Metaverse Blockchain Industry Development Weekly Report 2022 Week 14 (April 4 to April 10)

On April 4, according to CNBC, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Sunak said that he had asked the British Royal Mint to create its own non-homogenized token (NFT) and issue it before the summer of this year. UK Finance Secretary John Glen said the initiative was part of a broader effort by the government to “lead” the cryptocurrency sector. Glen also announced a series of measures to enable digital assets to be subject to stricter regulatory scrutiny, including introducing certain stablecoins into the UK payment framework so that stablecoin issuers and service providers can develop and expand in the UK, and requiring the Law Commission to consider the legal status of the blockchain community.

On April 5, US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler said that the committee is studying ways to optimize registration methods for cryptocurrency trading platforms. For several months, Gensler has been urging crypto trading platforms such as Coinbase to be regulated by the SEC, saying that these companies allow investors to trade assets that meet the definition of securities laws, but were rejected by these trading platforms. The latter objected to their claims of trading securities and cited various technical reasons to explain why they thought SEC regulation was impractical. Speaking at an event hosted by the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Gensler said that these cryptocurrency platforms play a role similar to traditional regulated exchanges, so investors should be protected in the same way. Gensler added that he has asked his staff to work with the CFTC Commission to find ways to register and regulate platforms where securities and non-securities transactions are intertwined.

On April 8, a local industry association in Singapore clarified Singapore's rules on crypto advertising services to companies at a conference. The Singapore Blockchain Association (BAS) said the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will ban the marketing and promotion of crypto services to retail consumers in the city-state. BAS said it would allow companies to advertise to accredited institutional investors if they can prove they only target these groups. In other words, since Singapore limits crypto trading to professional investors, advertising to retail investors is not permitted.

According to the Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, the music industry in Sichuan achieved a total output value of 87.062 billion yuan in 2021, an increase of 14.09% over the previous year. The music industry in Sichuan extends and crosses borders in a more diverse direction, and also maintains the vitality of the music industry in Sichuan. The entire province of Sichuan encourages music companies to actively use modern technology to raise the level of music creation, expand communication channels, seize industry opportunities, and lead industry trends. With the further deepening of music+technology, a blockchain-based NFT (non-fungibleToken, meaning non-homogenized token, is the only cryptocurrency token used to represent digital assets) asset trading platform has now been created

April 3. Recently, an industrial blockchain standardization requirements seminar led by the Industrial Internet and Internet of Things Research Institute of the China Academy of Information and Communication Technology was held online. The participating experts discussed the standardization requirements of industrial blockchain and agreed on the need to build an industrial blockchain standard architecture, which is of great significance in leveraging the large-scale advantages of industrial blockchain and promoting the implementation of industrial blockchain applications.

On April 3, the data showed that the total market value of USDT exceeded 82 billion US dollars, an increase of 2.8% over the past 30 days.

Michael Saylor tweeted that MacroStrategy bought another 4,167 bitcoins, with a total value of about US$190.5 million, and the average price of each BTC was $45,714. As of April 4, MacroStrategy has acquired 129,218 bitcoins for approximately $3.97 billion, and the average price of each bitcoin is around $30,700.

According to data from the crypto ATM tracker CoinATMRadar, approximately 36,659 crypto ATMs are hosted in 76 different countries/regions. The number of cryptocurrency ATMs has grown significantly over the years, and 2021 was the biggest increase so far, with more than 20,000 machines added this year. As the first quarter of 2022 comes to an end, data from CoinATMRadar indicates 36,659 crypto ATMs are available. Earlier data showed that there were 33,900 encrypted ATMs, which meant that 2,759 encrypted ATMs were installed worldwide in the past 93 days. It has grown 8.13% since December 30, and the top operator with the most crypto ATMs is Bitcoin Depot, which has installed 7001 units worldwide. Coin Cloud is the second-largest operator, with 5,198 encrypted ATMs. Of the 36,659 machines installed, Bitcoin Depot accounted for 19.1%, while Coin Cloud accounted for 14.2%.

According to the financial blogger, Zhang, an employee of NIO Auto, used the company's server resources to mine virtual currency. This person used to be the server administrator of a cluster and used his position to facilitate the mining of virtual currency. During the investigation, Zhang confessed to his irregularities.

On April 3, according to data from the “China Blockchain Industry Panorama Report (2021)”, blockchain industry support policies blossomed everywhere in 2021. The central government, various ministries and local governments issued 1101 blockchain-related policies. China is at the forefront of the world in blockchain technology patent applications, and the number of applications in a single year in 2021 accounted for 84% of the total number of global applications. Among them, the majority of blockchain technology applicants in China are technology, finance, Internet, communications, blockchain, etc., and the regions are mainly distributed in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Guangdong, and Beijing. The number of blockchain-related enterprises in China exceeded 121,000, and in 2021, more than 40,000 were added in a single year. Nearly 80% of the new enterprises were registered in the three major industries of information services, wholesale and retail, and technology services. 2021 was a year in which China's blockchain standardization efforts advanced by leaps and bounds. 82 blockchain-related standards were added in a single year, accounting for 53% of the total number of existing blockchain standards. Judging from the evolution trend of blockchain technology, blockchain has begun to enter a new stage of development guided by a “chain of trust” and “chain of collaboration”.

