Nifty News: Solana NFTs on OpenSea in April, Ross Ulbricht’s new collection… and more

March 30, 2022 Coin Telegraph

bitcoin 2022

OpenSea shared a 16-second video on Twitter to announce the integration, with many popular Solana collections announcing their intention to list on the marketplace.

Solana (SOL) NFT holders will soon have a new option for where to trade, with OpenSea teasing its integration of the Solana blockchain.

A 16-second video shared by the OpenSea Twitter account opened with the phrase “wen solana???” being typed into a search box and revealed that Solana will be supported by the marketplace in April.

The best kept secret in web3 pic.twitter.com/xuZn64cZ4U
— OpenSea (@opensea) March 29, 2022

Rumors of OpenSea supporting Solana NFTs have circulated for months. Security researcher Jane Manchun Wong — who made Forbes 30 under 30 for her high profile tech leak scoops — shared images on Twitter in January she said were sourced from OpenSea’s platform.

The images show the marketplace’s “blockchains filter” listing Solana as an option and the Phantom Solana crypto wallet appearsg in a list of supported wallets.

OpenSea’s Chains Filter showing Solana as an option pic.twitter.com/asQoYrfTm4
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) January 25, 2022

OpenSea coyly replied to Wong’s tweet with a “wide eyes” emoji at the time, but didn’t outright confirm or deny the authenticity of the claim.

Many popular Solana NFT projects have announced their intention to list with OpenSea in April, including SolPunks, Turtles, Remnants and the Degenerate Ape Academy.

The Solana integration will pitch OpenSea in direct competition with Magic Eden, Solanart, and Solsea, the current leading NFT marketplaces on the Solana blockchain.

Mistake or hack? Bored Ape NFT sells for $140

An OpenSea user by the handle “cchan” has sold a Bored Ape NFT and a Mutant Ape NFT for a combined value of $140.

A user made offers on the NFTs which were accepted by cchan and the sales were made to the within a minute of each other on Monday, Mar. 28, with BAYC #835 sold for 115 DAI, and MAYC #11670 sold for 25 DAI which is 99% under the current floor price.

DAI is a US dollar stablecoin with a diamond logo and it’s unknown if cchan mistook the offers to be in Ethereum (ETH) which would’ve been the equivalent of $470,000, or if the sales weres the result of a hack.

Activity by the user who purchased the NFTs shows a history of offers being made in DAI on Bored and Mutant Ape NFTs, which some have suggested could be in the hopes that this exact set of circumstances would occur.

Silk Road Founder to launch new NFTs at Bitcoin Miami

Ross Ulbricht, the imprisoned founder of the defunct darknet marketplace “Silk Road” is set to release another collection of NFTs at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami in April, with funds raised going toward helping children travel to visit their parents in prison.

In December 2021, Ulbricht auctioned a collection at the Art Basel Miami which netted him $6.2 million. The collection was purchased by FreeRossDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization that aims to “share Ross's work with the world and give everyone a unique opportunity to own a piece of it.”

“All of this has brought a new spark to my life,” Ross wrote in a post, reflecting on the sale of his last collection.

“I have direction and purpose and I feel like I can make a difference again. The more money we raise, the more good we can do, so I have been busy creating my next art collection.”

Dubbed the “Growth Collection”, it will be minted on the Bitcoin blockchain via Counterparty, and the piece will reportedly feature four physical oil paintings and one hand-drawn animation, accompanied by five Bitcoin NFTs to be auctioned on the Scarce.City network.

Ulbricht is serving two life sentences without the possibility of parole for his part in creating the illicit online marketplace, which famously used Bitcoin as the means of transaction.

WWE and the Metaverse

The WWE has partnered with Fanatics, a sports marketing business which, amongst other offerings, enables brands to offer digital collectibles and NFTs to their audience.

The partnership will see Fanatics create “physical, digital, and non-fungible token (NFT) trading cards” for the WWE, with Fanatics to become the exclusive provider of licensed WWE physical and NFT trading cards, building a range featuring WWE’s “biggest moments and stars.”

Other Nifty News

Mark Karpelès, the former CEO of the defunct Mt. Gox exchange announced that users who used the exchange between 2010 and 2014 around the time it was hacked, are eligible to register for a free NFT in the hopes it will “erase a bit of the loss incurred in Mt. Gox.”

The Decentraland metaverse hosted the Metaverse Fashion Week between March 24-27, 2022, the event attracted over 70 big name fashion labels and artists such as Tommy Hilfiger, Dolce and Gabbana, and Estée Lauder.

