Thursday, December 15, 2022

Friday, 16th December 2022

The Daily Spin. (Wonder) Fruit Friday Edition. Its been a big week in crypto, and an even bigger year. We’re now officially 400 days into the bear market, and for the first time in history - the price of Bitcoin is lower than it was exactly 5 years ago. And by the time we reach Xmas it will confirm the longest crypto bear market on record. There’s so much that has happened in our industry in those 5 years, and that says volumes about the intrinsic value reflected in the prices today. It’s no wonder (fruit) what direction we are headed in.

Bitcoin and most alts took a dip as the FED announced its policy and the EU followed suit. Even so, Bitcoin has already outperformed many L1s in December including SOL, ETH, DOT, BNB, and ATOM. Interestingly enough, the number of Ethereum addresses has hit a new ATH. Tether adds over 1k new gambling-associated accounts, likely in tandem with the conclusion of a fantastic World Cup. Swissborg also saw a spike in new user accounts, to the tune of 3,800 in 24hrs. AVAX launches its core wallet on mobile. SEC vs Ripple case nears settlement, ending a four year litigation on its status as a security. And lots of good deep dives for your self-learning over this weekend…here is our round-up of curated news opinions (surely biased) from the world of Blockchain, keeping you informed of the most trending, in-the-know, and controversial topics. In the name of transparent, information dissemination to keep you curious, inspired, and clinically sane…

Ongoings at Coinweb

“Coinweb’s Cross-chain Routing System and Eliminating Platform Risk” a Thread by Anton on Twitter
https://twitter.com/coinwebofficial/status/1602615630879985664?s=46&t=yj1lrGctwO-5NBlfjKPvUg

Toby Interviewed at the Benzinga Future of Crypto Conference, Dec 7 (New York)
https://www.benzinga.com/markets/cryptocurrency/22/12/30022360/coinweb-is-making-a-splash-as-a-leading-layer-two-platform

World Blockchain Summit, Dec 8-9 (Bangkok)
https://coinweb.io/events/its-a-wrap-for-2022-world-blockchain-summit/

Latest Video Release: How Elon Musk Can Save Twitter with Crypto (4mins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p55fd1PdrqA

It’s OK to Meetup Bangkok 2022, Nov 27 (Bangkok)
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rukawin_thailand-blockchain-genesis-activity-7002871111134707712-YiCT?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

Crypto AM Summit and Awards, Nov 23-24 (London)
https://twitter.com/tobycoinweb/status/1595909263263662081?s=46&t=V-EQfqnAOG7fXAWZ3sMk1Q

“Understanding the Great Crypto Tradeoff” by Toby Gilbert
https://dailyhodl.com/2022/11/16/understanding-the-great-crypto-tradeoff/

“The Time is Now for Blockchain” article on Times of Malta
https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/time-now-blockchain-a2.994854

Toby’s full presentation at Token2049-London
https://youtu.be/pdtKx3vAs9c

Digital Assets Week, Nov 15-16
Toby joins “Tech for Institutional Grade Digital Assets” Panel with R3 and State Street
https://coinweb.io/events/london-invasion-part-2-digital-assets-week/

On the Radar

November CPI Inflation Data 7.1%, Dec 13
FOMC Interest Rate Decision 50 bps, Dec 14
US Retail Sales and Jobless Claims Data, Dec 15
US Services and Manufacturing PMI, Dec 16

PlayToEarn Blockchain Game Awards 2022 (Public Voting Dec 1-29)
https://cryptoslate.com/press-releases/playtoearn-blockchain-game-awards-2022-announced-with-10k-in-prizes/

Gam3 Awards, Dec 15 (Virtual)
https://cryptoslate.com/videos/gam3-awards-2022-official-livestream/

World Crypto Conference, Jan 13-15 (Zurich)
https://worldcryptoconference.org/

European Blockchain Convention, Feb 15-17 (Barcelona)
Interop Summit, Feb 20-22 (Miami)

On the Block(chain)

Active ETH addresses reach all-time high of 1.4M
https://cryptoslate.com/active-eth-addresses-reach-all-time-high-of-1-4m/

Bitcoin sinks 3.2% as Fed raises interest rates by 50 basis points
https://cryptoslate.com/bitcoin-sinks-3-2-as-fed-raises-interest-rates-by-50-basis-points/

Research: On-chain Bitcoin metrics show the bottom may not be in
https://cryptoslate.com/on-chain-bitcoin-metrics-show-the-bottom-may-not-be-in/

Pro-XRP Lawyer Forecasts End of Ripple Lawsuit As Rumors of Settlement Swirl
https://dailyhodl.com/2022/12/14/pro-xrp-lawyer-forecasts-end-of-ripple-lawsuit-as-rumors-of-settlement-swirl/

SBF claims law firm Sullivan & Cromwell pressured him into bankruptcy filing for legal, consultancy fees
https://cryptoslate.com/sbf-claims-law-firm-sullivan-cromwell-pressured-him-into-bankruptcy-filing-for-legal-consultancy-fees/

Competitive Landscape

Gambling-related USDT funds grow as 1k new online gambling websites use Tether
https://cryptoslate.com/gambling-related-usdt-funds-grow-as-1k-new-online-gambling-websites-use-tether/

Avalanche’s Core Wallet Goes Mobile With Android Launch
https://decrypt.co/117114/avalanches-core-wallet-goes-mobile-android-launch

Bitcoin outperforms Layer 1s SOL, ETH, DOT, BNB, ATOM in December
https://cryptoslate.com/bitcoin-outperforms-layer-1s-sol-eth-dot-bnb-atom-in-december/

SushiSwap Head Chef discloses $5.2M budget for DAO operation in 2023
https://cryptoslate.com/sushiswap-head-chef-discloses-5-2m-budget-for-dao-operation-in-2023/

Kevin O’Leary says Binance put FTX out of business
https://cryptoslate.com/kevin-oleary-says-binance-put-ftx-out-of-business/

Binance Proof of Reserves fall by $3.5B in 24 hours
https://cryptoslate.com/binance-proof-of-reserves-fall-by-3-5b-in-24-hours/

CZ discusses FUD, rumors, and more in latest Twitter Space
https://cryptoslate.com/cz-discusses-fud-rumors-and-more-in-latest-twitter-space/

SwissBorg collects over 3,800 investors in 24 hours
https://cryptoslate.com/swissborg-collects-over-3800-investors-in-24-hours/

DeFi, dApp developer Core Business Holdings goes public in US through ARAX acquisition
https://cryptoslate.com/defi-dapp-developer-core-business-holdings-goes-public-through-arax-acquisition/

World

Congressman Tom Emmer alleges SEC Chairman Gensler was aware of FTX fraud
https://cryptoslate.com/congressman-tom-emmer-alleges-sec-chairman-gensler-was-aware-of-ftx-fraud/

