GameFi Faces Regulatory Headwinds in Major Asian Markets

In the first few weeks of the year, a considerable amount of capital was allocated to investment pools looking for the next big thing in GameFi — the collision of crypto and gaming. In January, FTX established a $2 billion fund to target gaming; shortly after Singapore’s Crypto.com Ventures upped its $200 million fund to $500 million saying that gaming was one of the investment themes it planned to double down on.

This enthusiasm that crypto investors have for gaming is matched by executives at some of the gaming industry’s largest incumbents: leadership at EA and Ubisoft have both said that blockchain technology, as well as NFTs, represents the “future of gaming’.

While mainstream crypto gaming has already had the challenge of lukewarm consumer interest, the industry faces an even greater challenge in some of the most important markets in Asia, a strict regulatory framework.

Laws already on the books

Usually, with crypto, there’s an element of regulatory fog. However, with crypto gaming specifically, there are laws about monetizing game tokens already on the books in Korea, Japan, and China — and in some cases, they are nearly 20 years old.

Oleg Smagin, a senior crypto finance manager at Seoul-based Post Voyager, a GameFi service developer, points to Article 32 of Korea’s Gaming Industry Promotion Act as a potential showstopper. It specifically bans game currency from being converted into cash.

“The interesting part is that this article had been there long before the P2E and blockchain were born. It was added in 2004 when hundreds of thousands of Koreans were fanatically playing a notorious arcade game called ‘Seatalk’ (바다이야기),” Smagin told CoinDesk. “You could earn coupons in the game that could be turned into cash at almost every corner. The game became so popular that the government considered it a dangerous form of gambling.”

Smagin said that the law has stayed on the books for nearly two years, and is being used to block the distribution of play-to-earn games like Axie Infinity. “For the regulator, Axie is no different from Seatalk, as you can go to an exchange and easily exchange your tokens earned in the game into cash,” he said.

Korea has a form of soft web censoring, mostly blocking pornography and what the state deems illegal or ‘subversive materials’, but Axie Infinity is still accessible online.

However, play-to-earn games cannot be distributed through existing digital or retail channels in the country such as mobile app stores — which is sure to be a non-starter for larger game developers.

Megan Huang, a Research Fellow of International Cyber Law at Korea University and a director at Delio, said that the Korean Game Rating and Administration Committee has already blocked the distribution of play-to-earn games Infinite Breakthrough and Three Kingdoms Reverse from mobile app stores by withholding their rating classification.

“[The regulator] has sent an official request to Apple and Google asking them to block further registration of play-to-earn games from their app stores,” she said.

Huang also points to Article 28 of the Gaming Industry Promotion Act as being problematic for the emergent industry as it prohibits speculative acts, gambling, and free gifts.

But of course, for web-based games, there’s always a question as to how effective any sort of ban can be. Huang said that many Korean gamers are already using virtual private networks (VPN) to access play-to-earn games which would bypass any sort of country-wide block entirely.

Japan might call it gambling

Over in Japan, play-to-earn is on rocky grounds, not because of specific laws about gaming, but because most of the in-game actions would likely be considered gambling.

In a September post, Tokyo-based law firm So & Sato said that based on its analysis, the core functions of Axie Infinity’s gameplay would be considered either illegal gambling, or regulated under the Japanese Fair Trade Commission’s Improper Premiums and Misleading Representations Act.

“Since a user must pay a certain amount of Smooth Love Potion [an in-game token] to breed new randomly generated Axies, there is a possibility that the breeding of new Axies is considered illegal gambling,” the firm wrote. The game’s tournaments, which require an entry fee, would also fall under this category.

So & Sato also point to the game’s farming mechanism as something that would be regulated by Japan’s Consumer Affairs Agency’s Improper Premiums and Misleading Representations Act (IPMR).

“The IPMR provides limits for items and other assets that can be given away for ‘free’. In the case of play-to-earn models where players must make an initial investment to play the game,” the firm writes.

China bans it all

China, one of the biggest markets for gaming, definitely has the steepest prohibition on GameFi. And like Korea, part of the framework has already been on the books for some time.

In the mid-2000s, Tencent developed a virtual currency called QQ Coins, Jason Hu, head of market at Shenzhen-based non-fungible token (NFT) project Prota-1, explained to CoinDesk. These coins were pegged to the value of the Chinese Yuan and could be exchanged for cash or other physical goods. They lasted for around a decade before the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), the nation’s central bank, banned them in 2007.

“Any gaming element that’s transferable to the CNY is strictly forbidden. Even a lot of online poker games have been shut down because the token coins can be exchanged for CNY,” he said.

