Bitcoin Price: US$ 43,991.46 (+3.87%)
Ethereum Price: US$ 3,310.76 (+2.46%)
Crypto Unicorns Soar, Virtual Land Underdogs, & Intro to Ronin
- Crypto Unicorns is a blockchain-based game based on unique unicorn NFTs that players can use in fun farming simulations and various battle loops.
- Rainbow Token (RBW) is the primary value token of the Crypto Unicorn Universe. RBW can be used to vote on DAO decisions, as a currency for their marketplace, as a breeding fee, and used as payment to join tournaments.
- With the official game launching on April 11th, 2022, we can expect breeding, land gameplay, and its first jousting game to start. To get ahead in breeding, check out their breeding cost table here!
- RBW can be staked in the Crypto Unicorns vault for 1-12 months to receive staking rewards. Staking rewards range between 52-208% (as of March 24th), based on the time you lock.
- Ronin is Sky Mavis’ answer to Axie Infinity’s scaling problem. Or rather problems, as there were more than a few that pushed the team to take matters into their own hands. Ethereum’s generalized nature, clunky player onboarding, high gas fees, and slow transaction speeds each played a role in catalyzing Ronin, Sky Mavis’ custom scaling solution, chiefly for, but not exclusive to Axie Infinity. In this piece, we explore what Ronin is, how it’s performed since its launch as a scaling solution, its token RON, and further catalysts for growth that warrant attention in the coming months.
- RON is the ecosystem token of the Ronin blockchain. Users pay transaction fees in RON, which are then distributed to the active validators and their respective delegators in exchange for securing the network.
- RON staking will incentivize holders to lock up their tokens to help secure the Ronin network in exchange for RON rewards. Validators will be required to stake 50,000 RON once Ronin DPoS is live. This will be fairly gated in early phases so it will likely be an available option only for select participants. The majority will instead delegate their RON to their preferred validator to stake on their behalf in exchange for a portion of their RON staking rewards. Revenue generated by validators will comprise of Ronin gas fees, Dapp revenues, and RON staking issuance.
- Katana is a decentralized exchange built on top of Ronin. Currently, available tokens are limited to ETH, AXS, SLP, USDC, and RON. However, this will be expanded as more tokens are supported and in-game assets are created by games on Ronin. From the Katana launch, 10% of the RON supply was distributed to liquidity providers in 2 pools over the first 90 days. Katana amassed over $1.4B in TVL at its peak in early December. However, unsavory market conditions combined with significant reductions in RON rewards resulted in substantial TVL reductions for the new DEX. In part, due to lower prices of the tokens held by liquidity providers on the exchange, but also due to users removing liquidity as high RON rewards dried up.
Russia’s energy chief says it would accept Bitcoin for oil and gas
- The Russian Federation’s energy chief Pavel Zavalny has floated the possibility of accepting Bitcoin as payment for its oil and gas from “friendly countries” such as China and Turkey.
- He said those countries could begin paying for energy in Russian Rubles, Chinese Yuan, Turkish Lira — or even Bitcoin (BTC) — rather than the international standard US dollar.
- According to Russian news media RBC, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Energy Zavalny stated at a Mar. 24 press conference that he and representatives from China and Turkey have been discussing changes to preferred settlement currencies for its biggest export.
Axie Infinity (AXS) price reverses course with 50%+ gain ahead of Origin launch
- Three reasons for the climbing price of AXS are the upcoming launch of Axie Infinity: Origin, the steady increase of active users and AXS stakers, and the rising popularity of the Ronin sidechain, which enables Axie Infinity gameplay.
- The most significant development underway helping to boost the forward outlook for AXS is the upcoming launch of Axie Infinity: Origin, which is expected to take place in the coming weeks.
- Origin will include new game mechanics designed to improve the overall player experience, such as free starter Axies to help attract new players to the game, a reimagined storyline that adds depth to the player experience and the addition of active cards for eye and ear body parts.
- The rising price of AXS has also been given a boost by the steadily increasing Axie Infinity userbase, which is now at an all-time high of 207,209 total users, according to data from Dune Analytics.
- A third factor bringing added momentum to Axie Infinity is the growth taking place on the Ronin network, an Ethereum (ETH) sidechain that was built for Axie Infinity by Sky Mavis that is becoming the default NFT scaling solution for crypto gaming.
Synthetix commence debt pool merger to enhance liquidity and staking capabilities
- Decentralized finance, or DeFi, protocol Synthetix (SNX) has announced that the deployment of their Debt Pool Synthesis feature will occur on Thursday 9pm through 11pm UTC, expected to impact staking participants in two distinctive categories: SNX inflationary staking rewards and Debt Hedging.
- Currently, Synthetix operates debt pools across two chains, Ethereum mainnet and layer 2 Ethereum scaling solution Optimism, which have amassed an accumulative total-value-locked of $930 million and $157 million, respectively.