CFTC considers Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether to be commodities
https://cryptoslate.com/cftc-considers-bitcoin-ethereum-tether-to-be-commodities/

SEC charges eight in $100M social media securities fraud
https://cryptoslate.com/sec-charges-eight-in-100m-social-media-securities-fraud/

Elizabeth Warren working on bipartisan bill to tackle crypto money laundering
https://cryptoslate.com/elizabeth-warren-working-on-bipartisan-bill-to-tackle-crypto-money-laundering/

Thought Leadership

A Deep Dive Into Zero-Knowledge Proofs and the Future of the Internet
https://www.notboring.co/p/aleo-can-you-keep-a-secret?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

The case for institutional-grade tools for DeFi
https://cryptoslate.com/the-case-for-institutional-grade-tools-for-defi/

Let's do some napkin math on withdrawals and EIP 4844
https://twitter.com/protolambda/status/1598308866915270660?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Japan’s New Semiconductor Foundry Rapidus Taps IBM For 2nm Process
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tiriasresearch/2022/12/12/japans-new-semiconductor-foundry-rapidus-taps-ibm-for-2nm-process/?utm_medium=browser_notifications&utm_source=pushly&utm_campaign=2537296&sh=b207d86b9e80

Umami v2 GLP Vaults — Initial Backtesting Results and Analysis
https://umamifinance.medium.com/umami-v2-glp-vaults-initial-backtesting-results-and-analysis-7bd2bf3838bc

What the nuclear fusion breakthrough means for our future
https://sea.mashable.com/life/22040/what-the-nuclear-fusion-breakthrough-means-for-our-future

https://preview.redd.it/fdnmk0sy376a1.png?width=828&format=png&auto=webp&s=8804ea73c91e46dc0c0f8e6acc94c91cb0332e20


LEND is able to accommodate the monetary requirements of individuals in addition to those of businesses and other organizations

LEND is able to accommodate the monetary requirements of individuals in addition to those of businesses and other organizations. The expansion of the TEN Finance Ecosystem has been proceeding in an extremely steady manner. Using a public protocol in one's own work without first obtaining permission from the protocol's developer does not constitute one the protocol's owner. Upon the introduction of the first BNB Chain, Ethereum, and Polygon-based lending platform, token holders will be entitled for a part of the network's revenues and fees. These profits and fees will be distributed proportionally. The Polygon BNB Chain is the engine that makes this platform go, so to speak. The interest rate pools on this website are computed with the use of an algorithm that takes into account the supply and demand for assets. Customers that are willing to put up market interest as collateral are able to borrow a wider variety of the things that are supported. LEND is a marketplace that allows users to lend and borrow bitcoin without having to negotiate specifics such as interest rates, loan terms, or collateral. Bitcoin can be used in the event that you need to borrow money. Because of this modification, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum can now be used to secure financial obligations such as loans.

#RealYield #ICO #CRYPTO #BITCOIN


SpiderWeb ($ARAC) - Quick Fundamentals - Security Features

Hey Spider-Mites,

Today, we will start off with a Quick Fundamental guide on the Security Features of SpiderWeb ($ARAC)! This will be a quick guide to highlight the key points and features within our security features for you to better understand just "How" we intend to protect the information, and "Why" it will be far more secure than the traditional methods used today!
This project was built with the aim to reduce both cost of traditional web hosting and traffic while maximizing focus on providing security as it has become a rampant issue amongst users, both business and personal alike!

Let's Begin!

Spiderweb ($ARAC), is/will be composed of self-built private nodes and public nodes of P2P resources, in essentially 3 tiers, to form a web of decentralized IDC infrastructure:

Tier Structure

For heightened security, Spiderweb ($ARAC) has a built in proactive/passive AI which monitors all traffic and also uses the same SHA256 encryption method as Bitcoin nodes, SO incase of failure or intrusion/hacking events, it will automatically relay and/or retrieve information between other nodes, so that data security is guaranteed! (see photos below!)

Your personal nodes (SDN - See White Paper for more details) will hold about 49% of you data, while the other 51% is fragmented on all other nodes within the network, and the process to rebuild ANY loss data from any POSSIBLE failure events will be easy as well so that users can operate without worry!

After SHA256 encryption fragments your data into 100 pieces, it will store it across 100 initial nodes across the network so, with these exciting and amazing features, you can be sure that you can go about your business with a peace of mind!

(SpiderWeb ($ARAC) will also incorporate an eco-friendly and energy-efficient consensus mechanism called "Proof of Use" (PoU), which will be used as a means of reward verification as well!)

(**See the NFT Collection Launch post for more details!**)

Thanks everyone for taking the time to understand our Security features! Once again, for a more detailed explanations of this, please visit our #WhitePaper here: https://discord.gg/TmhneY5SEu !
Hope everyone has a great day and let's weave a brighter future together!


Random whiskey thoughts from a BTC degen...

(My price points are referenced in CAD).

People always refer to ATH's, and the couple of crazy bullruns we had in the end of 2017, and once covid hit.

I don't think those bull runs are indicative of the real price of bitcoin. They are sexy sure, and everyone loves high flying numbers... But if you look at all time charts and cut out the mountain peaks, you see a real steady growth.

From prices before the bull run in 2020, bitcoin has doubled.

I don't know how to articulate it very well, but covid saw interest rates basically cut to 0%, and governments doing everything they could to keep the ball moving forward while facing a once in a hundred year crisis. If you expect trading scenarios like this to happen every couple of years you might be disappointed. (Is the price spike from the "halvening" or from the unprecedented fiscal management globally during a once in a century pandemic?)

I think the people that expect bitcoin to hit 100k-200k+ in the next bull run, are not factoring in extreme anomalies in market conditions.

Bitcoin was 5k before the 2017/18 bull run, and bitcoin was 10-15k in 2020 before the covid bull run, and now it's holding it's own in the 22-26k price range despite INCREDIBLY bearish events that sparked panic in the bitcoin / crypto world. I think this is really promising.

Sure, maybe bitcoin could go parabolic when aliens invade or some other unforeseen event happens, but... I think the:

  • 5k to 15k in 2 years and, 15k to 25k in 2 years

Is the most realistic value trajectory, which still makes it one of the most incredible stores of value and appreciating assets in our current times. Somewhere in the range of 80-150% growth every 2-3 years is fucking insane.

Anyways... I just wanted to give a realistic not "WHEN MY LAMBO!?!?!" take on the longterm gains on bitcoin.

if in 2024 it is 50k, and 2026 it is 100k, and 2028 200k, and 2030 400k, I am going to be one happy camper.


