Blockchain & crypto highlights of January

Crypto market report predicts crypto users to hit 1B by 2023

We saw the crypto population grow by a huge 178% in 2021, and analysts predict that the number of crypto owners worldwide will reach 1 billion by the end of this year.?

The great news is that governments can no longer ignore the adoption of cryptocurrency by the public; hence, I believe that 2022 will see more nations following the example of El Salvador and adopting crypto as legal tender.?

NEAR Protocol raises US$150M to boost Web3 adoption

NEAR Protocol is fueling decentralization by raising $150 million in funding to support the mass adoption of Web3 technologies. This is set to be achieved through ecosystem funding, developing NEAR’s regional hubs, and promoting NEAR-based projects, as well as the protocol’s community to new users.

Knowing that NEAR’s mission is to help billions of people use blockchain and decentralized technologies, their strategy is top-notch.?

Twitter enables ownership verification of profile picture NFTs

Twitter users on IOS can verify NFT ownership in their crypto wallet for $2.99 per month and display it on their profile. Also, upon clicking on the NFT, users are redirected to a page that presents metadata, collection information, and other details.?

The feature uses the API of the leading NFT marketplace, OpenSea, and supports popular hardware and software wallets. Currently, it works with Trust Wallet, Rainbow, Coinbase Wallet, Metamask, Ledger Live, and Argent.

EIP-1559 upgrade went live on Polygon mainnet

The Ethereum scaling solution Polygon has adopted Ethereum Improvement Proposal 1559 to make gas prices more predictable. For Polygon, the update enables the burning of the native MATIC token alongside improved fee visibility.

“Based on Ethereum’s EIP-1559 experience, calculations suggest that Polygon will burn 0.27% of MATIC’s supply annually. ”

Single-slot finality advantages , as outlined by Vitalik Buterin

In one of his latest blogs, Vitalik Buterin outlines several arguments supporting the decrease of the finality time to a single slot. He says single slot finality improves user experience, as it enables increased security at a speed that users expect. Moreover, it helps reduce protocol bugs and complexity, such as “ a cleaner relationship between a single-slot confirmation mechanism and the fork choice rule”. Finally, single-slot finality makes it impossible to reorganize blockchain for maximal extractable value (MEV) purposes.

Access details here , it’s definitely worth a read!

Etherscan released a chat for messaging between crypto wallets

Blockscan Chat has been launched to enable Ethereum users to exchange messages by connecting their MetaMask or Wallet Connect wallets. Regarding the feature’s information storage and user privacy, the data is stored via global hosting providers with servers based in different regions, with inactive data being deleted after 24 months.

I see it as helpful to the NFT market — the tool could be used for secure negotiations on NFT purchases between sellers and buyers.??