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Web3 should draw newcomers, not be a ‘money grab from brands’ — Tech CEO

Using Web3 and NFTs to create another slate of millionaires isn’t a good use of the technology, says EndeavourXR CEO Amy Peck.

The crypto industry should focus on building blockchain-based solutions everybody can benefit from instead of launching cash grabs for brands, says Amy Peck, CEO of tech-focused consulting firm EndeavourXR.

Peck told Cointelegraph at the Lisbon Web Summit that Web3 firms should be build-first oriented and create attractive products to draw newcomers.

She added using Web3 and nonfungible tokens (NFTs) as “just another money grab from brands” to create another slate of multi-millionaires “doesn’t seem like a good look” nor a good use of what is an “elegant technology.”

“This is an infinite landscape. The money’s going to be there, right? Let’s build a better bread box. We have the opportunity to do something really interesting and reinvent this economic construct, invite more people to the party, not just create another 1%.”

Obtaining an on-chain proof of identity, taking control and ownership of one’s data, connecting blockchain-based assets to the real world and interacting in the creator economy are among the top things Peck says builders should focus on to extract the most value from Web3.

Following FTX’s collapse and other industry shortfalls, Peck said much of her firm’s client base says they “don’t want to touch crypto” and that “Web3 is all shenanigans.”

Lisbon Web Summit on Nov. 16. Source: Joe Hall/Cointelegraph

Peck acknowledged it’s currently unrealistic for big brands to fully transition to Web3 but says there’s already a “Web2.5 center lane” that these firms can leverage.

Providing consumers with more control and ownership over their data is already possible with blockchain, Peck stressed.

Related: How AI is changing crypto: Hype vs. reality

She added a more “transparent exchange” is becoming more crucial than ever, particularly with the emergence of devices collecting data such as fingerprints and faces.

“What is coming with these immersive devices is biometric data that will allow the people who own that data to know more about us than we know, and the level of manipulation will be exponential.”

On cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds, Peck said it’s great that Wall Street firms are now taking the industry seriously but is wary that they will try to twist what has been built to suit their liking.

“They’re going to try and wrestle it to the ground and make it behave like these existing financial mechanisms.”

Magazine: Singer Vérité’s fan-first approach to Web3, music NFTs and community building

Additional reporting by Joe Hall.

USDC overtakes USDT: Compliance is key to stablecoin dominance

‘NFTs will win on Bitcoin’ — OnChainMonkey NFT collection ditches Ethereum

Metagood CEO Danny Yang attributed the move to the Bitcoin network being seen as a more secure platform for its users, among other reasons.

The team behind nonfungible token collection OnChainMonkey is shifting its entire collection of 10,000 NFTs from Ethereum to Bitcoin, in a massive undertaking expected to take several months.

"A historical transition is on the horizon as we prepare to migrate our flagship collection, OCM Genesis, from Ethereum to Bitcoin,” Metagood co-founder and CEO Danny Yang said in a statement on Sept. 7.

The OnChainMonkeys were first launched in September 2021 on Ethereum, but Yang said the migration to Bitcoin Ordinals was due to its community seeing Bitcoin as offering a more secure platform for its users.

“The Bitcoin Ordinal protocol is better designed for decentralization and security than the Ethereum NFT protocol. High-value NFTs will win on Bitcoin.”

The proposal to migrate to Bitcoin was passed by 99% of OnChainMonkey tokenholders. Yang said this means the community had a high conviction for moving to Bitcoin.

The migration would come at a hefty cost though, with Metagood expecting to fork out over $1 million to ensure the migration process runs smoothly.

While the migration process is rather complex, each new OnChainMonkey on Bitcoin will have clear provenance to the corresponding original Ethereum NFT. Holders will receive the corresponding Bitcoin Ordinal once they’ve burned the Ethereum NFT.

