• John Knopf is an Emmy Award-nominated photographer and early adopter of crypto.
• He co-founded FOTO, a collective geared at training artists to work in Web3.
• In 2021, Time magazine partnered with FOTO on its own NFT drops.

John Knopf: An Emmy Award-Nominated Photographer

John Knopf is an Emmy Award-nominated landscape photographer who works for National Geographic. He was an early adopter of crypto, coming into the space during the heady days of the NFT bull market thinking he could make a “quick buck”. However, he soon became enthralled with the potential of distributed networks.

FOTO: A Collective for Digital Artists

Knopf co-founded FOTO, a collective geared at training artists to work in Web3. With seven other prominent photographers – Alejandro Cartagena, Ben Strauss, Cath Simard, Dave Krugman, Isaac “Drift” Wright, J.N. Silva and Ravi Vora – they sought to elevate digital art and create a supportive community around it. Today FOTO boasts hundreds of members from amateur and professional backgrounds alike. Knopf curates members’ art to exhibit at sponsored galleries and events with no personal financial gain for himself or the artists whether their work sells or not.

Time Magazine Partnership

In 2021 Time magazine partnered with FOTO on its own NFT drops as one way to bring attention to digital photography via blockchain technology. The partnership helped open up new opportunities for photographers like Knopf whose work has been featured in shows across Europe as well as in print publications such as Forbes Magazine and The New York Times’ T Brand Studio Global program.

Turning an Industry Into a Community

Knopf believes that good photography requires technical skill as much as artistic sensibility which makes it uniquely fit for experimentation within the realm of Web3 technology – especially when it comes to creating digital collectibles like non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Through his involvement with FOTO he hopes to turn this traditionally competitive industry into a collaborative community by providing educational opportunities and resources that help photographers understand how best to use blockchain technology in their creative practice while also building relationships with other digital artists around the world who share similar goals and interests about using tech for creating meaningful artwork.

Conclusion

Through his involvement with FOTO John Knopf has helped elevate digital art by bringing attention to talented photographers from around the world while also turning an industry into a supportive community through education about blockchain technology and collaboration between creatives who share similar goals and interests about using tech for making meaningful artwork – something that was unheard of before his involvement in crypto but now seems inevitable given its success thus far!

• MakerDAO’s DAI stablecoin founder Rune Christensen has called for a rebranding of the token to make it more understandable to “normal people”.
• He believes the current branding may be impeding its growth, and that a new name with “USD” in it should be considered.
• The discussion of a rebranding is part of MakerDAO’s decentralization plan, named “Endgame.”

FinanceMakerDAO Founder Calls for Rebranding of DAI Stablecoin

Rune Christensen, the founder of Ethereum’s MakerDAO, said on a call with community members that DAI suffers from bad branding that could be slowing its growth. He suggested rebranding the token to make it more understandable for “normal people” by including “USD” in its name. This is part of MakerDAO’s decentralization plan, called “Endgame”.

Why Rebrand?

DAI is the fourth-largest stablecoin, with a market cap near $5 billion – and the only top stablecoin backed by a basket of assets, including other cryptocurrencies – but Christensen believes its branding may be inhibiting its growth. A new name would imply that the token would stay pegged to the dollar but there’s no guarantee such a peg would hold.

What Could A New Brand Look Like?

Christensen called for “a complete rebrand, complete new name, complete new look, completely different approach to user acquisition,” saying it’s “the only way to take control of the narrative.” He suggested positioning DAI as a currency that users can generate yield with and as “the safest and most reliable gamified crypto of all.”

Debate Among Attendees

Not all attendees were convinced by Christensen’s argument and further debate ensued regarding whether this was indeed an effective way forward or if another approach would work better.

Conclusion

Ultimately this decision will come down to the MakerDAO community who will have their say on how best to move forward with any potential changes or updates related to their flagship product – The DAI stablecoin.

• The bitcoin mining industry has seen a resurgence in activity due to a rally in bitcoin’s price.
• Lower energy costs have also helped miners get back on their feet.
• Publicly traded bitcoin mining firms have outpaced bitcoin this year, with some stocks up as much as 693%.

Bitcoin Miners Rebound from Crypto Winter

The bitcoin mining industry is slowly recovering from the brutal crypto winter of 2020-2021. After seeing several bankruptcies and fire sales, the recent surge in bitcoin’s price has provided some relief for miners. Additionally, lower energy costs over the past few months have also helped to improve their economics.

Rising Investor Sentiment

The rally in BTC’s price has led to an increase in investor sentiment towards the crypto mining sector. According to Ethan Vera of Luxor Technologies, this shows that investor sentiment is still largely driven by BTC prices rather than mining fundamentals. This is evidenced by a composite index of public mining rig manufacturers, foundries and miners compiled by Luxor which has already increased by 52% so far this year, compared with Bitcoin’s 44% rise.

