One of the most shocking events which dominated the headlines both in and outside of the cryptocurrency community was that of Jack Dorsey announced that he will indeed be leaving his position as Twitter CEO behind. However, what is perhaps even more intriguing is the fact that not long afterward, Jack also announced that Square, a financial payments company of which Dorsey is the current CEO, shall be rebranding itself as Block in the near future. SQ shall remain the official stock ticker for now.

Many had since speculated with varying degrees of accuracy that Jack had hence accomplished what he had set out to do back in 2006 with the formation of Twitter and the subsequent revolutionizing of social media as we know it, and is now focusing his efforts on Web 3.0.

Square is Out, Block is In

Dorsey has been obsessed with cryptocurrencies and blockchains, particularly Bitcoin, for several years now. He has extensively pushed for and backed the advancement of the Bitcoin Lightning Network, as well as personally assisted Bitcoin developers through a unit known as 'Square Crypto', which shall also reportedly be rebranded as 'Spiral'.

Furthermore, the enhanced Square's Cash App with Bitcoin capability. In related news, he also implemented Lightning-based tipping on Twitter and guaranteed NFT (non-fungible token) avatar inclusion prior to actually stepping down.

Now though, he plans to develop Square into a full-fledged cryptocurrency as well as blockchain corporation. There isn't much else to say about the name change to 'Block', as not only does this indicate Jack's interest in the cryptocurrency and decentralized finance sector, but it is also is a term used by many in this industry including but not limited to &lsquoBlockchain.com', &lsquoThe Block', &lsquoBlockworks', and many more.

A New Era?

However, Block appears to be understating the seemingly unmistakable crypto-oriented parts of the rebranding. Blockchain was undoubtedly the main inspiration for the rebranding, but it's sandwiched between drivel such as building blocks, neighborhood blocks and their local businesses, music-based block parties, and more.

This is in stark contrast to the other significant name change in the last month when Facebook became &lsquoMeta'. Facebook went all-in on declaring the turnaround, and it has since received a lot of press coverage.

The difference here though is that Facebook was attempting, at least in part, to divert attention away from the legal and regulatory issues that have plagued it. Another problem is that some believe the transition from social media advertising towards something akin to a virtual reality &lsquometaverse' has yet to be supported by concrete goals and technologies.

For Block, however, the sky's the limit and many are eagerly waiting to see what Jack will do next. Needless to say, with a man as capable as Dorsey at the helm and all of his efforts seemingly focused towards DeFi, the potential regarding what Block may be able to accomplish may indeed be limitless.

In recent news, VanEck has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to create an ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) focusing on digital asset mining firms.

The fund shall reportedly invest a minimum of 80% of its accumulated assets in securities of digital asset mining enterprises which produce or have the potential to provide at least half of their income from mining or similar technologies.

ETF details

Small and medium-capitalization enterprises, as well as international and developing market issuers, may be included in the ETF's holdings. Additionally, it might invest in various depositary receipts as well as foreign currency-denominated securities.

It is worth mentioning however that the ETF will not make direct investments in digital assets and ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings). Moreover, the filing did not include information about the potential ETF's listing date, ticker, or associated costs.

What to expect

Viridi Cleaner Energy Crypto-Mining & Semiconductor ETF (RIGZ), which has risen 45% ever since commencement in July, and Bitwise Crypto Industry Innovators ETF (BITQ), which has risen 26% since its commencement earlier this year, are two other ETFs that are listed in the United States and have significant exposure to cryptocurrency miners.

Moreover, the SEC denied VanEck's proposal to launch a Bitcoin Spot ETF last month. The filing was made public in March. However, it took many months for the commission to dismiss it due to investor protection concerns.

The SEC has a history of delaying Bitcoin ETFs until October when the ProShares Bitcoin strategy ETF became available. The ProShares ETF was based on futures contracts. Furthermore, because of the CME safeguards, Gary Gensler has since indicated more receptivity to it. Nevertheless, the commission has since authorized a number of similar ETFs. One of them came from VanEck in November, although it received significantly less attention on launch day than the ProShares ETF.

VanEck's ETF plan thus seems to offer a creative solution for the SEC's warning about spot crypto ETFs. To some extent, mining businesses' profits are dependent on Bitcoin's price, offering an indirect type of asset exposure.

