10th July 2022 - Middle East

The price of bitcoin got a small relief bounce this week as investors hoped that the worst of the crypto liquidity crisis is over.

By Friday, Bitcoin had risen 13.63% for the seven-day trading week beginning Sunday, and was on pace for its best week since October, according to Coin Metrics. The price rose as high as $22,478.37?at one point, climbing back from a low of about $17,000 in June. Bitcoin is currently about 70% below its November all-time high of $68,982.20.

Bitcoin just finished its?worst quarter since 2011—a year in which its price crossed the $1 threshold for the first time—with the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies collapsing from near $3 trillion eight months ago to $950 billion. In addition to a broad market selloff, cracks in the crypto space itself have hurt digital asset prices—whether that be the?meltdown of stablecoin Terra, failures at crypto lenders?like Celsius and Voyager Digital, or?pain felt from the bust of major hedge fund?Three Arrows Capital.

Equities have managed to stage a turnaround this week,?climbing steadily higher?over the past four days.

Top news this week included Gulf News joining arte to help grow the Web 3.0 Meta Community, Samsung will be producing Bitcoin mining chips, and the Colombian government launching a national land registry on XRP ledger. Bugatti NFT sells for nearly half a million dollars, KPMG enters the metaverse and invests $30 Million on Web3 employee training & Dubai is moving part of its government offices to Metaverse.

NFTs in Focus:- #1041 VOICE GEM by Snowcash

Education:-?Account-based Model?with Prof. Dr.?Fabian Sch?r?

So here's what else happened this week in Crypto

In the News

Gulf News joins arte to help grow the Web 3.0 Meta Community. Arte, an initiative by Crypto Oasis, was the community partner for a two-day Gulf News Web3 DeCode event at Grand Hyatt Dubai on June 25 and 26. The conference brought together inspiring creators, skilled tech professionals, and seasoned experts with diverse backgrounds to share their thoughts on disruptive technologies and the future of the internet. Gulf News

?US’ 2nd-Largest electric power company explores Bitcoin mining. The second-largest electric company in the country, Duke Energy, is researching Bitcoin mining with the goal of incorporating it into its demand response plan. Before making the discoveries accessible to the broader public, the research would look at ways to incorporate miners into the grid. Finbold

As the most developed project, Cardano has 13,000 GitHub commits. Cardano is getting an unprecedented number of commits on its GitHub page. In June, it received 13,000 GitHub contributions, making it the most active project in terms of development in the previous 30 days. U-Today

?

Binance CEO reveals what will happen for DeFi in 10 years. Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, believes that as technology advances, DeFi and DeX solutions will become much more practical and will eventually surpass centralized exchanges. Daily Hodl

Breitling, a high-end watchmaker, now accepts Bitcoin payments. Breitling has made watches available using BTC, BCH, DOGE, ETH, LTC, WBTC and five stablecoins in a strong move by the watchmaker to engage with the emerging world of digital currencies. Finbold

?

‘Gray Glacier’ upgrade goes live on Ethereum network. Ethereum has rolled out a new major network upgrade, pushing the difficulty bomb back another 100 days. The Coin Republic

?

Uber Eats allows users to pay using crypto with BitPay. BitPay customers get virtual MasterCards that let you buy from millions of retailers. Pymnts

Mexican senate bill proposes Bitcoin as legal tender. Indira Kempis proposed a bill to accept BTC as legal tender in Mexico. Bitcoin.com

?

Kuwait-based Islamic Bank enters the Metaverse. The bank has two sites in the metaverse, one on Decentraland and another on Sandbox. Arabnews

?

Colombian government launches national land registry on XRP ledger. Colombia’s land agency can now access the XRPL, register digital assets on its ledger, and verify their authenticity via a QR code, says the firm. Daily Hodl

?

Binance to assist Cambodia in developing digital asset regulations. The partnership will aim to establish a regulatory framework for the domestic digital asset sector and support the activities of crypto firms. Crypto Potato

?

First spot Bitcoin ETF approved to launch in Europe. Institutional and professional investors can now easily buy Bitcoin through the European exchange-traded fund, BCOIN. Reuters

?

Anchorage introduces Ethereum staking for institutional investors. This service allows institutions to earn rewards linked to Ethereum, in anticipation of the network switch from a proof-of-work (PoW) system to a proof-of-stake (PoS) protocol. Crypto.news

?

Samsung to produce Bitcoin mining chips. PanSemi, ASIC producer from China will be the first client, and Qualcomm might join later. Chips created using this technology may have lower power consumption, faster speeds, and more transistors. Finbold

??

Arte News

The first televised Arabic cartoon NFT collection announces by Shaabiat Al Cartoon. Arab Royals become first members of the Crypto Arabs Community. Zawya

?

ID checks for NFT purchases to be required by Chinese tech giants. The initiative pledges to "vigorously combat speculation" and forego the development of secondary marketplaces for NFT trading. Decrypt

Dubai is moving part of its government offices to Metaverse. Dubai is preparing to make part of its offices available in the metaverse, according to reports. The government country is looking for third parties to help it arrange the transition of some of its departments to the virtual world, according to Sharad Agarwal, Cybergear's chief metaverse officer. Bitcoin.com

Facebook adopts NFTs. The new "digital collectibles" category on Facebook is officially live, however it's now only available to a select few content producers in North America. On the social media site, NFT developers will not be charged anything, and NFTs will not be permitted in any advertising. The widespread metaverse vision for Meta includes the adoption of NFT on both Facebook and Instagram. Nftevening

Wing Finance introduces NFT pool, allowing users to access value. Wing Finance provides attractive APR rates through its new NFT pool, which supports six blue-chip NFT collections. The NFT pool's participation method is intended to be as easy and straightforward as possible for lenders and borrowers. Cointelegraph

?

