The seventh issue of your weekly Web3 news selection is here, as every Saturday! The biggest news of Web3 for Arweave community this week is Arweave 2.6 major upgrade, so please check that out first. What else has happened outside the Arweave? Well, some big names of Web2 appear quite a lot this recap. Seems like everyone wants to be in. 

With no further introductions, let’s dive in, starting with the most important cryptocurrency markets at the end of this week. 

Market Updates and Conditions 

Bitcoin price has gone a bit upwards during this week comparing to the last week. It had its peak on September 27 and has dropped a little since, but still. The price on September 30 was 19.564,38 USD which is definitely higher than 19.444,81 USD 7 days ago.

Ethereum is doing quite well, having it’s estimated price 1.341,7 USD. Last Friday it’s price was 1.350,49 USD so we can say that it’s been at least stable.

On the other hand, the Arweave (AR) has had quite a week and its price this Friday is lower by more than a dollar. A week ago, AR price was 10.36 USD, and this morning, while we’re writing this article, AR price is 9.1578 USD. Let’s see what this weekend and next week brings to us!

What’s Happening in Web3?

Launches and Releases of the Week 

As we started the previous week, let’s begin with new releases and launches of the week:

• Firstly, a new Web3 wallet is in town, offered and released by no-fee trading platform Robinhood (HOOD). Ok, to be clear, the wallet was already there, it’s the beta version of the Robinhood Wallet, the Polygon-based wallet that is now opening its doors to the first 10,000 users, as CoinDesk informs. The wallet will allow users to trade over 20 cryptocurrencies supported by decentralised exchange (DEX) aggregator 0x, without fees. The wallet will also allow users to connect to dApps and earn yield on assets.
• Spheron – Building Dev Tools For Web3 has announced on Twitter that they have made a significant product upgrade and they recommend to move their websites to their new platform ASAP.

Hi there, users!🚀

🌐For #users of https://t.co/wZ5AvFDKX4, we have a significant product upgrade!🥳

🌐We wanted to let you know that the https://t.co/ruq8wNfLrL has had all of its #services suspended, making it impossible for users to access the #subdomain any longer.🚫

1/4🧵 pic.twitter.com/yVCzuGy9dr

— Spheron – Building Dev Tools For Web3 (@SpheronHQ) September 29, 2022

Binance Connect Partners With Trust Wallet

To drive more users to Web3, Binance Connect has entered a partnership with Trust Wallet, BSC News writes. This offers a seamless way for users to access Web3 assets. Backed by liquidity provider Binance, Trust Wallet users can purchase more than 200 crypto assets with credit or debit cards directly, with more than 40 fiat currencies supported. If you have never tried to top up your ArConnect Wallet using Binance app, here’s a simple step-by-step tutorial how to do that. It’s very easy, try it! 

The World Economic Forum Launches Coalition To Use Web3 Against Climate Change

A week ago, Forkast published news on The World Economic Forum (WEF) that is launching a new Crypto Sustainability Coalition, consisting of 30 partners within the intersection of sustainable development and Web3, crypto, and blockchain technologies. The international non-government organization (NGO) announced in a Webinar on Wednesday in New York, U.S. 

As told by Forkast:

A primary function of the coalition will be to analyze the crypto industry’s consumption of energy, and materials, to better understand its impact on climate and nature. However, the group also plans to proactively investigate ways in which Web3 could help countries achieve lower carbon emission targets.

Among the partners of a new public-private partnership are known cryptocurrency-linked projects, like Solana, Avalanche, Circle, NEAR Foundation, Ripple, and the Stellar Development Foundation, Bitcoin.com informs.

Microsoft Leads a Funding Round for Web3 Data Warehouse

In September 27, Crypto startup Space and Time said that it has raised $20 million in a strategic funding round led by Microsoft Corp.’s venture fund M12. Space and Time is an infrastructure provider that specialises in decentralised data storage. It has also received capital in this round from crypto firms such as Framework Ventures, Hashkey, Polygon, and the Avalanche’s Blizzard fund.

There is continuous development of new applications and business ideas in Web3, independent of market sentiment, and that application development and growth is increasing at a rapid rate beyond what centralised data services can sustain, Space and Time Cofounder and CEO Nate Holiday said to Yahoo Finance. 

Coral Raises 20M USD To Create The Backpack

Another wallet platform, Backpack, is going to be launched by Coral, the company behind Anchor. It’s a framework Solana developers use to write smart contracts. The platform is just one step in Coral’s plan that has raised 20 million USD from FTX Ventures. 

The main goal is to create the Web3 version of the Apple app store, or, as described on FortuneCyrpto:

Potentially the ‘iPhone launch moment’ for Web3.

Backpack is launching in Beta, with applications mainly from within the Solana ecosystem. As Coral’s founder describes the Backpack platform, 

Fundamentally, I view it as a portal into Web3. 

Google Claims Support To a Decentralised, Multichain Future – And To Be The Backbone of It 

The Web3 lead at @Google, @RichJWidmann, says the Web2 giant is supportive of a decentralized, multichain future. https://t.co/iTGZXNRSub

— Decrypt (@decryptmedia) September 28, 2022

Speaking of big names of Web2, Richard Widmann, the head of strategy, Cloud, and Web3 at Google, has also expressed his belief in the future of decentralised and multichain-based web. Even more, as said in Decrypt – Google has set its sights on becoming the backbone of Web3. Widmann told Decrypt in an interview that he’s working to “build a giant bridge” between Web3 companies and blockchain by offering node services via Google Cloud. However, it was also stressed in the article that:

If one or two big tech companies like Amazon or Google end up controlling the overwhelming majority of blockchain nodes, that defeats the purpose of decentralised technology.