Erik Voorhees lashes ‘disgusting’ behavior of Bitcoin maxis: ‘Not the community I come from’

July 29, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin conference

Erik Voorhees is embarrassed by toxic Bitcoin maxis and told a podcast: “I don't know when they got into Bitcoin, but absolutely that is not the community that I come from in Bitcoin.”

Erik Voorhees, the founder and CEO of ShapeShift, has revealed in a podcast that he felt embarrassed and disgusted by the behavior of Bitcoin maximalists at the 2021 Bitcoin conference in Miami.

A Bitcoin OG who can see some merit in altcoins, Voorhees spoke on a panel during day two of the Miami conference in June. He caused a stir when he said “Did I hear someone on that prior panel say ‘If you’re against toxic maximalism, you’re against Bitcoin and you’re against freedom?’… Yeah, that’s some bullshit.”

The ShapeShift CEO expanded on those comments in a July 27 interview on the Unchained Podcast hosted by journalist Laura Shin. The 35-year-old slammed Bitcoiners who believe that toxic behavior such as trashing proponents of other cryptocurrencies is a good thing for BTC:

“They’ve spun themselves up into thinking that trashing these people is a virtue and it's helping Bitcoin. Frankly, I think it’s just kind of disgusting and I was embarrassed.”

He added: “These people were on stage talking about the virtues of toxic maximalism. I don't know when they got into Bitcoin, but absolutely that is not the community that I come from in Bitcoin."

Vorhees has spoken out before against toxic maximalism, but told Shin that the Miami conference was the first Bitcoin conference he’s been to in which he was “embarrassed about the people who were there.”

He stated that if there is a genuine enemy to Bitcoin and toBitcoin maxis, it is “central banks, banking and fiat currency” and not the “Dogecoin community or Ethereum community.”

ShapeShift is a noncustodial crypto exchange operated out of Denver and headquartered in Switzerland. The platform announced a full integration with cross-chain DEX THORChain in April which enabled direct trading of Bitcoin, Ether, and Litecoin. However, THORChain has suffered two multi-million dollar breaches from hackers this month, along with a third more minor breach.

Cointelegraph reported on July 16 that Thorchain came to a halt after a hacker stole $7.6 million worth of crypto assets, and last week an apparent white hat hacker stole $8 million worth of ETH.

Voorhees conceded the exploits show that ThorChain still has a long way to go, but the fact that it can provide a DEX that is chain-agnostic is a “huge development for the industry.”

“THORChain is very new early software and they’ve had a few pretty atrocious bugs recently. Right now the chain is offline. So it's not a panacea and it’s not ready for prime time, but it works. It works with real money and it's out in the wild getting better and better each week.”

Nifty News: Olympic NFT pins and games, world’s first intelligent NFT and more

June 4, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Auction

Sotheby's has revealed the world’s first “intelligent” NFT, Playboy is auctioning off a tokenized boarding pass to the “bunny jet”, and Olympic-themed NFT collectibles are dropping this month.

Playboy, the lifestyle and entertainment brand famous for its distinctive logo — among other things, has launched its first collection of five animated NFTs, on a new NFT market placed dubbed “Raretoshi” which is backed by Blockstream’s Liquid sidechain.

The NFTs were unveiled during the lead up to the 2021 Bitcoin Miami conference on June 3:

Announcing Reimagining the Rabbit: Miami, Playboy’s first collection of animated NFTs, featuring @aylaelmoussa @mbsjq @rek0de @JonNoorlander- Debuting 6.3.21 at Bitcoin 2021 on the Raretoshi marketplace. Video credit: Ayla El-Moussa. Learn more at https://t.co/2JkHnyq3J9 pic.twitter.com/fUSCHuvYuS
— Playboy (@Playboy) June 2, 2021

All of the NFTs are one-of-one editions, and include three Miami-themed animations, an animated magazine cover with the bunny logo covering a model, and a tokenized “bunny boarding pass.”

Collectors can bid for the NFTs using Liquid Bitcoin (L-BTC) — a type of asset on Blockstream’s Liquid sidechain, with a supply that is pegged 1:1 with Bitcoin.

The highest starting price is 5 L-BTC worth roughly $188,315 for the “bunny boarding pass” — which includes a bonus of a round-trip flight on the Big Bunny jet, anywhere in the U.S., for the collector and 10 other guests.

Bidding activity, however, appears to be non-existent so far, with no bids placed on any of the five artworks at the time of writing.

Olympic standard NFTs

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and nWay — a subsidiary of game developer Animoca Brands — have collaborated to drop a set of Olympic-themed tokenized NFT pins and a video game.