Cristóbal Balenciaga NFT drop promotes unparalleled inclusivity in Web3. The aesthetically stunning features that represent the beauty and strength that women contribute to Web3 are supported by an abundance of incentives, redeemability, and usefulness. We live in a time where technology, community, and social effect are all interacting. Cointelegraph

The first hyper-realistic metaverse allows users to buy digital homes. Verse Estate, an ecologically friendly metaverse firm specializing in generating hyper-realistic opulent items ranging from private aircraft to luxury goods, is offering the basis to begin building a virtual house. This is accomplished via exceptional customer service, a completely immersive experience, and a dynamic community. Cointelegraph

?

The Crystal Palace Football Club register the trademarks “NFT Space” and “Metaverse”. The British football team Crystal Palace F.C. has applied for a trademark that covers NFTs, cryptocurrencies, digital collectibles, virtual clothes, footwear, and sports equipment, as well as online NFT and crypto markets. Finbold

KPMG enters the metaverse and invests $30 Million on Web3 employee training. With a new collaborative hub that uses Web3 to connect staff, clients, and others, KPMG is embracing the metaverse. The metaverse hub focused on education is the "signature piece" of the company's $30 million investment in Web3 experiences this year. CryptoCrunchApp

Bored Ape owners now can rent out their NFTs to brands. Hundreds of Bored Ape owners have signed up to Boredjobs, a new NFT licensing marketplace launched by blockchain accelerator Mouse Belt Labs in order to rent out their Apne's IP to brands. Cointelegraph

?

Metaverse Casino set to be the latest trend in Web3. Metaverse is a huge place to interact with, but it has some technical disadvantages. Planet Maya, a web3 newcomer powered by Champion Games, builds P2E experiences and claims that it solves these downsides. This casino metaverse is perfect for game and sports lovers. Coinquora

?

WNBA player Alex Bentley purchases $40k worth of real estate in the metaverse. Bentley spent $40000 on digital assets and virtual land in the LootMogul metaverse, which is the only metaverse stadium allowing all users to own assets. Coinquora

Binance Partners up With TikTok Star Khaby Lame. The TikTok star will work with Binance for special NFT collections to bring better experiences to fans. Bezinga

Bugatti NFT sells for nearly half a million dollars or brand-new supercar money. The winning bidder of the one-off sculpture, made by Asprey and accompanying NFT, is an art collector and Bugatti enthusiast who wishes to remain anonymous. The piece was purchased at a live auction hosted at Phillips in Berkeley Square, Mayfair, UK. Autoevolution

Samsung and XOXO- a partnership setting new standards in the NFT world. Samsung, one of the world's largest producers of electronic devices, has recently partnered with the XOXO NFT, a collection of digital artwork stored on the Ethereum blockchain. As part of the collaboration, holders will get a free Samsung Galaxy Z flip, Galaxy Watch, or Galaxy buds. AmbCrypto

Top 10 Crypto Currencies this Week

Learn to Earn

??In this lecture, Prof. Dr.?Fabian Sch?r?of the?Center for Innovative Finance (Universit?t Basel)?will provide a comprehensive framework to understand how?Ethereum?transactions work.

NFTs in Focus

The #1041 VOICE GEM was generated by the voice of Izayus, as narrated by pop culture icon Stan Lee, in episode one of 7th Portal; the world's first "webisode" which was created in 1999 and coincides with the first publicly used term to describe an animated series on the internet.

Considered as the most significant digital art history piece, which was created for a global audience on the internet, the 7th Portal is a work that we are proud to immortalize as an NFT through the #1041 VOICEGEM on elementum. Considered a hidden treasure, the #1041 VOICE GEM NFT will inspire a new generation to join the dialogue and Stan Lee's vision of the metaverse, the then brand-new World Wide Web, as was foreseen decades ago by Lee.

Even though Lee was in his late 70s at the time he created 7th portal, he was not deterred by the technical complexities of this new medium. He explained: "People wonder why am I interested in the internet when this seems to be a young person's thing? (…) I find that the internet isn't a matter of age, it's a matter of the exciting possibilities that it offers. (…) it's just the excitement of telling stories and feeling that I am telling them to friends and hoping that these friends will enjoy them as much as the stories I told years ago. Maybe more. Because these stories on the internet will be animated, they'll be 3 dimensional and they'll have sound and music and voices."

The NFT consist of a rotating VOICE GEM while Stan Lee narrates as Izyaus's character from the 7th Portal: "This universe we inhabit is merely one of many in the vast multiverse, each exists in its own dimension where time and space interact with infinite possibilities.", decades later the same quote contains the same curiosity and contemporary feeling. Through the visual transcription of the narration and Izayus's voice, the VOICE GEMS acts as a vehicle to offer an algorithmic presentation of the rich history of cymatic art and intertwine the constant surge of humans to communicate through a universal language.

The #1041 VOICE GEM and Stan Lee's visionary message in the work builds bridges to the history of art as seen through countless attempts in past century to visualize musical compositions and sounds, such as in Kandinsky's paintings which he describes as "visual music," with colors being like sounds.

That's it for this week, see you next week.