Sales of recently launched Reddit blockchain-based avatars are rising on nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea, outperforming the platform’s proprietary store. Reddit, the “front page” of the internet, plugged into the burgeoning world of NFTs with the announcement of collectible avatars in July 2022. The avatars became available to users in August and are already generating thousands of dollars in sales for artists. Reddit users are able to purchase a variety of avatars for their profiles using Vault, Reddit’s cryptocurrency wallet, with credit and debit cards accepted to make payments for the blockchain-based NFTs. Reddit Avatars are created by a number …

The cryptocurrency markets have been quiet over the weekend. The sideways price action continues on Sept. 5 and there is unlikely to be any fresh triggers from the United States equities markets which are closed for Labor Day. However, the bullish picture for cryptocurrencies looks clouded as the energy crisis in Europe sent the euro to a two-decade low versus the U.S. dollar. Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar index (DXY) which has an inverse correlation with the equities markets and cryptocurrencies soared above 110 for the first time since June 2002. A positive sign among all the mayhem is that Bitcoin …

Nonfarm payrolls rose by 315,000 jobs in August, down from the July increase of 526,000 jobs. The report was just below the Dow Jones estimate of 318,000 jobs and the slowest monthly gain since April 2021. The S&P 500 rose in response to the report, but later erased its gains, indicating that bears continue to sell on rallies. That may be because the U.S. dollar index (DXY), which had retreated from its Sept.1 20-year high, recovered part of its losses. The bears will have to pull the DXY lower to boost prices of stocks and the cryptocurrency markets as both …

Bitcoin (BTC) price has been trying to change course while the S&P 500 is still giving up gains on a daily basis. Even though the United States equities markets have been grinding lower since Aug. 26, Bitcoin has managed to hold on to the $20,000 mark. However, investor interest seems to be shifting away from Bitcoin. That has led to a reduction in assets under management (AUM) for Bitcoin investment products, which dropped 7.16% in August to $17.4 billion, according to a new report by CryptoCompare. In comparison, the AUM for Ethereum (ETH) products increased 2.36% to $6.81 billion during …

The United States equities markets are attempting to stabilize after the carnage on Aug. 26. On similar lines, Bitcoin (BTC) is also witnessing a see-saw battle near the psychological level of $20,000 with both the bulls and the bears vying for supremacy. Although several analysts are bearish on Bitcoin in the near term, it has not stopped the whales from accumulating at lower levels. Data from on-chain research firm Santiment shows that the number of whale addresses holding between 100 to 10,000 Bitcoin has risen by 103 in the past 30 days. In bear markets, rumors spread fast and could …

The cryptocurrency market overall endured a bad summer on back-to-back pieces of bad news, ranging from Terra's collapse to the Celsius Network's liquidity crisis. But some tokens have bucked the downtrend and have actually seen their valuations go up over the summer. Specifically, the last 90 days have seen these so-called alternative cryptocurrencies, or "altcoins," outperforming top coins like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). Here are three among them Chiliz (CHZ) Chiliz's (CHZ) return in the last 90 days comes to be above 80%, the highest among the top-cap cryptocurrencies. Moreover, CHZ is down only 26% year-to-date compared with BTC …

The United States equities markets plunged on Aug. 26 following Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech where he reiterated the central bank’s hawkish stance. Continuing its correlation with the equities market, Bitcoin (BTC) and the cryptocurrency markets also witnessed a sharp selloff on Aug. 26. Bitcoin has declined about 14% this month, making it the worst performance for August since 2015 when the price had dropped 18.67%. That may be bad news for investors because September has a dubious record of a 6% average loss since 2013, according to data from CoinGlass. Although buying in a downtrending market is not …

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned that the central bank will continue to use the “tools forcefully” to bring down inflation, which is close to its highest level in 40 years. He cautioned that the restrictive policy may remain for some time and warned that it could “bring some pain to households and businesses.” The United States equities markets reacted negatively to Powell’s comments with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping more than 600 points. The cryptocurrency markets also witnessed sharp selling with Bitcoin (BTC) and most altcoins threatening to break below their immediate support levels. Along with a not-so-supportive …

Bitcoin (BTC) and several major cryptocurrencies have been trading sideways as traders avoid taking large bets before the United States Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, which begins on Aug. 25. The volatility is likely to soar as investors get some clarity on the Fed's stance in the next few days. On Aug. 23, a team led by Goldman Sachs chief economist Jan Hatzius said that Fed Chair Jerome Powell could sound dovish when he speaks on Aug. 26, reiterating that the central bank may move at a slower pace in future meetings. The analysts expect the Fed to raise …

The European stock markets and the United States equities markets are both deep in the red on Aug. 22 as investors fear that aggressive rate hikes may not be off the table. Another thing keeping investors nervous could be the upcoming Jackson Hole economic symposium which is scheduled to begin on Aug. 25. Investors are concerned that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell could further elaborate on the Fed's hawkish stance and plans for future interest rate hikes. This macro uncertainty has kept the institutional investors away from the crypto markets. CoinShares data showed that crypto investment products recorded weekly volumes …

As the hype surrounding play-to-earn (P2E) games and platforms began to dwindle in early 2022, Web3 participants began to emphasize the need for games to be more “fun” and less finance-oriented. In the most recent episode of NFT Steez, Alyssa Expósito and Ray Salmond spoke with Aron Beireschmitt, the CEO of Laguna games and founder of Crypto Unicorns, about the sustainability of P2E-focused blockchain games. For Beireschmitt, the evolution from a play-to-earn to a play-and-earn model suggests that there is still experimentation and maturation to be seen for these games. “Nothing has changed about making games,” says Beireschmitt, but with …

Polygon’s VP of Global Business Development for gaming Urvit Goel believes games that integrate nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have a natural edge on traditional games that don’t allow users to sell their in-game items. Goel spoke candidly with Cointelegraph in Seoul last week about Polygon’s (MATIC) push toward helping NFT games proliferate and why game publishers in South Korea like Neowiz and Nexon are diving headfirst into the space. One of the main arguments Goel made is that the traditional business model that NFT games are competing against may be inherently weaker. In traditional gaming, users typically buy in-game items with …