​Canada crypto regulation: Bitcoin ETFs, strict licensing and a digital dollar

https://cointelegraph.com/news/canada-crypto-regulation-bitcoin-etfs-strict-licensing-and-a-digital-dollar

In October, Toronto-based Coinsquare became the first crypto trading business to get dealer registration from the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC). That means a lot as now Coinsquare investors’ funds enjoy the security of the Canadian Investment Protection Fund in the event of insolvency, while the exchange is required to report its financial standing regularly.

This news reminds us about the peculiarities of Canadian regulation of crypto. While the country still holds a rather tight process of licensing the virtual asset providers, it outpaces the neighboring United States in its experiments with crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs), pension funds’ investments and central bank digital currency (CBDC) efforts.


Prepperrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

As widely expected, the Federal Open Market Committee increased its policy rate by 50 basis points to 4.25%-4.50% on Wednesday, as it downshifted from the 75 bps hikes of its previous four meetings. While that would appear to be a win for investors, the so-called "dot plot" was more of a concern. The Fed policymakers' median projection now sees the federal funds target range rising to 5.1% next year - a level last seen in 2007 - compared with 4.6% in the central bank's September projection.

Quote: "We need to be honest with ourselves that there's inflation. 12-month core inflation is 6% CPI. That's three times our 2% target. Now it's good to see progress, but let's just understand we have a long ways to go to get back to price stability," Fed Chair Jerome Powell said during a press conference. "I don’t think anyone knows whether we’re going to have a recession or not, and, if we do, whether it’s going to be a deep one or not. It’s just - it’s not knowable... The historical record cautions strongly against prematurely loosening policy. We will stay the course, until the job is done."

All three major U.S. stock indices retreated following the announcement, erasing gains from earlier in the session. By the end of the day, the Nasdaq slipped 0.8%, and the S&P 500 and Dow fell 0.6% and 0.4%, respectively, while more losses are in store premarket. Rate hikes are tricky in the sense that monetary policymakers may not know for another year if they have tightened too much or not enough (economists call those effects long and variable lags).

Commentary: "The Federal Reserve's decision to reduce the pace of rate hikes to 50 bps marks the beginning of the end of this rate hike cycle," said SA contributor Ahan Vashi. "However, a reduction in pace of rate hikes is not a pivot, and the Fed's quantitative tightening program is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. With the Fed tightening into a deeply inverted treasury yield curve, the near-term environment should be risk-off. Hence, equity markets could see increased volatility in upcoming weeks." (217 comments)

Cashing out

Elon Musk's Tesla (TSLA) stock selling spree is going into Ludicrous Mode despite many pledges to the contrary. The high-flying CEO sold another $3.6B worth of shares this week, during a three-day span in which Tesla hit its lowest level since late 2020. The stock is now down 60% YTD, with a market cap below the half-trillion dollar mark, as investors grow concerned over Musk's distraction from Tesla following his $44B acquisition of Twitter.

For the last time: "No further TSLA sales planned after today," Elon Musk tweeted on April 28, implying that was the last financing needed to take over Twitter. The billionaire made a similar pledge in August, as he offloaded another 7.9M shares worth around $6.9B, saying it was "important to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock in the (hopefully unlikely) event that Twitter forces this deal to close and some equity partners don't come through." Well, the deal closed in October, but Musk sold another $4B worth of shares anyway (in November), and he continues to sell by the billions.

"I will make sure Tesla shareholders benefit from Twitter long-term," Musk tweeted overnight following his latest stock sale, but criticism continues to grow about his guarantees and assurances. "My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk," Musk promised a month ago, only to pull the plug on the account on Wednesday as Twitter updated its Private Information policy. Don't forget that at the end of 2021, Musk cashed out 15.8M of Tesla shares, worth about $16B, to help pay a reported $11B tax bill after polling his followers.

From the SA comments section: "Looking back at the beginning of this debacle, it seems so clear now that this would end poorly for everyone, especially TSLA shareholders," wrote user dschrenk. "Once it was known that he used TSLA stock to collateralize the loan to buy TWTR, the writing was on the wall. Any strong drop in price for TSLA itself would trigger a margin call for Elon, requiring him to sell shares in order to maintain compliance. This selling would/could be seen as bearish, causing longs to sell and bears to build short positions. This, in turn, would cause the PA of TSLA to drop further, triggering a margin call, requiring selling of shares. Rinse and repeat." (220 comments)

Trading overhaul

The Securities and Exchange Commission just laid out four proposals that could result in the biggest changes to the way stocks are traded since 2005. Chair Gary Gensler said the adjustments would increase transparency and competition in retail stock trading, affording similar opportunities enjoyed by high-speed trading firms. The proposals range from order routing and pricing to disclosures that brokers must make to clients.

Market movement: Shares in Virtu Financial (VIRT), which handles stock trading orders for popular brokers through a payment-for-order-flow (PFOF) process, slumped 6.4% on the news on Wednesday. Related brokers also felt a squeeze like Robinhood (HOOD) -2.8%, E-Trade (MS) -2.4% and Interactive Brokers (IBKR) -1%, as well as smaller premarket losses for TD Ameritrade (SCHW), Charles Schwab (SCHW) and Cash App (SQ). Retail brokers currently route more than 90% of marketable orders of individual investors through a small group of off-exchange dealers, or wholesalers, the SEC noted in its FAQ document.

The new proposals put more pressure on firms that engage in PFOF, but don't ban the practice outright. An order competition rule would require certain equity orders of retail investors to be subject to competition in "fair and open auctions before such orders could be executed internally by any trading center that restricts order-by-order competition." Another proposal would seek to change certain rules to adopt variable minimum pricing increments for stock quoting and trading in the National Market System, reduce access fee caps and enhance the transparency of better priced orders.

Go deeper: Market middlemen who trade billions of shares a year base their business on selling shares for a fraction higher than they bought them, meaning the new set of regulatory requirements may weigh on their earnings (or as they say, could harm traders). "Some of the SEC's proposed changes stand to resurrect discriminatory barriers to entry and hurt millions of retail investors," Robinhood Deputy General Counsel Lucas Moskowitz said in a statement. "The SEC should not be playing politics with individual Americans' ability to improve their financial lives." (15 comments)

Running dry

Despite some recent storms in the Sierra Nevada and Central Valley, the nation's largest water supplier has declared a drought emergency for all of Southern California. The Metropolitan Water District of SoCal supplies water to 26 agencies that provide major population centers like Los Angeles and San Diego counties, but each one of them will now have to voluntarily cut down on imported supplies. If significant rainfall doesn't materialize this winter, mandatory water restrictions are likely to be issued in April that could impact 19M Americans.

Backdrop: Earlier this year, the water district declared a drought emergency for 7M people that mostly depend on the State Water Project, which involves a complex system of dams and reservoirs. The limits varied based on locality, but prohibited many households from irrigating their lawns more than once a week to preserve enough supplies for people to cover their basic needs. According to California estimates, outdoor and landscape watering account for half of all of the state's urban water use, making its conservation one of the most important tools to combat the drought conditions.

