NFT News
The Avant Arte marketplace has announced a collaboration with Yuga Labs to bring all 10,000 CryptoPunks into the physical realm for the first time. Two time-limited print editions, created by Avant Arte’s printmakers Make-Ready, will be available. The first edition, called “Punk On-Chain,” allows Punk holders to commission a unique physical print of their Punk(s) for €500 ($530). The second edition, “10,000 On-Chain,” will be available for €600 ($630) to Punk holders and fans alike. Both editions will be available for 48 hours on October 26.
DeFi News
VitaDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization backed by Pfizer, has launched its biotech firm called Matrix Bio. The community had previously approved a collaboration with the University of Rochester’s Aging Research Center co-chair, Dr. Vera Gorbunova. The experiments will be conducted on long-lived animals and will receive financing of up to $300,000 from VitaDAO. The budget includes allocations for high throughput screen (HTS) and exploratory medicinal chemistry, as well as hit compound experiments in the Gorbunova lab.
Payment News
Hong Kong’s trials of e-HKD digital currency have shown potential uses in payment, deposit, and investment scenarios. However, more experience is needed before a launch date can be considered. Eddie Yue Wai-man, CEO of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, mentioned that e-HKD has interesting use cases such as programmable payments and tokenized deposits/assets. MoonPay has also announced the launch of Swaps in its app, offering low gas fees, cross-chain swaps, multiple trading pairs, and competitive exchange rates.
Exchange News
Binance’s market share has declined for the seventh consecutive month in September. Spot trading volumes on the exchange fell to $115 billion, the lowest since October 2020. Binance’s market share among spot trading exchanges now stands at 34.3%, its lowest since June 2022. The combined spot and derivatives trading volume on centralized exchanges also fell for the third consecutive month, dropping to $1.67tn, the lowest quarterly volumes since Q4 2020.
Mining News
Bitmain, a crypto-mining company, reportedly paid September wages to its employees after experiencing cash flow issues. The payments were delayed and deducted initially, but Bitmain has now repaid the wages and released the basic salaries normally.
Hot Take: NFTs and DeFi Continue to Make Waves in Crypto
NFTs and DeFi are two areas of the crypto industry that have been making significant strides in recent months. The collaboration between Avant Arte and Yuga Labs to bring CryptoPunks into the physical realm demonstrates the growing interest in bridging the gap between digital and physical art. Similarly, VitaDAO’s launch of Matrix Bio highlights the potential for decentralized organizations to drive advancements in biotech research. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s trials of e-HKD and MoonPay’s introduction of Swaps further showcase the ongoing innovation happening in payment infrastructure. Despite Binance’s declining market share, the overall crypto landscape remains dynamic and full of potential.
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