If the Metaverse were to exist in a Web 2.0 setting, centralized institutions like Facebook and Google can control our experience — living in their data centers that can be shut off by their whim, where they control what we see, and our data gathered in order to sell for profit or to be shared with authorities like governments.If you’re going to live a sizable chunk of your existence in the Metaverse, you may as well have ownership over those digital items.NFTs cryptographically prove that you, and you alone, are the owner of your digital items. And no one else can take them away from you.

NFTs are Digital Ownership

From <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaverse">Wikipedia </a>, the Metaverse, coined by author Neal Stephenson in his 1992 sci-fi novel Snow Crash, is described as a “collective, shared virtual space that is created when the physical realm converges with the virtual realm, which includes virtual reality, augmented reality and the internet.”Think of humans in the form of avatars interacting with each other in a 3D world.The ethos behind the Metaverse is the creation of a digital space for us to live, socialize, and work — that transcends the space-time of our physical world.

What is the Metaverse?

Today, we hand over our individual freedoms in favor of centralized services.The big tech companies gather a lot of data from us: where we browse, where we shop, and even we are located in the physical world. They use this information to sell us products and nudge our behaviors to benefit their ultimate customer: the advertisers.More on this dilemma is expertly covered in the Netflix doc <a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/81254224">The Social Dilemma </a>.Moreover, we allow these companies to house our information — leading to a single point of failure in the advent of a security breach.

The Key Resource: Data

Be it connecting with coleagues via zoom or using FaceTime with friends.Or be it playing a game of Fortnite over Discord.Today a lot of the activities done IRL are ported to the digital realm: working, networking, socializing, gaming, etc.

The Metaverse is Inevitable

Web 1.0 was the era of static webpages where content provided by the website developer was only meant to be consumed.Web 2.0 catapulted the world from simple static desktop web pages to interactive experiences, user-generated content, and marketplace economics that brought us tech giants like Uber, Facebook and Twitter. Web 2.0 was mobile-first, social-first, and cloud-only.Web 2.0 unlocked trillions of dollars of value for the global economy, but in doing so, we consumers gave up a lot of agency over our lives, in favor of the value of the services that a handful of companies provide us.

History Of The Web

Two trends are believed to shape the world in the next 10–15 years:<ul><li>The Metaverse, and its proliferation on all aspects of society</li><li>Web3 and the democratization of the Internet</li></ul>And the arrival of both trends will firmly rely on the technology of NFTs in order to be successful.Let’s see why and how.

Understanding The Times

The new era of Web3 champions:<ul><li>“Open” — meaning built on open standards, by an open and accessible community of developers and executed with full transparency</li><li>“Trustless”— meaning participants can interact with the comfort that all information is correct and authenticated — without needing to trust a third-party to verify</li><li>“Permissionless” — meaning no one can be barred from participation, even from an authority figure like a government</li></ul>networks. Blockchain protocols like Etherium help build open financial systems where anyone can build and participate without the need of financial institutions.

Web 3.0

NFTs have cracked the <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/nft-emotion-as-a-market-force">problem of digital scarcity </a>, enabling creators for the first time ever to accurately price and safely distribute their works.As a result, NFTs allow artists to monetize their work in a new way, empowering them to cut out money-grubbing middlemen and forming direct relationships with their supporters and fans.Everything similarly clicks together when skilled professionals look to work directly with their clients in virtual workspaces.

NFTs As A Solution

These new and upcoming ideas could very well shape up how we interact and work with each other in the near future. It's good to have a basic understanding of these buzzwords.

They’re not only here to stay as a new form of digital art, but they’re also going to a foundational technology for how the world will operate in the future. It may sound like I’m being…

crypto

Cryptocurrency

technologyandthefuture

Technology & The Future

The Metaverse, Web3, and the Inevitability of NFTs

Just as they say about classical artwork, you may not know much about crypto art, but you know what you like. There are many different genres of crypto art available, so if you go looking, you’re likely to find something that suits your taste. If you like the work of a digital crypto artist, then crypto art could be a good investment.