"Some Southern Californians may have felt somewhat protected from these extreme conditions over the past few years. They shouldn't anymore. We are all affected," declared Gloria Gray, chair of the Metropolitan Water District's Board.

Outlook: California authorities have urged people to recycle water, take shorter showers, and only run dishwashers and washing machines when full, but the messaging has fallen on deaf ears. If the drought continues, state and local water officials will have to make big investments in infrastructure, like expensive recycling and desalination technology, or risk a longer list of expanding restrictions.

Related stocks: American Water Works (NYSE:AWK), Consolidated Water (NASDAQ:CWCO), Energy Recovery (NASDAQ:ERII), Xylem (NYSE:XYL), Invesco S&P Global Water Index ETF (NYSEARCA:CGW) and Invesco Water Resources Portfolio ETF (NASDAQ:PHO). Post other ideas in the comments section.

Today's Markets

In Asia, Japan -0.4%. Hong Kong -1.6%. China -0.3%. India -1.4%. In Europe, at midday, London -0.5%. Paris -1.3%. Frankfurt -1.2%. Futures at 6:30, Dow -0.8%. S&P -1.1%. Nasdaq -1.4%. Crude -0.1% to $77.17. Gold -1.8% to $1786.50. Bitcoin -0.8% to $17,673. Ten-year Treasury Yield -2 bps to 3.48%

Today's Economic Calendar

8:30 Initial Jobless Claims 8:30 Philly Fed Business Outlook 8:30 Retail Sales 8:30 Empire State Mfg Survey 9:15 Industrial Production 10:00 Business Inventories 10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory 4:00 PM Treasury International Capital 4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet

Companies reporting earnings today »

What else is happening...

Swiss central bank hikes rates to counter 'further spread of inflation.'

Delta Air Lines (DAL) rises on stronger than expected forecasts.

Microsoft (MSFT) sets new investment in $3B silicon battery startup.

FTX lawsuits show how the U.S. can police overseas crypto exchanges.

SPAC Digital World (DWAC) gains on 'major announcement' by Trump.

HBO Max's (WBD) shows find home on free ad-supported services.

Verizon (VZ) opens 'Plus Play' hub with Netflix (NFLX) promotion.

New 'Buy the Dip' ETF uses AI tech to target oversold stocks.


Realized losses from FTX collapse peaked at $9B, far below earlier crises

Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis has attempted to put the FTX collapse into perspective — comparing peak weekly-realized losses in the wake of the exchange’s collapse compared to previous major crypto collapses in 2022.

The Dec. 14 report found the depegging of Terra USD (UST) in May saw weekly-realized losses peak at $20.5 billion, while the subsequent collapse of Three Arrows Capital and Celsius in June saw weekly-realized losses peak at $33 billion.

In comparison, weekly realized losses during the FTX saga peaked at $9 billion in the week starting Nov. 7, and have been reducing weekly since.

Also Read : FTX Bahamas co-CEO Ryan Salame blew the whistle on FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried

Chainalysis said the data suggests that by the time the FTX debacle took place in November, investors have already been hit with the “heaviest” crypto events this year.

“The data […] suggests that as of now, the heaviest hitting [crypto] events were already behind investors by the time the FTX debacle took place.”

The analytics firm calculated total realized losses by looking at personal wallets and measuring the value of assets as they were acquired and subtracting the value of these assets at the time they were sent elsewhere.

However, the data may still have overestimated realized losses, as it counted any movement from one wallet to another as a sale event. Chainalysis aalso noted that the chart doesn’t take other statistics into account, such as user funds stored on FTX’s exchange which are frozen.

“We can’t assume that any cryptocurrency sent from a given wallet is necessarily going to be liquidated, so think of these numbers as an upper bound for realized gains of a given wallet,” it explained.

While Chainalysis’ data covers realized losses, on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant recently shared data on how net unrealized losses for Bitcoin (BTC) was impacted following the FTX collapse.

Read More The Spuzz.com


Mastodon: What it offers, why it's valuable, how it can benefit GameStop investors

I have pinned a copy of this post on my reddit user profile in case this post inevitably gets taken down because somebody out there didn't like it.

TLDRS:

Mastodon is a fun and refreshing social media platform that offers an exciting and optimistic future.

Although not without flaws, it offers no ads, no corporation can censor you, and misinformation is minimal or nonexistent thus far -- by design, it will more effectively keep out spammers of misinformation.

In this regard, it is in numerous ways superior to Reddit and other social media platforms, and provides a high quality space where the GameStop and DRS conversation can continue, regardless of what happens on superstonk, Reddit as a whole, or elsewhere.

Give it a try, you might just like it.

Disclaimer

my brain is smooth but my hands are diamond.

Introduction

Good day everyone,

I would like to take some time today to discuss an opportunity that Mastodon presents.

What is Mastodon?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastodon_(social_network))

Mastodon is a federated twitter clone. It looks and feels kind of like twitter, but underneath it is designed very differently.

Whereas Twitter is a social network that belongs to and is 100% controlled by a central authority (Twitter, Inc.), and by extension it therefore belongs to the 1 person that owns Twitter,

Mastodon is federated like email is federated -- any person or organization can run their own email server if they wanted to, and essentially all email servers are interoperable with all other email servers.

Any person or any organization can run their own Mastodon server (just like with email, there are some costs involved, explained further down), and any Mastodon server is interoperable with any other Mastodon server.

By this design, anyone can look through the directory of open Mastodon servers (aka instances) and sign up on one, and participate with any other user from any other Mastodon instance.

in this post the words 'server' and 'instance' will be used interchangeably as they are synonymous in this context.

Power & Control

Mastodon has gained much attention in the last few months because of events happening over at Twitter. Many Twitter users have quit Twitter and moved over to Mastodon.

https://preview.redd.it/gxxllemlm16a1.png?width=480&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=d00add905042d52bc70a0fd64cf847f4205b9953

https://www.wired.com/story/the-man-behind-mastodon-eugen-rochko-built-it-for-this-moment/
"People fleeing Twitter have turned to Eugen Rochko’s alternative. He says social networks can support healthy debate—without any one person in control."

This is really the key point about Mastodon: it's all about control. it's all about power.

Why did Mr. CarCompanyCEO purchase Twitter? Was it because, as the former richest person in the world, this would somehow give him more money?

Why did Mr. former StoreCompanyCEO purchase Washington Post? Was it because, as the former richest person in the world, he was in the pursuit of more money?

When you're the richest person in the world, you already have an unfathomable amount of money. you don't need more money. what you need and what you crave is more power.

money is a subset of power. power is the ultimate currency, not money.

