Dogecoin’s Price Surges as Elon Musk Agrees to Buy Twitter for $44 Billion

Dogecoin’s Price Surges as Elon Musk Agrees to Buy Twitter for $44 Billion

by | Apr 26, 2022 | News

The famous meme coin, Dogecoin (DOGE), surged by 9% after reports that Elon Musk closed the deal with Twitter, and acquired the social media giant for $54.20 per share (a total of $44 billion).

As the news started to surface on social media, and especially on Twitter, the price of Dogecoin (DOGE) jumped up to $0.17, from $0.12, in only a couple of hours. That represents a 25% price increase on a 24-hour timeframe. 

The stock price of Twitter (TWTR) also rose around 6.86% on Monday, April 25, from Friday’s closing price, reaching $52.29. 

However, Dogecoin’s price soon droped to around $14.30. 

Elon Musk buys Twitter for $44 billion

The world’s richest man, owner of Tesla and SpaceX, gains control over Twitter, the favourite social media channel for cryptocurrency projects.

At first, Twitter and its advisors weren’t sure how serious Elon was about this proposal. On April 14, Elon Musk made an offer price of $54.20-per share, which some considered a joke because it included the number 420. This number is a popular insight joke that refers to smoking marijuana. However, Elon Musk submitted financing documents last week to support his bid. They were signed on April 20.

These references are reminiscent of his 2018 tweet “Funding Secured” in which he stated that he was looking to privatize electric car maker Tesla Inc for $420 per share. Musk and Tesla agreed to each pay $20 million to settle allegations that he deceived investors.

Musk claimed that he rounded up the price to $420 after learning about its significance in marijuana culture and thinking his girlfriend would find it humorous, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission complaint filed at that time.

However, discussions with Twitter became serious when Twitter’s advisors in San Francisco, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Allen & Co began poring over Musk’s financial documents that supported his $44 billion bid.

According to Reuters, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp and Barclays Plc committed to lending $25.5 billion to Elon Musk. Some of this was secured against Twitter stocks, and some tied to Musk’s Tesla stock. Musk also committed $21 billion of cash.

After Musk had submitted it to them with very little detail one week prior, the board of Twitter went into hyperdrive. Five months into his tenure as chief executive of Twitter, Parag Agrawal was already completing an analysis to assign a price to its standalone plan. It also asked its bankers for a triple-check to see if any other bidder could offer more than Musk. But there was nobody else. 

Why does Elon Musk want to buy Twitter?

Musk stated that he didn’t care about the economics of the social media platform. He stated before that he wants to use Twitter to promote free speech. He was disillusioned with many of its platform moderation decisions.

Elon Musk and Dogecoin

Although it may seem like it, the price of Dogecoin and Musk’s impending Twitter takeover are not directly related. Some analysts believe that Musk’s repeated endorsements of the memecoin draw speculation from crypto investors looking for Dogecoin to become part of Twitter’s long-term plans.

Musk has a long history of promoting Doge as a payment method. Tesla started to accept Doge as a payment method for some of its merch since November 2021. 

Will Solana NFTrees save the rainforests?

Will Solana NFTrees save the rainforests?

by | Apr 22, 2022 | Blockchain, News

Paraguay’s untouched rainforest can cost as little as $300 for one hectare. Buying it will protect it from being bulldozed, cut down, and used for cattle ranching. With today’s technology, this land can become available to anyone, regardless of where you live. 

GainForest, a decentralised fund that uses artificial intelligence, has partnered up with Paraguay’s Ministery for Environment to protect thousands of hectares of forest within Paraguay’s Gran Chaco Americano. This area is one of the main carbon sinks and most at risk from climate change.

Blockchain saves the planet

Many voices blamed blockchain for its negative environmental effects. However, not all blockchains are created equal. The blockchain and cryptocurrency industries can be a major player in renewable energy, and help drive sustainable, objective change. It has inherent technological advantages that can outperform traditional companies in their efforts to combat climate change.