CONCLUSION

Crypto art can take many forms, from digital graphics to music, VR dreamscapes, or programmable art. These digital assets can have a collector’s value and can represent items, including still graphic images, <a href="https://www.eden-gallery.com/photography-collection/">photography</a>, GIFs, videos, music & much more.<ul><li>The crypto art concept revolves around the idea of digital scarcity. Like traditional art, Crypto Art exists in limited quantities, in some cases, buyers can purchase the rights to partial royalties and reproduction of the artwork.</li><li>Crypto art is usually digital artwork, but it can also be physical art tracked in a blockchain or “crypto” system.</li></ul>

Crypto art can take many forms

Many of the most famous crypto artists have been well known in the digital art space for some time but others are younger, newer artists finding their audience in a digital-first world.The beauty of crypto art is its democratization of the art scene. Technology has allowed a wider variety of artists and digital creators to get their work out to the world and find new fans and buyers.One of the biggest names in the digital art market is Mike Winkelmann, aka <a href="https://www.beeple-crap.com/">Beeple</a>. Hhis piece “Everyday: The First 5000 days” sold for $69.3 million in March 2021.

WHO ARE THE CRYPTO ARTISTS? 

Crypto art is a digital art form. It is treated like physical artwork collections, and owners may have verified ownership of a piece of crypto art. The art world has long had established systems for <a href="https://www.eden-gallery.com/paintings-collection/">collection paintings</a> or <a href="https://www.eden-gallery.com/sculptures-collection/">sculptures</a>.But until now, although it was produced, there was no clear way for people to collect digital artwork. Crypto art and NFTs allow you to do just that.

WHAT IS CRYPTO ART?

Yes, crypto art can be authenticated and is usually genuine. Just as paintings are signed and authenticated, crypto art can be verified. <ul><li>The verification is completed using a non-fungible token, commonly referred to as an NFT.</li></ul>Crypto art or “NFT-based artworks” have been selling for thousands or even millions of dollars through reputable auction houses such as Christie’s over the past year.

IS CRYPTO ART GENUINE? 

You can certainly copy a digital file, including art sold with an NFT. In some cases, the owner can buy the rights to reproduction.An NFT grants you ownership of the work, but it can be copied with permission or illegally. This is not actually that different from the reproductions we see all the time of traditional artwork. Just as the Mona Lisa has been reproduced countless times in print and digital, so too can crypto art. But only one person can own the original of any artwork.

CAN CRYPTO ART BE COPIED?

The Ethereum blockchain is one of the most popular networks for digital artists to join and sell their artwork on. It is currently the most extensive network for crypto art. Some marketplaces like Raible and Mintable offer a complete range of digital art. Others like Ephemera cater mainly to photographers. Crypto art marketplaces require a portfolio review to gain entry. Make sure you are working with the most reputable and focused marketplace for each artistic medium.

CRYPTO ART PLATFORMS

<ul><li>The NFTs used to buy crypto art are built on blockchain technology. </li><li>Blockchain technology is also used for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Etherium, and yes, even DOGE coins. The blockchain offers a secure, digital record of transactions.</li><li>The blockchain acts like a “digital ledger” and serves as incorruptible proof of ownership. Using this system, artworks and their ownership can always be tracked via the blockchain. When you add NFTs to the equation, you are also adding an incorruptible proof of authenticity to this “Digital Ledger.”</li></ul>

HOW DO YOU BUY CRYPTO ART?

<ul><li>ArtOlin</li><li>Cryto.com NFT</li><li>Ethereum</li><li>EOSIO</li><li>Flow</li><li>Hive</li><li>Near</li><li>Phantasm</li><li>Tezos</li><li>Waves</li><li>Zilliqa</li><li>VeChain Thor</li></ul>Do some research before making a big purchase or investment.

MAJOR CRYPTO ART MARKETPLACES

Insights into Bitcoin’s underlying technology, and its massively scalable, decentralized applications.

