December 10, 2021

Welcome to the Netcoins weekly crypto news update!

This week has many exciting blockchain-related stories, starting with JPMorgan’s recent NFTs already listed for 420 ETH. 

Next, we cover how Ethereum miners have outpaced Bitcoin miners for over half a year, CIA’s recent statement alluding to crypto-related projects, Ubisoft de-listing their NFT integration video, and WhatsApp integrates crypto payments directly into its messaging platform.

All of that and more on this edition of the weekly crypto news update. 

JPMorgan Gives Away NFTs at an Event, With One Now Listed for 420 ETH

JPMorgan launches NFTs to attendees of its first “Crypto Economy Forum for TradFi Investors” event, held at the Wall Street giant’s New York headquarters this week.

While none of the NFTs have traded so far, one of the 69 owners of the collection has put one up for sale for 420 ETH, according to OpenSea.

JPMorgan’s  NFT collection was minted on Ethereum layer 2 network Polygon. 

This is not the first bank to issue NFTs for a commemorative occasion – Bank of America launched their own collection only a month ago. 

Ethereum Miners Outpaces Bitcoin Miners in Revenue for Seven Consecutive Months

As of November, Ethereum mining revenue outperforms that of Bitcoin for the seventh consecutive month.

In November, Bitcoin miners earned $2.15 billion Canadian – a 2% decrease month-over-month. Conversely, Ethereum miners saw revenue of $2.53 billion Canadian – an 11.8% increase compared to October. Overall, Ethereum miners earned 1.18 times the revenue of Bitcoin miners in November, in dollar terms.

The disparity in the two top cryptocurrencies didn’t stop at just mining activities. ETH was also able to outperform BTC this year in price increases – ETH is up almost 500% versus BTC’s gain of over 70%.

CIA Working on Cryptocurrency Projects

CIA  Director William Burns confirms that the civilian foreign intelligence service runs several cryptocurrency projects.

During the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Summit this week, Burns admitted that the CIA has multiple projects to keep track of cryptocurrencies.

When asked about the CIA’s involvement in combating ransomware, Burns stated that his predecessor started several “different projects focused on cryptocurrency.”

However, Burns didn’t clarify which predecessor he was referring to. Learn more about it here. 

Ubisoft De-lists NFT Announcement Video Following an Overwhelmingly Amount of Dislikes

Massive video game developer, Ubisoft recently announced their Ubisoft Quartz platform to a stream of dislikes and a poor reception.

Ubisoft Quartz is a new platform allowing players to acquire Digits, the first NFTs playable in a triple-A game.

Ubisoft posted a video to YouTube and was met with a sea of dislikes, with 31,000 dislikes to just over 1,000 likes. The company responded by de-listing the video. However, it would appear that Quartz will still be integrated into Tom Clancy’s Breakpoint, one of Ubisoft’s more recent projects. 

The general complaint was that the NFTs do nothing in games that haven’t already had long-term integration.

WhatsApp Links Crypto Payments to Messaging for its U.S. Users

Messaging platform WhatsApp launches a digital payment pilot program allowing for cryptocurrencies to be used as a payment method for its U.S. users.

The payment pilot program makes sending and receiving money as streamlined as sending messages now that payments are integrated seamlessly into the app’s interface.

The payment feature allows users to connect to their Novi digital wallets, which utilizes Pax Dollars (USDP) for instant transfers.

That wraps up the news for the week.

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