Coming every Saturday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes,
Coming every Saturday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link.
Top Stories This Week
The Bitcoin network welcomes Taproot soft fork upgrade
The Bitcoin (BTC) network underwent its first major upgrade since 2017 after the Taproot soft fork went live following a 90% lock-in consensus from miners and mining pools between blocks 709,488 and 709,632.
Taproot will apparently improve the scripting capabilities and privacy of the Bitcoin network by enabling a concept known as Merkelized Abstract Syntax Tree, which can enhance the efficiency of smart contracts without revealing private data behind the contract when making transactions.
Prominent Bitcoin developer Hampus Sjöberg spoke to Cointelegraph and emphasized the importance of the upgrade, as he pointed out that Taproot shows Bitcoin can do network upgrades again.
Animoca Brands unveils plans for K-pop NFT metaverse
Top NFT gaming firm Animoca Brands has penned a partnership with Cube Entertainment, a South Korean record label, talent agency and music production company, to build a “K-pop music metaverse.”
The deal was announced on Monday and will see the duo work together to rollout NFTs dedicated to K-pop stars and popular actors under Cube’s representation, such as BtoB, Pentagon, (G)I-DLE and Lightsum.
Animoca said the partnership will enable “true digital property rights and other blockchain benefits” for the artists on Cube’s roster as well as their fans. Cube CEO Ahn Woo-hyung said that the collaboration will be “an important beginning for leading the global digital culture market and advancing the digital content industry.”
Google searches for NFTs spike to record highs
On Tuesday it was reported that Google searches for NFTs have spiked to record highs during the latter half of 2021. According to Google Trends, NFT searches broke into new highs during October, surging past the former peak of interest during the initial NFT boom at the start of 2021.
Google’s data also shows that “NFT” has overtaken many of the keywords that have long dominated crypto-related search traffic, including “DeFi,” “Ethereum” and “blockchain.” While Dogecoin (DOGE) previously captured the attention of the market during Q2, the data suggests that, as traffic declined for the memecoin in Q3, the interest shifted to the NFT sector.
In terms of a geographic breakdown, NFT search traffic is dominated by Asian nations, with China, Uganda, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Philippines topping the keyword’s search rankings.
Mt. Gox rehabilitation plan is now ‘final and binding’
The rehabilitation plan to compensate creditors from the now-defunct Japanese crypto exchange Mt. Gox was finalized this week following confirmation from the Tokyo District Court.
Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy in 2014 due to a hack resulting in the loss of 850,000 BTC worth $460 million at the time. Creditors have been waiting for compensation for nearly a decade, and the rehabilitation plan was first put forward in the Japanese court system in 2018 on their behalf.
According to a Tuesday announcement from Mt. Gox trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi, the rehabilitation plan originally filed in the Tokyo District Court in February is now “final and binding.” While Kobayashi is yet to sort the specifics of the repayments, he reportedly has around 150,000 BTC hodl’d to repay creditors.
Staples Center in Los Angeles will be renamed Crypto.com Arena
Crypto.com (CRO) splurged $700 million on 20-year naming rights for the Staples Center, with the home of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers now officially known as Crypto.com Arena.
The deal was signed off by the arena’s owner, AEG, a multinational sports and entertainment company that owns several facilities, as well as sports franchises such as the MLS’s Los Angeles Galaxy.
The 20,000-seat stadium will feature the new branding for the first time on Christmas day, as the LA Lakers take on the Brooklyn Nets. Crypto.com has been on a bullish pump of late, with the price gaining more than 160% over the past 30 days to sit at $0.505671 at the time of writing.
Winners and Losers
At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $58,311, Ether (ETH) at $4,275 and XRP at $1.10. The total market cap is at $2.59 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.
Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are WAX (WAXP) at 64.82%, The Sandbox (SAND) at 64.59% and Crypto.com Coin (CRO) at 55.28%.
The top three altcoin losers of the week are OMG Network (OMG) at -20.43%, Algorand (ALGO) at -18.24% and Zcash (ZEC) at -17.73%.
For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.
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