex and difficult to navigate. By providing a visual representation of DeFi protocols and networks, a metaverse could help to demystify these systems and make them more accessible to a wider audience.
Another potential benefit of a metaverse is that it could provide a more engaging and immersive experience for users of DeFi systems. By allowing people to interact with each other and with digital assets in a virtual environment, a metaverse could make DeFi more fun and engaging, potentially increasing user adoption and participation in these systems.
Will Decentralization Work Better in the Metaverse?
Well, decentralization has the potential to offer several benefits in the context of the metaverse, a virtual world that combines elements of the real world with digital creations and experiences. Decentralization could enable users to have greater control and autonomy over their assets and activities within the metaverse, and it could provide a more resilient and secure infrastructure for the metaverse.
Decentralized finance (DeFi) tools and platforms could enable users to manage and trade their assets within the metaverse without relying on a central authority. Decentralized governance mechanisms could allow communities within the metaverse to make decisions and coordinate their activities in a decentralized manner. Decentralized identity systems could provide users with secure and verifiable identities within the metaverse.
It could provide a more resilient and secure infrastructure for the metaverse. Because decentralized systems are distributed across multiple nodes, they are less vulnerable to single points of failure and can continue to operate even if one or more nodes go offline. This could make the metaverse more resilient and less susceptible to attacks or other disruptions. Thus making the metaverse environment a good testing ground for decentralization.
DEXs on Metaverse: The Potential is Big
This could be a really crazy thought here. Centralized exchanges (CEXs) are already under the microscope of many regulators. Their first action is to go decentralized, forming new decentralized exchanges (DEXs). This is not a safe option too, the regulators are not blind, and they know that the operators behind the DEXs are from the same group of people.
Because a metaverse is a virtual shared space, DEXs could operate within it without being subject to the same regulatory constraints as they would in the real world. This could give DEXs greater freedom to innovate and experiment with new business models and technologies.
Operating within a metaverse could provide DEXs with access to a larger and more diverse user base. Because a metaverse is a virtual environment, it could potentially attract users from around the world, regardless of their physical location. This could give DEXs access to a larger and more diverse pool of users, potentially increasing their reach and user adoption.
Perhaps operating from a metaverse can give them a longer pathway.
Conclusion
The global metaverse market size was valued at USD 22.79 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 39.8% during 2022-2030. This is a big market. The potential is enormous.
However, I got to emphasize this again. The development and realization of the metaverse as an economic engine is still a largely untested and evolving concept. It will likely require significant advancements in technology and infrastructure, as well as the coordination and cooperation of various stakeholders, to fully realize the potential of this virtual world.
Summarizing my thoughts with a quote:
“The combination of metaverse and decentralized finance is an enormous potential for the future. Investors have put it in the spotlight as they consider it a great long-term investment opportunity. Many of us see this as one of the megatrends of the coming years. I believe it coming. Do you?” – Anndy Lian
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”.
Energy consumption has been a major source of criticism in the cryptocurrency business. Ethereum has finally deployed a huge network upgrade that dramatically transforms how the blockchain validates transactions, mints new currency, and secures its network.
This mechanism, known as proof-of-stake, has cut Ethereum energy use by more than 99 per cent. This sounds good. However, Bitcoin is unlikely to follow suit.
Is Bitcoin now green? No, but at least Bitcoin’s emissions of greenhouse gases are down than before. According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, Bitcoin’s greenhouse gas emissions decreased from 59 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in October 2021 to 48.88 metric tons.
According to research released by Cambridge University’s Centre of Alternative Finance, Bitcoin is failing to go green, with the cryptocurrency recording only modest increases in its use of renewable energy in the year leading up to January.
Powerful computers connected to a worldwide network process Bitcoin transactions and “mine” new tokens in a competition to solve challenging mathematical puzzles. Policymakers, investors, and environmentalists concerned about the process’s impact on global warming criticise it for guzzling electricity and heavily relying on dirty fossil fuels like coal.
Green cryptocurrencies are those whose mining activities are powered by renewable energy sources.