Power over information is a form of power.

Twitter and WaPo (and Reddit, etc.) are information sources that create and have sway over what people believe to be the truth. This is power. Control over these information machines is a form of power.

the purchase of these powerful information machines is an act of accumulating more personal power for themselves. They want to wield power similar to the way that for decades Faux news owners have wielded power.

In the modern age, the power to control the feed of information to an audience in the way that Twitter or Reddit or Facebook or Instagram or YouTube can do, is an incredible form of power that has also demonstrated to be quite profitable when you combine large audiences and advertisements.

Strong cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereum are permissionless pieces of software that gives control of money to the node operators in decentralized fashion,

in a similar way, Mastodon is a permissionless piece of software that gives control of social media directly to the operators of the servers/instances in a decentralized fashion.

Imagine a social media network where you, the instance operator, have power and control over the flow of information that you see in your own feed. Mastodon is this.

There are no for-profit interest or other interests embedded in the algorithm that is feeding you content.

Even a non-instance operator has a great deal more control over their own feed on Mastodon than on other platforms.

Comparison to other platforms

Platform Mastodon Reddit Twitter Facebook Instagram YouTube
Active user count ~ 2 to 8 million ~ 50 million ~ 250 million ~ 3 billion ~ 1 billion ~ 2 billion
Ads? No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Corporate censorship? No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Rampant misinformation and propaganda? No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Owned by nobody Reddit Inc. Twitter Inc. Meta Platforms Meta Platforms Alphabet, Inc.
Moderated by Unpaid instance operators and their unpaid mods paid admins, unpaid mods paid admins paid admins paid admins paid admins
Purpose of existence is to serve the interests of: instance operators and the participants the owners the owners the owners the owners the owners
Interests served: community conversation and participation profits profits / single owner's ambition profits / primary owner's ambition profits / primary owner's ambition profits
Software Usage Free and open source proprietary owned proprietary owned proprietary owned proprietary owned proprietary owned
Cost to sign up Free Free Free Free Free Free
Cost for a 'premium' account n/a n/a $8 to $12 / month n/a n/a $12 / month
Cost to operate an instance ~ $100 / month n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a

Twitter the social media platform is controlled by Twitter Inc which is ultimately controlled by 1 individual.

Twitter is a for-profit entity that exists to serve the interests of the 1 person that owns Twitter.

Reddit the social media platform is controlled by Reddit Inc which is beholden to present owners and potentially future investors (wen IPO??)

Reddit is a for-profit entity that exists to serve the interests of Reddit Inc and therefore the investors that own Reddit Inc.

Because Reddit in the future will be trying to court investors to their IPO, Reddit must necessarily operate a social media platform that has control over what information is permissible in order to appeal to big corporate investors who will demand this.

Facebook and Instagram the social media platforms are controlled by Meta Platforms, Inc., and are beholden to the shareholders, particularly the 1 controlling shareholder.

Facebook and Instagram are for-profit entities that exist to serve the interests of the shareholder(s) that own them.

Mastodon the social media platform is a free and open-source piece of software that is controlled by the many Mastodon server administrators that host the Mastodon servers.

Mastodon is not controlled by 1 individual, it is not controlled by 1 organization or 1 body of power. It is controlled by the community of thousands of operators that are running it. That could include you!

Mastodon is a piece of free and open source software that exists to serve the interests of the participants that use it.

One of these social media platforms is not like the others.

What does this have to do with GameStop investors?

Regarding r/superstonk

As I am sure everyone here understands, r/superstonk has been a special place where we have been so graciously 'permitted' by our benevolent reddit overlords to continue our free and open discussions around our favorite company including discussions about the importance of directly registering our shares of this company.

This business we're involved in of DRSing our shares of GME is starting to bring some heat here as I am sure many of you can attest to.

Obviously, by the very nature of DRSing GME, we are taking power away from any entity out there that is naked short GME, and naturally this scares those parties. I'd be scared too if I was in as bad of a position as them.

The act of DRSing millions of shares of GME is a serious and present *existential threat* to numerous parties out there, powerful parties, and therefore naturally this subreddit, which is where these conversations are being allowed to happen, is under serious attack, inside and out by incumbent power holding entities.

Inside of this subreddit, we aren't allowed to mention other subreddit names because that's considered brigading.

We typically aren't allowed to represent ourselves in any way outside of this subreddit because that is also considered brigading.

We have been effectively siloed, coincidentally or not, to the benefit of those parties that are naked short on GME.

Outside of this subreddit, we are frequently called cultists, conspiracy theorists, bagholders, etc., these kinds of words are deliberately deployed to scare otherwise unsuspecting users to look at this community through the lens of Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt.

"Don't go to superstonk, you'll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy."

We aren't allowed to make much of a defense of our case outside this subreddit, because it causes too much friction that Reddit doesn't like, Reddit considers such behavior to be brigading.

Thus perpetuating our isolation, perpetuating a divide between legitimate investors of GameStop, and everyone else. Again, coincidentally, or not, to the benefit of those parties that are naked short on GME.

Those entites that are naked short GME don't want the critical conversation of DRS GME to seep out beyond the contained community of "cultists" and "bagholders".

My own perspective as a long time Reddit user and member of superstonk since its inception:

I have personally been permabanned from as many as 5 other subreddits in the last year for no reason other than I made a pro-GameStop or anti-Ken Griffin comment. Some true facts (e.g. something about a bed post) are not tolerated outside of this subreddit and have resulted in my permaban.

It doesn't help that I have a purple DRS circle as my profile picture, clearly putting a target on myself outside of this subreddit. Oh well. To me it's worth it because I believe in the educational value of DRS and if even 1 otherwise unknowing but curious-minded person sees "DRS" and asks themselves what that means and subsequently goes digging, I consider this to be a victory.

Prior to putting my profile picture as a purple DRS circle, I can't recall a single time that I was permabanned from any subreddit in my 12+ years on Reddit. Things have changed over the years.

Personally, I for one am tired of depending on the good graces of the reddit overlords to continue to so benevolently permit me to talk openly about true facts regarding GameStop, DRS, criminal naked short selling by individuals such as Ken Griffin and others, etc.

meanwhile our freedom to continue having these conversations here continues to get eroded, inside the subreddit we're getting scolded for our ostensible misbehavior, we continue to get insulted outside of this subreddit, we continue to get permabanned outside of this subreddit,

I'm tired of the subreddit that I care about getting attacked by hostile external agitators, and then being blamed and being made to feel bad for behavior that I know that myself and the vast majority of legitimate investors of GameStop from this subreddit are not participating in.

I'm tired of requiring anyone's permission to discuss the truth, and this is why I believe in Mastodon.