Later, in 2017, the PBoC put a ban on crypto trading entirely eliminating the possibility of GameFi’s entry into China entirely.

Huang said that within China, gaming is a licensed activity, and developers that want to publish a game in-country must get an Internet Content Provider (ICP) certificate from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) as well as approval from the National Press and Publications Administration.

“GameFi is not fundamentally allowed by Chinese law because it deals with virtual currency businesses such as crypto wallets, exchange, and trading of tokens,” said Huang.

Foreign developers must partner with a domestic publisher, like Tencent, or NetEase, or JD to publish a game — and all of China’s tech giants have signed a self-regulatory pledge to prohibit speculation around NFTs.

“[NFT buyers] can only collect, appreciate, and display purchased NFT digital collections which makes the NFT markets in China is completely different from those in overseas market,” Huang said.

Hu adds that the media in China has been encouraged to use the term “digital collectibles” instead of NFTs and are discouraged from talking about tokens.

Even though China’s strict regulatory framework means that GameFi will never take off in-country, Hu isn’t deterred. He sees China as being a “factory” for gaming and the upcoming metaverse.

“There’s strong development talent in China,” he said, pointing to the number of schools and even non-degree coding bootcamps to train people for the industry.

“I imagine the future of gaming startups where the marketing and design teams are in the U.S., but the engineers are in China,” he said.

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BAYC, CryptoPunks, Warp Starship Part, MAYC : les NFT qui se vendent à des millions de dollars en fin janvier

Le monde virtuel en perpétuelle évolution, a connu l’avènement de la numérisation des œuvres artistiques. Cette innovation est le socle de la création des NFT qui, aujourd’hui, se vendent comme de petits pains sur les plateformes. Cependant, certains NFT se démarquent du lot et se vendent à des millions de dollars. Quels sont les NFT […]

L’article BAYC, CryptoPunks, Warp Starship Part, MAYC : les NFT qui se vendent à des millions de dollars en fin janvier est apparu en premier sur Cointribune.

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Solana (SOL) et les NFT, le business à 1 milliard de $

Solana, prince des ventes NFT – Depuis la fin de l’année 2021, la blockchain Solana (SOL) est en pleine ébullition grâce aux opportunités qu’elle présente pour les jetons non fongibles (NFT), ainsi qu’en raison des frais de transaction exorbitants du réseau Ethereum (ETH). Cette tendance se confirme pour Solana en ce début d’année 2022. Pour la première fois, le volume global de ventes de NFT mensuel a dépassé le milliard de dollars.

Les ventes de NFT sur Solana dépassent le milliard de dollars

D’après le tracker CryptoSlam, le montant des ventes de NFT sur la blockchain Solana a pour la première fois dépassé le cap du milliard de dollars, et ce, dès la moitié du mois de janvier. Au jour de rédaction, ce montant avoisine les 1,6 milliard de dollars.

Rien d’étonnant à cela ! Déjà, en septembre dernier, un NFT représentant un « singe dégénéré » de la collection Degenerate Ape Academy s’échangeait pour plus d’1 million de dollars sur la blockchain Solana.

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Solana concurrence Ethereum dans le domaine des NFT

D’abord, l’une des raisons expliquant la montée en popularité du réseau Solana pour l’émission de NFT réside dans les frais de transaction de la blockchain Ethereum qui sont devenus exorbitants, voire complètement prohibitifs pour certaines opérations.

Toutefois, il faut relever que les volumes d’échange de NFT sur la blockchain Solana restent encore nettement inférieurs à ceux émis sur le réseau Ethereum. Pour l’heure, la blockchain Solana n’a pas été massivement sollicitée par les amateurs de NFT en raison de l’absence de projets hype qui créent l’engouement du public.

Volumes de NFT échangés par type de blockchain de janvier 2018 à janvier 2022 – Source : The Block

Il est fort probable que 2022 soit l’année de tous les possibles pour Solana. Dans l’hypothèse où la plateforme de NFT OpenSea accepte de proposer des NFT basés sur cette blockchain, un plus grand nombre d’investisseurs y auront accès. À partir de ce moment, il sera intéressant de comparer à nouveau les volumes de ventes de NFT sur ces 2 blockchains.

En tout état de cause, en matière de NFT, la tendance pourrait bien se renverser en faveur de blockchain Solana. Cela dépendra notamment du temps que prendra la mutation d’Ethereum avant d’être opérationnelle.

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L’article Solana (SOL) et les NFT, le business à 1 milliard de $ est apparu en premier sur Journal du Coin.

