Is Jack Dorsey’s first tweet now worth $280? ??
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Do you remember the popular Ghanaian pallbearers that entertained and scared us during the global lockdown? Well, last week, they?cashed out?big on the NFT wave as their viral coffin dance sold for a whooping 327 ETH ($1,045,409).
The coffin dance, created by Benjamin Aidoo, had gone viral in 2020 after memes were made with their videos during the COVID-19 lockdown period.
The question on many people’s minds is, ‘which viral meme is next?’
We do not have the answer to that question, but there is a(nother) pricey NFT in this week’s edition, and it’s a funny story.
Now the stories of the week!
IN THIS ISSUE:
?-Mastercard is about to enter the Metaverse
?-The oldest country in Europe grants its first crypto licence to a Bank
?-Is Jack Dorsey’s first tweet now worth $280?
THE BIG IDEA
Mastercard is about to enter the Metaverse
There's a first time for everything and for financial services giant Mastercard?it's?prepping up?to get involved in the Metaverse for the first time.
How so?
Mastercard recently filed 15 trademarks applications related to non-fungible tokens (NFTs) with the US Patents and Trademarks office.
15! What's under the hood?
Virtual payments:?According to one trademark application, Mastercard intends to provide virtual payments in the metaverse, “and other virtual worlds.” Surely, when people want to buy things in the Metaverse, they can’t use fiat money (cash).
Virtual environments:?It's also looking to provide “virtual environments in which users can interact for recreational, educational, networking, shopping, leisure or entertainment purposes,” in addition to, ”creating and hosting an on-line community for digital assets, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), metaverses and virtual worlds.” One of the reasons why the idea of the Metaverse is appealing to many is that it’s supposed to mirror the places and activities the current physical world has.
Online marketplace: Mastercard also wants to create an “online marketplace for buyers and sellers of downloadable digital goods and media authenticated by non-fungible tokens (NFTs).”
Notably, earlier this year, Mastercard teamed up with US cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase to facilitate the purchasing of NFTs.
The Big Picture
Mastercard isn't alone on this. Other major payment service providers have made similar efforts to enter the crypto sphere through related patent filings. In 2020, rival payments giant Visa filed a patent application to create a digital currency and has recently been developing a native digital currency on its card networks. It also announced its intentions to launch a global crypto advisory service earlier this year.
American Express has also submitted some seven patent applications related to establishing a presence in the metaverse.
领英推荐
QUIZ
What liquidity mean in the crypto space?
(Answer at the end)
The oldest country in Europe grants its first crypto licence to a Bank
Portugal, the oldest country in Europe, has?granted?its first crypto license to a bank.
The license was given to Portugal-based Bison Bank to operate as a virtual asset service provider (VASP) by the country’s central bank. This gives the bank the right to operate cryptocurrency exchanges and ATMs. At the same time it announced securing the licence, Bison Bank also?reported?losses of 10.6 million euros last year. Operating a ‘crypto bank’ might be part of its efforts to become profitable.
Zoom out
The announcement of the licence isn’t seen as a surprise as Portugal is known as a crypto-friendly country and a crypto tax haven.
Cryptocurrency income is exempt from VAT and capital gains taxes unless it is derived from professional trading activity. The country’s government has also formed a working group of public and private entities along with experts to formulate a sector-wide national blockchain strategy.
NUMBERS SPEAK
$280
In December 2020, Jack Dorsey created a non-fungible token (NFT) out of his first-ever Twitter post.
Surprisingly, the NFT version of the five-word tweet was sold to Iranian-born crypto entrepreneur Sina Estavi in March 2021 for a stunning $2.9 million.
Fast forward to last week, Estavi?tried to sell?it for $50 but no one bid more than $280 for it. What happened?
It's difficult for people to quantify the utility of the NFT. It's not related to any real life experiences or benefits like spending time with Jack Dorsey or owning Twitter stock.
“What is the real value proposition here? I think time has probably told us, and it's probably nothing, said Mitch Lacsamana, an NFT collector and head of marketing for an NFT trading group.
Zoom Out
Over the past day, bids for the Dorsey tweet NFT have risen to about $10,000. Estavi says he won’t sell for anything less than $50 million. We wish him all the best!
Word of the Week
Liquidity?
Liquidity is how quickly and easily an asset like cryptocurrency can be converted into cash or another asset. Liquid markets are typically preferred by traders. An illiquid market makes it very difficult for participants to buy, sell or exchange assets.
The liquidity of cryptocurrencies is likely to increase further if adoption rises, and virtual assets become more widely accepted as mediums of exchange.
What We’re Keeping an Eye On
Building Generative AI | Digital Economist | Fintech | Startup builder | Innovation Advisory
2 年Great articles Victor Ekwealor, looking at MasterCard's Metaverse strategy, do you think mirroring of events and places of the real world is what makes Metaverse more appealing?