Mastodon is a piece of software that is providing open freedom of communication to currently over 8 million accounts and growing. (source: https://bitcoinhackers.org/@mastodonusercount)

There is no corporate entity that lords above that can control or otherwise neuter a conversation.

This is an opportunity for GameStop investors to find freedom to discuss the very import DRS in new fertile ground uncorrupted by corporate interests.

Join a Mastodon server

Server list:

https://joinmastodon.org/servers

Running a Mastodon Server

Running your own instance:

https://docs.joinmastodon.org/user/run-your-own/

"Why would you want to run your own Mastodon server?

-Absolute control over your own voice on the web, not subject to anyone else’s rules or whims. Your server is your property, with your rules. It will exist as long as you want it to exist.

-You are not isolated on your own server. You can follow anyone on any other server, and they can follow you and you can exchange messages just like if you were on the same server.

-You can either limit sign-ups to be the only one on the server and run it like personal (micro)blog, maintain an invite-only community for family or friends or run a server anyone can sign up on, it’s up to you!"

Requirements to operate a server:

-a domain name (~ $10 to $20+ per year)

-a server to run the Mastodon server software, (e.g. ~ $25 / month with DigitalOcean)

-an email provider (e.g. $30 / month for Mailgun)

-optional (but in practice a requirement for any instance more than 100 users): storage service such as Amazon S3 bucket (anywhere from $10 to $200+ per month depending on user count).

The biggest costs involved with running an instance are the storage / bandwidth (e.g. Amazon S3 bucket)

By my rough estimates:

Total cost to run an instance that could host approximately 1 to 100 users: < $100 / month

Total cost to run an instance that could host approximately 1,000 users: $100 / month

Total cost to run an instance that could host approximately 10,000 users: $200 / month.

Total cost to run an instance that could host approximately 100,000 userse: $2000 / month.

Vulnerabilities with Mastodon

The antagonists that are hostile to legitimate DRS'd investors of GameStop here on Reddit will continue to be hostile to us wherever we go. This includes Mastodon.

They will use the same tactics that they are currently using to destroy superstonk to try and destroy any presence that legitimate GameStop investors may form on Mastodon.

Mastodon cannot stop people from spewing hatred, it cannot stop people from impersonating others online, it cannot stop people or hostile entities from spreading propaganda and misinformation.

But, by design it can do a far better job of managing these problems than current social media platforms can.

- The Playbook to Destroy the Presence of Legitimate GameStop Investors on Mastodon

So you're running an open Mastodon instance called LegitGME in order to serve conversations about DRS GME and similar?

As a hostile antagonist that is naked short on GME, I don't like this. Not one bit.

I am going to slowly but surely accumulate new accounts on your Mastodon instance to be used at some future time, building their presence to appear as if they are real human people and not sockpuppet accounts.

Then, one day, when the time is right, when I need to take a strike at your instance, I use these numerous accounts and I start agitating.

I start sending hateful filth to members of other Mastodon instances all over the place.

Naturally, this hateful filth will be reported to the moderators / administrators of those other instances.

The administrators of those instances will soon see a clear pattern: suddenly we're getting all kinds of reports of abuse from accounts from this one specific instance on Mastodon called LegitGME.

Easy solution for them: LegitGME is now blocked on those instances.

One by one, I will antagonize members of big popular Mastodon instances, so that one by one your instance of LegitGME gets blocked by them.

Your instance and all of your members within it are now shut out, disconnected, isolated, siloed from some large percentage of the overall Mastodon network.

I continue to push this sentiment with #fediblock, sort of like what happened recently with RaspberryPi (https://medium.com/@jmproffitt/the-raspberry-pi-social-media-incident-shows-some-mastodon-admins-need-more-moderation-chops-afa3b00be90b), in order to try and create a larger reaction.

Suddenly, other instances take it upon themselves to pre-emptively ban the LegitGME instance, because why would they want your instance which keeps spewing filth to be permitted to show up in their network?

LegitGME is now siloed and a known toxic instance. Everyone now knows to stay away from LegitGME because it is a wretched hive of scum and villainy.

Mission accomplished.

Countermeasures

One countermeasure to this behavior is to only allow joining by invitation and not open signup. This will keep out antagonists, but it also necessarily adds friction for otherwise legitimate users to gain access. A small but perhaps ultimately necessary price to pay to keep your instance in good standing.

An even better countermeasure than having an instance and simply utilizing invite-only signup, would be for other committed DRS'd investors of GameStop that care about the DRS GME conversation, to take it upon themselves to run their own instance.

enter the Hydra

The very reason I made this post was to get to this point.

I would like you to try and put yourself in the shoes of your opponent that is naked short on GME.

Your very existence as a rich and successful finance person that steals money for a living is at stake because GameStop might succeed, and so naturally you have been doing absolutely everything in your power to try and destroy the credibility of legitimate GameStop investors.

It is paramount to try and stop the conversation about DRS GME. Superstonk, where most of the action happens, has successfuly been isolated from the rest of reddit, and is now undergoing a phase of deliberate agitation for the ultimate hope of getting it nuked by the reddit admins.

Excellent, everything according to plan. I may just survive this whole GameStop thing.

But wait, Oh shit!

a small group of those GameStop investors all just banded under a Mastodon instance. This is bad. Time to deploy the previously described Playbook to Destroy the Presence of Legitimate GameStop Investors on Mastodon.

Surely this will work to isolate that instance and prevent the conversation about DRS GME from seeping out into the rest of Mastodon.

But wait, Oh shit!!!!

Now there are 10 mastodon instances, each one operated by a committed diamond-handed DRS'd shareholder of GameStop. Each instance supporting the conversations around DRS GME and related conversations.

Every time we take one down, 2 more pop up! Other real human people on Mastodon are learning about GameStop and DRS GME and this is the absolute worst thing that can happen to me, a hedgie that is naked short GME.

I, the hedgie, am now fuk.

this author, a Mastodon instance operator

I am but one legitimate, committed, diamond-handed XXXX DRS'd holder of GME, and I operate a Mastodon instance for the purpose of creating a place that can support conversations about DRS GME and anything related.

I do cordially invite anyone reading this to join my instance (info can be found in my reddit profile).

Using the rough pricing estimates above, I know for certain that I cannot afford (at least not pre-moass), to host all of the 800,000+ members of r/superstonk. I could not afford to host 200,000 users (the approximate number of directly registered holders of GME).

Realistically, I suspect that I'll probably be able to support somewhere around 10,000 users per month pre-moass.

But even if I had the means to easily support all 200,000 DRS'd shareholders of GME or more, for one thing I would not want to have that responsibility and for another thing no one person should be entrusted with such responsibility.

The mods of superstonk that are actual supporters of GameStop: bless their hearts. it's a tough thankless job. I would not want that job at all for a large community such as this, but I do accept that job in a much smaller community on my own instance of Mastodon.