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Books

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Money & Investments

Harnessing Blockchain Technology

What is crypto art? What is the crypto art marketplace? This article explains everything you need to know about crypto art and crypto artists

What Is Crypto Art And How Does It Work?

As of early April 2021, over 8,000 sales had been recorded in the previous 12 months, with an average sale price of 15.45 ether ($30,412.40). The total value of all sales is 127,360 ether ($251,620,000) — and that value grows daily.In February, <a href="https://www.larvalabs.com/cryptopunks/details/6965">CryptoPunk 6965</a>, a fedora-wearing ape Punk, sold for 800 ether — equivalent to $1.5 million. And on 11 March 2021, <a href="https://www.larvalabs.com/cryptopunks/details/7804">CryptoPunk 7804</a>, the previously mentioned pipe-smoking ‘wise alien,’ was sold for the equivalent of $7.5 million — the highest amount ever paid for a Punk at the time. The record was beaten the next day.

9. The CryptoPunks market is extremely active

As well as the human CryptoPunks, Hall and Watkinson — with a nod to popular culture archetypes — tweaked their software algorithms to generate a scarcer number of fantastical, non-human works, adding 88 green-skinned zombie Punks, 24 hirsute ape Punks and nine light-blue-skinned alien Punks to the series.Like their human counterparts, the non-human Punks have different combinations of accessories: one alien is smoking a pipe, for example, and has been dubbed the ‘wise alien’.<ul><li>‘The core of the idea was that every character should be unique,’ says Larva Labs.</li></ul>

6. Some CryptoPunks are rarer than others

Once minted, Hall and Watkinson offered the CryptoPunks for free, not forgetting to claim 1,000 for themselves, 'just in case it becomes a thing,' <a href="https://breakermag.com/how-cryptopunks-creators-charmed-the-art-world-and-paved-the-way-for-blockchain-art/">as Hall put it</a>. At first, there was very little interest, but after a while, Punks were selling for thousands of dollars.

8. CryptoPunks inspired a community of collectors and connoisseurs

In 2017, Matt Hall and John Watkinson, founders of New York-based software company Larva Labs, created a software program that would generate thousands of different, strange-looking characters.At first, they thought they might have had the makings of a <a href="https://breakermag.com/how-cryptopunks-creators-charmed-the-art-world-and-paved-the-way-for-blockchain-art/">smartphone app or game</a>. What they ended up with was a paradigm-altering model for the digital art market and a challenge to the concept of ‘ownership’ itself.

1. CryptoPunks began as an experiment

The CryptoPunks are a collection of 24x24, 8-bit-style pixel art images of misfits and eccentrics. There are exactly 10,000 of them, each with their own ostensible personality and unique combination of distinctive, randomly generated features.

2. Larva Labs launched CryptoPunks on June 23, 2017

In accordance with the nature of blockchain, once the project went live, Larva Labs couldn’t alter the existing series, even if they wanted to. ‘It’s odd to think of what might have been different if we had run the generator just one more time, or used the penultimate run’s output.’ The creators regard each work as individual pieces of generative art, while allowing that the entire project itself might be thought of as a larger conceptual piece. ‘It’s possibly the first work of art with a self-contained mechanism for recording and transacting its ownership.’

7. The collection of 10,000 Cryptopunks is definitive and unalterable

To Hall and Watkinson, there was a raucous, anti-establishment spirit to the early days of the blockchain movement. It was a vibe they wanted to reflect in the look of their Punks.‘The London punk movement of the 1970s felt like the right aesthetic.’ <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/12/mike-pondsmith-cyberpunk-2077/616924/">The dystopian grit of cyberpunk</a> as typified by the film Blade Runner and William Gibson’s novel Neuromancer, was also an influence.

3. They were inspired by the London punk scene

CryptoPunks are collectible pieces of crypto art, represented by NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. The CryptoPunks are a collection of 24x24, 8-bit-style pixel art images of misfits and eccentrics. There are exactly 10,000 of them, all with unique features.<ul><li>As one of the first famous NFT projects, they inspired a lot of crypto artists and even the development of the ERC-721 token standard for digital collectibles. </li><li>The project became more popular in 2021 after some CryptoPunks were sold for millions of dollars, making them some of the most expensive NFTs.</li></ul>

What Are CryptoPunks?

