Blockchain

ADAM BACK SAYS BITCOIN’S TIME IS NEAR, BUT BUTERIN THINKS CRYPTO SHOULD MOVE ON

Published

6 years ago

June 3, 2020

Blockstream Co-founder and CEO Adam Back is the latest crypto heavyweight to predict Bitcoin (BTC) is set for a major bull run, but Ethereum’s Buterin says it’s time to move on.

Retail investors alone could trigger Bitcoin bull run

Talking to Bloomberg, Back, one of the world’s foremost crypto pioneers – and a candidate to be the fabled Satoshi Nakamoto in many peoples’ eyes – said the unlimited money printing we are now seeing will push retail investors to BTC.

Back thinks that, even when you don’t take institutional investors into account, this will be enough to push BTC to USD $300K within just five years.

Expanding on his reasoning, which has convinced him to hold the BTC he mines, Back said there are a number of trends emerging that will boost the cryptocurrency. Specifically, he pointed to the COVID-19 induced revolution in working from home, and overvalued bonds and real estate investments.

Many major players still don’t comprehend paradigm shift

As evidence that some large investors are on his wavelength, Back pointed to Grayscale Investments – which as we reported last week, has been buying unprecedented Bitcoin since the halving.

However, according to Back, the recent Goldman Sachs investors’ call, which was less than enthusiastic about BTC, also illustrated how many of the big players still aren’t comprehending the paradigm shift taking place.

Regarding the flurry of recent predictions of ultra high BTC prices, he sounded a note of caution – pointing out that high inflation could lead to a situation where even if Bitcoin reaches $10m, it might end up only being worth $1m in terms of today’s spending power.

Buterin weighs in, taking a swipe at Bitcoin and zhao

Staying with crypto pioneers’ views on the current global crisis, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has taken to Twitter to argue that the current situation is very different to the 2008 Financial Crisis which gave birth to Bitcoin.

Buterin says the current crisis is a “virus crisis”, and one concerning knowledge and “overbearing policies”, rather than one primarily concerned with monetary inflation – pointing out that many now fear deflation rather than inflation.

He also cited the fact that, so far, cryptocurrencies have remained relatively correlated to traditional assets, rather than emerging as a separate safe haven.

Buterin also took a swipe at Binance CEO Chagpeng Zhao, who had tweeted that “Bitcoin is the peaceful protest,” saying that the crypto community needed to move beyond the idea that reforming money was going to be sufficient.

#Bitcoin is the peaceful protest.

— CZ Binance 🔶🔶🔶 (@cz_binance) June 1, 2020

Instead, he said people needed to look to Ethereum, and its plethora of uses, such as enabling decetralised censorship-resistant publishing and communication, decentralised communities, governance, DAOs, DAOs for content curation etc, calling 2016-20 a “period of ideological realignment.”

AYO.NEWS says:

With COVID-19 triggering an unprecedented economic crash (though most people don’t seem to realise it yet), a total upending of the global balance of power, and the United States tearing itself apart, it seems anything can happen.

However, saying that, no matter how much idealists like Buterin like to imagine what is happening as an opportunity to create some kind of digital utopia, we can’t help but think the entrenched forces are still too powerful – socially, economically, and politically. But, with even large investors now embracing Bitcoin and the fundamentals still as solid as ever, it seems more and more likely that the instability of the world could trigger a dramatic bull run for the original cryptocurrency.

Regarding the relationship between BTC and traditional markets, those with Buterin’s views should remember that correlation does not imply causation. Indeed, it could be argued that, given the newness of digital assets, correlations could be easily explained simply by investors needing time to fully understand the nature of the new assets – and because, as clearly demonstrated by the Goldman Sachs call, many still don’t.

Back’s point about any wild Bitcoin price having to be looked at in comparison to the buying power of a dollar is also extremely important to keep in mind. For example, if the US does disintegrate into a second civil war, we could easily see the US dollar become next to worthless, so even Ross Ulbricht’s $333m BTC prediction could be realistic.

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates.

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020

Blockchain

VCOIN LAUNCHES DEBIT CARD WITH UPHOLD: IMVU USERS EARN IN-GAME & SPEND IN REAL LIFE

VCOIN has teamed up with Uphold on a debit card that lets IMVU users spend currency earned in-game on real-world purchases.

Published

5 years ago

June 29, 2021

AYO News Staff

Vcoin launches debit card with uphold: imvu users earn in-game & spend in real life

VCOIN, the transferable digital currency used in the social metaverse app IMVU, has launched a debit card in partnership with digital money platform Uphold, allowing users to take value earned inside the virtual world and spend it in real life.

IMVU users can now withdraw VCOIN to an Uphold account and spend it using the Uphold debit card, earning 2% cashback on every purchase, both online and in store.

How the card works

The card is available first to US residents, with international availability to follow. Digital-only cards are free to order and use through the Uphold Card app, while a physical card carries a one-off fee of $9.95. Cashback on purchases is paid into the cardholder’s Uphold account.

