Kategorie: Crypto Business

• UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, while in office as the Chancellor of the Exchequer in April, asked the Royal Mint to create a government-backed NFT.

The Royal Mint, the UK’s official coin maker, has confirmed plans for a government-backed non-fungible token (NFT) remain in place, according to a Financial News report published on Tuesday.

Per the publication, officials at the Royal Mint confirmed the NFT plan was on course despite challenges such as the bear market crash that hit cryptocurrencies and the exit of several prominent figures at the HM Treasury.

The Royal Mint’s statement was in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the FN report stated.

UK prime minister is ‘crypto-friendy’

In April this year, then Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak asked the Royal Mint to work on a UK-backed NFT, with plans to issue the token by summer. The announcement was part of a broader push to make the UK a ‘crypto hub’, with several crypto-friendly officials at the Treasury and in parliament helping to advance the agenda.

But Sunak was among top-level government officials to quit in July this year as former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government crumbled.

It appeared the then Finance Minister’s resignation had thrown a spanner into the NFT works, but things have taken a sharp turn and Sunak is now the UK prime minister.

Industry observers say the entry of a crypto-friendly figure at 10 Downing Street could be a big win for crypto in the country. 

NFTs are set to bounce after the lull occasioned by the crypto bear market, and as Galaxy Digital recently highlighted, creators earned over $1.8 billion in royalties from Ethereum-based NFTs.

As CoinJournal reported in July, even the English FA rolled out plans for its own NFT launch, amid broader adoption of the technology across the globe.

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• Yuga Labs is the top royalty earner among creators, with Nike topping the consolidated list amongst global brands in NFTs.

Ethereum-based NFT royalties have crossed the $1.8 billion market, even as the industry faces a huge debate around the royalty model, Galaxy Digital notes in its latest research insight on the sector.

But even as the sector navigates this tricky terrain amid broader crypto market malaise, data shows royalty payments, which reflect a percentage of the resale value secondary sellers pay to creators across top NFTs, have increased over the past year.

Indeed, Galaxy Digital points out in its report, the average royalty percentage creators have earned on OpenSea increased from 3% to 6%. Notably, OpenSea has overseen the most royalty payments to creators.

“OpenSea currently accounts for 80%+ of NFT marketplace volume, and their method for royalty distribution is the most common framework implemented by marketplaces today,” Galaxy Digital researchers noted.

However, not all NFT platforms facilitate royalties with the issue of royalty enforcement at marketplace level pushing some NFT marketplaces such as Solana-based DeGods to remove royalties and others like Magic Eden to declare them optional.

Yuga Labs tops royalty earning list

Galaxy Digital’s report published on Friday, 21 October, details that 27% of the royalties went to 10 creators, with these accounting for over $489 million. Only 482 NFT collections generated 80% of the total royalties paid in the past year.

The top 10 royalty-earning creators were Bored Ape Yacht Club creator Yuga Labs, Art Blocks, OpenSea Storefront Creator, Chiru Labs (Azuki), PROOF Collective, The Sandbox, Doodles, VeeFriends, NFT Worlds and World of Women.

Yuga Labs raked in $147.6 million, while Art Blocks earned $82 million and OpenSea Storefront accumulated over $76 million in royalties.

Among global brands, Nike accounted for the most NFT-based royalties in the past year with over $91 million. Adidas, with more than $4.7 million and $1.5 million, make the top three.

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EU-licensed N26 will launch its N26 Crypto in the next few weeks, with the service first available to customers in Austria. 

N26, Europe’s first regulated mobile bank, is looking to curve off a chunk of the crypto trading market by launching its own service, amid growing demand from clients. 

According to a CNBC report on Thursday, the German-based digital bank will debut its cryptocurrency trading service N26 Crypto in Austria, before expanding the service to customers across the continent and other regions.

N26 Crypto to offer up to 194 tokens

As reported, N26 Crypto will go live over the next few weeks, offering access to 100 tokens. Customer will be able to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum among other top cryptocurrencies, the bank revealed.

Once the initial rollout is completed, the N26 team will seek to increase the trading service’s reach, with the target being 194 tokens accessible across multiple countries in the next six months.

N26’s entry into the crypto trading space will see it join several other financial service providers already allowing customers to buy and sell crypto through their accounts. Rivals such as PayPal and Revolut already offer these options to their customers, as do payment giants Visa and Mastercard.