There’s a <a href="https://www.larvalabs.com/public/images/cryptopunks/punks.png">composite image of all 10,000 CryptoPunks</a> on Larva Labs’ website. <ul><li>Anyone can save a copy of the image file to their memory stick or hard drive. </li><li>Each Punk also has its own page, detailing its special features and complete transaction history.</li></ul>

4. Anyone and everyone can view any one of the CryptoPunks

<a href="https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-larva-labs-est-2005-9-cryptopunks-2-6316969/?from=salesummary&intObjectID=6316969">Larva Labs’ set comprises nine CryptoPunks</a>, all from their original collection, in a single lot that highlights the series’ best features: muttonchops, earrings, big shades, crazy hair, a hoodie, a mohawk and more.<ul><li>24 x 24 pixels each, 9 'CryptoPunks' total. Estimate: $7,000,000-9,000,0000. Offered in <a href="https://www.christies.com/en/auction/21st-century-evening-sale-20000-nyr/">21st Century Evening Sale</a> on 11 May at Christie’s in New York</li></ul>

10. Now, Hall and Watkinson themselves are putting up a set of their own CryptoPunks for traditional auction

Official ownership of each work is publicly accessible on the Ethereum blockchain. The ownership history of each artwork is tracked and documented in the blockchain.<ul><li>The record, as Larva Labs explained to Christie’s, ‘is incorruptible and promises to be extraordinarily long-lived. </li></ul>

5. But only one person can officially own a CryptoPunk

sciencefiction

Science Fiction

10 things to know about CryptoPunks, the original NFTs | Christie's

Elrond was co-founded in late 2017 by brothers Beniamin and Lucian Mincu alongside Lucian Todea as a solution to the problem of blockchain scalability, which they thought to be the most pressing problem facing the industry.Highly determined team: <ul><li>Elrond is built by a team of experienced entrepreneurs, engineers and researchers with significant blockchain backgrounds and technical experience at Microsoft, Google, Intel, and NTT DATA. </li><li>The team includes two PhDs in CS & AI, multiple math, CS, and AI Olympiad champions, and a former member of the NEM core team.</li></ul>

Who are the founders of Elrond?

<ul><li>Elrond uses what it calls a secure proof-of-stake consensus algorithm in which nodes must stake their EGLD tokens to participate in the validation process, and each validator is assigned a rating score based on past activity.</li><li>Validators are randomly selected in a way that can be neither predicted nor modified based on the previous round of validations. </li><li>Nodes communicate among one another using modified Boneh-Lynn-Shacham, or BLS, multi-signatures for strong cryptographic protection.</li></ul>

How Is the Elrond Network Secured?

Elrond is a highly scalable, fast and secure blockchain platform for distributed apps, enterprise use cases, and the new internet economy.

What is Elrond (EGLD)?

EGLD can be purchased on cryptocurrency exchanges such as:<ul><li>Binance</li><li>OKEx</li><li>Bitfinex</li><li>crypto.com</li><li>AscendEX</li><li>gate.io</li><li>Also, you can buy from Maiar App.</li></ul>Don’t Risk More Than You Can Afford to Lose!

Where Can You Buy Elrond (EGLD)?

Blockchain technology will open an era of unparalleled opportunity.

Elrond employs random sampling of validators and block proposer every round from the shard nodes.This way the time the validators are exposed is limited to one round (5 seconds), so only 1 Globally Predictable, which increases the security of Elrond against bribing and DDoS compared to Ethereum.According to its economics paper, it seeks to build up its ecosystem and establish EGLD as a store-of-value asset.

What Makes Elrond Unique?

Maiar (usually called the future of money) is a digital wallet and global payments app that allows you to exchange and securely store money on your mobile phone. It is using the Elrond blockchain's internet-scale performance, scaling beyond 100,000 transactions per second, to reimagine how people interact with money, assets, titles of ownership or any value transfer for that matter.