For instance, GainForest’s goal is to raise cryptocurrency donations in order to buy the forest from landowners, expand national parks, and thus prevent deforestation. GainForest combines blockchain-based smart contract technology with satellite imagery, drone photography, and data science. It has grown steadily since winning the Hack4Climate contest at United Nations COP 23 in 2017.

According to David Dao, GainForest’s co-founder, GainForest is now the first government-backed green cryptocurrency project. He said that the initial results would be presented at UN COP27 Egypt.

How to use crypto for good causes

The alarming rate at which deforestation is occurring around the world is well-known to most people. The annual loss of rainforests absorbs nearly the same amount of carbon as the annual emissions from large industrialized nations like the U.S. and China.

Dao said that the cost of stopping deforestation is still “insanely low”, especially in Paraguay, where land was purchased for as low as $20 per hectare in the 1980s.

According to GainForest’s co-founder, David Dao, a hectare of virgin forest land costs between $300 and $500. The upfront cost for landowners to construct infrastructure is $1,000 per hectare. The goal is to try to reach them before they make the decision to build a cattle ranch. Hopefully, the landowners will understand that this $1,000 investment is not worth it and that Paraguay can do more.

Dao and his associates, who have backgrounds in artificial intelligence, use the Solana blockchain for crypto donations. The Solana blockchain is a proof-of-stake network and it was chosen because of its low-carbon footprint. 

These crypto donations are tied to high-accuracy drone and satellite data that charts areas of forest. The Filecoin Green project allows for decentralized data storage. Donors receive data drops and wildlife camera photos. They can also be connected to native tribes using non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which in this case are referred to as Solana NFTrees.

The algorithmic mapping of each forest project’s activities removes any uncertainty that comes with traditional carbon offset. This involves planting trees, but leaves those who give only guessing about the impact of their green investment.

Money can solve the issue of deforestation 

GainForest cannot buy land. However, there can be found some workarounds. For instance, David Dao suggested that GainForest could create a legal contract so the landowner gets paid periodically provided they don’t deforest. He pointed out that there are several studies that estimate that a global deforestation stoppage could be achieved by paying out between $1 to $2 billion annually.

According to GainForest, deforestation could be stopped in two years, if there is enough money. People need financial sustainability opportunities to make forest conservation economically viable. This could reduce the global temperature by up to 0.2 Celsius degrees. It would also allow our society to find the right way to decarbonize the planet. That could be a valuable time for our mother Earth.

Russia to Use Crypto in Commercial Relations With Africa

Russia to Use Crypto in Commercial Relations With Africa

by | Apr 14, 2022 | News

A representative of Russia’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry called for the government to carry out cross-border settlements using CBDCs (central bank digital currency) and cryptocurrency.

According to TASS, a local Russian publication, Sergei Katyrin, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, wrote a letter to Mikhail Mishustin, the Russian Prime Minister, containing a series of proposals for developing cooperation between African countries. 

Russia to create a new bank to support economic trade with African countries

Katyrin advocated the use CBDCs (central bank digital currency) and cryptocurrency for mutual settlement and payment as part of Russia’s intent to develop more economic relationships with African countries, as a way to circumvent the Western sanctions imposed as a consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Sergei Katyrin stated, “It seems useful to instruct the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, together with the Central Bank, to ensure providing intergovernmental agreements with African states on the use of national currencies and cryptocurrencies in mutual settlements and payments.”

He also mentioned that the government should create a new export-import bank to support small and medium-sized enterprises in Africa.

At the same time, some African countries consider cooperation with Russia-linked blockchain networks.

Africa is starting to adopt crypto on a larger scale

At the beginning of April, three African countries, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and the Republic of the Congo made a joint announcement about their plans to adopt TONcoin, the native coin of Ton blockchain. The announcement stated that each country would make a gradual transition to adopt cryptocurrency as a central pillar in their economic structures.

The TON blockchain is supported by the TON Foundation and has raised funds of around $250 from big companies from the crypto industry. Huobi Incubator and KuCoin Ventures were among the fund’s contributors. As projects are accepted, the fund will deploy funds via incubation, investment grants, hackathons, and educational programs. 