However, Yang says the migration shouldn’t be too challenging compared to what Metagood has already accomplished in the Bitcoin Ordinals space:

“We were the first to inscribe 10,000 images of a collection on Bitcoin. We were the first to launch a parent-child collection with OCM Dimensions 300. We pioneered recursive inscriptions on Bitcoin, as well as inscribing Three.js and p5.js for everyone to use.”

However, Ethereum continues to dominate the NFT market, settling $236.8 million in NFTs over the last month, compared to second place Solana ($37.7 million), with Bitcoin ($11.1 million) back in sixth place, according to CryptoSlam.

At the same time, Bitcoin Ordinals transaction volumes plunged 98% between May and mid-August despite rising to popularity in early 2023.

But Yang isn’t concerned, highlighting to Cointelegraph that it is only time before a strong Bitcoin-native NFT ecosystem develops. Both Bitcoin and Ethereum NFT ecosystems can thrive, he added.

Related: Ordinals still make up majority of Bitcoin txs despite price collapse

OnChainMonkey NFTs currently trade at an average floor price of 1.10 Ether (ETH) with over 20,550 ETH in transaction volume from 9,500 items since it launched on NFT marketplace OpenSea in September 2021.

Of the 2,900 owners of the OnChainMonkey NFTs, 31% are unique owners, according to OpenSea.

List of OnChainMonkey NFTs currently traded on OpenSea. Source: OpenSea

The arrival of Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens launched in January, which were made possible by the Taproot soft fork executed in November 2021.

Collect this article as an NFT to preserve this moment in history and show your support for independent journalism in the crypto space.

Magazine: Blockchain games aren’t really decentralized… but that’s about to change

USDC overtakes USDT: Compliance is key to stablecoin dominance

On-chain tool to seize crypto is a purist’s nightmare, but a must: CEO

A U.S. federal court recently used on-chain tech to lock criminals out of their crypto on the Jurat Network. Its founder, Mike Kanovitz, admits it could see hate from crypto purists.

The founder of layer-1 blockchain Jurat has defended his protocol against potential haters, arguing that on-chain legal enforcement is a necessary trade-off for crypto mass adoption. 

On Aug. 8, a U.S. District Court used Jurat’s on-chain enforcement tool to lock several sanctioned individuals out of their crypto accounts. These individuals were sanctioned for money laundering and using ransomware to extort cryptocurrency payments to benefit North Korea’s weapons program.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, Mike Kanovitz, the founder and CEO of Jurat said the judicial order was the first of its kind.

The Jurat blockchain was launched in late 2022, formed via a fork of the Bitcoin blockchain. The technology connects blockchain nodes with court dockets to enforce court orders.

Kanovitz admits that such technology will likely garner criticism from die-hard supporters of decentralization.

“Some people are going to claim to be philosophical purists and hate on it. I get that.

However, the Illinois-based lawyer said such technology could bring the necessary due process protections for digital assets, which will be key to mainstream adoption.

"Some of the people who currently think that there should not be effective law enforcement on-chain would feel differently if they got hacked, defrauded, or lost their private keys. Then they would be relieved that they can recover their property," he expla

In the first half of 2023, $656 million in cryptocurrencies were lost to scams, hacks and rug pulls, according to a June 30 report by blockchain security firm Beosin.

“It will not only tame the lawlessness that scares away would be adopters and draws the ire of government officials, it can unlock incredible utility for commerce,” he added.

Related: MetaCourt’s IDO launch: A paradigm shift in Web3 legal services

Until now, courts have had limited means to effectively freeze and seize crypto funds. A common tactic has been to order centralized crypto exchanges to freeze funds or turn over identifying information of the suspect. 

However, the on-chain enforcement tool works by connecting JTC’s blockchain and software nodes with the user's chosen court. 

During a lawsuit, each party provides the court with a competing hash for what that side wants the court to do. When a ruling is made, the court simply pastes the hash of the winning side, and the software nodes will execute the order autonomously once it accesses the online court docket.

The court attached the Jurat ID’s which JCT’s blockchain nodes then read to block the private keys of the defendants on the JCT Blockchain. Source: Jurat. io.

