Get your daily, bite-sized digest of blockchain and crypto news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s news.
In this edition:
- In 2024, More Institutions Will Look to DeFi for Regulated Solutions – Swarm Co-founder
- Bitmain Raises Rig Prices and Expands Self-Mining
- Bybit Crypto News: Web3 Division Unveils NFT Pro
- WEMADE Opens Global Pre-registration for MMORPG ‘NIGHT CROWS’
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In 2024, More Institutions Will Look to DeFi for Regulated Solutions
Blockchain platform Swarm Markets’ co-founder Philipp Pieper commented that 2024 “looks set to be a pivotal year for DeFi as the sector grows its offerings.” This is particularly with regard to crossover with traditional finance (TradFi), he said in an email.
There will be more growth in DeFi value through the onboarding of more TradFi products on chain.
The biggest growth in the market will be for regulated digitized tokens, backed by digital real-world assets (RWAs), he opined.
Per Pieper,
“With renewed confidence in markets thanks to a more sophisticated regulatory environment driving demand, it is likely more institutions will look to DeFi for regulated solutions.”
He stressed that the potential of this demand cannot be understated, with enormous pools of assets looking to adopt on-chain solutions to ownership, transaction and record keeping.
“Blockchain infrastructure looks set to finally deliver on the promise that many in the sector have seen for some time,” Pieper concluded.
Bitmain Raises Rig Prices and Expands Self-Mining
Contracts from at least one public mining company, three months apart, confirm that the miner manufacturing giant Bitmain has raised rig prices, “though not to the extent of the increase in bitcoin’s hashprice,” according to the latest Miner Weekly report by BlocksBridge Consulting.
Mining company CleanSpark announced its second preorder for 12 EH/s of Bitmain’s Antminer S21 at $16/TH/s after applying coupons. Based on its contract, entered on January 6, the quoted price before a maximal 30% discount was $23/TH/s.
CleanSpark entered its first S21 preorder in October last year, when Bitmain quoted a pre-coupon price of $20/TH/s. After using coupons to offset 30% of the price, the firm paid $14/TH/s.
“Either way, there was a 15% increase over three months.”
At the same time, Bitmain has “substantially expanded” its US mining fleet, the report said.
The bankruptcy court presiding over Core Scientific’s Chapter 11 reorganization approved the company’s motion to buy 27k S19j XPs from Bitmain and provide hosting for an additional 27k S19j XPs for the manufacturer.
At a hosting fee of $0.0745/kWh, the colocation of 27k S19j XPs for Bitmain will bring Core Scientific a hosting revenue of about $14 million per quarter, the report said. “For perspective, Core’s total revenue from hosting services was ~$30 million in Q3 last year.”
Bybit Crypto News: Web3 Unit Unveils NFT Pro
Crypto exchange Bybit said its Web3 unit unveiled NFT Pro. Per the press release, the platform “simplifies NFT exploration and empowers users to seamlessly navigate the ever-evolving Web3 ecosystem.”
NFT Pro acts as a bridge between Web2 and Web3, welcoming collaborators from the traditional web, it says.
Users gain exclusive early access to NFT collaborations with global musicians, artists, athletes, and cultural icons through dedicated Branded NFT stores and exclusive drops.
The platform integrates with various NFT marketplaces, allowing users to buy NFTs directly within the platform.
It also introduces a smart market comparison selection to enable more competitive fees and faster transaction speeds.
NFT Pro encourages active participation by rewarding users with points for every NFT purchase and trade. These points unlock access to prize pools and exclusive NFTs, the exchange said.
WEMADE Crypto News: Global Pre-registration for MMORPG ‘NIGHT CROWS’ Now Open
Global pre-registration for NIGHT CROWS, a game published by Wemade and developed by MADNGINE, began on January 11.
Per the press release, pre-registration will be open until the official launch in March on the official website, Google Play, and Apple App Store. Pre-registration rewards include a rare-grade Mount, Glider, and more.
NIGHT CROWS is an MMORPG based on Unreal Engine 5 that supports cross-play between mobile and PC platforms.
Wemade has utilized blockchain technology to implement multi-tokenomics with the tokenization of core in-game items.
The game will be connected with WEMIX3.0 at the center following an omnichain network strategy, users of other blockchain networks will be able to utilize the tokenomics as well.
The in-game economy will be interconnected with Character NFTs. Each NFT is created through the compression of the character and user’s game data.
In celebration of pre-registration, the NFT Collection ‘The Night is Coming’ is available on the WEMIX3.0-based DAO and NFT platform NILE (NFT Is Life Evolution).
The NFTs may be exchanged with ‘CROW,’ the key token of NIGHT CROWS, from April 1.
After its release in Korea in April 2023, the game reached No. 1 in most downloads and top sales charts in major mobile app markets, the announcement said.