DAY LONG NEWS ROUNDUP: LATEST NEWS 20/12/21

• Avinandan Banerjee
• December 20, 2021

When it comes to crypto investments, keeping a track of all the latest happenings in the industry becomes inevitable. Known for their volatile nature, cryptocurrencies require traders to be aware of all the facts and figures before investment. So, here we are presenting the latest news around crypto that can help you fetch good returns in your next venture, take a look:

 

Vodafone auctions world’s first SMS ‘Merry Christmas’ as NFT for charity

Leading telecom giant Vodafone is all set to venture into the field of Non-Fungible Tokens by planning an auction of the world’s first SMS in the form of an NFT to support its charity this holiday. The Short Message Service (SMS) was sent on Dec 3, 1992, over the network saying ‘Merry Christmas’ and was received by a company employee named Richard Jarvis. The 29-year-old text message is all set to create history by getting transformed into the form of an NFT on December 21, 2021.

According to the announcement, the 15-character long message will be auctioned as an NFT in a one-off sale organized by France-based Aguttes Auction House. The funds collected by Vodafone as part of the auction will be wired to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for aiding its relief programs targeted towards the forcibly displaced population. The auction will be online and those willing to place wagers will be allowed to do so using the Ethereum channel. The person with the highest bid will own the ownership right of the communication protocol that was used to wire the text.

Undoubtedly, Vodafone leads the pathway of innovation and discoveries across the telecom sector. Other telecom networks took nine years to come parallel to Vodafone in providing SMS services to customers. Now, by minting the world’s SMS text, Vodafone is once again paving the way for other firms to follow. NFTs are proving to be highly effective in transforming historical assets, tangible or intangible, into digital tokens that can be held for a lifetime.

Firms like Adidas, Nike, and many others are venturing into the Metaverse field to reap in the early benefits of the growing sector. Recently, Adidas announced the launch of an ‘Into the Metaverse’ NFT project while Nike took over RTFKT firm to explore the niche. The growing popularity of NFTs is playing a significant role in bringing crypto to the mainstream finance world with projects offering high returns to users.

 

 

SBI Group Unveils Crypto Asset Fund for Crypto Fans

Working as a top-tier financial services provider, SBI Group has announced the launch of a ‘crypto-asset fund’ dedicated fully to Japan-based crypto investors. Hailing from Tokyo, the SBI Group is all set to ease crypto trading for Japanese traders through its newly-launched fund. The crypto asset fund will support a basket of seven market-ruling cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple’s XRP, Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Chainlink (LINK), and Polkadot (DOT) to enhance the trading experience for the customers.

 The crypto asset fund was unveiled on December 2 with a capital investment of 5 million yen or approximately $45,000. The fund will be managed and operated by the SBI Alternative Fund. The official reports suggest that the firm might opt to release the capital in a series of smaller bunches of 1 million each. Those willing to make a purchase need to go through a dedicated application regime that includes an anonymous partnership pact with the SBI Alternative Fund. Only the customers who will satisfy the set standards of the firm shall be eligible for crypto purchases.

The investments made by the anonymous collaborations will be managed by the sister concern of the firm named SBI VC Trade. The company has clearly mentioned that none of the seven cryptocurrencies in the dedicated fund will surpass 20% in ratio. The crypto asset fund cannot be canceled between February 1, 2022, through January 31, 2023, i.e., one year. The investors will bear multiple expenses costs like audit costs, liquidation costs, establishment costs, etc. They will be subject to unrealized capital gains taxes too.

The fund will be open for investors falling in the age-group category of 20 years to 70 years and will have a three-month lock-in period for every trade. The firm will rebalance the investment ratio figures every month. The SBI Group recently invested in a Singapore-based Coinhako crypto exchange to fuel its expansion plans.

 

Uniswap v3 contracts deployment on Polygon approved with 99.3% consensus

The Uniswap community has given a positive nod for the governance proposal that allows the deployment of Uniswap v3 contracts across the Polygon PoS Chain. With the active participation of more than 72.6 million community users, the highly-anticipated approval was recorded in the form of an on-chain vote by Uniswap Labs. The firm planned to deploy Uniswap v3 contracts on the basis of the votes received which eventually turned out to be a 99.3% consensus hit.

As per the report, the deployment will be supported by a whopping $20 million worth fund. Here, $15 million will be reserved for long-term liquidity plans while $5 million will be used for the integration of Uniswap on Polygon’s MATIC blockchain channel. The proposal was released by Polygon CEO Mihailo Bjelic on November 20 and was open for voting purposes until December 18. With this integration, the spearhead is confident of achieving higher working efficiencies.

The deployment will allow Uniswap to expand the user base, increase savings for customers, better trading experience, higher earnings, etc. This will help the firm to achieve its goals and strengthen its position across the DeFi space. The CEO stated that this was the right time for Uniswap to deploy on the Polygon chain as the latter is the second most popular DeFi cluster presently. The chief is hopeful of expanding Uniswap adoption in the market, both on the technical and financial parlance.

The Polygon team is striving hard to maintain its position in the market by venturing with top-tier firms. The platform recently launched a $200 million worth project with venture capital firm, Seven Seven Six to support gaming applications designed using Polygon tools.