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Chia Aims to Take on Ethereum, Solana With NFTs. Will They Blossom?

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Solana NFT Platform Fractal Aims to Simplify Web3 Gaming With Google Sign-In

In brief

  • Blockchain network Chia has launched its first NFT standard on mainnet.
  • Chia Network’s Gene Hoffman claims that it provides benefits over Ethereum and Solana, which have thriving NFT markets.

Ethereum currently rules the NFT market in both trading volume and high-value projects, with rising rival Solana trailing behind on both markers. But there’s an incoming entrant that aims to deliver where it claims that both competing blockchain platforms fall short: Chia.

Chia turned heads in the crypto space in the spring of last year, delivering a new kind of storage-based alternative to blockchain security and mining that it claimed made it a “green” alternative to Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Now the platform wants to bring that same ethos to NFTs.

Today, Chia announced the launch of its so-called NFT1 standard on mainnet, just weeks after rolling out the initial NFT0 standard on testnet. Speaking with Decrypt, Chia Network Director, President, and COO Gene Hoffman suggested that the new NFT-capable platform would be more eco-friendly than Ethereum and more stable than Solana, which has seen spurts of downtime since last fall.

“What’s been exciting is I think people are seeing this as a real opportunity to have a more green option than proof-of-work, especially as Ethereum may or may not get around to the Merge,” he said of the NFT rollout, “and a technologically-capable blockchain that’s never had downtime doesn’t hurt either.”

Ethereum’s environmental impact has been hotly debated amid the rise of the NFT market, and the Merge that Hoffman mentioned—a shift to an energy-efficient proof-of-stake consensus model—has been on the horizon for years. It’s currently slated for August this year.

After taking aim at Ethereum’s latest upgrade, Hoffman doubled down on his criticism of Solana, adding, “We’ve seen Solana’s technical acumen of late, and that’s not been very strong.”

However, the network’s longest periods of downtime came amid overwhelming demand prompted by automated bots, including a peak as high as 6 million transactions per second sent to try and game an NFT mint.

With NFT support just coming online, Chia does not appear to have been tested in such an extreme manner—and for its part, Solana is attempting to address its admitted stability issues.

Could Chia really stand up to the demand of a hot NFT project mint, with or without bots trying to overwhelm the process?

After all, Chia currently processes about 30 transactions per second (TPS), while Solana can range up into the thousands. Hoffman admitted that some kind of layer-2 scaling solution would be necessary to handle NFT mints at a faster rate than Chia’s TPS mark currently allows.

But he also suggested that Chia is designed for different needs than Solana, pointing to a recent Chia blog post regarding the so-called blockchain trilemma—that a blockchain can only be two of the three following things: secure, decentralized, and scalable (or able to handle a sizable amount of transactions). Chia has opted for the first two.

“As a layer-1 [blockchain], focusing on enterprise, government, and multilateral use cases like the World Bank’s Climate Warehouse, we intentionally focus on security and decentralization,” Hoffman explained. “Our network simply has an eminently different function and purpose than a network like Solana.”

Plotting NFT support

An NFT is a blockchain token that serves as proof of ownership of an item, and they’re often used for digital goods like artwork, collectibles, and video game items.

The NFT market expanded to $25 billion worth of trading volume in 2021, per data from DappRadar, and that momentum carried into 2022 ahead of the recent wider crypto market decline that has impacted NFTs as well.

With the NFT1 standard, Chia Network claims that it offers improvements over Ethereum and Solana NFT functionality, such as providing what it says is a clearer picture of the provenance of an NFT via a decentralized identifier (DID), as well as enabling improved permanence of assets tied to NFTs.

Chia’s existing Offers system also allows for direct trades of self-custodied NFTs between users without a middleman or exchange, too, while still honoring creator royalties.

“With our goal to drive adoption, we know that the ability to link your identity, on-chain royalties, and Chia Offers are new and significant functional components to the future of NFTs,” said Richard Tsao, vice president of NFT business development at Chia Network.

