Bitcoin Price: US$ 41,262.11 (-2.23%)
Ethereum Price: US$ 2,861.38 (-3.03%)
ApeCoin Surprise, Intro to Tatsumeeko, & TreasureDAO
- The launch of ApeCoin (APE)—an airdrop tied to Bored Ape Yacht Club—was announced yesterday at around 5 pm ET, which led to a spike in floor price for the community’s various NFT collections. BAKC saw an initial spike in floor price, but soon trended down as they were required to be paired with either a BAYC or MAYC to be eligible for APE token claims.
- As APE went live, the floor prices of all three projects started to sell-off as part of their value were priced in APE. For example, each BAYC holder is eligible for 10,094 APE, and at its price of $7.3 (at the time of writing), was equivalent to $73k or ~25ETH. For the NFTs that had their tokens claimed, their intrinsic value will decrease proportionately to the rough amount claimed.
- Introduction: Tatsumeeko is a P2E RPG metaverse on Solana. The story begins on a peaceful island within the Federation – a partnership between the 5 city-states on the continent of Steyria. The world has a design style that is nostalgic and reminiscent of old-school Japanese RPGs like Suikoden and Secret of Mana with anime characters represented by small pixelated avatars on a grid-like map.
- One unique feature of Tatsumeeko is that 95% of the game will be playable on Discord, a platform that already houses a large number of gaming enthusiasts and reduces the barrier to entry. Web, iOS and Android apps are also planned for the future.
- Meekolony NFT: This is the genesis NFT collection for Tatsumeeko, comprising of 10,000 avatars released on 24 Dec 2021 at a mint price of 0.5 SOL (which sold out in 9 minutes). The collection is listed here on Magic Eden. NFT owners will receive airdrops of project tokens ($IGS, $MKLN) and NFT items in the future. Owners will also be able to customize their characters with special cosmetics (based on their NFT’s traits), access exclusive VIP locations, and receive other early member benefits.
- Treasure DAO is a GameFi ecosystem on Arbitrum that’s recently garnered a huge amount of attention. It began as a simple Loot derivative in Sept. 2021. But as the project amassed a large community, Treasure DAO has been able to expand far beyond its initial vision into an entire ecosystem of projects in the short span of a few months. MAGIC, the native token of Treasure DAO, is the glue that ties together the various products in the ecosystem. Currently, it’s the denomination asset (like ETH on Opensea) for all NFTs in the Treasure marketplace.
- Armed with a sizeable treasury and a $20M + ecosystem fund, Treasure’s vision is to be a decentralized game studio, kind of like a Nintendo for the Metaverse. Blockchain game developers will be able to leverage Treasure DAO’s infrastructure and community to bootstrap game universes much quicker.
Every Bitcoin helps: Crypto-fueled relief aid for Ukraine
- The people of Ukraine require the world’s help more than ever before. As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues to rage on, the world must rally behind the Ukrainian government to bring back peace and stability to the Eastern European nation.
- The crypto community has done just that with nonfungible token (NFT) companies, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and crypto users all over the world leading the effort to help aid Ukraine with donations of Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Polkadot’s DOT and even NFTs.
- From an economic standpoint, the millions of dollars worth of crypto sent to the Ukrainian government could be the breakthrough. It is a clear demonstration that people stand in support of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Crypto’s ability to remove bureaucratic red tape is one of the best ways to provide immediate service to the Ukrainian people, as they need help more than ever before. This is what Bitcoin was made for — to move capital to where it’s needed without any hindrance.
BlockFi confirms unauthorized access to client data hosted on Hubspot
- New Jersey-based crypto financial institution BlockFi confirmed a data breach incident via one of its third-party vendors, Hubspot. BlockFi’s proactive warning about the breach aims to deter the intentions of bad actors in repurposing the user data for fraudulent activities.
- According to the announcement, the hackers gained access to BlockFi’s client data on Friday, March 18, that were stored on Hubspot, a client relationship management platform:
- “Hubspot has confirmed that an unauthorized third-party gained access to certain BlockFi client data housed on their platform.”
- As a third-party vendor for BlockFi, Hubspot stored user data such as names, email addresses and phone numbers. Historically, bad actors have used such information for conducting phishing attacks and gaining access to accounts through user-provided passwords.
Real health benefits will come when medicine and the Metaverse collide
- Through psychedelic therapies, such as those being professionally performed in research being conducted by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics, the Center for Psychedelic Medicine in NYU Langone’s Department of Psychiatry, the Center for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London, the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, and other institutions, patients are learning how to process their trauma instead of suppressing it. With minimal doses of psychedelic medicine, recovery rates trend upwards and patients continue to get better on their own.
- Dr. Muir is developing programs for psychoeducation and group therapy in the virtual world with a focus on meeting patients where they are and supporting them through their journey in the most secure fashion. Dr. Muir’s team wants to break cultural barriers and stigmas often found in doctor-patient relationships. One way of accomplishing this is by using an avatar to represent patients and doctors. Perceptions change about who a person is, where they come from, and what they need when the doctor is both a licensed professional and represented by a panda avatar. It’s the first time — dare I say — in the history of the United States that patients are going to get reliable, transparent and affordable healthcare. As Dr. Muir explained:
- “The metaverse is changing the landscape of healthcare by using blockchain technology to build trust among patients.”
Ava Labs Joins the Blockchain Association, Expanding Push for Sensible Regulation of Cryptoassets
- Ava Labs has joined the Blockchain Association, a team of industry leaders that educates American lawmakers and advocates for better and more transparent blockchain and cryptoasset public policy in the US.
- As a Blockchain Association member, Ava Labs will actively work to help ensure that the U.S. remains an environment ripe for blockchain innovation. In addition to its mission to educate lawmakers, the Blockchain Association, which has a presence in Washington, D.C., teaches the public about the benefits of blockchains and their many applications.
Vitalik Buterin talks crypto’s perils in Time Magazine interview
- Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin graced the front page of Time Magazine this month after he was interviewed by the publication about the potential perils of the industry he helped to create.
- During the 80-minute interview, Buterin explained the “dystopian potential” of digital assets if implemented incorrectly. Among his biggest worries are overzealous investors, high transaction fees and public displays of wealth by those claiming to have made a fortune trading crypto and nonfungible tokens (NFTs).
- Although Buterin has high hopes for Ethereum — the network powering the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization and countless other projects — he fears that his vision of creating a more egalitarian digital economy risks being overtaken by nefarious actors who are only after greed.
- “If we don’t exercise our voice, the only things that get built are the things that are immediately profitable,” he said.
