Kategorie: Crypto Business

Honduras’ ‘Bitcoin Valley’ joins other bitcoin projects in Central America –  El Salvador’s ‘Bitcoin Beach’ Guatemala’s ‘Bitcoin Lake’, and ‘Bitcoin Jungle’ in Puntarenas, Costa Rica.

Honduras has opened its own bitcoin city in Santa Lucia, a tourist town about 20 minutes from the country’s capital Tegucigalpa.

People now have access to goods and services that they can easily pay for all across the ‘Bitcoin Valley,’ Reuters reported on Friday.

The project is an initiative of Blockchain Honduras, Coincaex (a Guatemalan crypto exchange), the Technological University of Honduras and the local Santa Lucia municipality.

Opening up to crypto-tourism

The launch of ‘Bitcoin Valley’ comes amid increased tourist use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and its establishment looks to promote the Santa Lucia economy through crypto-tourism and by encouraging local business to start accepting digital asset payments.

The initial plan, according to the report, is to have 60 local businesses adopt the use of crypto – with the training then extended to other enterprises. 

These businesses will not have to worry about the tissue of crypto volatility as merchants will not receive the cryptocurrencies. Rather, the crypto exchange Coincaex will process the payments for merchants within the ‘bitcoin city’, with businesses having instant access to what customers pay via the local currency.

The launch of ‘Bitcoin Valley’ joins other three major crypto projects across the Central American region seeking to promote adoption among the general public within specific towns or regions. 

There’s El Salvador’s ‘Bitcoin Beach’ in El Zonte, ‘Bitcoin Lake’ in Guatemala, and ‘Bitcoin Jungle’ in Puntarenas, Costa Rica.

The post Honduras opens the ‘Bitcoin Valley’ in Santa Lucia appeared first on CoinJournal.

Artozo, an NFT marketplace that seeks to make the collection of NFTs fun and rewarding, – particularly for artists, has formally commenced registration of works from top NFT artists.

Artozo is for high-quality NFTs

While numerous NFT marketplaces available in the ecosystem make it easy for anyone to participate and benefit from the opportunity that comes with digital assets, Artozo wants to not only make it rewarding, but also secure.

One of the many problems that blight the NFT industry is unauthorised access, use and sell of other users’ works and holdings.

Registration, which involves vetting of works, is one step towards removing this nuisance. The goal is not to provide access to huge NFT collections, but a carefully vetted, high-quality and limited edition collection of digital art.

Application and verification is easy and takes anywhere from 24 to 72 hours and notifications on successful submissions will roll out before the beta launch.

Artists! Right now we are collecting your submissions and will accept them before the beta launch in 2 weeks.

Those, who already submitted – put a + in the comments👇

— Artozo NFT (@Artozo_NFT) July 28, 2022

An NFT marketplace for artists and collectors

Artozo, which expects to go live in Beta this August, is powered by Solana and promises to offer the scalability and transaction security underpinned on the leading NFTs blockchain.

On the Artozo marketplace, artists will benefit from minting fees that go as low as $2, with no up-front or service fee requirements. The fees are payable via the native Artozo token ARTZ.

There’s also enhanced community demand, given the utility of NFTs and access to powerful user retention mechanisms. Significantly attractive is also the potential to earn great, lifetime royalties (up to 9%).

The NFT marketplace’s model also allows for rewards via invite to earn functionality, digital art trading of NFTs and will soon offer staking. 

Artozo has built-in tools that help bridge Web2 and Web3, including wallet connectivity – a feature that makes it easy for anyone to buy, sell and trade NFTs. According to the platform, these features benefit both artists and collectors.

The post Artozo NFT marketplace invites premiere artist submissions ahead of beta launch appeared first on CoinJournal.

Algorand announced on Wednesday, 27 July that COO Sean Ford was replacing outgoing CEO Steven Kokinos.

Algorand has announced the firm’s COO W. Sean Ford as the Interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO), replacing G. Steven Kokinos as the outgoing exec moves “to pursue other interests.”

