Introduction
In this recap of the crypto world, we will explore the events and news that had the most significant impact in the past week of February 27th. Our focus will be on the following developments:
- Solana outage triggers reaction from the crypto community
- Yuga Labs is joining the Bitcoin NFT trend
- Big brands seek Web3 trademarks as 2023 rolls on
- Silvergate Bank loses major crypto clients
- US lawmaker urges Zuckerberg not to offer metaverse to teenagers
Solana’s Recent Network Issue Aggravates the Crypto Community….Again
After facing some degradation issues on the Solana network on Feb. 25, validators had no option other than restart the network. The resulting transaction issues left many who rely on the ecosystem understandably upset. Some community members even questioned how Solana had remained a top 10 cryptocurrency as a repeat offender. Problems in the past include bots spamming the Raydium exchange in September of 2021 (causing it to stop working), and in May of 2022, where bots attacking the network caused another outage that lasted 7 hours, and another right after in June of 2022 where a bug caused a consensus failure resulting in another outage. Remarkably, they retained loyalty since the crypto space can be pretty fickle.
A couple of days after the event, On Feb. 27, the Solana Foundation shared an update about their problem. They said they could fix it on Feb. 26 and that it didn’t affect any user transactions. However, they still don’t know what caused the problem and are trying to figure it out.
Coincidentally, and perhaps unfortunately, another article came out a day later and highlighted Solana’s additional issues. Spammy arbitrage transactions failing 98% of the time are taking up 60% of Solana’s entire compute space, according to crypto infrastructure company Jito Labs – resulting in unnecessary congestion. It doesn’t look good and could eventually catch up with them.
Yuga Labs Puts Out its First Ordinals.
It makes sense that a company such as Yuga Labs participates in the new ordinal craze. We’re still determining where ordinals will sit in the grand scheme of NFT things, but if they take off and become a big part of the space, Yuga needs to get in there. And, if history is an indicator, the earlier, the better – even if people still need to learn what ordinals are and how to buy one.
An ordinal in the context of Bitcoin is a unique and sequentially increasing number assigned to each transaction, which serves as a way to identify and differentiate between different transactions on the blockchain ledger. In digital artifact creation, ordinals can generate unique identifiers for each piece of content, such as images or audio files, allowing easy tracking and management.
Yuga has decided to call the project “twelvefold” and departed from what you would expect from the company, so nothing minted will be bored or harbor a hidden alien.
As described on the Yuga website:
“TwelveFold is a base 12 art system localized around a 12×12 grid, a visual allegory for the cartography of data on the Bitcoin blockchain. The collection includes highly-rendered 3D elements and hand-drawn features, which are an homage to the ordinal inscriptions currently done by hand.”
If the Ordinal Punks indicate price (some selling in the $200k), then we can all be sure that these 12×12 grids will be pricey. The mint will be an auction style and require a bitcoin wallet – such as xverse. We can all anticipate details surrounding the mint, which will be posted soon.
Big Brands Seek Web3 Trademarks for the Metaverse as 2023 Rolls On
The metaverse is a term used to describe a virtual world where people can interact with each other and digital objects in a three-dimensional space. It is like a collective virtual universe where people can engage with each other in real time. Since there is an opportunity to sell goods in a virtual space, it has gained the interest of many large companies.
The metaverse presents a new and exciting market with potential opportunities for growth and innovation. With the increasing popularity of virtual and augmented reality technologies, the metaverse gives an attractive platform for companies to develop new products and services, reach a wider audience, and create new revenue streams. Additionally, the metaverse allows companies to create immersive experiences that can enhance their brand and customer engagement. For example, a fashion brand could create a virtual store where customers can try on clothes and accessories, or a car manufacturer could create a virtual showroom where customers can explore and customize cars.
Top retailers recently plunged into the metaverse include Lowe’s, H&M, Crate & Barrel, and even Taco Bell – who hosted a wedding last week in the Taco Bell metaverse on Decentraland. Congrats to Sheel Mohnot and Amruta Godbole…
Silvergate Bank Loses Major Crypto Clients
After delaying the release of its 2022 annual report and admitting it may need help to survive financially, Silvergate Bank started losing some of its major accounts. After the FTX debacle, the bank saw customers withdraw over $8 billion since it was known that FTX and Almeda were two of the bank’s biggest customers.
Companies ending their association with Silvergate Bank include Circle and Coinbase. Silvergate Bank is currently dealing with lawsuits from investors claiming that it failed to notify them of its shortcomings in anti-money laundering measures. The plaintiffs allege that they have lost millions in investments in Silvergate shares, which have decreased by 57% on Mar. 2 alone.
Silvergate is extremely important for the space since, as of February 2023, 61.7% of the total worldwide crypto-asset exposures were “almost certainly” held by the bank, according to a report from the Bank for International Settlements. If they file for bankruptcy, the Federal Deposit Insurance Commission (FDIC) will likely have to overtake the bank to protect depositors and properly dissolve the company. Further, many people who used the bank to onboard from traditional finance into the digital asset space will have to find another means to do so.
US Lawmakers Urge Zuckerberg Not to Offer Metaverse to Teenagers
Edward Markey and Richard Blumenthal, two US Senators, have contacted Mark Zuckerberg to request that he prevent young adults from accessing Meta’s metaverse platform, Horizon Worlds. Their worry revolves around potential cyber-bullying, privacy concerns, and eye strain. They want to see young users between 13 and 17 denied access to the virtual land.
They further reference reports stating that Instagram creates suicidal thoughts in teens due to running specific ads about tobacco, alcohol, and eating disorders. They also point out the consistent failures and documented track record of Meta’s failure to protect children in the past and suspect issues will carry forth onto the future platform.
Although all the above concerns are warranted, it is essential to realize that it may not be up to Meta to do the parenting. If parents let their kids play video games and hang out on social media, they are already subjecting them to the potential for similar abuse. Most platforms have parental controls integrated, so it’s a matter of parents using them.