How Exactly Will Web3 Replace Web2? 

This conversation piece was published on Cointelegraph by Chris Jones. He looks at some of the biggest challenges for Web3 to become a full replacement of Web2 and a solution for them. Here are some main points he makes: 

• The vast energy consumption of some blockchains and safety issues to take into account
• For Web3 projects to achieve their full potential, the infrastructure they rely on needs to have fully decentralised data management – this means eliminating a reliance on centralised cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services
• Before virtual worlds (speaking of the Metaverse etc) truly go mainstream, tricky security and privacy challenges must be overcome
• By words of Jones, an answer is another blockchain (of course). Inery is a Layer 1 blockchain that aims to tackle some of these burning issues — seamlessly connecting systems, applications and a plethora of networks. The project wants to enter into strategic partnerships that will unlock compelling use cases for its systems in more industries. 

Urbit or It’s Creator – What Matters More? 

Another interesting piece was written by Marc Hochstein, an author of CoinDesk, concerning Urbit, an open-source software project that seeks to return networked computing to its peer-to-peer roots. To quote Hochstein:

Urbit holds promise as a platform that could disintermediate the Silicon Valley behemoths that have made the internet a living hell.

To quote another article by him on the topic:

Developers are finally shipping usable apps, including mobile apps, on the peer-to-peer computing network nearly a decade after it was launched.

Why is this article important? First of all, this a beautiful way of writing on Web3 and very enjoyable read. Second of all, because it covers a lot of contradictions that are linked to Urbit’s creator Curtis Yarvin, and opens a fresh view on ethically challenging topics, concerning many Web3 and crypto matters. Do we cancel everything someone has created because of something they said about something else? Or do we judge only the particular product, abstracting from the author themself? Some food for thought, speaking in cliches. Not only about Web3, but anything else. 

NFT news

How NFT Collectors Are Dealing With Effects Of “Crypto Crash”? 

Let’s begin with the “crushing” news as they are all over the internet. On September 27, ARTnews published a huge article on how NFT collectors are digging in their heels after the crypto crush (the headline quoted, not my words), analysing the relations between NFT and conventional art collectors before and during crypto winter and prospects of these relations in the future. 

Gizmodo also covered the bear market of digital assets, explaining that non-fungible token trading volume has slid 97% since the beginning of 2022. According to the latter, a big part of this downturn could be because of the decreased popularity of Bored Ape Yacht Club. Another big issue is the fact that users continue to see major hacks of their accounts, and the stealing of NFTs is a problem. 

Returning to the opinion expressed in ARTnews, it is said that the crypto market had been fluctuating for a year—what went down would come back up. But this year has been challenging since February because of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine. As article claims: 

The world was suddenly a different place, and the major cryptocurrencies didn’t bounce back; they kept sliding,

and then we entered “crypto winter” in June, according to the article.

So what’s the outcome from all this? Well, ”despite the increasing willingness of traditional collectors to open their arms, and wallets, to NFT artists, the art world gatekeepers are still not in agreement, even among themselves.”

As said in the ART news, continued with:

All this, and yet none of the NFT artists who emerged successfully from 2021 with new riches and expanded opportunities has picked up gallery representation. Skepticism remains, on both sides. Michah Dowbak, aka Mad Dog Jones [..] is more than happy being independent, and thinks most of his peers in the NFT scene feel the same.

Meanwhile, Cointelegraph published an update on the NFT ecosystem, claiming that it already attempts a bounce back amid bearish market sentiment. And, supporting the uptrend, the number of NFT holders grew 32.24% over the past three months, as evidenced by data from NFTGo. So probably the previous resources are making premature assumptions burying the NFT market too soon? Will see. 

Game Developers Enraged By Apple Requirements Against NFT 

On September 24, an article was published, how Apple Inc. makes iOS-based NFT games impose 30% taxes on in-app sales, causing a negative opinion in NFT startups because of these, as “U Today” defines them, “sanctions”. The article explains that, normally, NFTs can be freely transferred between crypto wallets with no need for third-party supervision and be sold in a peer-to-peer manner with no additional commissions except “gas fees” or a “selling tax” imposed by the game itself. With new restrictions by Apple, some teams should increase taxes for NFT trades by over 30%. This, in turn, makes all operations with in-game NFTs too costly for the majority of gamers. As CoinTelegraph wrote on September 26:

The commission rate has however been slammed by some for being “grotesquely overpriced” — particularly when compared to standard NFT marketplace commissions, which are around 2.5%.

As a result, cryptocommunity calls for their own phones. In 2022, crypto majors Solana and Polkadot are betting big on releasing their own smartphones with crypto, DeFi and NFT functionality, “U Today” informed.  

Wild Disney NFTs And Where To Find Them

The Walt Disney Company has been slowly positioning itself around the crypto, blockchain and metaverse space, Cointelegraph wrote in news about Disney looking for corporate lawyer for ‘emerging technologies’ and NFTs. While they’re doing that, here’s a guide where you can find all the Disney NFTs you desire. 

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