The Polkadot network officially announced the launch of the first parachains on its blockchain and Adidas sold more than $43 million worth of its first NFT collection. These and more news are in this handy daily summary so that you are always informed with the most recent events that occur within the crypto world.
Development and Technology
📍Polkadot officially launches the first parachains on its blockchain network. Acala Network, Moonbeam, Parallel Finance, Astar and Clover, winners of the first parachain auctions on Polkadot, are launching the first secondary chains on the network blockchain scalability. Polkadot announced the launch of its first parachains via its Twitter account. These secondary chains will be focused on lending and investing, DeFi protocols, stablecoins, and more.
Bitcoin and Blockchain Adoption
📍SBI launches cryptocurrency investment fund for general investors in Japan. Financial group SBI Group announced the launch of its first Investment fund in cryptocurrencies, which allows Japanese investors to access the most important crypto assets in the industry, directly and reliably. The fund, called “SBI GK Alternative Fund” is the first of its kind, the entity announced. Through this fund, general investors in Japan can access seven cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), polkadot (DOT), Litecoin (LTC), Chainlink (LINK), ripple (XRP) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).
📍MicroStrategy is coming up with new strategies to grow its Bitcoin investment. MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor is considering generating returns and growing his Bitcoin investments through new strategies. The CEO of the company, which owns more than 122.470 BTC Currently, he said that they do not have any confirmed strategy yet, but that they are considering Bitcoin loans and mortgages to generate returns with the cryptocurrency.
📍Bitcoin on-chain activity has declined over the past two weeks, Coin Metrics reports. The analysis firm Coin Metrics he pointed that daily activity on the Bitcoin chain decreased over the past two weeks as volatility levels grew in the market. According to the data, the activity he chain Bitcoin fell by around 4% over the past two weeks. In its 133rd weekly report, the firm stated that, on average, the number of addresses that remain active within the Bitcoin network is 1 million per day, while the number of daily active wallets is close to 500.000. As of December 8, the Bitcoin network had more than 1,04 million daily active addresses.
NFT and DeFi Markets
📍Adidas' first NFT collection has generated over 11.000 ethers in sales since its launch. “Into the Metaverse”Adidas' first NFT collection has generated 11.390 ethers since its launch on December 17. In total, Adidas' collection of non-fungible tokens has moved more than $43 million in sales, with ETH trading at around $4.000 per unit. Adidas minted 30.000 NFTs from its collection, launched in collaboration with three major industry NFT projects: Bored Ape Yacht Club, Punks Comics, and Gmoney. The NFT of the sportswear company reached a final value of 0,2 ethers, approximately $820, on the day of its launch.
During the launch of the NFTs, Adidas experienced certain glitches, so it halted minting during early access. The company committed to refund those users with failed transactions who lost gas fees.
📍Facebook buys the rights to the “Meta” brand from the American bank Meta Financial Group. Según un report According to Reuters, Meta Platforms Inc, formerly Facebook, has bought the rights to the name and trademark “Meta” from U.S. bank Meta Financial Group in South Dakota. Meta used a company called Beige Key LLC to acquire the trademark, at a cost of $60 million.
On the other hand, the social network Instagram, part of Meta Platforms, is also exploring NFTs. Adam Mosseri, CEO of Instagram, said that NFTs are a very interesting area of new technologies, which could help its content creators reach a wider audience. Instagram wants to make NFTs more accessible, so it is actively researching this new trend, Mosseri said.
Rules and Regulations
📍The Financial Stability Oversight Council warns of the risks posed by stablecoins to the stability of the current system. In her annual report 2021, the United States Financial Stability Oversight Council warned of the risks that could come with greater adoption of stablecoins, as a means of payment and to access financing. Regulators are concerned about the accelerated growth that stablecoins have had in the last year, whose market capitalization has exceeded 130.000 billion dollars. Since stablecoins are designed to maintain a stable value anchored to a fiat currency such as the dollar, the Council points out that this accelerated growth brings with it greater risks for investors and for the current financial system, in case of a lack of liquidity or opacity on the part of stablecoin issuers, among others.
📍Bank of England official Sarah Breeden calls for increased regulation of cryptocurrencies as adoption grows. Bank of England Executive Director for Risk and Financial Stability Strategy Sarah Breeden said a The Times that greater adoption of cryptocurrencies and digital assets by institutions and retail investors requires stricter regulation by central banks and international regulators. According to Breeden, the Bank of England will intensify discussions with its international counterparts to push for greater regulatory measures, in order to minimize potential risks to the industry.
📍Cryptocurrency companies in Paraguay must register in the Registry of Virtual Asset Providers. To operate legally in the Latin American country, companies that trade or provide financial services with cryptocurrencies must register with the Registry of Virtual Asset Providers, according to the new bill recently approved by the Senate. Paraguay wants to regulate the cryptocurrency industry to provide greater protections to the country's investors and consumers, said Senator Fernando Silva, who presented the bill to the Senate. Silva clarified that Paraguay's new regulations for cryptocurrencies, which include the marketing and mining of these digital assets, will allow those interested to invest in cryptocurrencies in a safe and supervised manner, but will not recognize cryptocurrencies as legal tender for making payments or for the exchange of value.
The Senate of Paraguay approved the new bill regulating the cryptocurrency industry and marketing with 29 votes in favor last weekend. The discussion and approval of this bill by the Chamber of Deputies is now expected in 2022.
Continue reading: “Bitcoin” and “Cryptocurrency”, the new words present in the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy