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Meilleurs endroits pour acheter Doge Rise Up, qui a gagné 80%

Les récents tweets favorables d’Elon Musk sur Dogecoin ont eu un impact positif sur toutes les crypto-monnaies à thème canin, certaines plus que d’autres. L’un des artistes les plus performants est Doge Rise Up, qui a ajouté 80 % à sa valeur au cours des dernières 24 heures.

Cet article partage les détails sur Doge Rise Up, s’il s’agit d’un bon investissement et les meilleurs endroits pour acheter Doge Rise Up aujourd’hui.

Meilleurs endroits pour acheter Doge Rise Up maintenant

Comme DOGERISEUP est un nouvel actif, il n’a pas encore été coté sur les principales bourses. Vous pouvez toujours acheter DOGERISEUP en utilisant un DEX (échange décentralisé), ce qui signifie simplement qu’il y a quelques étapes supplémentaires. Pour acheter DOGERISEUP dès maintenant, procédez comme suit :

1. Achetez BNB sur une plateforme ou un courtier réglementé comme Binance ›

Nous vous suggérons Binance parce qu’il s’agit de l’une des principales plateformes de trading multi-actifs au monde, une plateforme d’échange et un portefeuille tout-en-un avec des frais parmi les plus bas du secteur. Elle est également adaptée aux débutants et propose plus de méthodes de paiement aux utilisateurs que tout autre service disponible.

2. Envoyez vos jetons BNB vers un portefeuille compatible comme Trust Wallet ou MetaMask.

Vous devrez créer votre portefeuille, récupérer votre adresse et y envoyer vos jetons.

3. Connectez votre portefeuille à la plateforme DEX SushiSwap

Allez sur SushiSwap et connectez-y votre portefeuille.

4. Vous pouvez maintenant échanger vos BNB contre des DOGERISEUP

Maintenant que vous êtes connecté, vous pourrez échanger des centaines de jetons, y compris des DOGERISEUP.

Qu’est-ce que Doge Rise Up ?

Doge Rise Up est un nouveau projet Binance Smart Chain qui combine le métaverse avec Doge, des designs sympas et des jetons non fongibles. La première phase du projet impliquait le développement du site Web et du jeton, une campagne de marketing et le lancement.

Le projet est actuellement dans sa deuxième phase : listes CoinMarketCap, CoinGecko et Pancakeswap, 1 000 détenteurs et 5 000 membres Telegram.

Dans la troisième phase, il y aura une campagne de marketing mondiale, des audits par Soken Team, une rampe de lancement NFT, l’intégration GameFi, 10 000 membres Telegram et 5 000 détenteurs. Ils prévoient également de créer des liens avec des partenaires réputés et d’aider à améliorer la durabilité.

Dois-je acheter Doge Rise Up aujourd’hui ?

Les crypto-monnaies sont très volatiles, et les pièces de monnaie meme – particulièrement. Leur valeur peut fluctuer en fonction d’un seul tweet. Doge Rise Up peut être un bon investissement pour vous si vous n’êtes pas averse au risque.

Prévision de prix Doge Rise Up

Tech News Leader prévoit que la pièce atteindra 0,00000001 $ en 2028 et maintiendra ce niveau en 2029 avant de continuer à augmenter. En 2030, il atteindra 0,00000002 $ et montera à 0,00000003 $ l’année suivante.

Doge Rise Up sur les réseaux sociaux

Doge Rise Up $DOGERISEUP is live on Nomics with a price of $2.3267216e-09, and volume of $67,405.04 @dogeriseupbsc https://t.co/q8EnndjhVA

— NomicsUpdates (@NomicsUpdates) December 5, 2021

L’article Meilleurs endroits pour acheter Doge Rise Up, qui a gagné 80% est apparu en premier sur Coin24.

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Bitcoin atteindra 1 million de dollars, déclare le PDG de Circle

La principale crypto-monnaie se négocie autour de 38 000 dollars par pièce, mais le PDG de Circle est optimiste quant à la montée en flèche de sa valeur dans les années à venir.

Le fondateur et directeur général de Circle, Jeremy Allaire, a déclaré au Business Insider dans une récente interview qu’il était optimiste quant aux perspectives à long terme du marché de la crypto-monnaie.