The Olympic themed video game will launch in the lead up to the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games and players will be able to earn free Olympic NFT collectibles if they’re any good.

The animated 3D pins commemorate historic events from the history of the Olympics — and vary in rarity and value. The first set of pins will be available on nWay from June 17, and can be traded on a peer-to-peer marketplace to be launched shortly after the first drop.

Intelligent NFTs

Sotherby’s art auction house claims its auctioning off the first ever intelligent NFT (iNFT), with bids closing June 11.

The one-of-one iNFT dubbed “Alice” depicts an ERC-721 tokenized female Robot, developed by Robert Alice in collaboration with robotics firm Alethea AI.

Tomorrow at 1pm ET, meet Alice, the world’s first intelligent NFT (iNFT) created by @robertalice_21 x @real_alethea for our #NativelyDigital NFT Sale. A self-learning intelligent avatar powered by the world's most powerful AIs, Alice will answer YOUR questions live. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/uoKHII27BH
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) June 3, 2021

“The first iNFT ever made, this iNFT stands at the genesis of a new medium. The collector will add to their collection this historic iNFT which will refine and develop based on their questions,” says the description of Alice on the project's website "thefirstinft."

According to the website, it may actually cost the collector to maintain and update the iNFT with the project noting that "depending on collectors' plans for the iNFT, the associated hosting costs of the API calls to Alethea AI’s GPT-X will pass in full into the care and duty of the collector."

Alethea AI does however offer a one-time free of charge set up for the intelligent NFT. The auction has six days to go and currently has a top bid of $35,000.

NFTs to raise funds for the Sydney Children’s hospital

A Melbourne-based digital artist who goes under the alias “Hipworth” on Twitter has created a one-of-one NFT which will be auctioned off at the Gold Dinner Gala on June 10 — with all the proceeds going to the Sydney Children’s hospital.

What a brilliant project initiated by @indepreserve. #Australia has a wonderful history in supporting #NFT auctions for charity, as per the @F1DeltaTime donation led by @animocabrands to raise funds for last year's bushfire recovery efforts.

Please bid to support a good cause! https://t.co/rS5Dbv8Q6R
— Leah Callon-Butler (@leah_cb) June 3, 2021

The NFT has been minted on NFT marketplace Makersplace, and depicts a silver animated queen statue backed by electronic music. Bids can be placed leading up to the event, and currently has a high bid of $1,000.

Former congressman Ron Paul: Bitcoin is money and should be taxed the same

June 3, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin

Former congressman Ron Paul believes Bitcoin should be regulated and taxed the same as money.

Former presidential candidate and congressman Ron Paul has renewed calls for Bitcoin to be legalized as money and not taxed.

Paul is a staunch libertarian and author of the Bitcoiner favorite “End the Fed,” who has advocated for the legalization of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in the past. The former congressman has also regularly taken aim against the Federal Reserve for its unchecked money printing since the pandemic began.

Ahead of his appearance at the Miami Bitcoin conference on June 3, the 85 year-old spoke with streaming financial news provider Kitco News and noted that his goal is to “help legalize the competition, and then I think the people will sort it out. Freedom of choice will sort it out.”

The former congressman described gold and Bitcoin as money and “competition” to the U.S. Dollar — and highlighted that a major reason investors seek out such alternative forms of money is to hedge against the declining value of the U.S dollar.

Paul believes that for this reason, “alternate forms of money” should be taxed the same as fiat currency:

"Right now, if you buy and sell gold, you get it taxed, they can do that. If you make a profit in Bitcoin, you read stories about people being taxed on it. You can't tax money, you don't tax it. If you bought a dollar a year ago and it went down 10%, you can't take a loss because your dollar lost value."

Paul believes that U.S. regulatory bodies are moving to regulate and further tax Bitcoin because it's competing with the U.S. dollar, and noted that governments throughout history have been “notoriously very eager to have control of the money,” and predicted they “will never give up control.”

“But I would apply that same concern to gold, because you know, what was the first thing Roosevelt did in 1933? He immediately took all the gold from the people,” he said.

When asked about the subject matter for his address at the Miami Bitcoin conference, Paul emphasized that he won’t necessarily be speaking on the technical significance of blockchain technology, or from a pro-Bitcoin perspective, but more from the angle of letting the market decide and freedom of choice:

“I won't try to explain exactly technically whether it's good, bad, or indifferent. I will argue more the case for the legalization of freedom of choice and the. People should make decisions and not the government.”

Miami Bitcoin Conference