The world as we know it is changing. The metaverse is no longer simply a concept, in fact, it is rapidly transforming into a reality. With that being said, Barbados recently revealed its plans to build a metaverse embassy, taking a huge step toward legitimizing the metaverse concept in the process.

Barbados, therefore, hopes to build a digital embassy through a partnership with Decentraland. The local government is currently in the midst of negotiating collaborations with many top Metaverse platforms and industry leaders. Although there is a lot more work to be done, many believe that this will go a long way towards bringing the idea of the metaverse and its subsequent implementation into the mainstream.

Barbados, if successful, will be the first independent nation in history to have an embassy constructed in the metaverse. The foreign minister of Barbados, Jerome Walcott, stated that Barbados remains optimistic about interacting with the rest of the world via the new digital embassy. The plan had also reportedly been in the works for several months prior to the announcement.

The Times Are Changing

Hot on the heels of Facebook recently rebranding as 'Meta', other various constituents of several sectors such as those pertaining to the blockchain, cryptocurrency, NFT, and social media industries had all begun taking the notion of the metaverse much more seriously.

Now, with the new plans of constructing a digital embassy being announced by Barbados, few can argue against the fact that we are gradually moving towards a new age, one that will in all likelihood be fully digitalized. However, it is worth pointing out that despite the interest in the metaverse, Barbados' government has stated that current affairs in the real world are still going to be prioritized above all else.

Moreover, there is also the issue of how sovereignty will actually work within the metaverse, and how certain things such as the issuance of visas and passports along with the establishment of international treaties will function in a digital realm. Still, although these problems are certainly going to become more common as time progresses, the government's willingness to even consider a move that will include active involvement with the metaverse is indeed noteworthy.

Not Everyone Is On Board

Unsurprisingly, not everyone is supportive of the aforementioned decision to create the digital embassy. Will Gottsegen from CoinDesk recently commented that perhaps not everything should be dependent on blockchain technology and that the idea of a metaverse embassy, while certainly intriguing, is one that may be little more than an empty promise from a politician or official who simply wants to cater to the members of the cryptocurrency and blockchain communities.

Elsewhere, others are worried about how the treatment of property rights will occur within the metaverse. Some have even gone as far as to claim that shifting to a digital realm with little to no laws will in all certainty lead to anarchy and chaos. Some are also concerned about the role that NFTs will play in this as well, in addition to Barbados' government potentially using this opportunity to exploit others via land rights and impose digital control while simultaneously bypassing international rules and regulations in the real world.

Whatever the case may be, it is clear that before the idea of this digital embassy can be fully actualized, plenty of obstacles and challenges will need to be navigated through first. In related news, Barbados also has plans of opening digital embassies with various other providers such as SuperWorld and Somnium Space. Additionally, as per the latest reports, Barbados plans to tentatively launch the embassy by January 2022.

DeversiFi exchange is on a mission to make DeFi accessible to everyone, and ensure that the DeversiFi platform becomes a one-stop-shop for all DeFi needs. Earlier this year they soft-launched DVF token, through their very own launch mechanism (DeversiFi launch market), and have since grown that community. But that was just the beginning for Diversifi s growth plan, working hard to bring further value for users.

Coming Soon

In two weeks DeversiFi will launch its first rewards program, along with an inaugural series of incentivized automated market makers (AMMs). This twin initiative will allow you to earn by trading on DeversiFi, OR providing liquidity to one of the brand new incentivized pools, offering some of the best rewards on Layer 2.

Trading rewards

One of the best features about DeversiFi is the gas-free trading, but they are going one step further with a new rewards program. From December 1st, traders on the platform can earn some sweet DVF token, which will be calculated by the amount of fees they have paid each week as part of the overall &lsquofees pot'. Simply trade on DeversiFi and earn DVF. It's as easy as that!

50% of total DVF supply is controlled by the DVF DAO, with some of it initially allocated to liquidity mining and trading (at the DAOs discretion). There could be a vote after 3 months to continue the program or alter the parameters, so holding DVF will give you a voice in these decisions.

Automated Market Makers (AMMs)

Unlike the traditional order book method, which matches buy and sell offers, AMMs offer a liquidity pool where traders can simply buy and sell their tokens against the liquidity that is present in this crowdsourced vault. In other words, you can make trades even if there is nobody on the other side.