According to foreign media reports, Facebook's parent company Meta is preparing to launch an internal virtual currency called Zuck Bucks. According to information, virtual currency will be introduced into Meta apps and can be used to reward creators, loans, and other financial services. According to foreign media, Meta's move is in its early stages. Once the project is implemented, the virtual currency could provide Meta with a new revenue channel and control transactions within its suite of apps and services. Foreign media also said that Meta's cryptocurrency is intended for use in the metaverse and may not be blockchain-based. In March of this year, Zuckerberg announced that he would be introducing NFTs to Instagram in the next few months. Earlier this year, Meta also joined the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Coalition, promising to promote open access to cryptocurrency technology.

On April 7, MicroBT announced its latest generation Bitcoin mining machine M50 series, including the M50, M50S, and M53. MicroBT Chief Operating Officer Jordan Chan said in a recorded message during the Bitcoin 2022 conference that the new mining rig is now ready to be shipped. According to the company's introduction, the new WhatsApp Miner M50S can generate 126 TH/s of computing power with 26 J/T efficiency, while the WHATSMiner M50 can achieve 114 TH/s of computing power with 29 J/T efficiency. According to the announcement, the new series of machines uses a Samsung 5nm processor and a single compartment design, and is compatible with previous generations. The company also announced a water-cooled mining rig, the M53, which is still under development and can achieve 226 TH/s of computing power with 29J/T efficiency.

Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer Jianan Technology announced the launch of a new A12 series machine to expand its mining business. Edward Lu, the company's senior vice president, said at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami that the Chinese company's new Avalon 1266 can reach 100 terahashes per second (TH/s), with an efficiency of 35 joules per terahash (J/T). The company currently has a mining industry in Kazakhstan and is planning to expand its autonomous mining capacity in the US. Lu said he plans to go to various states in the US to find the best opportunities after the conference. MicroBT also announced new Bitcoin mining technology during 2022. Its new Whatsapp miner M50 series includes the M50S, which can produce up to 126TH/s.

On April 8, according to a memorandum recently disclosed by Meta in the Financial Times, the company has set a rough timeline for integrating NFT and blockchain technology into its applications and services, and plans to take the lead in launching an NFT pilot program on Facebook in May of this year. Once the pilot goes live, Facebook will quickly follow up with a new feature that allows users with specific NFTs to become members of Facebook groups. In addition, Facebook will also launch an NFT minting project, which will be monetized in the future through fees and advertising.

Forbes released the 2022 Global Billionaires List. Affected by last year's global stock market shocks, the number of people on the 2022 Forbes Global Billionaires List dropped 87 places compared to last year to 2,668. Although the total wealth of those on the list this year reached 12.7 trillion US dollars, this is down from 13.1 trillion US dollars last year. Among all the richest people on the list, the number of America's richest people is 736, ranking first in the world. Among them, Elon Musk topped the list of the world's richest people with a net worth of 219 billion US dollars, and Amazon Bezos ranked second with 171 billion US dollars. According to reports, this is the first time in the past 4 years that Bezos has lost the position of the richest person in the world. Notably, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and former Walmart chairman Rob Walton ranked 19th in the Forbes 2022 billionaires list with a net worth of 65 billion dollars.

On April 8, April 15, and April 21, “The Godfather of Music” Lo Dayou will select three songs from the new album “Encore” and release a digital collection composed of three digital vinyl sheets on QQ Music. According to reports, digital vinyl will be distributed in limited batches this time. The first batch of “Voices of Years · Lover's Tears” digital vinyl, “Time Goes Voice · Happy Is Here” digital vinyl, and “**** Wind” digital vinyl will be distributed in quantities of 5,000, 3000, and 1000 copies, respectively. Each digital vinyl is priced at 199 yuan. Luo Dayou has reserved 10 copies each. The first batch of the collection “Years Remarks · Lover's Tears” was sold publicly on April 6th. Reservations officially open at 17:00.

On April 7, the A-share listed company Blue Cursor released MEME, the first digital collection distribution platform. At the same time, Blue Cursor will also establish the BlueX Blockchain Lab and UDA Digital Artist Alliance. The MEME platform will connect brands, content creators, and digital artists by building a metaverse digital asset hub, and launch MEME applets.

According to Ali Assets, the Forbidden City's “Taihe Giant Beast” IP blockchain copyright digital collection was auctioned on April 8 on its digital collection channel. There are a total of 10 pieces, each limited to 10,000 copies. Buyers will not receive the actual item after shooting; they will receive the only corresponding “Digital Authorized Work Certificate”. This ten digital collection is modeled after the 10 spine beasts on the corner of the Forbidden City and incorporates elements of modern trendy games. The order from bottom to top is Linlong, Luanfeng, Blue Lion, Tianma, Seahorse, Squirrel, Apfish, Squirrel, Bullfighting, and Xing Shi.

On April 9, 2022, it was announced that at 12 noon on April 10, 2022, the digital copyright collection “Sea of Stars” designed by the Xinhua News Agency Satellite News Laboratory will be publicly sold on the “Shigang” digital copyright collection platform. The limited edition is 10,000 copies at a price of 9.9 yuan per copy. This is the first time that a digital copyright collection has been issued for a cultural and creative product with the theme of the world's first digital astronaut, Xiao Wei.

On April 9, the Paris Blockchain Week Summit will be held on April 12-14. It is expected that more than 3,000 participants and 250 speakers from the world's leading crypto companies will participate, including Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao, FTX founder SBF, Algorand founder Silvio Micali, Ava Labs founder Emin Gün Sirer, and Sandbox co-founder Sébastien Borget.