Bitcoin Suisse
The Weekly Wrap - 03 September 2021
Sep 3, 2021 - 4 min read
1. Sotheby’s auctions BAYC NFTs
The Facts:
- Sotheby’s, one of the largest art brokers worldwide, is selling Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs.
- 202 NFTs will be auctioned over the course of a week, ending September 9.
- BAYC NFTs were developed by Yuga Labs; the cheapest BAYC NFT is currently available at a price of 40 ETH (ca. $150’000).
Why it’s important:
- Sotheby’s move into the NFT market is the second time that a player in the traditional art market enters the NFT space after Christie’s sale of Crypto Punks.
- In general, profile picture NFTs have attracted significant communities around them.
2. Twitter tests tipping with Bitcoin Lightning
The Facts:
- Mobile developer A. Paluzzi leaked a screenshot showing a potential future integration of Bitcoin Lightning for tipping on Twitter.
- The tweet got additional credence by Twitter Product Lead K. Beykpour simply retweeting with “⚡?“.
- Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is a vocal Bitcoin supporter.
Why it’s important:
- This would expose millions of Twitter users to the possibility to use Bitcoin Lightning.
- The capacity of Bitcoin Lightning has doubled over the past four months, potentially indicating renewed interest.
3. SEC files complaint against BitConnect
The Facts:
- The SEC has filed a complaint against BitConnect, which infamously collapsed in early 2018.
- This follows earlier action that the SEC has taken against promoters of BitConnect.
- The SEC accuses BitConnect of defrauding retail investors out of $2 billion.
Why it’s important:
- BitConnect was an allegedly fraudulent investment scheme running from 2016 through 2018 that promised high returns on investment through trading bots.
- The BitConnect case highlights the importance of staying vigilant as an investor in crypto and conducting one’s own research into the legitimacy of a project.
I think the transformation we're living through right now could be every bit as big as the internet in the 1990s.
4. Arbitrum One launches
The Facts:
- Arbitrum One, a second layer scaling solution for Ethereum, has announced the launch of their smart contracts on the Ethereum mainnet.
- With the official launch, Arbitrum opened up to the public and the whitelist was removed.
- Various DeFi-related and other dApps have already integrated with Arbitrum.
Why it’s important:
- With Ethereum’s currently high transaction costs (mostly fueled by the NFT craze), L2 scaling solutions such as Arbitrum could reroute some of the demand for block space.
- Arbitrum is not the only available L2 scaling solution – others are being worked on, such as Optimism, StarkNet and zkSync.
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Monthly Active Users on MetaMask
5. BIS announces cross-border CBDC prototype
The Facts:
- The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is working with the central banks of Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and South Africa on a prototype platform for cross-border CBDCs.
- The goal of the platform is to allow direct interaction between the involved central banks and to reduce settlement times.
- Cross-border capabilities and advantages of internationally coordinated “multi”-CBDCs have been studied in a previous report by the BIS.
Why it’s important:
- A cross-border CBDC could come with significant cost savings and challenge current infrastructure.
- Strategically, such a multi-CBDC might also challenge the potential dominance of a digital yuan in the region.
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