The launch of DeversiFi AMMs will involve 16 new incentivized liquidity pairs. The initial incentivized launch pools were chosen by DeversiFi and the DVF Community in a governance vote, and contain a mixture of large blue-chip tokens as well as stablecoin pairs and NFT & DeFi tokens.

The pairs are DVF/ETH, CRV/ETH, LDO/ETH, UNI/ETH, ERP/USDC, YGG/ETH, ILV/ETH, MPL/ETH, COMP/ETH, SUSHI/ETH, USDC/USDT, ETH/USDT, TOKE/ETH, REN/ETH, BOND/ETH, RAI/ETH.

By providing liquidity to the pools, users are entitled to a portion of the trading fees collected by that pool.

Empowering decentralized trading by rewarding usage, cutting fees, motivating platform investment, and decentralizing control. This is a formula for certain crypto success, and DeversiFi seems to have it calculated well. These types of financial growth offerings will only increase in volume as crypto goes mainstream. More people every day become aware and gain access to crypto investment and savings options that traditional systems cannot compete with. DeversiFi is developing their exchange and community with new-age users and platform growth fundamentals in their sights.

The original print of the United States Constitution has only 13 surviving copies. After a high-stakes bidding battle that captivated the Internet's interest and imagination, a DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) recently stated that it had lost its bid to successfully purchase one of the original copies of the U.S. Constitution from a recent Sotheby's auction.

The United States Constitution sold for just over $43 million at Sotheby's this past Thursday. The winner was also recently revealed to be none other than hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin, who is both the founder and current CEO of Citadel.

Although defeated, the daring rise of the DAO, a collection of individuals who had connected with each other via the Internet, is nevertheless a unique situation that must be examined further.

What happened?

The group of individuals had been identified as ConstitutionDAO. Following a brief burst of enthusiasm on Twitter, when some members of the organization incorrectly declared that they were victorious, the group then issued a follow-up statement clarifying what had actually transpired. According to the announcement, the organization may have lost the bid but it nevertheless made history by raising the biggest amount of money through crowdfunding within a time period of under 72 hours.

According to one organizer in the DAO's Discord channel, the group was defeated because it did not earn enough money to construct the reserve needed to consistently preserve and maintain the document. Moreover, the participants of the DAO would reportedly receive their money back, excluding gas fees.

Constitution DAO's bid had witnessed thousands of contributors continuously donating via ETH. The founders of the organization had gathered for the first time just over seven days ago which was around the time that they began requesting funds. The group had carried out a campaign primarily using word-of-mouth tactics via Twitter as well as various other forms of social media.

The power of DAOs

The campaign, which was mostly fuelled by Twitter and a rapidly growing Discord server, provides a glimpse into what a community-driven effort where transparency, honesty, and shared ownership are the main driving forces would be like as we continue to make technological progress. The prospects provided by the decentralized autonomous organization framework are hence actively piquing people's curiosity and interest.

Furthermore, as dramatic as it may appear, the joy of welcoming individuals into the cryptocurrency community is therefore an exhilarating by-product of ConstitutionDAO. It allows users and members to enjoy the perks as well as overall experience of a fully decentralized community.

However, although the influx of new users may indeed be beneficial, it also necessitates that someone must educate those who are new to the industry regarding certain matters such as where their hard-earned money may actually be going. As a matter of fact, the ConstitutionDAO team felt the need to adjust their initial message from potentially 'owning a very small part of the U.S Constitution' to 'users shall receive governance tokens'. This change had to be implemented relatively early on in order to ensure that the participants understood exactly how everything works and where their money will be allocated. Still, the success that the DAO had in gathering everyone together to achieve a common goal should not be understated.

Trading crypto is a lot like trading stocks. It's a little scary, a little overwhelming, and a little risky. But these are exactly the reasons why so many people are drawn in. While there's no sure-fire way to be successful in the crypto markets, fantasy trading platforms like StockBattle let users get the vital experience needed to find success in crypto trading.

