Russian authorities have blacklisted Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. 

On 24 September, in an announcement on its official Russian Telegram channel, Binance confirmed that Russian telecommunications regulator, Roskomnadzor, had added the crypto exchange to a list of prohibited sites. 

It seems Binance has been deemed guilty of disturbing prohibited information – namely, that related to the acquisition of cryptocurrencies – and that it has actually been blacklisted since June 2020. 

In an official statement, Binance responded to the ban by saying:

“We were not previously notified of any claims by law enforcement agencies, civil government services or courts prior to receiving the above notification. We have now engaged our legal counsels for further advice and would like to assure all of our Russian users that there will be no disruption to their services in the interim and that their funds are safe.”

Despite the supposed ban, Russian Binance users are still able to access Binance without resorting to a VPN. 

AYO.NEWS says:

The fact that Binance seems to have been blacklisted since June 2020, despite the company being unaware of it, would suggest the move is not in response to the company’s plans to launch its crypto debit card in the country – as that announcement came in September 2020. 

Obviously, the question now is how determined are the Russian authorities to stop Binance? The fact they haven’t even blocked access to the site would seem to indicate the answer is “not very.” 

But, things can change – less than a year ago Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao (or ‘CZ’), was referring to President Vladimir Putin as the most influential person in blockchain. 

‘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

Fasset has announced the launch of its second flagship product, the Fasset Exchange (FEX). 

Available to both retail and institutional investors in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the FEX will offer 0% trading fees and sign-up rewards, and aims to improve the accessibility of the digital asset space and infrastructure investment market in the Middle East. 

Signups for the FEX’s private beta are now available, with a full public launch scheduled for later this year, followed by a roll-out in the rest of the MENASA region over the following two years. 

Fasset says the FEX will provide near-instant access and liquidity for both real asset-backed tokens – like gold-backed tokens or tokenised sustainable infrastructure projects – and major cryptocurrencies like BTC, ETH, and USDT. 

Discussing the new exchange, Fasset Chief Executive Officer and former Technology Advisor to the UAE Prime Minister’s Office, Mohammad Raafi Hossain, said:

“While the last decade has seen a rise in cryptocurrency usage, persisting complexities—from trading to payments systems—hinder true mass adoption. In addition, the volatility and high-risk nature of digital assets makes the asset class unapproachable for the majority of investors as investors are unable to gauge their value. 

“To date, accessing digital assets—whether cryptocurrencies or real asset-backed tokens—in the MENASA region has been an onerous process. The industry lacks competition and, as a result, local exchanges have maintained an opaque, and often expensive, fee structure and operating model—resulting in high barriers to entry and limited choices for investors. 

“FEX brings to the GCC the accessibility, variety, and ease of use which increasingly characterises digital asset markets elsewhere in the world. It is our belief that every investor should have a healthy, risk-assessed allocation in digital assets. As such, we look forward to offering investors and asset owners across MENASA convenience and true diversification like they’ve never seen before.”

Fasset was founded in early 2019 by a group of international technologists. Earlier this year, the company launched its first flagship product – the Fasset Enterprise Platform (FEP) – using blockchain technology to fractionalise large, previously illiquid assets, offering fractional ownership of these digital “pieces.”

To-date the company has raised over $4.7M USD from strategic backers from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Singapore. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Though some Middle Eastern countries like, such as Qatar, have been openly hostile to virtual assets and cryptocurrencies, others like the UAE and Bahrain, have shown significant interest in blockchain technology, especially in terms of smart cities and infrastructure. Despite this, the region has lagged significantly when it comes to digital asset trading, so any platform that improves accessibility can only be a good thing for investors. 

‘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

The $FEW token ‘experiment’ has backfired, with the DeFi community turning on the group of influencers behind it. 