Publicly Traded Mining Firms Outpace Bitcoin

Shares of publicly traded bitcoin mining firms have particularly outperformed Bitcoin so far this year. Core Scientific (CORZQ) has been the biggest winner with its equity value growing 693%, followed closely by Digihost (225%). Other notable stocks include Cipher Mining (CIFR), DMG Blockchain (DMGI), Bitfarms (BITF), Iris Energy (IREN) and Bit Digital (BTBT). All these stocks have at least doubled since the beginning of 2023.

Miners Still Have A Long Way To Go

Despite these gains, stock prices are still below pre-crypto winter levels and miners may not be completely out of the woods yet. They will need sustained bullish momentum if they want to return to where they were before March 2020 when Bitcoin was trading near all-time highs near $20,000 per coin.

Conclusion

Although it appears that miners are starting to emerge from the crypto winter, there is still a long way to go before they can return to pre-2020 levels of profitability and activity levels. However, rising investor sentiment combined with lower energy costs suggest that they may be headed in the right direction once again

• The article explains how the use of artificial intelligence (AI) has evolved over time and how it is being used today.
• It also discusses the potential applications of AI in the future, such as autonomous vehicles, medical diagnosis and more.
• Finally, it outlines some potential ethical issues with the use of AI and suggests ways to address them.

Introduction

This article looks at the evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) from its early days to present day applications. It examines the potential applications for AI in the future, as well as discussing some ethical issues that may arise from its use.

History of AI

AI first emerged in 1950 when Alan Turing proposed a test for computers which measured their ability to think like humans. Since then, AI has come a long way with advancements in technology allowing for increasingly sophisticated algorithms to be written and applied to various tasks. Today, AI is being used in a variety of industries including healthcare, business analytics and robotics.

Future Applications

In the future, AI could be used for a range of tasks such as autonomous driving systems or medical diagnosis tools. Other potential uses include personal assistants that can help manage your schedule or act as an advisor on financial decisions. Additionally, there are possibilities for using AI to create art or music or even to solve complex mathematical problems.

Ethical Concerns

There are some ethical concerns surrounding the use of AI which need to be addressed before it becomes widely adopted by society at large. These include worries about privacy issues if data is collected without consent or questions about who will be responsible if something goes wrong with an artificially intelligent system. In addition, there are concerns about whether we should allow machines to make decisions that could have serious consequences for humans such as deciding who gets access to certain services or resources.

Conclusion

To ensure that we can take full advantage of all that Artificial Intelligence has to offer while avoiding any negative implications it may bring, appropriate measures must be taken now so that these ethical considerations are addressed before they become bigger problems in the future.

• Crypto markets saw $200 million in losses due to short trades as Bitcoin and Ether surged.
• Bitcoin futures had the most liquidation losses at over $85 million, while Binance recorded the most losses among exchanges at $68 million.
• Tokens of layer 1 blockchains such as Solana (SOL) and Polygon’s MATIC added 10%, while Artificial Intelligence tokens such as Fetch (FET) and AGIX rose over 12%.

Crypto Markets See Over $200 Million in Losses

Crypto markets saw a dramatic surge in prices this past 24 hours, with market capitalization reaching its highest level since November. Despite the gains, traders that bet on a market-wide decline were taken off guard, resulting in over $200 million in overall liquidation losses due to short trades.

Bitcoin Futures Leads Liquidations

Bitcoin futures saw the most liquidations out of all cryptocurrencies, with over $85 million lost alone. Ether futures followed with $58 million in liquidations, while Aptos, Solana and Solana each saw losses between $3 to 4 million. Crypto exchange Binance recorded the highest among its counterparts at $68 million, while OKX came second with total loss of$51 million.

Rise of Token Prices

The surge also brought about a rise in token prices across various layer 1 blockchains such as Solana (SOL) and Polygon’s MATIC which both increased by 10%. AI-focused tokens like Fetch (FET) and AGIX rose over 12% during this period as well. Further, OKB – native token of crypto exchange OKEX – surged by 20%, making it one of the biggest gainers during this period.

Liquidations Can Signal Local Tops/Bottoms

Large liquidations can signal local tops or bottoms of steep price moves which can potentially allow traders to position themselves accordingly. This could be seen through large liquidations caused by short trades when prices climbed unexpectedly during this period; proving that cryptocurrency trading is still very much volatile despite signs of recovery for some tokens across different blockchain networks..

Conclusion

Overall though, these events prove that cryptocurrencies are still very much volatile despite signs of recovery for certain tokens from specific blockchain networks. Traders should take precautions before entering into any leveraged positions due to potential risk associated with large price movements within a short time frame leading up to large liquidation numbers like those seen today.

• BitMEX Research has identified over 13,000 Ordinals NFTs on the Bitcoin blockchain.
• These transactions have consumed 526MB of block space and cost creators 6.77BTC.
• The popularity of Ordinals has drawn criticism from prominent Bitcoiners for spamming the blockchain with oversized JPEGs.

