LensLinks: Issue 13

A blockchain news roundup, brought to you by Regiment LLC

Author

Len Pacek
October 20, 2022

Today in LensLinks:

  • Bitcoin "stuck" for 85 minutes...

  • Metaverse: "New Land Minted Every Day"

  • Shariah-compliant Islamic Coin "could scale like Bitcoin and hit $1 trillion in value", its founders say

  • Major fortunes of Metaverse to be Made in Land

  • A16z wants MakerDAO to Stay Together

  • Gartner: Metaverse will take until 2029

  • And Much, Much, More...

QUOTABLE... 

“Buy land – they’re not making it anymore.” 

- Mark Twain (pre-Metaverse)

NOTABLE...  

Bitcoin Fails to Produce 1 Block for Over an Hour

An 85-minute block interval left more than 13,000 transactions stuck in a pending state on Monday.

https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/10/17/bitcoin-fails-to-produce-1-block-for-over-an-hour/?outputType=amp

It took more than an hour to mine a block of bitcoin (BTC) on Monday, leaving thousands of transactions stuck in an unconfirmed state.

According to on-chain data from several block explorers, the interval between the two latest blocks mined by Foundry USA and Luxor was 85 minutes.

According to Mempool, over 13,000 transactions were pending before the latest block was mined.

 Metaverse & Gaming

The Major Fortunes of the Metaverse Will Be Made in Land - The Daily Hodl

Mark Twain memorably advised, "Buy land – they’re not making it anymore." What Twain never imagined was that in little over a hundred years, we’d find a way around that minor inconvenience. Welcome to a Web 3.0 world, where new land is minted every day in the metaverse.

https://dailyhodl.com/2022/10/12/the-major-fortunes-of-the-metaverse-will-be-made-in-land/

Welcome to a Web 3.0 world, where new land is minted every day in the metaverse.

In the blink of an eye, we jumped from the infancy of the metaverse to seeing tiny fractions of it sell for millions of dollars. When JP Morgan, Adidas, Samsung and numerous other high-profile brands and investors are spending a lot of money in the digital land grab, you have to sit up and take notice.

 Blockchain, Tokens & DeFi

Islamic Coin Claims it Will Scale Like Bitcoin and Hit $1 Trillion in Value

Islamic Coin is an emerging cryptocurrency that complies with the rules of Shariah. Will hit $1 trillion in value, like the founders say?

https://beincrypto.com/islamic-coin-claims-it-will-scale-like-bitcoin-and-hit-1-trillion-in-value/

Shariah-compliant Islamic Coin could scale like Bitcoin and hit $1 trillion in value, its founders say

That's based on an adoption rate of between 3% to 4% of the existing 1 billion Muslim internet users

People in the Middle East are loosening their ties to Islam, especially in countries such as Iran

 Crypto Trading

Growing Popularity of Cash-Margined Bitcoin Futures Suggests Crypto 'Liquidation Cascades' Might Become Rare

Cash-margined contracts are relatively concise and not mathematically convex, making them easier for retail investors to understand and easier for exchanges to liquidate, one volatility trader said.

https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2022/10/18/growing-popularity-of-cash-margined-bitcoin-futures-suggests-that-crypto-liquidation-cascades-might-become-rare/

The bitcoin (BTC) derivatives market has undergone a significant structural change in the past 18 months, making the asset class less vulnerable to volatility-inducing liquidation cascades.

The cash-margined contracts, which require traders to deposit the U.S. dollar or dollar-linked assets like stablecoins as collateral to take leveraged bets, now account for a record 65% of the total open positions (or open interest) in the BTC futures market, according to data tracked by analytics firm Glassnode.

Metaverse & Gaming - A Little More...

I Tried the $1,500 Quest Pro and Saw the Best of the Metaverse

It’s not what Mark Zuckerberg promises.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/19/technology/personaltech/quest-pro-review-metaverse.html

Complete Metaverse Won’t Arrive Until 2029, Gartner Says

By 2026, Gartner predicts 25% of people will spend one hour a day in the metaverse for work, shopping, education, social, or entertainment.

https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/news/complete-metaverse-wont-arrive-until-2029-gartner-says/2022/10/

Blockchain, Tokens & Defi - A Little More...

Report: Macau Discusses Bill That Proposes to Make Digital Currencies Legal Tender – Regulation Bitcoin News

The report also suggested that individuals who reject or refuse to accept legal tender will be fined between $123 and $1,230. 

https://news.bitcoin.com/report-macau-discusses-bill-that-proposes-to-make-digital-currencies-legal-tender/

A16z Doesn’t Support Plan to Break Up DeFi Giant MakerDAO

MakerDAO, one of the largest decentralized protocols, is in the middle of a makeover. Rifts have emerged between investors and founders as they offer competing plans for making the protocol more decentralized and try to drive growth.

https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/10/19/a16z-doesnt-support-plan-to-break-up-defi-giant-makerdao/

Crypto Trading - A Little More...

Is It Too Late to Buy Roblox Stock? | The Motley Fool

After surging more than 20%, does this stock still have room to run?

https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/10/19/is-it-too-late-to-buy-roblox-stock/

 ESG (Environment, Social & Governance)

ESG Labels For Crypto? Europe Looks To Offset Energy Consumption In Environmental Push - Bitcoin (BTC/USD)

Mining cryptocurrencies consumes a great amount of energy. In an effort to make the adoption of cryptos more sustainable, the European Commission (EC) is developing the a framework to encourage "the most energy-efficient versions of the technology."

https://www.benzinga.com/markets/cryptocurrency/22/10/29313053/esg-labels-for-crypto-eurpe-looks-to-offset-energy-consumption-in-environmental-push

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