Far better than 1 person hosting 200,000 people on 1 server would be for 20 people to each host 10,000 people each on 20 servers,

or even better yet, 200 people hosting 1000 members each, on 200 servers. and so on.

Mastodon is a tool that gives legitimate investors of GameStop the power to do this. Mastodon offers a path forward in the world of social media that is decentralized. The more decentralized that the information is, the more difficult it becomes to censor and control it.

I want to give legitimate investors of GameStop the freedom that Mastodon provides, but I cannot do it alone.

A Mastodon instance that you operate doesn't even have to be specifically about GameStop or DRS, it could be a server for the purpose of something tangentially related, such as video games, or something totally unrelated like sports, it's your server after all, you can do whatever you want with it.

But regardless of the primary subject matter of your server, it would still be a major benefit to the decentralized community of legitimate GameStop investors to have more instance operators out there that open-minded and favorable to conversations related to GameStop on their server.

Responsibilities

Regarding vulnerabilities and methods by which opponents of GameStop will try and do whatever they can to hurt our ability to carry out an open and truthful conversation about DRS GME,

By becoming a Mastodon instance operator and by defining your Mastodon instance as a place that is supportive of conversations regarding GameStop and DRS, you will be putting a target on your instance and yourself, as you will be in opposition to those parties out there that are naked short on GME.

As previously discussed, the safest way to keep antagonists out is to have an invite-only instance.

As a Mastodon instance operator, you are responsible for your members. If members of your instance start behaving inappropriately, as discussed previously, you risk your instance being #fediblocked, isolated from the larger decentralized network, an outcome that those parties that are naked short on GME would benefit from.

This is the brave new decentralized future, and it comes with responsibility. A small cost to pay for the reward of freedom that is provided that cannot be replicated on any of the major corporate-owned social media platforms.

Skepticism and antagonism towards this post

Skepticism is a good thing and if you aren't interested in Mastodon then that is your prerogative. I'm not asking anyone to do anything they don't want to do, I'm just here to share an idea for those that might be interested.

Having said this, as already mentioned, the very notion of legitimate GameStop investors finding new avenues to continue to carry on truthful open conversations about DRS GME represents an existential threat to those parties that are naked short on GME and therefore this idea will naturally attract that antagonism. They like it when all conversations regarding DRS GME are isolated to one or a few communities and not trying to expand beyond.

I have in the past tried to promote the idea of creating and fostering backup communities for members of superstonk (e.g. WT Social) , and every time I do it is met with at least some amount of antagonism that wants to cast fear, uncertainty, and doubt on the idea.

For example: Mastodon instance operators can see the email addresses of the members that sign up on that instance. Somebody once accused me of having the malicious intent of trying to harvest email addresses.

This, in my opinion, is not only ridiculous but its a non-issue for the simple reason that if you are concerned about giving away your email address to somebody then you can easily go and obtain a free email address from one of the many mail providers out there. My personal suggestion is Protonmail.

While most people are generally supportive of good ideas, I am expecting some amount antagonism towards this post and even for it to inevitably be removed, because I am quite certain that it's going to rustle the jimmies of the same people that are here every day trying to destroy superstonk.

Concluding Remarks

For nearly 2 years, legitimate investors of GameStop have been under constant attack, inside and outside of this subreddit. This subreddit has been a great place to allow really good conversations to happen and crucial pieces of information to be shared with others. This subreddit is the place where it became truth that DRS GME is the way. However, I know I'm not the only one that can feel that this subreddit might not still be there for us in the not-too-distant future. How can we count on the admins of Reddit Inc. to look out for our interests at the expense of their interests? We can't, and it would be foolish to do so. We can only depend on ourselves to look out for our own interests, and along came Mastodon, presenting an opportunity to try a new avenue, one with the significant defining feature that no central authority can censor you.

Running a Mastodon instance does take work to set up that might require some relevant IT skills, but if I can do it then so can you. Anyone here that does decide to run their own instance: if you need any help along the way, DM me and I'll do what I can for you.

As for me, I am motivated by something that the chairman of my favorite company said not too long ago: Ask not what your company can do for you, ask what you can do for your company.


Reddit Collectible Avatars: What Are They?

Reddit Collectible Avatars: What Are They?

https://darp.coinunited.io/reddit-collectible-avatars-what-are-they-83/

Reddit Collectible Avatars, the website's first native NFT platform, was released not too long ago.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have been around since at least 2012, and many people believe that Colored Coins, which are fractions of a Bitcoin (or Satoshi) used to represent immutable digital or real-world assets on the Bitcoin blockchain, were the first NFTs.

The Rare Pepe memes, CryptoPunks, and CryptoKitties NFT collections are just a few examples of the new digital collectibles that will be available on the Ethereum blockchain in 2017.

One may make the case that NFTs finally hit the big volume in 2021, when sales hit $24.9 billion, a staggering 261x increase from the $94.9 million recorded the previous year. It ushered in the rise of NFT markets like OpenSea and its many imitators, the record-breaking $69.3 million auction of digital art by crypto artist Beeple, "blue-chip" NFT collections like one inspired by monkeys, and countless knockoffs that might put the fake luxury market to shame.

Bear market conditions in the crypto market, with Bitcoin and Ethereum down over 70% and numerous altcoins down 90%, dampened demand for NFTs as the eventful (and we don't mean it in a nice way) year 2022 unfolded.

The dollar volume of sales of NFTs has been steadily declining since the beginning of the year, plummeting by more than 80 percent.

Despite the gloom, the bear market hasn't dampened the enthusiasm for Reddit's NFT initiative, Reddit Collectible Avatar. Naturally, this raises the questions: what is the NFT project on Reddit, how does it function, and why has it generated so much interest?

<h2>Collectible Avatars on Reddit, What Are They?</h2>

Since its inception in 2005, the social network site has become a metaverse in its own right, consisting of hundreds of specialized sub-forums known as subreddits.

To give you an idea of how massive Reddit is, consider that 52 million people use it every day. For this reason, the June 2021 announcement of Reddit's NFT intentions caused quite a stir. In retrospect, it appears that the 2021 launch was an attempt to test the waters before going all in on NFTs. Reddit, a year after the release of Cryptosnoos, has announced a more sophisticated NFT initiative that will eventually solidify its position as the leader in the NFT discussion.

The goal of this project, which was given the name Reddit Limited Collectible Avatars, was to provide digital collectibles that work with the Reddit platform. Vaults is Reddit's native Ethereum-compatible wallet, where users may store their Collectible Avatars, which they can then use for profile images and other purposes.