Benjamin Rameau, the managing partner of TONcoin Fund, states that they are focusing on Web 3-related developments and are currently incubating a non-fungible token (NFT) and a decentralized exchange. He added that wallets, NFT marketplaces, and decentralized finance are all possibilities for the fund.

Unofficially, TON has been associated with Telegram, the privacy-focused messaging app, as its co-founder, Pavel Durov expresses support for TON and possible integrations on the Telegram app. 

According to reports, the DRC may also launch a new national stablecoin on top of TON blockchain. 

Other African countries have also reported CBDC projects, including Kenya, Ghana, and the Republic of South Africa. Ghana worked last year to build offline capabilities to support its potential CBDC. This was to encourage its use in all sectors of society.

Crypto status in Russia

Russia continues to work on issuing a new federal bill regarding the use of cryptocurrencies after they banned crypto payments in 2021. But only one year later, in mid-February 2021, the Bank of Russia launched the digital ruble trial. Russian citizens successfully transacted the digital ruble and the trial was a success. 

The digital ruble trial included 12 financial institutions and three of them have already successfully implemented the CBDC platform. During the first stage of the process, users will open digital wallets on the platform’s mobile application. They can also convert the fiat in their bank accounts into CBDC and use tokens for national transactions. 

The next stage of the trial is to test the digital rubles as a payment method in stores. More developments are planned for the CBDC that will enable users to use it as they use fiat currencies. 

Ukraine Sells War Snapshots as NFTs

Ukraine Sells War Snapshots as NFTs

by | Mar 28, 2022 | News, NFTs

In an age of blockchain and crypto, the physical war in Ukraine could be funded by NFTs. Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation announced an NFT collection to illustrate the chronological events of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. 

The government of Ukraine is selling non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to ensure that all the facts and events of the war between Russia and Ukraine will not be forgotten over time. All the funds collected will be used to support the army and civilians in the atrocious war.

Ukraine’s invasion 

On February 24th, 2022, Russia started to invade Ukraine. The entire world was in shock, including Russian citizens. Nobody ever believed that the threats of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, would ever come to ve true. We were all wrong. 

Ukraine’s invasion has been going on for more than a month now, and the end of the aggression is nowhere in sight. 

While the officials of the two sides continue to meet for face-to-face talks in the pursuit to end the war, the population is either defending the country or fleeing. 

Since the first week of the invasion, the Kyiv government has started to accept cryptocurrency donations, which were plentiful, especially from famous personalities within the tech and crypto space. 

The crypto donations also proved to be a reliable financial market during these uncertain times. The Bitcoin price went up as sanctions poured in and the Russian economy started to collapse. 

Meta History: Museum of War

The NFT collection displaying the terrible facts of the war between the two countries has been announced with a Twitter post by Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation.  

Ukraine’s minister claimed that while Russia uses tanks to destroy Ukraine’s infrastructure, Ukraine relies on revolutionary blockchain tech to help rebuild it.

The Museum of War is a collection that combines non-fungible tokens (NFTs) registered on blockchain with news items. Each item of the collection is a reminder of an important event of the war and uses a unique illustration. 

The NFT launch replaces an earlier plan that would have allowed tokens to be airdropped to anyone who donated cryptocurrency to Ukraine. However, the government decided to not do the airdrop. There is currently no plan to give prior donors an advantage in selling the new NFTs.

Both countries have used cryptocurrency to bypass local currency restrictions and capitalise on the hype around cryptocurrency to solicit donations. Some claim that the Ukrainian government raised $54 million in cryptocurrency through donations.

Ukraine Sells War Snapshots as NFTs

Writing history into the collective memory of the digital age

According to the online museum, these tokens aim to preserve the memories of those events. They are created with the sole scope to share truthful information with the entire world and help continue receiving donations for Ukraine’s support.

The virtual museum platform presents the collection as a chronological record of all events in recent Ukrainian history. The NFTs are factual statements accompanied by personal reflections. Each NFT has a simple formula: each token is an actual news piece from an official source and an illustration from international artists.

At the moment, there are 54 NFTs available, which cover the first three days of the war between Russia and Ukraine. The NFT collection of the war in Ukraine starts with Russia’s announcement to launch a special military operation in Donbas. 