Chia was created by Bram Cohen, the author of the BitTorrent peer-to-peer protocol, with the network’s XCH cryptocurrency launching in May 2021. Rather than require super-powerful PC hardware for an energy-intensive mining model, Chia’s “proof of space and time” consensus mechanism is built around users’ storage space.

The network’s “farmers” (or miners) set up “plots” on their hard drive or solid-state drive (SSD) to help secure the blockchain platform and potentially earn token rewards in the process.

Chia claims that the network uses drastically less power than Bitcoin or Ethereum’s proof-of-work mining models, respectively, although the clamor around farming last year led to concern about potential e-waste from prematurely worn-out storage drives. Cohen and other Chia representatives have pushed back on reports about the impact of farming on e-waste.

To mark the launch of the NFT1 standard, Chia Network will offer up 10,000 Chia Friends profile picture NFTs to farmers. Chia Friends, shown up top, recalls Ethereum’s popular Moonbirds project in aesthetic, but it apparently encompasses a wider array of pixelated creatures.

The NFTs will be randomly distributed amongst farmers that make a submission to the Chia Friends website. On-chain royalties from secondary sales will be donated to the Marmot Recovery Foundation. Marmots are a meme-able favorite within the Chia community, Hoffman noted, with Marvelous Marmots and Space Marmots NFT collections both on the horizon.

A flowering NFT market?

Tsao believes that community-driven NFT projects will be among the early adopters of Chia’s NFT standard, along with digital artists who weren’t satisfied with existing platforms. Hoffman added that he anticipates that following an initial focus on artwork, Chia NFT creators will then begin exploring other use cases, such as video and music.

He said that Chia Network began talking with larger organizations in late 2021 about the prospect of NFTs on Chia, but such initiatives may take time now that the infrastructure is live. It could take a year or more for sizable firms to move into the space, Hoffman estimated, adding, “They’re not going to move nearly as fast as the individuals.”

After last year’s buzz around the XCH launch and Chia farming, Chia Network has spent the past several months growing out tech and use cases on the platform.

It launched Chia Asset Tokens (CATs)—similar to Ethereum’s ERC-20 token standard—and a U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin called USDS in partnership with Stably, plus Chia Offers. As Hoffman mentioned, Chia Network has also partnered with the World Bank on its Climate Warehouse initiative, enabling a blockchain platform for trading carbon credits.

Hoffman said that Chia has hovered in the ballpark of 25-30 exabytes of storage securing the network so far in 2022—although the current tally is about 22.5 exabytes—and that the network now has between 150,000 and 200,000 active farmers.

And unlike many crypto coins lately, XCH is actually up over the past 30 days, pumping 27% during that span.

With the launch of NFT1, we’ll see just how quickly compelling NFTs take root on Chia—and whether a market that can challenge longer-standing heavyweights like Ethereum and Solana really does sprout up over time.

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Tulip Protocol Officially Integrates Chainlink on Solana Mainnet

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Tulip Protocol Officially Integrates Chainlink on Solana Mainnet

Today, Tulip Protocol made the announcement that they have integrated Chainlink Price Feeds in order to better secure their yield aggregating platform that is running on the Solana mainnet. The team had previously stated their intention to integrate Chainlink Price Feeds, and at this point, the connection has been completely put into action. Chainlink is the premier decentralized oracle network in the world, safeguarding tens of billions of dollars in smart contracts. It has diversified its offerings across other blockchains, notably Solana, Fantom, Polygon, BNB Chain, and others.

In a recent blog post, the team behind the Tulip Protocol explained that they had integrated Chainlink to provide users with more confidence that leveraged positions will be liquidated equitably using extremely accurate price data and that the protocol will continue to be completely collateralized at all times.

According to Tomasz Wojewoda, Head of Global Sales at Chainlink Labs:

“We’re pleased that Tulip Protocol has integrated Chainlink Price Feeds on Solana, helping secure its yield aggregation protocol with highly robust, decentralized market data. With the high-throughput performance of Solana and the strong security guarantees of the Chainlink Network, Tulip Protocol is able to empower users with a performant and secure platform.”