Kanovitz said the tool currently only works in the United States, and only for the JCT blockchain. However, he hopes to bring JCT’s technology into other Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible blockchains in the future.

Magazine: ‘Moral responsibility’ — Can blockchain really improve trust in AI?

USDC overtakes USDT: Compliance is key to stablecoin dominance

NFT Sales Drop 5.4% to $193M, Ethereum Dominates with $107M in Sales: Weekly Recap

NFT Sales Drop 5.4% to 3M, Ethereum Dominates with 7M in Sales: Weekly RecapOver the past week, statistics show non-fungible token (NFT) sales totaled $193.08 million, down 5.44% from the previous week. Ethereum dominated NFT sales with more than $107 million or 55% of all sales, while Solana-centric NFT sales recorded $26.3 million or 13% of sales in the same period. NFT Market Shows Signs of Slowdown With […]

USDC overtakes USDT: Compliance is key to stablecoin dominance

The ethics of the metaverse: Privacy, ownership and control

As the metaverse continues to grow and evolve, it is essential that we consider and address the ethical questions and challenges it raises.

The metaverse, a virtual environment that simulates reality, offers complex moral dilemmas regarding privacy, ownership and control. These consist of:

  • Privacy: Who has access to and how is personal information used within the metaverse?
  • Ownership: Who owns the digital assets and real estate in the metaverse, and what rights do they have over it?
  • Control: Who oversee activities in the metaverse, and what rules and regulations will be implemented to guarantee fair use and equal treatment for all participants?

These are crucial issues to think about as the metaverse expands and is utilized more frequently, and they will probably have a big impact on how this new digital frontier develops in the future. For the metaverse to be a secure and equitable space for everyone, these ethical issues must be addressed.

Privacy problems in the metaverse

The growth of the metaverse has brought about numerous privacy concerns that need to be addressed. Some of the most pressing issues include:

  • Data gathering and use: Businesses operating within the metaverse may gather a lot of user-provided personal data, which raises concerns about how that information will be used and who will have access to it.
  • Lack of control over personal information: Users’ ability to manage their personal data within the metaverse may be limited, raising worries about possible abuse of that data.
  • Tracking and monitoring: There might not be enough information available regarding how user activity in the metaverse is kept track of and who has access to that data.
  • Data security: The metaverse could be subject to cyberattacks that lead to the loss or theft of sensitive personal data.
  • Privacy vs. pseudonymity: While many users may prefer to use pseudonyms within the metaverse, this can also create privacy concerns if their real-world identities can be linked to their virtual ones.

Related: What is decentralized identity in blockchain?

Ownership issues in the metaverse

Ownership issues in the metaverse refer to questions and challenges related to the control and usage rights of digital assets and property within these digital environments. Some of the key ownership issues in the metaverse include:

  • Intellectual property rights: The metaverse involves the creation and distribution of a vast amount of digital content, such as virtual clothing, accessories and digital art. This has raised questions about who owns the rights to this content and how it can be protected.
  • Virtual property rights: Individuals in virtual worlds have the right to own virtual property, including buildings, land and enterprises. The extent to which virtual property can be purchased, sold and controlled is a topic of continuous discussion.
  • Jurisdiction: In cases involving virtual property and intellectual property rights, it can be difficult to decide what laws should be applied because the metaverse is spread out across many different nations and territories.
  • Contractual issues: The metaverse also raises concerns about the enforceability of agreements signed between people for the sale and transfer of goods.

Related: How are metaverse assets taxed?

Control-related problems in the metaverse

In the metaverse, control issues refer to questions and challenges related to the regulation, governance and administration of virtual environments and their interactions with the physical world. Some of the key control-related issues in the metaverse include:

  • Content control: People can create, distribute and consume a variety of digital content in virtual worlds, including user-generated content. There are continuing discussions about how much regulation should be placed on virtual worlds and what kinds of information should be permitted or outlawed.
  • Economic control: Digital currencies and online marketplaces are only a couple of the complex and quickly changing economic systems found in the metaverse. Concerns exist over the reliability and fairness of these systems, as well as the roles played by the public and private sectors in their regulation and administration.
  • Political control: Virtual environments are increasingly being used as platforms for political expression, activism and organizing. This has raised questions about the extent to which virtual environments should be subject to political regulation and control, as well as the implications of such regulation for freedom of speech and democracy.