According to Gilles BianRosa, chief product officer at the German-based digital bank, the creation of N26 Crypto was informed by the extremely high interest in crypto from its customers. The demand has remained high despite the bear market, BianRosa noted.

N26 Crypto will be powered by Peter Thiel-backed crypto broker Bitpanda. Incidentally, N26 also counts Thiel as one of its most prominent investors.

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Liquid staking protocol pSTAKE to offer native crypto to institutions via Anchorage Digital.

Anchorage Digital, the regulated crypto platform offering integrated financial services and custody solutions to institutions, and the first federally-chartered crypto bank in the United States, now supports the custody of PSTAKE, the native governance token of the liquid staking protocol pSTAKE.

pSTAKE Finance is developed by Persistence (XPRT), a liquid staking hub for proof-of-stake (PoS) assets.

Institutional adoption across staking protocols

Despite the crypto market‘s struggles in 2022, institutional adoption continues with major players across legacy and digital assets driving the growth.

In its announcement Wednesday, pSTAKE said it had struck a partnership with Anchorage Digital in a collaboration that will see the US-regulated platform offer secure custody of the PSTAKE token to institutions.

Anchorage Digital’s support for institutions, which includes this crypto-backed loan facility, keeps growing. 

In this case, institutiona can now hold the pSTAKE crypto asset via a secure provider, with ensuing institutional participation helping drive adoption across several staking protocols in the Cosmos (ATOM) ecosystem.

Persistence founder Tushar Aggarwal commented:

“Anchorage has proved to be the industry-leading digital asset custodian, and we are delighted to partner with them to accelerate the next phase of growth for pSTAKE. Anchorage brings both security and a strong user experience, and we’re pleased institutions can now leverage pSTAKE’s liquid staking solution to maximize capital efficiency for their assets. A win-win for both ecosystems.” 

pSTAKE, which offers a multi-chain platform key in the unlocking of liquidity of staked digital assets, allows investors holding proof-of-stake coins to receive PoS rewards without having to sacrifice the liquidity of these assets.

Apart from being the leading liquid staking provider in the Cosmos ecosystem, pSTAKE also supports Ethereum and BNB Chain ecosystems. There are also plans to roll out the solution across other ecosystems, with Solana and Avalanche next in line.

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Metacask’s Trakr is a blockchain-powered inventory management and asset tracking solution, the first such fully integrated system for the spirits industry.

Metacask, a leading marketplace for spirits-backed NFTs, has launched Trakr, the first blockchain-based solution designed to simplify inventory management for producers and brands within the spirits industry.

Trakr’s technology is set to make it easy for companies and brands to not only manage their inventory, but also handle asset tracking and marketing leveraging blockchain technology.

With the solution, users are set to access the best of digital documentation in an industry that prides itself on quality. Now producers and brands can track products from grain to bottle, with decentralised records of every process of a premium spirit’s production – from raw materials through refining and distribution among other supply chain processes.

“We’ve designed Trakr with the spirits industry in mind,” said Nimantha Siriwardana, co-founder and CTO of Metacask.

“It’s an opportunity to streamline supply chain processes, save costs, and maximize operational efficiencies. On top of that, it’s a chance to show customers that are interested in a specific bottle or cask everything from the information that the harvester gathers down to the unique label designed for the item,” he added.

Eliminating traditional solutions’ ‘siloed’ approach

The system will offer data traceability in real time, adding to the overall authenticity and transparency of the processes, a factor that’s removing legacy solutions siloed approach.

Instead of distinct divisions for inventory management, asset tracking, and marketing, Trakr offers an end-to-end solution that both eliminates the walled gardens and also streamlines the whole process.

“The amazing part is that this solution is so versatile, any luxury goods business can use it to improve transparency between stakeholders and their consumers. It’s a chance to truly revamp the way products are managed from start to finish, even beyond the spirits industry,” Siriwardana noted.

According to Metacask, Trakr’s automation is key to compliance since it eliminates manual reporting to allow for easy monitoring of the supply chain processes.

For the technology itself, Trakr taps into smart digital identity technology, with assets linked on-chain and via near-field communication (NFC) chips.

Metacask launched in 2021, offering a premier marketplace that allows users to buy, collect and sell casks and bottles from leading spirits brands via NFTs. 

On the platform, users do not just get the NFTs as a digital title of deed for the purposes of ownership and provenance – they can also leverage these for price discovery.

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