Inspired by the success of MEME, the FEW token was cooked up by Idea Markets’ co-founder Sam Ratnaker. After setting up a Telegram group for the project on 22 September, he invited a bunch of well-known influencers, including EthHub’s Anthony Sassano, Twitter user ‘DeFi Dude’, and Rocket NFT’s Alex Masmej. 

It started when I invited a few people to join an experiment.

Get some of the industry’s smartest people together, equally distribute tokens and see what happens.

The telegram chat was called “The Experiment”. pic.twitter.com/37sWGATQ6j

— Sam Ratnakar 💡🍍 (@mrdotboson) September 22, 2020

Ratnaker promised the first 50 holders of FEW would each be airdropped 769.23 tokens, vested for 1 year, and described the project as “an experiment to create value for the ecosystem.”

Things started to go wrong very quickly though, as within an hour the group had gone from under 100 people to almost 600, as people eager not to miss out on the next MEME opportunity rushed to get the airdropped tokens. It got even worse when someone quickly set up a “fake” FEW token, adding more confusion to the mess. 

With so many people involved, messages from the chats soon started to leak, and appeared to suggest the project was launched from the outset with the intention of dumping on naive investors.

Needless to say, the backlash has been fierce, despite the group now claiming the whole thing was just a ‘joke’ that’s been taken the wrong way. 

This is disappointing to see from people I know & trust. While some would’ve been doing it as a laugh, others were malicious & looking to profit whether they’ll admit it or not.

Actions of the few, can have repercussions for the many.$FEW – Forget everyone winning… 😕 pic.twitter.com/N2yXHUShaC

— Alex Saunders 🇦🇺👨‍🔬 (@AlexSaundersAU) September 22, 2020

As people began to suspect FEW was simply an attempt by the founding group to create a “pump and dump”, the project crashed in real-time, and many group members scrambled to prove their innocence by burning their FEW tokens. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Despite the huge potential of DeFi, and the many perfectly legitimate projects out there, it’s clear there’s a rapidly snowballing problem with unaudited and forked DeFi protocols that is creating a real ‘Wild West’ climate, and poses the threat of severely damaging the whole industry’s reputation in the eyes of the public and, critically, regulators.

So, whether those behind FEW were just having a laugh, or really did plan on scamming people, is pretty much irrelevant – at the end of the day, they have added to the confusion and mistrust that is hindering the progress of DeFi. 

Earlier this month, we reported on how DeFi project Hotdog crashed and burned within hours of launching, at one point dropping from $4K to $1 in under 5 minutes. 

‘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

On 7 October, Christie’s, New York, will host an auction for part of the largest work of art in the history of blockchain technology. 

The artwork, Block 21 of Portraits of a Mind, was created by Robert Alice, and is part of a global artistic project promoting blockchain culture within the visual arts. 

Portraits of a Mind is the largest work of art in the history of blockchain technology, with 40 paintings stretching more than 50m. The complete artwork includes the entire 12.3 million digits of founding code behind Bitcoin, in 40 hand-painted, decentralised transcriptions. Also featured is a digital fingerprint carved out of paint, which is described as a “global portrait of Satoshi Nakamoto.”

The project consists of both the physical paintings and corresponding digital Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) – which serve to both verify the authenticity of each painting, and form a core component of the artwork itself.

Commenting on the launch of Portraits of a Mind, Robert Alice noted:

“I want to thank all the collectors across the world for their support in making this vision a reality. The speed and worldwide decentralisation of this codebase already stands testament not just to the truly global nature of the blockchain community, but also to Satoshi’s original vision. 

“Often overlooked, art and culture have a fundamental role to play in exploring and promoting the role of blockchain within society, while also preserving its story and histories for future generations. Portraits of a Mind is my contribution.

