Bored of your playlist? Spotify is testing a new service called ‘token-enabled playlists’, which allows holders of select NFTs to connect their wallets and listen to music curated to the theme of their collection. Read on for what else is hot in the world of crypto.
Markets Spotlight
Note: Market prices captured in US$ at the time of reading. Explore more on Crypto.com/Price.
News Snaps
mETFaverse
BlackRock is offering a Metaverse-themed exchange-traded fund (ETF) that will invest in companies expected to contribute to the Metaverse in areas including virtual platforms, social media, gaming, virtual and augmented reality, 3D software, and digital assets.
Crypto banking
DZ Bank, Germany’s second-largest bank in terms of asset size, announced plans to integrate digital currencies into its asset management services.
TradFi crypto tango
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange is planning to open its halls to crypto trading, which would move TradFi and crypto under the same roof in Israel. However, the proposal is facing regulatory headwinds, and the proposed process is somewhat convoluted.
Oxbridge x blockchain
Here are the top 5 universities in the UK to study blockchain — which are, coincidentally, also the best universities in the country, including Oxford, Cambridge, and Edinburgh. The courses range from several weeks to months.
Heroes and villainsCointelegraph’s list of top 100 people in crypto makes us chuckle and shudder, as it includes both heroes and villains who had an impact on the space in the past year. Inspired by NFT collectible designs, the list is a worthy scroll.
What’s Ahead
Greece’s JPMorgan Crypto LabJPMorgan is set to launch a new crypto innovation lab in Greece, which will develop solutions using blockchain tools. The lab will focus primarily on building applications that use Onyx, the blockchain platform launched by the bank.
NFT Spotlight
Unlock the secrets of the universe with Larisa Murarius’s ‘Space Girls’, a captivating collection of NFTs that pay homage to the strength, beauty, and grace of women. Dropping Wednesday, 8 March, this collection transports us to a world of cosmic beauty where the female form is the driving force behind everything.
Through her collage work, Murarius (AKA Morysetta), a self-taught digital artist from Bucharest, Romania, is able to create magic and deep meaning by focusing on everyday objects and shared emotions. Using layering of images, Morysetta delves into the essence of a thought, the purity of a gesture, and the source of an idea. The artworks evoke emotions that transcend the physical realm and tap into the spiritual side of femininity.
By owning one of these pieces, holders will be part of a community of art enthusiasts who appreciate the feminine form and recognise the driving force behind everything on Mother Earth. This collection features various utility items created by the artist, including 🪂 NFT airdrops for Space Girls (and previous collection) holders and 🖼️ Art prints.
The secret of this cosmic astronaut of the imaginary is in the empathy behind every collage: Within each piece are the human emotions that always find — drop after drop — a new place to be, without losing their truth and authenticity. This is the world of Morysetta.
This collection aims to capture the wanderlust of women who explore their boundless potential and the power that lies within them. [It] is not only a celebration of women but also a tribute to the powerful and enduring spirit of femininity that exists in all of us.
Morysetta, radiating delight to Mother Earth
Embark on a journey to a world of cosmic beauty. Early access starts 60 minutes prior to the drop for holders of previously released Morysetta Collections.
Product Picks
AI Basket for Trading Bots on Exchange
The Crypto.com Exchange has added a pre-filled AI Basket to the DCA Trading Bot. With this new basket, users can automate purchases of popular Artificial Intelligence (AI) tokens, diversifying their portfolio while managing market volatility. The AI Basket consists of FET, ALI, GRT, RLC, OCEAN, and NMR. Find out how you can set up a DCA bot here.
Target Price: Automatically Trade 290+ Tokens With Precision
FIS, RPL, FLR, PSTAKE, AXL, and more have been added to the growing list of over 290 supported tokens for Target Price Orders. Gain greater control over your trades when you buy and sell tokens at your preferred price. Find out how you can automate your trades here.
Crypto Level Up
Proof of Work vs Proof of Stake
These are the two most popular consensus mechanisms that blockchains use to process transactions and create new blocks. Both of them incentivise good behaviour while making it expensive and difficult for bad actors to sabotage the network. More details on Proof of Work (PoW) and Proof of Stake (PoS) below.
Proof of Work (used by Bitcoin)
This consensus mechanism relies on participants’ devices to validate blockchain transactions by solving complex mathematical problems (AKA ‘mining’). Once the problem is solved, a new block on the network is validated and the fastest miner is rewarded. The combined efforts of all miners help to secure the blockchain’s operations.
Proof of Stake (used by Ethereum)
Network participants, also known as validators, stake a predetermined amount of cryptocurrency on the network in order to create new blocks. Validators are selected at random to confirm transactions and validate block information. This, in turn, also randomises who gets rewarded, rather than using a competitive mechanism.
Get More Insights on PoW and PoS at Crypto.com University.
Crypto IRL
Mainstreaming crypto never stops, especially at the #GRAMMYs. 🏆 Thanks for visiting us at Crypto.com Arena, BryanM_Crypto — with the Royal Indigo Crypto.com Visa Card.
Hashtag #CryptoIRL with your Crypto.com Visa Card on your social profiles to get featured! Your 15 minutes of fame in the CROFam awaits you!
Decoder
Consensus
Consensus is the foundation of how a blockchain achieves agreement in a decentralised system. It is achieved by individual parties working together to ensure that every transaction on the network is accurate and confirmed.
This is in contrast to centralised systems in which one central organisation acts as a point of authority to confirm all decisions. Decentralised systems do not have this central focal authority, and so they utilise consensus to ensure everything runs smoothly.
There are multiple types of consensus, and Bitcoin uses a different type than Avalanche, Fantom, or Solana. The most popular consensus mechanisms are Proof of Work (PoW) and Proof of Stake (PoS), as described above.
This Week in Crypto History
NFT of ‘Nyan Cat’ GIF Sells for 300 ETH
In late February 2021, Chris Torres, the creator of the famous ‘Nyan Cat’ GIF, auctioned an NFT of his magnum opus on the digital collectibles marketplace Foundation. This was Torres’s first experiment with NFTs, and the auction was off to a slow start.
Nyan Cat’s price slowly rose from 3 ETH to 15 ETH until the final half-hour mark came around. The number of bids then skyrocketed, causing the auction to receive multiple extensions. By the time all was said and done, the winning bid was a whopping 300 ETH.
That’s it for this week’s Snapshot. Want more? Head over to our Insta feed for bite-size crypto lessons.