It's Easy to Join and Fun to Participate

StockBattle contests aren't games &ndash they offer a chance to profit based on your skills to identify the right crypto or stocks. However, most participants agree that contests are fun and exciting. You'll love the adrenaline rush you feel while competing against others in 15-minute head-to-head rumbles backed by real-time price data.

The great thing about these competitions is that they are easy to join. Essentially, it comes down to picking 5 stocks or cryptocurrencies for your portfolio and watching them perform in a real-time dynamic chart. The entrant whose portfolio grows higher wins a predefined cash reward. It's a simple concept that you'll feel comfortable with using in seconds. However, you will need to analyze the market and rely on your intuition to create a winning portfolio.

Get Started with Free Contests to Learn the Basics

Free contests are the best place to get started in StockBattle. Free contests don&39t require any upfront investment and still have the potential to payout on a win. They offer the safest means of learning how to use the platform and what kinds of strategies are most effective for you. Free contests can help you get comfortable with how assets fluctuate in price, what kinds of volatility are profitable, how to read price charts, and more. Once you can stand on your own two feet, you&39ll probably be itching to try your hand with some real money.

Play to the Match, Not the Market

In StockBattle, you compete with your match, a person with the same passion for crypto, not the whole market. It means that victory is real and truly within your reach. To gain a victory, you need to pick the stock or crypto that you feel is most likely to perform well over the selected time, ignoring any potential for long-term profits. Look for something with a bit more volatility. Assets that rise and fall quickly are prime choices for StockBattle.

If you've been waiting for the right moment to test the waters of fantasy crypto trading, go ahead and get started today. Download StockBattle and start experimenting at no cost to you. Thanks to the wealth of information out there and the ease of fantasy finance there&39s never been a better time to jump into the world of trading.

In recent news, India's Parliamentary Standing Committee of Finance had announced an upcoming official conference wherein possible regulation of digital assets will be discussed with some of the country's most significant cryptocurrency stakeholders and industry leaders.

Politicians and industry executives are therefore set to take part in extensive conversations about possible cryptocurrency regulation and legislation. The actual itinerary for the meeting though has not yet been issued, as per a representative for the House of the People (Lok Sabha) secretariat.

Whatever path the Indian lawmakers ultimately decide upon could have a domino effect on other countries in the region, and cryptocurrency advocates are thus hopeful that the negotiations will end in mainly beneficial outcomes.

India's Relationship with Crypto

WazirX, an Indian cryptocurrency exchange, recently reported a considerable increase in its respective number of subscribers as well as overall trading volume in 2021. It had also been reported that the platform's user base expanded to 10 million this year. Furthermore, according to Coindesk, WazirX's 2021 trade volume has now managed to reach just about $38 billion, representing a 44% increase on a monthly basis.

Needless to say, there are thus many Indian citizens who are supportive of crypto, and most of these enthusiasts hail from cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Kolkata. Most of the supporters were also found to be adolescents. However, not everyone seems to be on board, as was made evident by both the central bank as well as the country's lawmakers refusing to acknowledge the growing popularity and increasing demand pertaining to digital assets by the Indian cryptocurrency community.

As a matter of fact, Governor Shaktikanta Das of the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) recently claimed that the overall amount of Indian citizens who have expressed an interest in various cryptocurrency-based assets has in fact been grossly exaggerated and blown out of proportion. In the past, the RBI has often adopted a hostile approach towards cryptocurrencies, so this statement should not come as that much of a surprise.

Time for a Change

While there are several reasons as to why the cryptocurrency space has been experiencing exponential growth over the course of the last decade, the fact remains that it is mostly the younger generation that is spearheading the charge for the new industry.

India's cryptocurrency community is no different, and it is this unyielding support that has now culminated in the upcoming meeting between the local government and various cryptocurrency leaders and experts. The ones representing the cryptocurrency sector hail from a variety of different companies, and noteworthy participants involve both the BACC (Blockchain & Crypto Assets Council) and the IAMAI (Members of the India Internet & Mobile Association). As per the most recent reports, the meeting is scheduled to occur on the 15th of November, 2021.

Of the three legs of the blockchain trilemma decentralization, scalability, and security is the most foundational. It is an absolute necessity that users feel assured that the system they are using will not leave them exposed.