“With the launch of Block 21 at Christie’s, the blockchain community presents, for the first time, the very basis of their culture on a global stage. I look forward to welcoming one more collector to our network – whoever and wherever they may be”

While Post-War and Contemporary Art Specialist at Christie’s, Vivian Brodie, added:

“Christie’s and I are thrilled to be supporting this landmark blockchain art project with the sale of Block 21 from Portraits of a Mind in our October Day Sale in New York. This is Christie’s first time presenting a work that explores crypto culture at auction and, as ever, we are very excited to welcome new audiences and collecting communities across the globe to Christie’s. 

“While Bitcoin, decentralization and cryptocurrency contribute in defining our contemporary landscape and future society, they deserve a stronger visibility and exploration in art history.  Portraits of a Mind also intrigued us with its reference and reframing of both conceptual artists Roman Opalka and On Kawara, artists engaged in practices that mirrored the qualities and structures of blockchain technologies some 40 years before Satoshi’s founding code came into being.”

It will be the first NFT artwork to be sold by Christie’s – the world’s most prestigious auction house – and will be exhibited alongside major works by revered 20th century masters, including Monet, Picasso, Pollock, and Warhol. 

The first half of the artwork (Blocks 0 – 20) were offered privately to select collectors earlier this year, and now reside in important private and corporate collections around the world, including in San Francisco, New York, Chicago, London, Paris, Gibraltar, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai, and Tokyo. The full map of the locations of the codebase can be found here. 

Existing collectors of the work include Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao (better known as ‘CZ’); chairman and co-founder of Bloq, Matthew Roszak; co-founder and managing partner of Kenetic, Jehan Chu; founder of Digix, Shaun Djie; founder of Coinscrum, Paul Gordon; and several of notable art collectors. 

Block 21 will be exhibited at Christie’s galleries in New York from 1 October 2020, and offered at an estimate of $12,000 – 18,000 USD. 

Images courtesy of Robert Alice.

AYO.NEWS says:

Christie’s selling an NFT-based artwork is truly a pivotal moment for both art and blockchain, and comes at a moment when collectors and investors are starting to wake up to the massive potential of digital and hybrid art that incorporates NFT technology. 

Only yesterday we reported that Morgan Creek Digital co-founders, Anthony Pompliano and Jason Williams had made a “big bet” by partnering with several digital artists. Indeed, Pomp went as far as saying he’s confident the digital art market cap will grow by around 6,000x.  

‘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

Animoca Brands and Dapper Labs have confirmed Star Girl and the upcoming MotoGP™ will be added to the new Flow blockchain. 

The move marks a significant expansion of the partnership between game publisher Animoca Brands and Dapper Labs, developer of the new Flow blockchain (and developer of the popular CryptoKitties game). 

Flow is described as a “next-generation blockchain being developed to deliver optimized gaming and entertainment experiences.” In addition to providing stability and scalability, Flow also provides payment rails for credit cards and cryptocurrencies, making it easy for end consumers to use. 

Animoca’s Star Girl fashion role-playing mobile game franchise now has over one million monthly active users, and around 180,000 daily active users. It is expected to launch on Flow in 2021. 

Meanwhile, the still in-development MotoGP™ will be the motorsport’s first officially licensed blockchain game. Initial features are expected to be available in the final quarter of 2020, with a full commercial release in 2021. MotoGP™ will be on Flow and support the recently launched REVV token – an ERC-20 token that acts as the main utility token for Animoca’s motorsport games. 

Animoca Brands and Dapper Labs are also working to onboard other games to the Flow blockchain, including F1® Delta Time, the official blockchain game licensed by Formula 1®, and the REVV token. 

Discussing developments, co-founder and chairman of Animoca Brands, Yat Siu, said:

“We are excited and honoured to collaborate with Dapper Labs and the Flow blockchain to address the challenge of mass adoption for blockchain gaming and NFTs, and we look forward to bringing the REVV community and the Flow community closer together as we continue to develop our partnership.”

While Chief Business Officer at Dapper Labs, Mik Naayem, added:

“Animoca Brands has been an incredible supporter of NFTs and decentralized games since 2017. We share a mutual vision and approach to creating mainstream adoption of decentralized games in an inclusive manner. With this partnership we are one step closer to making this a reality. We are excited to welcome and support the vibrant REVV and Star Girl communities to Flow.”