The appointment of Ford takes immediate effect (from July 27, 2022), the blockchain firm notified its community of users and investors. Meanwhile, Kokinos, who has been at the company for four years, is set to offer his services as a senior advisor to the firm until mid-2023.

“We thank Steven for his time and dedication to Algorand. He has been instrumental to the initial success of our business, and we appreciate his commitment to a seamless transition,” said Algorand founder and MIT professor Silvio Micali.

Kokinos, who also confirmed his exit on Twitter, thanked the company for the opportunity to serve as CEO, noting that he was confident in the blockchain platform’s future.

He said in a statement: “It has been a pleasure serving as CEO of Algorand. As we move into this next phase, I am excited about the company’s future and am confident that the team will keep things running smoothly.”

Ford, an MBA holder from Harvard University Graduate School of Business, joined Algorand in 2018.

The post Algorand appoints interim CEO to replace Steven Kokinos appeared first on CoinJournal.

Solana-based NFT marketplace Magic Eden has announced the launch of its first Semi-Fungible Token (SFT) marketplace, a platform that will allow gamers on the Free-to-Play, Move-to-Earn NFT game Genopets to mint and trade in-game SFTs.

Magic Eden said in an announcement on Wednesday that the SFT marketplace is set to boost the Genopets ecosystem, adding to the growth of Web3 by intersecting Web2 gaming.

“We are excited to partner with Genopets to power their new SFT marketplace which will bring familiar Web2 trading mechanics to players looking to build and grow their in-game assets,” said Tony Zhao, the head of Gaming Investments at Magic Eden venture arm Magic Ventures.

What are SFTs?

Semi Fungible Tokens, or SFTs, are tokens that start off as fungible – say like Bitcoin (BTC) – but then can take on non-fungible properties to function like an NFT. These types of tokens are only just starting to get popular in the crypto space and are mainly helping to bridge Web2 and Web3 in the gaming sector.

GameFi is thus finding SFTs crucial in bringing things such as “stackable” assets into a Web3 gaming environment.

Developers are using SFTs to tap into low minting requirements and in-play transactions. This is what Magic Eden brings to its community, with Solana-minted SFTs sharing a “Mint Account“, allowing for a significant reduction of storage needs and minting fees.

Magic Eden is Solana’s largest NFT marketplace, accounting for the vast majority of the NFT volumes on the blockchain. 

The platform is also focused on becoming a key player in Web3 gaming, a goal it hope to achieve via its recently launched Magic Ventures initiative.

The post Magic Eden launches SFT marketplace and minting for Genopets appeared first on CoinJournal.

Cryptocurrency ATM firm CoinFlip has announced a new fund venture set to boost the emerging Web3 ecosystem, according to a news release the fintech company shared on Wednesday.

The CoinFlip Ventures, which the Chicago-based crypto company will fund to a tune of $1 million, will seek to support start-ups and entrepreneurial teams across the Web3 space. 

Notably, the firm is looking to boost the efforts of university students and other underrepresented developer initiatives.

Startups in DeFi, NFTs to benefit

CoinFlip Ventures will support developer teams and projects focused on advancing growth within the decentralised finance (DeFi), NFTs and marketplaces and tokenisation.

Applicants need to have their projects at the pre-seed or early stage level. Such projects will either have a “prototype, service model or business plan, but [are] not yet profitable,” the company advised interested parties via the press release.

Successful applicants will receive financial help of up to $250,000 as well as industry insight, business advice and networking opportunities, including from CoinFlip’s executive team members.

“We’ve learned so much through trial and error since our founding and are honoured to pass along our knowledge and resources to startups we believe in,” CoinFlip founder Daniel Polotsky said in a statement.

CoinFlip is the largest cryptocurrency ATM operator in the world, with over 4,000 teller machines installed across 49 states. The company launched its operations in 2015 and has grown to include a Trade Desk that was announced in 2021.

The post CoinFlip launches $1 million fund initiative to support Web3 startups appeared first on CoinJournal.