Selon Allaire, le prix de Bitcoin atteindrait 1 million de dollars au cours des prochaines années, ajoutant que sa capitalisation boursière finirait par dépasser l’or. dit Allaire;

« Je ne suis pas un » maximaliste du bitcoin « , mais si vous recherchez une prévision de prix, je pense que mon opinion personnelle est que nous verrons absolument un bitcoin d’un million de dollars au fil du temps. »

Allaire a ajouté qu’il n’aime pas la comparaison entre l’or et le Bitcoin car il pense que la marchandise est une relique. Il a dit;

« Je n’aime pas vraiment l’analogie avec » l’or numérique « parce que l’or est une relique. Il a une valeur extrêmement limitée en tant que forme d’échange, et il n’a jamais eu d’utilité dans la société moderne en tant que forme de monnaie. Je pense que la demande de le bitcoin va en fait être beaucoup, beaucoup plus gros. »

Bitcoin reste la plus grande crypto-monnaie par capitalisation boursière. Il a atteint une capitalisation boursière de 1 000 milliards de dollars en novembre. Cependant, la capitalisation boursière a chuté au niveau de 700 milliards de dollars alors que la tendance baissière se poursuit.

Malgré le statut de Bitcoin, certains au sein de l’espace cryptographique pensent qu’il serait dépassé par Ethereum à long terme.

La blockchain Ethereum a plus de cas d’utilisation que Bitcoin et a été à l’origine de nombreuses révolutions telles que les offres initiales de pièces de monnaie (ICO), les jetons non fongibles (NFT), la finance décentralisée (DeFi) et plus encore. Allaire a commenté la bataille, déclarant que;

« Il y a clairement une concurrence importante entre le bitcoin et l’ethereum. Les maximalistes d’Ethereum disent que sa politique monétaire est supérieure, qu’elle a un meilleur mécanisme déflationniste et qu’elle est plus efficace. »

Le marché de la crypto-monnaie s’est bien comporté au cours des dernières heures, la capitalisation boursière totale dépassant désormais 1,7 billion de dollars.

L’article Bitcoin atteindra 1 million de dollars, déclare le PDG de Circle est apparu en premier sur Coin24.

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First Mover Asia: Crypto Finishes Bad Month on High Note

Good morning. Here’s what’s happening:

Market moves: Bitcoin ended a bad January on a positive note; DeFi trading volume grew steadily.

Technician’s take: BTC’s January sell-off could attract short-term buyers.

Catch the latest episodes of CoinDesk TV for insightful interviews with crypto industry leaders and analysis.

Prices

Bitcoin (BTC): $38.446 +1%

Ether (ETH): $2,682 +2.6%

Top Gainers

Asset
Ticker
Returns
Sector
Chainlink
LINK
+7.2%
Computing

Top Losers

Asset
Ticker
Returns
Sector
Cosmos
ATOM
−7.8%
Smart Contract Platform
Polygon
MATIC
−7.1%
Smart Contract Platform
Internet Computer
ICP
−5.7%
Computing

Markets

S&P 500: 4,515 +1.8%

DJIA: 35,131 +1.1%

Nasdaq: 14,239 +3.4%

Gold: $1,797 +0.4%

Market moves

Bitcoin ended the last day of a bearish January in the green, while the overall trading volume on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) closed with nearly $100 billion in trading volume for the month.

At the time of publication, the oldest cryptocurrency was changing hands at about $38,500, up slightly over the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesk data. Ether, the second biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was up 2.7% to over $2,600 in the same time period.

“Bitcoin is rallying as risky assets finish a very bad January on a positive note,” Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda, the Americas, wrote in his daily market update. “Bitcoin bullish momentum is slowly building up and it could surprise to the upside if the dollar continues to weaken as much of the Fed tightening for the year begins to get priced in.”

Data compiled by CoinDesk shows that bitcoin’s trading volume across major crypto exchanges was significantly lower than a week ago. Many stock indexes in Asia were closed amid the weeklong lunar New Year (also known as Chinese New Year) holidays. Many crypto traders in the region may also have taken time off.

Meanwhile, decentralized exchanges reported nearly $100 billion in trading volume in January, according to Dune Analytics. The total trading volume in DEXs previously dropped significantly following its peak last May. But the high volume has returned in recent months.

Some of January’s volume may be associated with the volatility of the markets and the drama in decentralized finance protocol Wonderland, and yet one analyst said the steadily growing volume shows a “renewed growth” in the DeFi sector.

“The flawless execution without downtime, or the amazing ability for these protocols to run uninterrupted even amidst drama from founders/developers and declining asset prices…should be the focus,” Jeff Dorman, chief investment officer at crypto investment managing firm Arca, wrote in his blog dated Monday. “There is a thriving underlying ecosystem despite one-off scams, hacks, and ousted bad actors.”