What is Maiar Elrond?

According to CoinMarketCap, the Elrond economic model has a limited supply that starts at 20,000,000 EGLD, with new tokens minted to reward network validators. The maximum supply can never exceed 31,415,926 EGLD, but this number will decrease as more transactions are processed.

How Many Elrond (EGLD) Coins Are There in Circulation?

You can buy eGold (EGLD) straight from Maiar using through bank transfers, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Visa, Mastercard & Revolut transfers.How to buy:1. Click the ➕Buy button in the Vaultor Click the big blue Elrond logo in the middle & click ➕Buy2. Select one of the payment processors:<ul><li>Transak</li><li>MoonPay</li><li>Ramp Network</li></ul>3. Make the payment4. Done ✔

How to buy eGold (EGLD) on Maiar?

A highly scalable, fast and secure blockchain platform for distributed apps, enterprise use cases and the new internet economy.

The Internet Scale Blockchain

If you believe that Bitcoin offers no utility beyond serving as a ponzi scheme or a device for money laundering, then it would only be logical to conclude that consuming any amount of energy is wasteful. If you are one of the tens of millions of individuals worldwide using it as a tool to escape monetary repression, inflation, or capital controls, you most likely think that the energy is extremely well spent.

The energy it should consume depends on your feeling about it

Bitcoin can make use of hydropower which is not accessible to most. This is one of the reasons why some locations in china are heartlands of mining where production of such energy outpaces demand.Another source of energy is natural gas which is a byproduct of oil extraction. It pollutes the environment but miners are leveraging this to mine. A minor player but some suggest natural gas from the US and Canada alone can run an entire bitcoin network.

Bitcoin got hydro power

According to the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance (CCAF), Bitcoin currently consumes around 110 Terawatt Hours per year 0.55% of global electricity production, or roughly equivalent to the annual energy draw of small countries like Malaysia or Sweden.

Bitcoin does consume a large amount of energy

The energy consumption to mine is easy to estimate: You can just look at its hashrate (i.e. the total combined computational power used to mine Bitcoin and process transactions), and then make some educated guesses as to the energy requirements of the hardware that miners are using.To calculate associated carbon emission you need to know energy mix i.e the makeup of different energy sources used by computers mining bitcoin. Mining is an intensely competitive business, and miners tend not to be particularly forthcoming around the details of their operations making it even harder to calculate.

Energy consumption ≠ Carbon emission

Many journalists and academics talk about Bitcoin’s high “per-transaction energy cost,” but this metric is misleading. Bitcoin’s energy consumption happens during the mining process. Once coins have been issued, the energy required to validate transactions is minimal. Simply looking at Bitcoin’s total energy draw to date and dividing that by the number of transactions doesn’t make sense, most of that energy was used to mine Bitcoins, not to support transactions

Consumes more energy than using it

People sometimes assume that bitcoin will commandeer entire energy grids. It likely won't.First, because the energy mix of bitcoin grows less reliant every year. Eg US is shifting to ESG focused miners and china recently banned coal-based mining.Secondly, miners receive small fees for the transactions that they verify while mining, as well as whatever profit margins they can get when they sell the bitcoins they have mined, and the bitcoin protocol, is built to halve this issuance-driven component of miner revenue every four years. The financial incentive to invest will naturally decrease.

The bitcoin protocol & expected reduction in energy consumption

It’s a trickier question than you might think.

The Metaverse, Web3, and the Inevitability of NFTs

What Is Crypto Art And How Does It Work?

10 things to know about CryptoPunks, the original NFTs | Christie's

It's time to
Read like a Pro.

The Internet Scale Blockchain

CURATED BY

The Metaverse, Web3, and the Inevitability of NFTs

What Is Crypto Art And How Does It Work?

10 things to know about CryptoPunks, the original NFTs | Christie's

It's time to Read like a Pro.

The Internet Scale Blockchain

CURATED BY

It's time to
Read like a Pro.