How to protect yourself in the metaverse

To protect yourself in the metaverse, it’s important to be aware of the risks and challenges that come with virtual environments. Some steps you can take include being cautious about the information you share online, using strong passwords and two-factor authentication, being mindful of phishing scams and malicious software, and regularly reviewing the privacy settings on your virtual accounts. Additionally, it’s important to be aware of the terms of service and community guidelines for each virtual environment you use and to follow them closely.

Finally, it is vital to be mindful of your interactions with others in virtual environments and to be aware of the potential for online harassment and cyberbullying. By being proactive and taking steps to protect one’s privacy and security, one can enjoy the many benefits of the metaverse while minimizing exposure to potential risks.

USDC overtakes USDT: Compliance is key to stablecoin dominance

Stiffing the Staker: The SEC’s Latest Crackdown on Crypto Innovation

Stiffing the Staker: The SEC’s Latest Crackdown on Crypto InnovationThe crypto world was jolted last week when the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shut down Kraken’s staking program, much to the satisfaction of Chairman Gary Gensler and his team. But what does this mean for the future of cryptocurrency and, more specifically, staking? The following opinion editorial was written by Bitcoin.com’s Business Development Manager […]

USDC overtakes USDT: Compliance is key to stablecoin dominance

Bitcoin Records Largest Mined Block to Date, 4 MB Block Containing NFT Causes Unease Among Small-Block Supporters 

Bitcoin Records Largest Mined Block to Date, 4 MB Block Containing NFT Causes Unease Among Small-Block Supporters Amid the controversy surrounding the Ordinals project and the debate over what types of data should be stored on the Bitcoin blockchain, the network mined its largest block, nearly 4 MB in size, containing just 63 transactions. One of the transactions was a 3.94 MB Ordinal inscription featuring an image of a wizard, and the […]

USDC overtakes USDT: Compliance is key to stablecoin dominance

Nearly $13 Billion in Sales: Breaking Down 5 NFT Collections by Sales Volume 

Nearly  Billion in Sales: Breaking Down 5 NFT Collections by Sales Volume Non-fungible token (NFT) assets have existed since at least 2014, but interest in them began to rise in January 2021, according to Google Trends data. Approximately one year later, the search term “NFT” reached its highest score on Google Trends. During that time the top five NFT collections, in terms of all-time sales volume, have […]

USDC overtakes USDT: Compliance is key to stablecoin dominance

FTX Debtors’ List of Assets Omits Mention of Large Stash of NFTs and ENS Names Owned by Alameda 

FTX Debtors’ List of Assets Omits Mention of Large Stash of NFTs and ENS Names Owned by Alameda This week, FTX debtors issued a press release and a 20-page document noting that bankruptcy administrators had located $5.5 billion in liquid assets. The document details that investigators discovered fiat currencies, crypto assets, and securities as part of FTX’s and Alameda Research’s cache. However, the disclosure to unsecured creditors does not mention the extremely large […]

USDC overtakes USDT: Compliance is key to stablecoin dominance

FTX’s $5.5 Billion in Alleged ‘Liquid Assets’ Includes Locked SOL Cache and Illiquid FTT Holdings

FTX’s .5 Billion in Alleged ‘Liquid Assets’ Includes Locked SOL Cache and Illiquid FTT HoldingsTwo days ago, bankruptcy administrators and FTX debtors published an update for unsecured creditors claiming the discovery of $5.5 billion in liquid assets. Roughly $3.5 billion of these funds are cryptocurrency assets, with 11 different digital currencies classified as “liquid assets.” However, two of the firm’s top cryptocurrency caches are not liquid as the company’s […]

USDC overtakes USDT: Compliance is key to stablecoin dominance