Achieving blockchain security is motivated by what has been labeled the cypherpunk mentality the idea that by leveraging cryptographic methods, we can develop online defenses that protect our personal information. But as crucial as security is to the adoption of decentralized financial applications, there remains a fundamental lack of privacy protection on Ethereum.

Users may think that hiding behind an Ethereum address is sufficient to keep them anonymous, but the network uses a public, auditable ledger with account-based tracking. This means that everyone can easily discover the wallet balance of every user on the network. This isnt dissimilar to any payment you make in your daily life-giving the recipient the means to check how much money is in your bank account. Suppose you wanted to make a contribution to a liquidity pool such as with base Ethereum, the entire network knows your investment and can see when you withdraw. Or what if you wanted to interact with a DEX? Uniswap executes billions of dollars worth of trades daily, with each transaction trackable simply by looking up the Uniswap smart contract on Etherscan. Click on any one of the addresses involved in the transactions and you can view the entire trading history of the wallet. For anyone trying to develop proprietary farming strategies, they could easily be copied. Or for a credited trader with a number of users following their wallet, every investment they make notifies those users.

Beyond wallet transparency, consider how most users interact with the Ethereum network, even services that let you manage your own wallet like MetaMask are able to read your IP address. Assuredly, there are methods to enhance security, like using a VPN, using multiple addresses for different dApps, or even running a node yourself. But privacy shouldnt require users to be developers or experts, mass adoption and true usability require layer-one, passive privacy.

In recent years, privacy-focused protocols have been developed and successfully implemented, proving the effectiveness and versatility of zero-knowledge cryptography. In 2015, Zcash launched a fork of Bitcoin that enabled users to send transactions with shielded addresses. But the more versatile Ethereum has a different environment structure, with account-based tracking and smart contracts increasing the complexity of protecting wallet information. Thus, providing the same level of privacy on Ethereum required additional research and development.

One possibility for anonymizing transactions through Ethereum is using mixers or tumblers, protocols that enable users to transfer to another Ethereum address without the deposit and withdrawal addresses being linked, often in set denominations of 1, 10, or 100 ETH. However, this privacy model is incomplete. With a balance in a mixer, its impossible to withdraw to a smart contract or interact with DeFi protocols. The user has to create an additional address, withdraw to that address, and then submit the contributionor transaction to the smart contract. Additionally, they have to make sure that none of their behaviors enable someone to link the new address to their original address. Even with the proper use of a new address, only being able to exchange denominational values makes proper DeFi interaction difficult.

Railgun has introduced a stronger model of privacy that brings security to DeFi. By establishing a shielded wallet for all users, any interaction you can execute with your Ethereum wallet can be executed anonymously with your Railgun wallet. The same for the other smart contract-capable blockchains the technology has been ported to.DeFi has been at the core of blockchain development over the past 2 years. Its been foundational in moving the technology from ICOs and into the development of efficient financial products.  DeFi applications are responsible for billions of dollars worth of transactions, all of which are easily trackable.  If these applications are to be trusted and used as true financial mechanisms, then privacy is necessary. Privacy that doesnt require expert knowledge.

Using Railgun, once the initial contribution is made, your address is shielded. Your Railgun wallet can make a transaction to any smart contract or wallet address, and all that will be revealed is that a Railgun user executed the transaction. Contributions to a liquidity pool, exchanges over a DEX, internal or external transfers all can be made in any denomination with a single transaction. Railgun solves the vast majority of privacy problems DeFi has been struggling with. That said, as recent years have shown, DeFi requires the mindset that no one is quite sure what is over the horizon.

Shielded wallets are a solid foundation, but constantly-evolving products, features, and methods require protocols that can adapt. The team behind Railgun is full of strong minds, cryptography experts, and accomplished engineers, but the ultimate power lies in the democratized decision-making of the DAO. With a list of enhancements already in discussion, the community has the ability to hear the voices of any DeFi innovator, Ethereum developer, or simply anyone who truly believes that privacy should be within reach. Railgun introduces a new paradigm, enabling us to unlock the full potential of DeFi.

By Nick Ulven

For those who have an interest in both the music industry as well as the world of blockchain technologies, knowing about Zeptagram is a must. Zeptagram may be understood as a blockchain-oriented trading platform that allows intellectual property owners to successfully tokenize their respective assets. In other words, whenever an artist would use music to generate some sort of value, money would be distributed to the respective token holders with relative ease.

