The cryptocurrency market has turned slightly bullish with Bitcoin (BTC) attempting to consolidate above $20,000. While preparing this report, Bitcoin was trading at $21,029, down 1.10% in the past 24 hours. Ethereum (ETH) had lost 0.90% to trade at $1,556. XRP was trading at $0.3804, reflecting a decrease of 2.60% in the same period.
Major cryptos, which have lost ground in the past 24 hours, are VeChain (VET, $0.0211, -2.6%), EOS (EOS – $1.03, -4.20%), IOTA (IOTA – $0.2103, -4.80%), Dogecoin (DOGE – $0.0829, -6%), Internet Computer (ICP, $5.00, -5.70%), Stellar (XLM, $0.0867, -3.80%), ChainLink (LINK – $6.64, -3.60%), Binance Coin (BNB – $297.07, -3.80%), Polkadot (DOT, $5.75, -5.70%), Polygon (MATIC – $1.00, -3.70%), Avalanche (Avax- $16.78, -2.60%), Bitcoin Cash (BCH, $122.82, -3.60%), Cardano (ADA, $0.3463, -4.10%), Tezos (XTZ, $1.00, -4.30%), Shiba Inu (SHIB, $0.00001047, -4.20%) and Solana (SOL, $23.09, -3.20%).
Private sector initiatives
Mastercard and Polygon Launch Web3 Incubator for Artists
Financial service provider Mastercard is in the process of rolling out a web3-centered incubator to aid artists’ link with fans via a unique medium. In this regard, the payment processor has joined hands with Polygon, a scaling blockchain developed to remove congestion on the Ethereum blockchain and making big leaps in the Web2 environment recently.
Last year, Polygon collaborated with several big brands, including Starbucks and Disney for Odyssey digital collectible rewards program and accelerator program, respectively. This is in addition to partnerships with premium clothing labels such as Prada.
After entering the incubator, participating artists should mint NFTs, portray themselves in digital worlds and create a community.
The revelation indicates the company’s expansion in the digital world as it partners with several crypto-centered firms to roll out credit cards and collaborated with Coinbase to advance the NFT ecosystem.
OpenSea Adopts Layer-2 Blockchain Nova for Cost-Effective NFT Transactions
OpenSea, the largest secondary marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and digital collectibles, has started supporting layer-2 blockchain, Nova. Notably, Nova has been specifically structured to offer data in a cost-effective manner.
Following the integration of NFTs with Nova by OpenSea, users will be able to use Nova at a cheaper cost compared with Ethereum while buying or selling digital collectibles.
In September 2022, OpenSea started supporting Nova’s associate layer-2 scaling network named Arbitrum. Both Nova and Arbitrum were developed by Offchain Labs. OpenSea stated that collections on Nova will be combined with the rest of the Arbitrum collections on the OpenSea platform.
Interestingly, OpenSea is not the initial NFT marketplace on Nova, which is also backed by smaller rivals such as Trove by TreasureDAO, Babylons and ToFu. Nova is also employed for hosting Reddit’s community point tokens. As per Defillama, the total value locked (TVL) in Arbitrum Nova was $890,000.
Miscellaneous
Circle’s USDC Stablecoin Reserves Revealed as 65% in Government Debt
The US-based payment processor Circle has revealed that roughly 65% of its total stablecoin USDC reserves are held in the form of government debt (Treasury bills). The news is of utmost importance because of the uncertainty created in the market by the loss of peg by several stablecoins in the recent past. Tether (USDT), Tron stable coin USDD, and cash-backed stablecoin HUSD have all lost their peg for at least a trading day in the past six months, creating panic among crypto investors.
As of November 30, 2022, Circle had $43.40 billion in USDC reserves, which backed 43.23 billion worth of USDC in circulation. Of these reserves, $12.79 remains locked in Circle Reserve Fund, a licensed government money market fund owned by Circle and administered by BlackRock. The fund’s aggregate holdings included 12 US treasury bills in the same period.
The Reserve Fund was created by Circle on November 3 and within a month, the firm transferred approximately 29.50% of the stablecoin reserves to the fund. From then onwards, as per information disclosed by BlackRock, the USDC reserves held by the Circle Reserve Fund have increased to about $28.60 billion (or 65%).
The firm also revealed it directly holds $19.41 billion worth of USDC reserves in the form of T-bills. Furthermore, $11.15 billion of the stablecoin’s reserves was retained as cash at the US-regulated financial institutions, which encompasses Bank of New York Mellon, Citizens Trust Bank, Customers Bank, New York Community Bank, Signature Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, and Silvergate Bank.
Rolls Royce Launches NFT Series of Phantom Cars with Sacha Jafri’s Artwork
British ultra-luxury car manufacturer Rolls Royce has unveiled an NFT series themed on six Phantom Series motorcars. In this regard, the company has collaborated with renowned artist Sacha Jafri for the interior design of the cars. Notably, the cars’ interiors include exclusive hand-painted artwork representing one of six elements, namely Earth, Water, Wind, Fire, Air, and Humanity.
Three years ago, the Six Elements project was started. The NFTs are offered with the cars which were unveiled in December. The car owner will be able to sell the NFT separately. Also, the funds generated via NFT trading are retained separately by the company in a charity-centered digital wallet. The company stated that it has already exceeded the objective of raising more than $1 million for charitable causes.
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