- The company have stated their intention to transition into an “Optimism-native protocol”, with one of their council members kain.eth advocating this route by stating the vast growth potential of Optimism.
Terra’s Bitcoin purchase and BlackRock comments back ETH’s surge to $3.1K
- Ether (ETH) bulls have a few good reasons to celebrate the 20% gain between March 14 and March 24. The price increase surprised many and led to the first daily close above $3,000 in 34 days.
- Even with this move, Marc’s $2.4 billion Ether options expiry is somewhat uncertain because bears can easily profit by pushing the price below $3,000.
- In a letter to shareholders, Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, noted that the global socio-political crisis and growing inflation could make way for a global digital payment network.
- Moreover, cryptocurrency investors turned bullish after Terra co-founder Do Kwon reconfirmed plans for the giant $10-billion BTC allocation. On March 24, the third tranche of Tether (USDT) left a wallet thought to hold funds earmarked to purchase Bitcoin.
Crypto rallies to $2T market cap as institutions signal readiness to enter
- Bitcoin (BTC) and the broader cryptocurrency market rallied on Thursday, as the total value of digital assets crossed $2 trillion for the first time in over three weeks amid signs of a clear shift in market sentiment — headlined by Goldman Sachs, no less.
- BTC price printed an intraday high of $44,253, having gained more than 3% during the session, according to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has now recovered over 33% from its January low.
- The total crypto market cap has gained over 7% since Monday to reach nearly $2.1 trillion, according to Coingecko data. The market capitalization figure also reached $2 trillion on CoinMarketCap.
- While not bullish, Bitcoin’s Fear & Greed Index has escaped “extreme fear” and is now in the “fear” stage with a reading of 40. The volatility and sentiment indicator is based on a scale of 0 to 100 with higher readings corresponding to a more bullish outlook for BTC.
Colorado accepts tax payments in crypto: Was it just a matter of time?
- The governor of Colorado, Jared Polis, announced in February that the state government plans to allow residents to pay taxes in cryptocurrencies as early as the summer of 2022. To some experts, the move is both legitimizing for the crypto asset class and was expected to come in due time.
- In an interview, Polis said crypto holders in Colorado could have the option of sending tax payments in digital currency, with the state converting the funds back into fiat as soon as the payments were received through an unnamed intermediary.
Interlay aims to advance Bitcoin’s DeFi potential with new interoperable bridge
- Interlay, a newly appointed Polkadot (DOT) parachain network, is nearing the completion of a two-year Bitcoin (BTC) bridge development project on Polkadot, with the launch announcement on its sandbox platform Kusama.
- Additionally, Interlay has integrated a Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) digital asset, known as kBTC, on their Canary parachain Kintsugi. The asset is already available for trading on two other Polkadot parachains — Karura, governed by Acala, and Moonriver, governed by Moonbeam.
- It is expected that Interlay will seek to deploy its technology across both Cosmos and Ethereum during the coming year to enhance interoperability between chains.
BAYC’s ApeCoin up 50% this week as its creator raises $450M in new funding
- ApeCoin (APE) continued its rebound move on March 24 as the firm behind it raised hundreds of millions of dollars in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz.
- APE’s price surged 7.5% intraday to reach around $14.50 per piece. Notably, the token’s upside move came as a part of a retracement rally that started at the beginning of this week when it was changing hands for as low as $9.50.
- Yuga Labs gave entities that helped it launch APE, including Andreessen Horowitz and Animoca Brands, about 14% of its total supply, worth about $2 billion at March 24’s prices. On March 22, the firm raised $450 million from the same venture capitalists to value at $4 billion.
- Crypto exchange FTX also contributed to the funding round, which, as Yuga claimed, will be used to expand its development team and to oversee their coming joint ventures, including a metaverse project called “Otherside.”
Portsmouth embraces Bitcoin payments for city bills
- In an effort to embrace virtual money, the city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, will allow residents to pay their bills in Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies. Deaglan McEachern, the city’s mayor, proposed the idea to city officials, who feel it will provide residents with more payment choices.
- As per a local news report from Seacoastonline on March 23, Mayor McEachern said that “there are waves of new things that will affect us in terms of our future that use the type of technology used in cryptocurrency.” He went on to say:
- “I want to make sure Portsmouth is not waiting around to see how this is going to affect us in the future because it’s already affecting us.”
Stargate Finance attracts $1.9B in six days
- Stargate Finance, a cross-chain protocol designed to assist users in transferring assets between different blockchains, has accrued over $1.9 billion in total value locked (TVL) in less than a week after launching.
- Stargate markets itself as a liquidity transport protocol that allows users to transact native assets cross-chain, offering decentralized finance (DeFi) users the option of staking stablecoins in pools where they are paid out in the native Stargate token (STG).
- The rapidly growing TVL is probably down to the “up to 26% APY” being offered farming stablecoin deposits.
- By attracting nearly $2 billion in TVL at the time of writing, Stargate has cemented itself as one of the top 10 DeFi projects, according to comparative data from DeFi Pulse.