Things are changing, and there are alternatives to make it “greener”
Solar
Currently, solar is said to as “the cheapest energy source.” Solar energy, which has the greatest pace of growth among all energy sources, presently provides three per cent of the world’s electricity while emitting no noise pollution and scaling up easily. Solar energy has global potential, in contrast to comparatively rare geothermal.
According to Bloomberg, a solar power company in South Africa pays investors with cryptocurrency. Sun Exchange allows investors to spend as little as US$4 on solar cells. Although the cost is lower than what would have been charged for electricity from the grid, the customers who receive the renewable energy nevertheless pay the price for a 20-year contract.
Sun Exchange gets a portion of the revenue to pay for installation and upkeep while also turning a profit. Investors are paid the balance. They can receive South African Rands or Bitcoin, with the latter enabling simple cross-border payments to the more than 35,000 participants thus far across 180 countries.
Biomass
Five per cent of US primary consumption, 10 per cent of global energy, and 1.4 per cent of Canada’s electrical production come from biomass. Most of this energy is used for industrial heating and other activities, which have considerable environmental benefits that include enhancing hygiene by reusing waste and lowering greenhouse gas emissions.
Utilising biodegradable materials as fuel for energy production is not out of place in the race for a sustainable Bitcoin mining business. When compared to solar, it might not offer a more significant arbitrage, but buying these energy choices from a position of strength remains the ideal.
Bitcoin Magazine reported that a Dallas, Texas-based hemp processor, Generation Hemp, sees more peer-to-peer in the future for cannabis than just passing around a pre-roll. They have unveiled plans to mine for cryptocurrency using cannabis as fuel.
Hydro
Compared to other renewable energy sources, hydropower has the best energy extraction (conversion) efficiency (up to 90 per cent), is the most dependable, and has the smallest carbon footprint.
Borgo d’Anaunia is a small municipality in the Trentino-Alto Adige area of northern Italy. The 37-year-old Daniele Graziadei became Italy’s first municipality to run a crypto data centre. Another illustration of the use of hydropower is this.
The need to be more green expands to other tokens too
VeChain is working on green initiatives to increase stakeholder involvement, such as the one agreed with the government of San Marino, or to deliver the future of safe and traceable food. According to the project’s current estimating models, VeChain generates 4.58 metric tons of carbon emissions, which is equivalent to the emissions generated by mining a single BTC.
FRZ Solar System (FRZSS) was created to combat the energy issue using blockchain technologies and web innovations. Given that solar energy is limitless, renewable, endless, pollution-free, and inexpensive, the FRZSS intends to popularise solar power plants as the primary power source. The team has also been working with other companies to reduce the cost of electricity generation.
Tezos is a green energy crypto blockchain similar to Ethereum in that it supports smart contracts and can be used to mint NFTs. The low carbon footprint of Tezos means developers and users can prioritise innovation without compromising sustainability. They have increased energy efficiency per-transaction basis by at least 70 per cent.
IMPT is a blockchain-based technology that allows individuals and businesses to swiftly and safely reduce their carbon footprint. Customers can earn carbon credits while buying online. They could even buy them directly from the platform. Furthermore, IMPT should tokenise carbon credits so users can purchase them as NFTs. The NFTs are then recorded into a decentralised ledger that users view to give traceability and transparency.
Back to Bitcoin
The large carbon footprint associated with Bitcoin mining appears to be at odds with any environmental objectives. The demand that limited electricity is used for the real economy and not for Bitcoin mining is justified in light of escalating energy prices and shortages.
Creating new strategies for the most efficient utilisation of resources is necessary. Bitcoin mining has the potential to hasten the global energy transition by serving as a backup energy buyer for the excess power balance.
Additionally, energy power plants constructed with the intention of mining Bitcoin can generate a higher profit than those built to sell the electricity at market rates, mainly when constructed in remote areas with easy access to renewable energy sources but no infrastructure for integrating them into the grid. Plant owners might use these revenues to fund additional clean energy initiatives that support ESG objectives and the world’s increasing demand for electricity.
But for these projects to be successful, Bitcoin generation and the associated value chains would need to be held to a very high standard of accountability and measurability.
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”.
