MARKET UPDATE

NFTS TO BE REGULATED AS SECURITIES?

According to a leaked draft of the EU legislation on crypto assets, NFTs sold as components of large collections would be subject to the same regulatory scrutiny as cryptocurrencies since they possess little to no distinctively unique qualities or utility. The Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) draft is the final version of a comprehensive crypto regulatory framework that is expected to take effect in 2024, after months of negotiation among European Comission, Parliament, and Council.

The bill states that digital assets with unique and not fungible characteristics that grant utility to the token holder is exempted, but NFTs in a large series or collection should be considered as “fungible”. This caused concern within the industry as the regulation covers popular blue-chip NFT collections such as BAYC and CryptoPunks.

There has long been a heated debate about what components of the crypto industry should be considered securities by government regulators. The EU would have an unavoidable impact on American regulators if it classified blue-chip NFT collections as securities.

WHAT’S DRIVING CRYPTO ADOPTION IN CENTRAL AND SOUTH ASIA? ASNWER: NFTS!

It’s time for stats! According to a report from Chainalysis on Wednesday, NFTs have become the biggest crypto on-ramps in Central, Southern, and Oceania. In Q2 2022, 58% of web traffic to crypto services from these countries was NFT-related. The market for NFTs has exploded in the last two years, with sales reaching $23 billion in 2021. The NFT market has cooled in the second half of 2022, but sales of these digital assets are expected to break record this year.

In addition, 21% of crypto traffic was attributed to play-to-earn blockchain games that often use NFTs in the game. From July 2021 through June 2022, Chainalysis discovered that citizens in the region received a total of $932 billion in cryptocurrency value from play-to-earn games! Are P2E games the future of the gaming industry?

ARBITRUM SAILS TO OPENSEA

If the ocean is vast, so is OpenSea. The largest NFT marketplace adds Arbitrum into its supported chains along with Ethereum, Polyon, Solana, and Kalytn. Users can now list and trade their Arbitrum-based assets on the platform.

As a starter, OpenSea will list offerings from Smolverse, GMX Blueberry Club, and Diamond Pepes, which are some of the most popular Arbitrum collections. Creators are advised by the platform to locate their NFTs and set fees themselves. All this is in response to recent reports of Arbitrum being subject to a major breach which is just narrowly avoided thanks to Riptide, a white hat hacker, who offered his intervention and later received 400 ETH as a bug bounty reward.

META RIVALS MAKES EARNING ROYALTIES FOR LIFE POSSIBLE

Meta Rivals’ NFT cards come into the space with the promise of lifetime earnings for its supporters. In simple terms, first owners of the cards will continue to receive royalty fees indefinitely as their sold assets move around the secondary market.

Card owners get to play around with characters based on famous cryptocurrencies. The game takes on a concept of the usual card game, but as an edge, Meta Rivals offers powerful in-game utility allowing holders to deploy their characters on the battlefield and improve their overall arena performance. Fans of the game’s genre are about to see the release of 10k Meta NFT Cards via a public sale. So if you’re into cards, better keep Meta Rivals on your watchlist.

HERE COMES GOLFING NFTS

The golfing scene is missing out no more as Autograph, an NFT platform co-founded by Tom Brady, heads out to deliver golfing NFTs in partnership with PGA Tour. The debut of the said NFTs will take place in early 2023.

No specific details about the minting have been put out yet, but according to sources, the collection will include special videos and images dug straight out of the PGA Tour’s vault. Golf fans are set to get a fresh perspective on the world of golf as they get to witness pieces of the sport’s history. Phenomenal golfer and Autograph advisory member, Tiger Woods, stepped in to help get the project on the right track. With what Autograph mentioned in a tweet, the golf-themed digital collectibles will also offer rewards to unlock and utility.

SOUTH KOREAN CITY GETS METAVERSIFIED

It’s happening. A real city in the real world is getting a metaverse version of itself. Seongnam, the 12th most populous city in South Korea was just announced to be releasing ‘‘Metaverse Special City Seongnam” in the first half of 2023 along with its ‘‘virtual citizenship.’

The construction of the Metaverse city will begin next month and according to local reports, the virtual citizenship in the form of NFTs that will be issued by the government will serve as access to the city. The metaversified Seongnam can be used by its residents to check municipal information, main city administration, and policy status.