In its second effort at launching an NFT initiative, the social network does away with the terminology, instead promoting the tokens as "collectibles" while allowing the underlying NFT and blockchain technology do the heavy lifting. In addition, unlike the CryptoSnoos NFTs, which are solely offered on OpenSea, these NFTs were built specifically for the Reddit platform. All of the thirty or so collections of these collectable Avatars are presently sold out, and they were all made by independent designers from the Reddit community, namely the r/Comics and r/AdobeIllustrator subreddits. It's worth noting that unlike many ongoing NFT initiatives, all Reddit users may still make NFT-free, fully-customizable Avatars without any restrictions.

<h2>Just how do Reddit's collectible avatars function, exactly?</h2>

Despite Reddit's efforts to distance itself from the NFT classification, the site's digital treasures are, in reality, NFTs. So, they are similar to other NFTs in that they can be bought and sold and are limited in supply, all thanks to the distributed ledger technology. Each collectible avatar has its own unique characteristics and rarity.

This is obviously true, but Reddit has added features that make its NFTs more appealing. This means that there is no secondary market for NFTs. Furthermore, accessing, purchasing, or using these NFTs does not call for a deep familiarity with cryptocurrency or blockchain technology. To purchase an Avatar in your local fiat money, you need not even leave the Reddit platform or have cryptocurrency.

Find the Collectible Avatar Shop by going to your profile and then tapping the dropdown menu on the top right.

To learn more about these NFTs and make a purchase using traditional ways of payment like credit cards, click the "Shop" button in the resulting pop-up window.

However, you might need to go through a secondary market to get your hands on Reddit's Limited Collectible Avatar. In particular, you may buy these NFTs on OpenSea, a platform for buying and selling NFTs using cryptocurrency.

OpenSea requires the use of a crypto wallet such as MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, WalletConnect, and others in order to facilitate the purchase of Reddit Collectible Avatars and other NFTs.

In order to acquire and transfer the Collectible Avatar for this post, MetaMask was utilized. More precisely, the MetaMask and Reddit mobile app was used.

Start by visiting the Reddit Collectible Avatar collection page on OpenSea from the browser within the MetaMask mobile app.

After purchasing an NFT on OpenSea, you may link it to your Reddit profile by clicking the "Description" option once you've entered the NFT you own.

You'll be sent to the Reddit mobile app, where you'll be prompted to make a Reddit Vault, the site's in-app cryptocurrency wallet.

If you have an NFT and have it uploaded to your Reddit Vault, you can use it as your user icon. It's interesting to see how your illuminating effects affect your avatar as you submit replies. Reddit users with avatars are said to have access to a variety of exclusive community features. Collectible Avatar owners get "special profile treatment" and "special comment treatment on posts," according to the social network.

In addition, the income earned by the independent artist from the sale of these avatars on the primary market is given to the artist.

In addition, Polygon, a second-layer solution for Ethereum, serves as the blockchain backbone upon which Reddit's Collectible Avatar operates.

<h2>Scalability and Low Transaction Costs</h2>

The Ethereum network has the largest NFT market, however it has a number of issues, one of which is scalability. Ethereum provides the security and decentralization demanded by NFT advocates, but its slow transaction times discourage mainstream use at the moment.

Since this is the case, it shouldn't be surprising that Ethereum has had a history of network congestion, which typically results in extremely high transaction fees.

Despite positive developments like the Merge and EIP-1559, Ethereum's effectiveness is hindered in two major ways due to its lack of scalability. Two, Ethereum usage costs more, especially in times of heavy network activity.

This is why second-layer solutions like Polygon have been developing and deploying methods to boost Ethereum's performance. Typically, these approaches aim to reduce the load on Ethereum's underlying network by handling part of the computing needed to validate transactions in a separate layer. Polygon can handle up to 65,000 transactions per second, which is a significant increase from the 15 TPS provided by Ethereum's core network.

That's why it makes sense for Reddit to use a blockchain system that can accommodate high numbers of transactions without significantly increasing transaction costs.

<h2>Conservation of Natural Resources</h2>

An ongoing debate concerns the amount of power required by blockchains, in particular those that rely on the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus process. Businesses who are exploring blockchain technologies are, therefore, trying to reduce their environmental impact.

Polygon has committed $20 million to fund green projects, reduce its carbon footprint, and purchase more carbon credits in order to achieve its goal of becoming carbon-negative by 2022. Reddit claims that one of the reasons Polygon picked the blockchain as a platform for its infrastructure is the company's desire to build an environmentally friendly blockchain.

<h2>Best NFT threads on Reddit</h2>

These artists curate one-of-a-kind series of Collectible Avatars, each with its own distinct aesthetic.

Reddit's chief product officer, Pali Bhat, claims that more than 3 million people have made use of the Vault feature. About 2.5 million people have used these wallets to buy NFTs so far.

<h2>Do You Need to Keep an Eye on Reddit Collectible Avatars?</h2>

It is difficult to predict the long-term success of NFTs, but certain features of Reddit NFTs make them interesting to track.

It might be argued that the NFTs' value will rise over time due to the long size of the Reddit platform. A platform with over 430 million active monthly users can create the buzz necessary to encourage wide dissemination. The Reddit collectibles avatar would be one of the most successful NFT ventures ever if only a fourth of the monthly users bought and used them.

However, this can only occur if the avatars are desirable to own. In other words, the benefits of having these avatars within and outside of the Reddit ecosystem need to appeal to regular users. You may be asking if there are any applications, advantages, or exceptional circumstances that may lead to the value of Reddit NFTs increasing at an exponential rate.

<h2>An Infinite Variety of Rare Things</h2>

The ability to combine and exchange gears or qualities creates new opportunities and pushes the boundaries of rarity trading in exciting ways.

<h2>A Huge Potential market</h2>

Simply said, Reddit is an enormous platform. What this means is that the Reddit NFT initiative has what its rivals want most of all: a sizable user base.

<h2>Adhering to the Standard Methods of Advertising</h2>

Noticeably, in the post announcing the release of the Collectible Avatars, Reddit avoided using technical blockchain jargon in its marketing effort.

Instead, Reddit has labeled its wares "digital collectable avatars," which is likely to put potential customers at ease. Also, the fact that these NFTs may be bought using local currency increases their use for the common consumer.

<h2>Possible Future Use as Antique NFTs</h2>

Because new Reddit avatars will be published throughout time, the genesis collection may grow increasingly uncommon and costly as long as the Reddit platform is in use.

<h2>Joint Efforts Between Businesses</h2>

There is a potential here that other businesses may take use of, depending on how popular Reddit Collectible Avatars grow. In order to gauge the practicality of their NFT solutions, companies may collaborate with Reddit and leverage the platform's current user base. A fashion company, for instance, may release NFT-based apparel on Reddit in order to gauge consumer interest.

<h2>New Uses of Blockchain Technology</h2>

The addition of new features will provide consumers further incentive to acquire these avatars.

You shouldn't take anything in this post as financial advice, and it's not meant to be.