Zeptagram has therefore managed to gain considerable traction lately and has been making headlines for all the right reasons. As a platform that recognizes as well as rewards both music fans along with the artists themselves for their artistic expression and passion for music, it would make sense that so many have already chosen Zeptagram and continue to do so even today.

Zeptacoin

Zeptacoin's (ZPTC) main purpose is to be utilized for exchanging music rights on Zeptagram's own music platform. Additionally, there are plans to integrate it with Zeptagram's NFT-platform as well. The cryptocurrency was listed on BitMart, a popular cryptocurrency exchange, last month in October.

According to the latest charts, the current price for Zeptacoin is $0.4. While this is of course nowhere near its all-time high, it nevertheless shows that both Zeptacoin and Zeptagram itself have been able to survive the numerous fluctuations that often occur in the cryptocurrency market. Moreover, the fact that it has also been listed on both Bittrex, as well as the immensely popular PancakeSwap, is further proof of this.

NFTs

Anyone who has been paying attention knows that NFTs (non-fungible tokens) have taken the world by storm. Many celebrities and industry leaders alike have already bought and sold numerous NFTs, and these include prominent figures in the music industry as well.

Zeptagram has therefore gotten involved with NFTs too and has thus recently added a section centered around non-fungible tokens on its website. Although this new feature is still in the beta version, it has nevertheless drawn in many in and outside of the music industry. You will find new listings, popular sellers, and hot collections all gathered in one place for your convenience.

Although there is still more work to be done, it is nonetheless a safe assumption to make that Zeptagram is one to keep an eye on if you have an interest in music, NFTs, and crypto.

Today, Canadian venture capital fund Contango Digital Assets announced that it will be working with MRHB DeFi, a decentralized finance platform focused on, "bridging the gap between the Muslim Community and the Blockchain world." The partnership is set to extend DeFi&39s opportunities to users who have refrained from participating due to ethical concerns.

With a team of dedicated experts in Islamic Finance, MRHB has built a solution that is Shariah-compliant. It uses smart contracts to standardize the body of rules and principles that adherents must follow in matters of business in order to participate in DeFi in accordance with their beliefs. 

"It is surprising to us that such an important part of the world has not been able to participate in DeFi opportunities yet. MRHB is opening an important door in the Muslim Community for people who wish to benefit from this technology while remaining faithful to their beliefs. We&39re thrilled to be a part of that." - Contango Managing Director, Mike Grantis.

Contango&39s investment is a realization of the fact that there is over $3 trillion in liquidity available in this previously overlooked market. More so, the platform built by MRHB is not exclusive to Muslim users. It is designed to encourage its ethos through a user-friendly experience and comprehensive ecosystem of applications that include interest-free lending services and an authentic NFT marketplace.

"We have built DeFi services that solve issues of faith, ethics, exclusion, and complexity. Our user-friendly platform provides equal opportunities to everyone, not only those who share our concern for holding crypto assets that are halal. With Contango&39s support, we will continue our journey of growth and development within Islamic communities and beyond." - MRHB DeFi CEO, Naquib Mohammed.

By partnering with MRHB, Contango will also provide the platform with additional tools such as expert advice and professional marketing services that will ensure its growth. This includes collaborations with influencer marketing leaders in the blockchain space, Influx Group.

About Contango

Contango Digital Assets was launched to empower the financial revolution that is presented by blockchain and DeFi technology. It invests in innovative projects from around the world and fosters strategic partnerships with founders who look for more than just capital. Learn more about Contango by visiting the official website or following the fund on Twitter.

About MRHB DeFi

MRHB DeFi is the first ecosystem to offer equal and trusted access to crypto assets, services, and wealth creation opportunities for excluded communities worldwide. Its ecosystem leverages technical expertise and extensive knowledge of how the Islamic ecosystem works to make DeFi available to over one billion potential users. Learn more about MRHB DeFi by visiting the official website or following the project on Twitter.

When Facebook rebranded itself as Meta Platforms, it in fact signaled its adoption of the metaverse, which is essentially an immersive digital environment where people may do all sorts of things such as play different games, work, take part in e-commerce, and socialize.

