3rd June 2022 - Middle East

Cryptocurrency companies dominated the main street at the World Economic Forum in Davos this year, a notable difference between this edition and the last one in 2020.

The high-profile presence of the industry came even as the cryptocurrency market crashed. It was sparked by the collapse of the so-called algorithmic stablecoin called terraUSD or UST, which saw its sister token luna drop to $0 in May.

There are currently over 19,000 cryptocurrencies and dozens of blockchain platforms in existence. Blockchain is the technology that underpins these digital currencies and platforms including Ethereum, Solana, and many others. Many of the industry executives see the current state of the market as unsustainable. Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of cross-border blockchain firm Ripple, predicted there may only be “scores” of cryptocurrencies left in the future. He said there are around 180 fiat currencies in the world and there is not really a need for that many cryptocurrencies.

Top news this week included Crypto.com securing provisional approval to open a crypto exchange in Dubai, Play-to-earn (P2E) gaming adoption is set to rise in popularity among Emirati adults this year, according to Finder’s NFT Gaming Adoption Report. Cypher Capital invests in Iomob to support Blockchain development, DIFX receives EU crypto services license and Prada launches Timecapsule NFT collection and Web3 community.

This Week in NFTs:- Crypto Cherries, Goblintown, Herbert Franke by Nicolas Genovese

Education:- Learn more about the History of #DigitalMoney with Prof. Dr. Fabian Schär 

So here's what else happened this week in Crypto

In the News

• Crypto Oasis and Crypto Valley continue to attract Blockchain firms. Finance Minister Ueli Maurer, along with Switzerland Global Enterprise, rolled out the red carpet for Blockchain companies at the WEF in Davos last week. Fintech News

• Dubai expects that more than 1,000 crypto businesses will be operational by 2022. Free zones in Dubai and Abu Dhabi have implemented advanced frameworks to support entrepreneurs in the crypto space. The National

• Crypto.com secures provisional approval to open a crypto exchange in Dubai. Crypto.com is excited to announce its expansion into Dubai, offering access to digital asset services such as Binance, FTX, and Bybit. Blueworks

• Play-to-earn (P2E) gaming adoption is set to rise in popularity among Emirati adults this year, according to Finder’s NFT Gaming Adoption Report. Finder.com polled 43,312 people across 26 countries to reveal that 27.3% of Emirati adults have used a P2E game. Zawya

• Virgin Mobile Kuwait announces metaverse program. Virgin Mobile Kuwait's new program will see it use virtual and augmented reality to explore a digital world. Today News

• Cypher Capital invests in Iomob to support Blockchain development. Iomob Secures Investment to Advance the Development of the Blockchain that Can Be Used to Power the "Internet of Mobility". Yahoo Finance 

• DIFX receives EU crypto services license. To expand its operations into new jurisdictions, DIFX aims to secure at least 10 new licenses by the end of this year. Finance Feeds

• Binance received approval to operate in Italy. Binance is able to offer its products and services to the country’s customers and expand its local team. Blockworks

• Brave browser now integrates with Solana to Expand Web3 access. Brave makes buying crypto easier through a simple wallet experience. Decrypt

• Prada launches Timecapsule NFT collection and Web3 community. Prada is launching a new collection of NFTs, bringing luxury brands further into the adoption of cryptocurrencies. Cryptonomist

• Abu Dhabi’s ADGM regulated Yoshi Markets begins global customer onboarding. The Middle East is one of the hottest markets for cryptocurrency, growing rapidly to make up 7% of the global trading volume, according to Chainalysis. Funancial News

• Majid al Futtaim teams up with Binance to offer NFT listings & crypto payments. With this partnership, MAF will let customers pay with virtual assets at any of its businesses. Gulf News

• UAE Web 3.0 is committed to building community. The global metaverse market is forecast to grow from $63.83 billion in 2021 to $1.52 trillion by 2029, according to Fortune Business Insights. Khaleej Times

• UAE government launches ‘Markets of Tomorrow’ initiative at WEF. The initiative aims to encourage the new economy and enhance its readiness to enter tomorrow’s markets, utilizing the latest technological means. Khaleej Times

• Binance labs establish a $500M investment fund for Blockchain and Web3 Communities. The new fund will invest in cryptocurrency companies through three stages: incubation, early and late stage. Coindesk

• The Supreme Court of China calls for mass Blockchain adoption in the judicial system. The Supreme People’s Court of China has encouraged the local judicial system to adopt blockchain-powered connections between courts across the country by 2025. Yahoo Finance

• Stripe & OpenNode have partnered to offer Bitcoin as a payment option. The company provides its users with the ability to convert fiat payments to bitcoin instantly by using OpenNode. Investing

Top 10 Crypto Currencies this Week

Learn to Earn

🎓Learn more about the History of #DigitalMoney as Prof. Dr. Fabian Schär combines his expertise with the Center for Innovative Finance (Universität Basel) to make this valuable knowledge accessible to everyone.

Latest Investment News

This Week in NFTs

This week the crypto market is still down but lots of movement in the NFT space with 3 sold-out projects:

The city of Zug (in Switzerland) in partnership with Tokengate, launched its first NFT drop of 500 uniquely generated Crypto Cherries at the Swiss Economic Forum. The Crypto Cherries NFT drop celebrates Zug's 600-year-old documented cherry culture, which is also part of UNESCO’s cultural heritage and a big part of Switzerland’s tradition. This is the first city worldwide to release an NFT PFP (profile picture) series.

Highlighting Zug's history with the city's most famous public characters, including renowned bakers, and hockey players, the Crypto Cherry NFTs serve as a pilot experiment for the city on NFTs wanting to become an NFT “hub”. 

The Goblintown.wtf

is another meme-heavy experiment where the power of meme culture was used to shoot the Goblins to the second-highest traded NFT collection by volume this week. In the beginning, the Goblins were free of charge with no utility or roadmap, pure “fun”, which ended up topping to a 6 ETH floor price. Is this healthy or just another pump and dump scheme?

Herbert W. Franke drop on Quantum

Known as a universal genius, Herbert W. Franke (b. 1927) is the forefather of Computer Art, co-founder of Ars Electronica, mastermind of the Metaverse, and among others a renowned science-fiction writer. He spent his entire career bridging the worlds of art and science.

His drop this week sold out in under 45 seconds for 1 ETH showing how hungry the market is for quality Generative artists working in the present and from the past. Tokengate’s Head of Art department, Georg Bak, has been working closely with Franke for over 10 years and was crucial to onboarding him to NFTs. In Bak’s upcoming exhibition, there are many more pioneers which will be introduced to the institutional space and maybe even through an NFT drop. 

That's it for this week. We'll be back next Friday with more news updates.

Have a Great Weekend.