Tulip Protocol Seeks To Take Advantage Of Solana

Tulip Protocol brings together lenders who receive a return on their deposits and borrowers who are interested in gaining access to leverage. Users who initiate leverage positions are responsible for maintaining a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio that has been previously established. The Tulip Protocol then uses the asset price data that is provided by Chainlink Price Feeds to verify that this ratio is accurate. If the value of the collateral falls below the threshold that was established by the protocol, then their position will be immediately liquidated to assist in guaranteeing that the lenders will be repaid.

Tulip Protocol intends to capitalize on Solana by giving users the ability to more regularly reinvest their income and grow their assets without having to pay exorbitant amounts of gas expenses. Chainlink oracles can now be natively integrated on Solana, making it possible for Solana-based applications to benefit from enhanced levels of security and transparency. Yesterday, OpenOcean made the announcement that they would be integrating Chainlink Price Feeds in order to help secure the limited order functionality on many chains. These chains include Avalanche, Ethereum, Polygon, Fantom, and BNB Chain.

According to Senx, Co-Founder of Tulip Protocol:

 “We’re excited to be using Chainlink Price Feeds on Solana to help secure our yield aggregation platform. By leveraging the most secure and reliable on-chain data available, we’re able to provide our lenders and borrowers with greater assurances that liquidations are based on accurate price data, and the protocol will maintain a healthy loan-to-value ratio through all market conditions.” 

Allowing Stakers To Benefit From Higher APYs

Natives of the blockchain as well as newcomers to the technology are beginning to understand that decentralization does not necessarily equate to a secure platform. Given that Web3 services are currently disclosing their susceptibilities to attacks from both within and outside the network, further initiatives should be undertaken to improve the safety of user assets. Fortunately, a growing number of blockchain businesses are beginning to add various levels of security to their services in order to solidify the trust of their existing customers and attract additional investors in the near and distant future.

Tulip Protocol is the very first yield aggregation platform to be built on Solana, and it features auto-compounding vault techniques. The dApp was developed to make use of Solana’s blockchain, which has a low cost and high efficiency, hence enabling the vault techniques to compound frequently. Stakeholders are able to reap the benefits of greater APYs as a result, without the need for active management.

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Is your SOL safe? What we know about the Solana hack

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On this week’s episode of “The Market Report,” Cointelegraph’s resident experts discuss the latest updates concerning the recent Solana (SOL) hack.

To kick things off, we broke down the latest news in the markets this week:

Bitcoin realized price bands form key resistance as bulls lose $24K, significant whale activity between $22,000 and $24,800 adds to the complexity of the current spot market setup. Bitcoin (BTC) consolidated lower on Aug. 9 after familiar resistance preserved a multi-month trading range. When will we finally break out of this price range and make the move towards $30K?

Institutions flocking to Ethereum for 7 straight weeks as Merge nears: Report, “Greater clarity” around the Merge has driven institutional inflows into Ethereum products, according to a CoinShares report. Is the ETH merge finally around the corner and will it bring new all time highs to ETH or has the price already been factored into the current price?

Circle freezes blacklisted Tornado Cash smart contract addresses, Crypto data aggregator Dune Analytics said that, on Monday, Circle, the issuer of the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin, froze over 75,000 USDC worth of funds linked to the 44 Tornado Cash addresses sanctioned by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) list. Could this mark the end for Tornado Cash or is there a way they can redeem themselves?

Next up is a new segment called “Quick Crypto Tips,” which aims to give newcomers to the crypto industry quick and easy tips to get the most out of their experience. This week’s tip: Have some funds ready to buy further downturns.

Market expert Marcel Pechman then carefully examines the Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) markets. Are the current market conditions bullish or bearish? What is the outlook for the next few months? Pechman is here to break it down. The experts also go over some markets news to bring you up to date on the latest regarding the top two cryptocurrencies.