Additionally, CDOT is collaborating with Flow to create a two-way NFT bridge between Ethereum and Flow. When completed, this will mean products like MotoGP™ and REVV will be able to enjoy the liquidity of Ethereum combined with the low fees, high throughput, and convenient mainstream on-ramps offered by Flow.

Staying with Dapper Labs, in August, the developer launched a marketplace for its NBA Top Shot game, enabling users to trade collectible NFTs, and back in February, the company teamed up with UFC to create official digital collectibles. 

AYO.NEWS says:

The COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions resulted in many millions of people having their normal social lives put on hold, and finding themselves stuck at home with lots of time to kill. The result has been record revenues for many gaming companies, and Animoca Brands are no exception.

The company’s line-up of blockchain-based games including The Sandbox, F1 Delta Time, and Crazy Defence Heroes, notched up revenue of $7.34M USD during the first four months of 2020, with the first quarter generating $4.33M, but April alone adding $3M. 

With the spectre of a return to complete lockdowns in some countries and regions, and restrictions on peoples’ social lives remaining in force in many areas, we expect to see blockchain gaming continue to see rapid growth for the foreseeable future. 

‘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

Is digital art on NFTs about to explode? Some of crypto’s biggest names seem to think so.

Here at AYO.NEWS, we’ve been keeping an eye on NFT-based art for a while. Just last month our very own Simona Pinterova caught up with Blockparty CEO, Vladislav Ginzburg, to see how his company is using blockchain technology and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to revolutionise the art space. 

And, now some of the biggest names in the crypto community are catching the NFT art bug – and there’s even talk that it could one day outstrip the physical art market. So, how big is the NFT-based digital art market, and where could it be heading?

On 21 September, Messari analyst Mason Nystrom, pointed out that at Rarible, an NFT marketplace had broken the $5M mark, with 5,309 RARI governance tokens traded on the platform. Notably, $1.5m of this was traded in a single 24-hour period. 

$1.5M of this new volume came on a single day -September 14th pic.twitter.com/YDX6g6mybw

— Messari (@MessariCrypto) September 16, 2020

With stories like this floating around the web, it came as no surprise to see well-known Bitcoin (BTC) advocates and Morgan Creek Digital co-founders, Anthony Pompliano and Jason Williams, wade into the scene and, according to reports, make a “big bet” by partnering with several digital artists. 

[NEW POST] The Next Big Bet — Digital Art@GoingParabolic and I have been investing heavily in digital art because we believe the market cap will eventually eclipse the traditional art market.

Today we reveal “The Innovator’s Dinner” from @fewocious 🙂https://t.co/dbkeMf2pMI

— Pomp 🌪 (@APompliano) September 21, 2020

According to Pompliano, the digital art market currently has a tiny cap of less than $10M, compared to the traditional art market which has a cap of around $65B, giving it huge growth potential. In fact, Pomp is so enthusiastic, he now says he’s confident he will see a 6,000x increase in the digital art market cap. 

Indeed, there are already signs Pomp might be right. In addition to Blockparty selling out of its first works from Madsteez, Ryan Keeley, and Harif Guzman in August, the Winklevoss brothers-backed Nifty Gateway sold the “Picasso’s Bull” piece for $55,555.55 in July, and Async Art sold a digital piece for $100,000 more recently.

A surreal couple of days. #NFT art records broken by Picasso’s #Bitcoin Bull. Huge excitement & now followed on Twitter by people like @JWilliamsFstmed @tylerwinklevoss @APompliano 🤯

I do enjoy a challenge but I’m feeling the pressure for my follow up artworks. @niftygateway pic.twitter.com/WFuCBfIS6r

— Trevor Jones 🎨 (@trevorjonesart) July 25, 2020

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