Technician’s take

Bitcoin Holding Support Above $37K; Resistance at $40K-$45K

Bitcoin was rising toward the top of a weeklong trading range as oversold signals remain intact. Oversold refers to investors believing the asset is trading below its true value. BTC was trading at about $38,500 at press time and is up 4% over the past week.

Initial resistance is seen at $40,000, which is an old support level that was rejected on Jan. 20. Buyers will need to make a decisive move above $40,000-$45,000 in order to reverse the downtrend that has been in place since November.

For now, BTC’s 20% price decline in January could attract short-term buyers. Traders could place additional bids heading into the Asia trading day if support at $37,000 holds.

Over the long term, upside appears limited given negative momentum signals.

Important events

8:30 a.m. HKT/SGT (12:30 a.m. UTC): Jibun Bank (Japan) manufacturing PMI (Jan.)

8:30 a.m. HKT/SGT (12:30 a.m. UTC): Australia home loans (Dec.)

8:30 a.m. HKT/SGT (12:30 a.m. UTC): Australia investment lending for homes (Dec.)

3 p.m. HKT/SGT (7 a.m. UTC): Germany retail sales (Dec. MoM/YoY)

5:30 p.m. HKT/SGT (9:30 a.m. UTC): U.K. consumer credit

CoinDesk TV

In case you missed it, here is the most recent episode of « First Mover » on CoinDesk TV:

Bitcoin’s 15th Bear Market Since Its Creation in 2009, Arca Study Finds Most Investors Believe Traditional Securities Will Be Digitized in 5-10 Years

“First Mover » hosts speak to Arca co-founder and CEO Rayne Steinberg as the firm releases a study revealing the top trends in digital assets. Taiwan-based XREX wants to bridge the world using stablecoins. Co-founder Wayne Huang shares the state of crypto in Taiwan. TR Lab co-founder Xin Li-Cohen shares details for the $4.2 million fundraising round from leading art and tech investors and his views on the NFT (non-fungible token) market.

Headlines

FTX Reaches $32B Valuation With $400M Fundraise: The investment values the crypto exchange at the same level as Deutsche Boerse and more than Nasdaq or Twitter.

This Marathon Is Among the First IRL-Metaverse Mashups: Raramuri’s June 2 event gives you plenty of time to train for the metaverse’s first marathon.

Turkish Crypto Firm Bitci Eyes Expansion Into Brazil, Spain: Report: The company aims to open a trading platform in Brazil next month with a Spanish one planned in March.

Bitcoin’s Put-Call Ratio Hits 6-Month High as Negativity Rules: The ratio suggests demand for puts is high, one observer said.

Mastercard’s CipherTrace Used ‘Honeypots’ to Gather Crypto Wallet Intel: In cybersecurity, the term “honeypot” refers to a trap for hackers. But what does it mean in the context of on-chain analytics? (CoinDesk Privacy Week series)

Solana Could Become the Visa of Digital-Asset World: Bank of America: Solana and other blockchains may snag market share from Ethereum over time, the bank said in a research note.

Longer reads

Bitcoin Protects Privacy and Fights Oppression: Central bank digital currencies, on the other hand, are financial surveillance on steroids. (CoinDesk’s Privacy Week)

Today’s crypto explainer: Investing in Meme Coins? 3 Things Every Crypto Trader Should Know: Before you go “aping” into the latest “inu” coin, here are a few tips on how to invest in meme coins safely.

Other voices: Is cryptocurrency the future of money? (CBS News)

Said and heard

« As someone who was there for Canadian crypto’s early days, I can tell you that we were operating truly in the unknown in those first years. In that environment, actors emerged that today our space wouldn’t tolerate. I won’t speak or reveal more on Michael/Omar for personal security reasons, but the point isn’t about him; it’s about the moral compass we must demand and a requirement to fight for the betterment of our ecosystem – and humanity. » (Joseph Weinberg for CoinDesk. » (Bitcoin investor and Shyft Network co-founder Joseph Weinberg) … « Crypto’s primary benefits stem from being open, transparent and immutable. Blockchain-based web apps are necessarily different than the multibillion-dollar « walled gardens » that dominant the internet today. Privacy laws were written with the old web in mind, the web of Facebook and Google. » (Antoni Zolciak, co-founder of Aleph Zero, a privacy-enhancing layer 1, for CoinDesk’s Privacy Week series) … « Retail investors’ top picks now look more like they did in early 2020, when the roster of the most-popular U.S.-listed stocks and exchange-traded funds was made up almost entirely of shares of well-established companies in the benchmark S&P 500 and ETFs representing broad bets on U.S. stocks or bonds, according to data from VandaTrack. » (The Wall Street Journal)

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