Facebook isn't the first organization to try to enter the so-called metaverse, and it won't be the last either. Nonetheless, its recent decision has created a lot of support for the notion of a metaverse, which has been in the works for a long time. As a matter of fact, Enjin, a blockchain company, recently established a $100 million fund in order to promote certain initiatives in its respective ecosystem which is primarily aimed at establishing a fully decentralized metaverse.

Entering the metaverse

As the cryptocurrency industry is largely online to begin with, it would thus make all the sense in the world for it to adopt the idea of a metaverse. Many in the cryptocurrency community have claimed that a primary objective of this industry is to eventually establish a digital space where individuals would be free to do whatever they like, such as play games and socialize. As it turns out, prominent figures and entities within this space also feel the same way.

Apart from Enjin, Coinbase's stock had risen exponentially following Facebook's announcement. Furthermore, Decentraland's MANA token, which is the project's native currency mainly utilized for the purposes of both purchasing and selling digital space within the metaverse, had recently risen from $0.80 to a new all-time high price of over $4.00. This sharp increase was undoubtedly due to Facebook's announcement about rebranding.

Powered by Ethereum's blockchain, Decentraland has long since been working on the possible implementation of a metaverse, and so the interest for such a concept and what it can do not just for the cryptocurrency industry but for our society as a whole has existed for some time now.

What's next?

Despite the interest in the aforementioned metaverse, there is still plenty of work to be done. Still, the future looks bright as was made evident by Animoca Brands' The Sandbox, a blockchain gaming platform based in Hong Kong, raising over $90 million as part of a fundraising round spearheaded by SoftBank Group. The investment enables gamers to create virtual worlds and exchange in-game NFTs and is yet another clear indication of the interest in the formation of a metaverse.

The NFT community in particular is bound to benefit greatly from a potential metaverse. No matter what happens from now, one thing is clear which is that we are definitely entering a new era both within the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry as well as outside of it.

ICOs are a tricky business. You only have to look at the plethora of different launch strategies, vesting schedules, and tokenomic theories to see the sheer complexity young projects have to grapple with. Once released to the public, however, launches often follow predictable paths: an initial spike in the price followed by something akin to a Dutch auction as VCs and possibly developers sell off their tokens at the highest possible price.

Now, though, the innovative privacy tech of the RAILGUN Privacy System can provide new possibilities for future ICOs on blockchains capable of running smart contracts. Let's consider how the system powered by zkSNARKs &ndash the weird mathematical proofs that Vitalik Buterin himself believes will change the world for the better &ndash could help ICOs going forward.

Within RAILGUN, transferring tokens from one account to another is entirely private. Allocations to VCs, developers, or other investors won't even show up on Etherscan. Thus, potential investors are less likely to be put off by the presence of competing Venture Capitalists, not necessarily knowing the price previously paid for tokens or investment amounts. The dApp or protocol could negotiate with each early investor on the technical merits of their team and technology should they so desire, with each deciding on a fair price.

Without a privacy protocol, the blockchain is also never more than merely pseudonymous. This can be unappealing to VCs, who may have their actions scrutinized, imitated, or even countertraded if they are seen to be selling or accumulating their tokens. VCs and, indeed, developers have just as much right to sell tokens as anyone else in a properly decentralized world, but with investors always being able to see who is selling and when the lack of anonymity necessitates very careful management of held funds. For the owners of promising protocols, which may often require further development and funding, this can even remove a natural funding mechanism, limiting their options.

With the implementation of the relayer network, the RAILGUN Privacy system allows completely private DEX swaps to be made. Nobody can tell whether it was a developer, VC or small investor buying or selling. Vesting can be entirely private or even non-existent. The price paid and the final holders will not be public information unless the parties involved explicitly release that information. But at the same time, whether for tax, regulatory or PR purposes, attestations can be generated using Zero-Knowledge Proofs &ndash to demonstrate, for instance, that the development team has not sold.

I rather suspect that once introduced to RAILGUN, venture capitalists and institutional investors alike might insist new projects make use of this powerful new privacy technology. As the name suggests, information is the most valuable commodity in the Information Age. Hence, being able to protect one's alpha or investment strategy from prying eyes on an otherwise transparent blockchain is an advantage too significant to ignore.

Author:  Mike Chaffin