Blockchain & Crypto Highlights of November

The number of metaverse users increased tenfold between January 2020 and June 2021

According to the Grayscale report, the rate of active metaverse users increased tenfold between the start of 2020 and June 2021. The research highlights that digital hobbies, unique online experiences, crypto gaming, and Web 3.0 opportunities attract new users to the metaverse, expanding the sector.?

It is also projected that bringing the metaverse to the mainstream will result in the sector having a $1 trillion+ market capitalization in the coming years.

“Compared to other Web 3.0 and Web 2.0 segments, Metaverse virtual world users are still in their early innings, but if current growth rates remain on their current trajectory, this emerging segment has the potential to become mainstream in the coming years.”

Ethereum’s layer-two TVL has more than doubled over the past few months

The TVL in layer-two networks running on Ethereum reached an all-time high of $5.64 billion. L2 solutions are also continuously processing more transactions than Bitcoin, as DeFi supporters turn to them to save on transaction costs, while enjoying faster transaction confirmation. In November, L2 solutions saw the fastest adoption ever, leading to the highest average gas fees in the network’s history.?

Reported: Ethereum is in full deflationary mode

Achieving deflation for Ethereum while anticipating the Ethereum 2 merge has occurred earlier than expected. Recent upgrades brought about the deflationary issuance of ETH, meaning that the burning of a portion of transaction fees has exceeded the issuance of new ETH through mining.

Deflation is a vital factor that will drive the value of ETH cryptocurrency in the foreseeable future. Moreover, crypto enthusiasts believe that deflation is bound to increase after the transition to Ethereum 2 is completed.

Bitcoin processes more volume by dollar value than PayPal

Having outstripped PayPal by total transfer volume, Bitcoin is on track to exceed Mastercard’s volume in five years. The Bitcoin network rose to the level of Mastercard and PayPal in terms of total volume processed because of the number of transactions, the BTC price increase and the average amount of BTC sent per transaction.

“It’s impressive how Bitcoin, as a 12-year-old decentralized network, is 27% of the way in terms of volume processed compared to Mastercard, a company founded in 1966.”

The city of Miami plans to give out “bitcoin yield” by staking MiamiCoin

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez announced that Miami will become the first city in the US “to give a bitcoin yield as a dividend directly to its residents.” The city will share some of the profits from the local MiamiCoin cryptocurrency with its citizens. It will distribute payments through digital wallets — MiamiCoin has produced over $21 million for the city in the past three months.?

In the future, such a revolutionary approach can eradicate the need for Miami citizens to pay taxes; therefore, I would say this is the best way to make full-scale decentralization a reality.

Twitter and Discord to support previewing the Solana NFT gallery with Audius

Through Web 3.0 integrations, Audius, a Solana-based future-web hub for musicians, launched the ability to display and embed NFTs and NFT galleries for users on Twitter and Discord. For the first time, NFT holders can embed collectibles from the two biggest blockchains into their Twitter timelines, websites and blogs. By using the Audius ‘embed’ function, users can receive all NFT metadata. Artists can use the metadata to popularize and sell their talent.?

This update is essential to pushing collectibles and NFT culture into the mainstream, enabling the flow of crypto community ideas on ownership, identity, and community. I also agree with Tor Bair, founder of privacy-centric nonprofit organization the Secret Foundation, on the fact that “Today’s NFTs are more like dumb receipts than smart ownership with no native access control or privacy for content or buyers. If we can solve these issues, we’ll see NFTs expand to represent trillions of dollars of art, content and physical and financial assets.”

Reddit co-founder is investing millions of dollars in Solana-based social media

Decentralized social networks operate on independently run servers and can solve a lot of the pain points of centralized social media platforms. Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit, announced investment plans of up to $100 million for a decentralized social network built on the Solana blockchain.?

This is a wise investment considering the upcoming arrival of Web 3.0 and the metaverse will be turning users and creators into stakeholders of their own content, meaning that decentralized social networks will empower numerous self-sufficient communities.?