The collection is currently unreleased but can be seen on the project’s official website. The sale is expected to start at the beginning of April 2022. 

The NFT collection is being launched in collaboration with Fair.xyz, a blockchain company that provides the NFT sales platform.

Supporters can also choose to donate Ether (ETH) directly on the page of the project – Museum of War. 

Big Plans for the Web 3.0 Ecosystem: Investment Funds and Metaverse Support 

Big Plans for the Web 3.0 Ecosystem: Investment Funds and Metaverse Support 

by | Mar 23, 2022 | News

Web3 is one of the most used words of 2022. The idea behind the buzzword is to create a decentralised platform that hosts decentralised applications. As the concept gets more supporters, investors are paying attention.

What is Web 3.0?

Web3, or Web 3.0, is a cryptographic term that describes a decentralised internet version that runs on public blockchains such as the Ethereum blockchain, or any other programmable platform. 

Web3 could reduce the power of the largest internet companies, such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft, and give that power back to users. However, the technology needed for this massive internet shift may not be here yet, and it is not as advanced as the hype and the popularity of digital assets. Therefore, Web3 does not pose a threat to tech giants. Yet! 

Some voices argue that Web3 won’t be a truly decentralised Internet. This is especially true as venture capitalists continue to invest in space in order to monetise and control it. Jack Dorsey, the former CEO of Twitter, stated that Web3 on Ethereum will be centralised because of heavy venture capital investment. His repeated comments have led to a dispute between Dorsey and venture capitalists, who have invested billions in the crypto space and Web3 this past year.

Big bucks are poured into Web3

As with everything trending, big investors have taken notice of the upcoming Web3, and many have already decided to invest in it. Does this mean that Dorsey’s prophecies are right?

Nexo, a cryptocurrency lender service, established a venture arm with $150 million for Web 3 projects.

Nexo Ventures will be investing in Web3, decentralised finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), metaverse, and GameFi. The venture arm will be led by Tatiana Metodieva, Nexo’s head for corporate finance and investments. Nexo Ventures would “explore the feasibility” of allowing Nexo’s users to invest alongside them and thus leverage our capabilities to facilitate wealth maximisation and investor diversification.

Since the appeal of a Web3 ecosystem has sparked the attention of investors, several similar funds have been launched in recent months. In December 2021, Hashed has raised $200 million for a fund dedicated to growing the Web3 ecosystem. Hashed is s South Korean venture firm that started investing in the crypto space in 2016, hitting big on projects like Axie Infinity and The Sandbox.

Griffin Gaming Partners, a gaming-focused venture capital firm, also announced that it would be investing $750 million in Web3.

Gaming has been a hot industry sector, with crypto exchange FTX investing $100 million last year to help fund gaming studios that incorporate the Solana blockchain into their games. Lightspeed Venture Partners and Solana Ventures raised the fund.

Wait, is the metaverse part of Web 3?

Web 3.0 is about who will control the internet in the future, but the metaverse is about how people will interact with the internet in the future.

Most people navigate websites and apps using their smartphones, tablets, or computers. The metaverse will use virtual reality (VR) to access the Internet, and users will be able to move between virtual worlds using digital avatars.

Animoca Brands is a Hong Kong-based game software and has a broad portfolio of blockchain games, traditional games, and other products.

Animoca Brands’ co-founder and chairman, Yat Siu, stated that his company would continue to assist businesses into Web3 in order to accelerate the evolution to an open metaverse.

Siu is long a supporter of the concept that an open metaverse would be better than one that is controlled by large Web2 companies. Siu’s argument centres on the fact that Web3 platforms and tech like NFTs allow users to retain ownership rights over data and content online instead of being controlled and used by large centralised Web2 companies such as Meta.

Siu believed that we are “super early” in terms of building an open metaverse. However, he stressed the importance of speeding the process because of the danger of large centralised firms dominating the virtual sphere.

Yat Siu believes that Web3 is a great way to combat the central metaverse companies. As Web3 develops into a global trade framework, users will be accustomed to having a stake in it.

