The term “crypto assets”, the money and crypto situation in Africa’s largest country[10 carefully selected books to read on Sunday]| coindesk JAPAN | Coindesk Japan

The term “cryptocurrency” is now used by some crypto advocates who profess to “Have Fun Staying Poor” and others who call it a “token casino”. It’s clear that it’s widely associated with Aspects — from the columns and interviews published over the past week, we’ve handpicked 10 books you’ll want to read on Sunday.

Should the term “crypto assets” be changed?

Forget “Great Reset”. Those involved in the “crypto assets,” “blockchain,” “digital assets,” and “distributed ledger technology” industries who attended the Davos conference in the shadow of the “FTX” crisis are calling for a grand rebranding.

In the wake of FTX’s demise, the terms “crypto assets” and “NFTs” have become more provocative to skeptics who dismiss the technology as impractical bullshit. It is comparable to the term “blockchain” during the 2018 ICO (initial coin offering) bubble. …read more

Zero-knowledge proofs, staking, and MEV – what are the tech trends of Ethereum that are doing well even in a bear market?

A year ago, the inboxes of crypto journalists were flooded with funding announcement emails from DeFi start-ups and NFT projects. Each new story, from algorithmic stablecoins to yield farming platforms to land sales in the Metaverse, was attracting hundreds of millions of dollars from venture capitalists.

Now, with fewer emails in our inboxes, it seems that new buzzwords alone can no longer drive a successful $10 million seed round. …read more

Money and Crypto Situation in Africa’s Largest Country: The Identity of ‘Megasley’ Powering Nigeria’s Only Operating Bitcoin Lightning Node

In Nigeria, which boasts the largest economy on the African continent, the operation of the only operable “Bitcoin Lightning Node” in the country has started. Using a second-hand diesel generator and an HP laptop, a node for making payments on the second layer of the Bitcoin blockchain began operating in Lagos, the country’s largest city, in January.

The initiative was initiated by a 20-something born and raised in southern Nigeria with the username Megasley on Twitter and Telegram. …read more

Disappointing Porsche NFT debut: Lessons for big companies looking to enter Web3

(Open Sea)

“Can I buy a real Porsche?” tweeted Alfonso Olvera, CEO of NFT ownership platform Tokenproof, on Jan. 24.

Olvera’s joking tweet echoes the reaction of some in the NFT community to the first NFT collection from renowned German sports car maker Porsche. …read more

Instagram’s NFT function, the secret to success ─ Sold out one after another

Instagram is one of the largest social media platforms in the world with approximately 2 billion monthly active users. Parent company Meta (formerly Facebook) began testing a feature last year that allowed a limited number of users to connect their digital wallets and showcase NFTs they created or purchased.

NFT creators and collectors saw this as an opportunity to showcase their NFTs to consumers interested in Web3, and the feature gained popularity. Others have suggested that with Instagram’s backing, NFTs are finally going mainstream. …read more.

In 2023, will regulators finally understand crypto?

2023 looks to be off to a pretty auspicious start for cryptocurrencies.

The volatility of some crypto projects seems to have calmed down, at least temporarily, and we haven’t seen any devastating news in recent weeks.

Cryptocurrency prices are on the rise, and miners seem ready to put their mining equipment back to work. Individual speculators are once again watching the market voraciously. …read more

FTX Bankruptcy Clearly Needs Insurance Obligation

There is a routine debate about what new regulations are needed to prevent a second FTX. Clearly something is needed, but experience has shown that current regulators are not strong enough to prevent a recurrence.

For example, even if the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had the necessary knowledge and ability to fully regulate Web3, its influence would remain in the United States. In the case of Bahamas-based FTX, its influence fell short by 240km. …read more

Crypto Assets and AI: Conflicting Beliefs, an Authoritarian Nightmare

In the last six months, the development of AI (artificial intelligence) has shown particularly remarkable progress. Image generation AIs such as Midjourney and text generation AIs such as ChatGPT have fascinated many people and sparked various discussions. Unlike self-driving cars, these applications seem ready for real business deployment.

This could pose a problem for cryptocurrency innovators focused on public blockchains and decentralized computing. …read more

What are US authorities really aiming to indict Russian founders of small exchange Bitzrat?

On January 18, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it would hold a press conference on crypto assets (virtual currencies), causing a panic among industry insiders. Many people were apprehensive. Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) are down about 5%.

FTX bankruptcy, fears surrounding crypto conglomerate (and CoinDesk parent company) Digital Currency Group (Genesis Global files for bankruptcy), world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume A lot has been going on in the crypto industry lately, including the years-long investigation into Binance. …read more

A seamless infrastructure is essential for the future of Web3

Blockdaemon, the cryptocurrency infrastructure company I work for, predicts that the future of Web3 will be built on a foundation of seamless user experience (UX). Seamless usage, seamless monetization, and seamless governance.

The success of the Web3 project will depend on delivering such a seamless experience to all users, including developers and businesses in the blockchain space. …read more

｜Text and editing: coindesk JAPAN editorial department
｜Image: Courtesy of Megasley