From virtual economy to real wallet

VCOIN was first introduced inside IMVU, the friend-discovery and social metaverse app operated by Together Labs. IMVU runs one of the larger virtual economies of any social platform, with around 27 million transactions and 14 billion credits changing hands each month, according to the company.

The debit card closes the loop between that in-app economy and everyday spending. Creators and users who earn VCOIN by selling virtual goods or participating in the community can now convert those earnings into money they can use at ordinary merchants, rather than keeping the value locked inside the app.

A test case for the creator economy

The launch reflects a wider effort across gaming and virtual worlds to let users earn real income from in-game activity. It also highlights the regulatory hurdles involved: by routing withdrawals and spending through Uphold, an established and regulated money platform, VCOIN relies on a partner already set up to handle compliance, identity checks and card issuing.

How widely users adopt the card will be watched closely by other platforms considering whether to let virtual currencies flow out into the real economy.

Blockchain

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE’S WOLVES ENTER ROCKET LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

Published

6 years ago

November 5, 2020

AYO News Staff

English Premier League football club Wolverhampton Wanderers (Wolves) has entered the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS).

Wolves already fields rosters in FIFA 21, FIFA Online 4, PUBG, Identity V, and Pop Kart Racing, and is the first Premier League club to enter the RLCS.

Discussing the news Wolves General Manager for Marketing and Commercial Growth, Russell Jones, said:

“Gaming and esports remain a crucial part of our brand growth strategy and signing such talented and ambitious players to represent our Rocket League esports team is another step forward in our journey to build stories outside of football and widen the appeal of the Wolves brand across the world.

“We have spent the last six months scouting teams and players and are delighted to welcome Rix, Luis and Ole, who will become Wolves Esports for the remainder of the current RLCS season X and beyond. We will be offering the team our full support as they compete in the winter split.

“I’d also like to thank the University of Wolverhampton who continue to be an exceptionally supportive partner of the Wolves Esports programme.”

While Team Captain of Wolves Esports Rocket League, Rix Ronday, added:

“It is a real honour to captain the first-ever Wolves Esports Rocket League team. I’m confident that we have recruited two of Rocket League’s most exciting talents in Ole and Luis and we are working hard behind the scenes to prepare for the RLCSX Winter Split kick-off.”

AYO.NEWS says:

Wolves have already demonstrated their enthusiasm for esports, using it to strengthen what is now a powerful global brand – for example, way back in February 2019, it became the first Premier League club to enter Chinese esports, through a partnership with Weibo eSports Club.

And, given the very real possibility of COVID-19 causing further disruption to football, diversifying the brand into multiple esports seems like a smart way to ensure fan engagement can continue, come what may.

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates.

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020.

Blockchain

FIFA 21 CHALLENGE IS MOST WATCHED EA ESPORTS EVENT YET

Published

6 years ago

November 4, 2020

AYO News Staff

The EA SPORTS™ FIFA 21 Challenge has smashed the viewership record, with an Average Minute Audience of over 250K.

A one-day esports tournament that paired top global professional footballers with the world’s best FIFA players, the EA SPORTS™ FIFA 21 Challenge drew an average minute audience (AMA) of 254,057 with a total watch time of 1,024,696 hours, making the event the most-watched EA operated esports broadcast in history.

In fact, the broadcast more than doubled the viewership metric set by the next most-watched EA operated FIFA event, the FIFA Global Series FUT Champions Cup: Barcelona, which took place over multiple days in January 2018 and registered an AMA of 92,678.

During the competition, four esports players paired with four professional footballers from international clubs Liverpool, West Ham United, Inter Milan, and Borussia Dortmund, clashed on October 29 for the EA SPORTS FIFA 21 Challenge.

Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold and Fnatic’s Tekkz took home the trophy and won $20,000 on behalf of their selected charities

In addition to incorporating celebrity participation to reach non-traditional gaming audiences, the EA SPORTS FIFA 21 Challenge was the first event to utilize FIFA Global Series Viewership Rewards, creating an interactive broadcast for viewers with in-game benefits for watching to further drive engagement and subsequent play time.

Reflecting on the event EA SPORTS FIFA Commissioner, Brent Koning, said:

“EA SPORTS FIFA is woven into the fabric of football culture. Bringing professional footballers and our esports pros together creates entertainment that sets our tournaments apart.

“The success of the FIFA 21 Challenge reinforces our strategy and vision for broadening the esports audience, creating content for our fans, and underscores the value of entertainment-driven events that branch outside of traditional esports.”

The FIFA 21 Challenge was a part of a series of EA SPORTS FIFA 21 Global Series pre-season invitationals, featuring notable influencers, footballers, and FIFA pros, in partnership with the interactive entertainment world’s biggest video streaming and content platforms.

It’s a nod to EA’s renewed competitive gaming strategy, which leverages the convergence of traditional sports, competitive gaming, and pop culture to create new, engaging, and accessible broadcasts for diverse audiences.

AYO.NEWS says:

Viewership figures like this illustrate just how integrated esports, especially FIFA, is becoming in mainstream football culture, and the growth looks set to continue, and reflects well on EA’s competitive gaming strategy. Last month, EA announced improvements and a bigger prize pool for the upcoming esports season.