In the end, this is what Web3 is trying to solve – user ownership and privacy. The web2 era has been all about big corporations owning customers’ data. But that’s about to change. 

Bitcoin Ban Averted: Proof-Of-Work Crypto Ban Is Rejected by the EU

Bitcoin Ban Averted: Proof-Of-Work Crypto Ban Is Rejected by the EU

by | Mar 16, 2022 | Bitcoin, News

On March 14, the European Parliament discussed the effects and carbon footprint of Proof-of-Work cryptocurrencies. The EU Bitcoin ban was not passed, but the energy discussion has not ended.  

​​A rule proposal that would have effectively banned Bitcoin in the European Union (EU) has been struck down.

The European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) voted to keep the provision out of a draft Markets In Crypto Assets (MiCA) framework. This is the EU’s comprehensive regulatory package that governs digital assets. 

EU’s response to crypto companies: MiCA

The MiCA framework was introduced by the European Commission in September 2020, as the EU executive branch responsible for proposing and enforcing laws. It is part of a larger digital finance strategy to adapt Europe to the digital age. It’s also quite different from other regulatory efforts.

For instance, the U.S. has introduced many bills over the years that directly impact the crypto space. These include tax and securities laws, but different states may have their own regulatory requirements. The country does not have a comprehensive equivalent to the EU’s MiCA. In August, the country’s most comprehensive bill regarding crypto regulation was presented. China had already banned crypto trading and mining in 2021. However, it was still working on its own digital currency, the digital yuan.

MiCA covers cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ether, as well as stablecoins. The proposed framework does not cover digital currencies issued by central banks (CBDCs), nor crypto assets like security tokens, which might be considered financial instruments such as securities, deposits or treasury bills.

Although the promise of a passportable license to crypto asset service providers sounds appealing for established crypto firms that want to establish in the region, industry participants are concerned about the impact MiCA may have on the EU’s digital asset market.

EU’s Parliament voted on the crypto proposal

This Bitcoin ban proposal was added to the draft last Wednesday. It sought to limit cryptocurrencies powered using an energy-intensive computing process called proof-of-work (PoW). The proposal was met with heavy opposition by crypto advocates around the world. 

After the Bitcoin ban was opposed by the committee, Stefan Berger, member of the EU Parliament, and rapporteur for MiCA, tweeted: “ECON committee approved my #MiCA report. A good day for the crypto sector! The EU Parliament has paved the way for innovation-friendly crypto regulation that can set standards worldwide. The process is not over yet; Steps still lie ahead of us.”

The vote on the provision, commonly known as the Bitcoin ban, was close, and a small majority could defeat it. The proposal required that all cryptocurrencies be subject to the EU’s “minimum environmental sustainability standard with respect to their consensus mechanism.”

The rule suggested a phase-out plan for popular proof-of-work (PoW) cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ether that would allow them to switch their consensus mechanism to less energy-intensive methods like proof-of-stake (PoS).

While plans are in place to make Ethereum a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus system this year, it is not clear if the same will be possible for Bitcoin.

The MiCA draft will be subject to a “trilogue” after the vote of the Parliament. This is a formal round between the European Parliament, Commission and Council.

Can renewable energy sources save Bitcoin?

Experts in renewable energy see two possible ways that crypto can be used to address power consumption concerns, first, by increasing demand for renewable energy sources. Second, by using blockchain technology to interact transparently and transparently with power grids in an auditable and measurable manner.

A small majority of members of the monetary committee voted for a compromise calling on the European Commission to propose alternative regulations. This is the EU’s executive arm that proposes new legislation.

“By January 1 2025, the Commission shall present to the European Parliament and to the Council, as appropriate, a legislative proposal to amend Regulation (EU) 2020/852, in accordance with Article 10 of that Regulation, with a view to including in the EU sustainable finance taxonomy any crypto-asset mining activities that contribute substantially to climate change mitigation and adaptation.”

Some politicians and regulators around the globe have criticized proof-of-work for their concerns about energy. EU leaders are worried that renewable energy could be used to sustain cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, instead of being used for national purposes.