Weekly Recap: GameStop's New NFT Marketplace Performs Amid Bear
GameStop's NFT Marketplace Launches Well, Outshines Coinbase NFTs
On Monday, July 11th, the gaming retail giant launched its new Ethereum-based NFT marketplace. Barely two days after its launch, the new marketplace recorded impressive sales. Indeed, GameStop NFT's total trading volumes outperformed Coinbase NFT’s total sales, despite the latter launching in May. Within 48 hours, GameStop's top 50 collections saw more than 3170ETH in trading volume, despite still being in beta.
Since last Monday, the new marketplace’s top fifty have accrued over 4000 ETH ($5.8 million) in sales. This effectively exceeds the Coinbase NFT marketplace's all-time high of approximately $1.9 million.
Notably, GameStop's NFT trading volume came from only artwork NFTs. The video game retailer plans to release a gaming set that will enable users to create gaming-focused NFTs soon.
New ECB Research Threatens the Future of PoW Cryptocurrencies
A recently released research paper published on 11th July by the European Central bank spells more challenging times for proof-of-work cryptocurrencies.
Cryptocurrencies using the proof-of-work consensus system have been a notable concern to environmentalists and financial regulatory bodies over the years. This is due to their high energy consumption, expensiveness, and environmental pollution.
In the published report by the ECB, the old consensus system is compared to fossil-fueled cars. Consequently, the document buttresses that the EU's goals of restricting the use of fossil-fuelled cars by 2035 cannot happen without a restriction of proof-of-work mining.
According to the research, alternative consensus systems like proof-of-stake should be encouraged. As a matter of fact, the ECB went on to compare newer alternatives like the PoS and SPoS to the more eco-friendly electric vehicles.
Finally, the paper states that carbon tax on crypto transactions, disclosure payments, and maybe an outright ban are all possible outcomes.
Russia Bans Digital Asset Payments
On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill prohibiting digital asset payments throughout the Russian Federation. The new law supplements the previous digital asset law drafted in 2020, which banned the use of cryptocurrencies in payments. Also, the amendment prohibits the transfer of digital financial assets as a payment method for services or goods.
The bill was first introduced to Russia's State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly, on June 7. Since then, it has been debated in both lower and upper houses of Russia's Federal Assembly. On July 8, the Federation Council approved the bill and sent it to the Russian President. On a lighter note, Russian residents may still have access to and possibly acquire cryptocurrency. It cannot, however, be used as a means of exchange.
Ethereum Devs Share Possible Merge Date
Over a conference call last week, Ethereum devs revealed a potential date for the merge phase of the platform’s long-awaited switch to Ethereum 2.0.
Core network developer Tim Beiko suggested September 19, and the team is seriously considering the date. So far, no devs have expressed disapproval, and the last test run is set to take place two weeks into August. The trial will run on the Goerli network after which the team will turn its full focus to the official merge.
After news of the tentative date broke, an Ethereum developer spoke about it on Twitter. In his post, superphiz.eth expressed his enthusiasm while also noting that the date was subject to change. Users should see it as a “planning timeline” and not quite an exact target.
Post-transition, Ethereum should witness a significant decrease (99%) in energy intake. The merge is also another step towards sharding, which aims to increase network scalability.
Musk’s Legal Team to Delay Twitter Suit till Next Year
While Twitter is looking to hasten its ongoing legal battle with Elon Musk, the billionaire’s lawyers would like to see the trial postponed till early next year.
Months ago, news broke of a deal that would see Tesla founder and Dogefather Musk acquire social media platform Twitter in a mooted $44 billion purchase. Things seemed to be going smoothly until early this month when Musk expressed plans to terminate the deal. As expected, Twitter retaliatingly slammed the billionaire with a lawsuit.
Twitter’s legal team has claimed they only need 4 days to prove the case and bring the deal back on track. However, Elon Musk’s attorneys are trying to extend the court date to February 13, 2023. During the potential extension period, Musk’s lawyers aim to gather more information on the contentious bot data. In the 14-page filing, they stressed that it was “extremely fact and expert intensive, requiring substantial time for discovery.”
Judge Kathleen McCormick who is presiding over the case has set the date for the first hearing to July 19th.
