The Week in Fintech
A recap of the last week in fintech.
Brent Whitehead and Matt Lohstroh, two sophomores at the Texan A&M University are mining bitcoin off flare gas from oil drilling. Their company, Giga, made more than $4 million in 2021 and is on-route to earning more than $20 million in 2022. The mining process places a shipping container full of thousands of bitcoin miners on an oil well and converts natural gas into electricity that powers the miners. This is an innovative energy solution for bitcoin mining that only reduces emissions of the flaring process, but has been able to provide revenue streams and jobs in local communities.
?As tensions continue to rise between Russia and Ukraine, the country’s volunteering groups are crowdfunding bitcoins to support their military. Cryptocurrency donations worth thousands of dollars are being used to equip the Ukrainian military with military gear, medical supplies, and drones. Cryptocurrency is becoming increasingly popular for crowdfunding war as it can bypass financial institutions that may try to block funds. It is also borderless and harder to confiscate.
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According to a new report, the popularity of NFTs increased exponentially in 2021 and is expected to rise further, owing to the changing dynamics of the art market. As Covid-19 led to a drastic reduction in traffic at art galleries, physical sales were majorly impacted. As a result, the art industry has rapidly embraced NFTs with major auction houses offering regular NFT auctions and galleries minting their own. The report reveals that 48% of High Net Worth (HNW) collectors surveyed were interested in buying digital artworks over the next year, including 52% of the Gen X collectors. Moreover, NFTs also encourage the democratization of access to art, hence going beyond HNWs and tapping into all kinds of art enthusiasts.
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