After Marcel’s market analysis, our resident experts discuss whether your SOL is safe and the latest updates on the Solana hack. We also discuss why the network has been victim to so many hacks and downtimes. What exactly do these exploits mean for the Solana platform and if you should be worried.

Lastly, we’ve got insights from Cointelegraph Markets Pro, a platform for crypto traders who want to stay one step ahead of the market. The analysts use Cointelegraph Markets Pro to identify two altcoins that stood out this week: Radicle’s RAD and DigiByte’s DGB.

Do you have a question about a coin or topic not covered here? Don’t worry. Join the YouTube chat room, and write your questions there. The person with the most interesting comment or question will be given a 1 month free subscription to markets Pro worth $100!

The Market Report streams live every Tuesday at 12:00 pm ET (4:00 pm UTC), so be sure to head on over to Cointelegraph’s YouTube page and smash those like and subscribe buttons for all our future videos and updates.

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Web3-Based ZepetoX to Build on Solana

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Web3-Based ZepetoX to Build on Solana

Singapore, Singapore , Aug. 09, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, the ZepetoX team (ZTX, ZepetoX.io) announced its foray into the web3 space, sharing its vision to build an open world that empowers creators and communities to build, play and earn.

ZepetoX is the crypto metaverse initiative jointly incubated by ZEPETO – Asia’s largest metaverse platform with over 320 million registered users – alongside leading global blockchain organizations including Jump Crypto.

As the sole blockchain project comprehensively backed by ZEPETO, ZepetoX will have exclusive ties to ZEPETO in terms of IP including technological, design, and content assets as well as bridges to facilitate user onboarding between the two platforms. ZepetoX’s blockchain development efforts will be advised by Jump.

“ZepetoX is our official venture into the blockchain industry. We feel that web3 opportunities should be advanced through a crypto-native approach, which is why we are excited to have Jump as a contributor to developing a new platform that would have exclusive connections to ZEPETO. Overall, we believe that ZepetoX can build the ideal web3 platform to not only bring blockchain to our existing users but also to expand our footprint in the blockchain space through various disruptive initiatives,” said Daewook Kim, CEO of Naver Z – the operating entity of ZEPETO.

“We are excited to support ZepetoX’s efforts aimed at onboarding new audiences into the rapidly growing crypto space. ZEPETO’s expertise and technological know-hows accumulated over the past years from building an immersive social platform will serve as a springboard for ZepetoX,” said Saurabh Sharma, Partner at Jump Crypto.

Building on the Solana network, ZepetoX will offer a web-based 3D open world with varying levels of gamification integrated as well as opportunities for users to monetize via ownership of digital assets and social interaction. Ultimately, ZepetoX aims to empower self-expression through customizable avatars and lands that can be equipped with NFTs from a rich collection of assets created by diverse creators, DAOs, or communities.

“I am thrilled to see IP powerhouses like ZepetoX choosing to build their metaverse on Solana,” said Anatoly Yakovenko, Co-Founder of Solana. “Projects like ZepetoX create new pathways for onboarding millions of users to web3.”

“Our global team brings a depth of crypto native experiences and our goal is to build on the foundation of ZEPETO to spearhead the adoption of blockchain among metaverse users, developers, and creators,” said co-CEO of ZepetoX, Chris Chang.

In the coming months, ZepetoX will launch its first land sale. The lands will be tradable on the ZepetoX marketplace, which will feature a variety of different NFTs as the open world project evolves. Further details on the sale will be available on the ZepetoX website in the coming weeks.

# # #

About ZepetoX: ZepetoX (ZTX) is a web3 company building an immersive content-driven platform for users to create, trade digital assets and enjoy social interaction. Founded in 2022, ZepetoX is the blockchain initiative of ZEPETO, widely regarded as the largest Asia-based metaverse platform boasting over 320 million lifetime users with over 2.5 billion virtual fashion items sold.

Contacts:

Vera: vera@ztx.foundation

News Via KISS PR Crypto Press Release Distribution Media Contact az@kisspr.com

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