Explosion in Popularity of Bitcoin NFTs

Interest in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Bitcoin blockchain has skyrocketed since their debut on Dec 14th, according to research from crypto derivatives firm BitMEX.

Ordinals Transactions

BitMEX’s research arm published a blog post showing that 13,000 Ordinals have been minted or “inscribed” between their debut and Feb 7th. This influx of JPEGs and other media files onto Bitcoin has consumed 526 megabytes (MB) of block space and cost creators 6.77 bitcoin (roughly $155,000 at the time of publication). When plotted out graphically, the total number of Ordinals transactions shows a steep “hockey stick” curve, indicating exponential growth in NFT activity on Bitcoin.

Criticism

The surge in popularity for Ordinals has sparked criticism from prominent Bitcoiners such as Rene Pickhardt who accused them of “spamming” the most dominant blockchain with oversized JPEGs. Although Ordinals only account for around 3% of total Bitcoin transactions they have already consumed nearly 70% of its blockspace usage.

The Benefits Of NFTs On The Blockchain

Despite this criticism there are clear benefits to using the blockchain to store digital assets such as artworks or collectibles as an immutable record can be maintained without resorting to a third party custodian or intermediary. Moreover, storing assets on a public ledger such as Bitcoin allows them to be traded almost instantaneously with minimal transaction fees providing an attractive alternative to traditional asset trading platforms which can often be slow and expensive.

Conclusion

Overall it is clear that demand for NFTs is growing rapidly and although there is some controversy surrounding their use it appears that they are here to stay as more people become aware of their potential applications within the cryptocurrency space.

• ImmutableX is launching an all-in-one passport system to onboard new gamers into Web3.
• The Immutable Passport will act as a non-custodial wallet, gamer profile and authentication solution.
• The launch is scheduled for April 2023 and will include features such as a secure digital wallet, fraud protection and seamless authentication.

ImmutableX is on the brink of launching an all-in-one passport system, the Immutable Passport, to onboard new gamers into Web3. This revolutionary new tool will act as a non-custodial wallet, gamer profile and authentication solution for Web3 gamers, providing them with a suite of features and security measures.

The launch of the Immutable Passport is scheduled for April 2023 and aims to address the need for ease of onboarding and security for gaming studios looking to integrate Web3 components into their games. According to customer research conducted by the ImmutableX team, this was identified as the top priority for development studios.

The Immutable Passport will provide a secure digital wallet to users, meaning that ImmutableX will not be involved in holding a user’s private keys or signing transactions. It will also feature fraud protection and seamless authentication, similar to an Xbox Gamertag or an Apple ID, meaning that a user does not need to enter a password at sign-on.

The ImmutableX team is confident that the Immutable Passport will provide gamers with a safe and secure way to access Web3. It is also expected to revolutionize the gaming industry and spur on the growth of Web3 gaming.

ImmutableX has also announced plans to provide developers with access to the Immutable Passport SDK. This will allow developers to integrate the Immutable Passport into their own games and apps, creating a more seamless user experience and allowing gamers to access Web3 games with ease.

The launch of the Immutable Passport is an exciting development in the Web3 gaming space, and ImmutableX is confident that it will help to onboard new gamers into the Web3 ecosystem. With the launch scheduled for April 2023, it won’t be long until this revolutionary tool is available to gamers everywhere.

• Sophie Brochu, the CEO of Hydro-Quebec, is officially stepping down in April after three years in the role.
• Hydro-Québec proposed suspending new power supply to the blockchain industry last year.
• The Board of Hydro-Québec will recommend a successor to the Québec Cabinet, but the name has not been released yet.

Sophie Brochu, the CEO of Hydro-Quebec – the utility company of the province of Quebec – is departing the firm on April 11, according to a Jan. 10 statement. Ms. Brochu has been with the firm for three years and was appointed the CEO in April 2020. During her tenure, she developed a new strategic plan that was accepted by many internal contributors and representatives of Québec society.

Last year, the utility firm proposed to Canada’s energy regulator to suspend the allocation of new 270 megawatts (MW) power supply, already planned for the blockchain industry. The company’s reasoning was that the industry was taking up too much power, which posed a threat to the province’s energy security. The proposal didn’t explicitly mention which part of that industry was being targeted, but the Canadian province has been an ideal place for crypto miners to set up due to its abundant supply of energy.

In response to the proposal, many crypto miners feared that their businesses would be affected and that the move would lead to a significant reduction in the industry’s presence in the province. However, the Québec Cabinet ultimately decided not to accept the proposal.

The Board of Hydro-Québec will recommend a successor to the Québec Cabinet, but the name of the candidate has not been revealed yet. Ms. Brochu’s departure will undoubtedly have implications for the company, and it remains to be seen how the new CEO will approach the blockchain industry. In the meantime, the utility firm will continue to supply power to the industry, as well as other businesses in the province.

• Binance announced that it will allow institutional investors to post collateral from cold wallets with Binance Custody.
• The crypto exchange said that this will enable investors to keep their collateral off the platform and in cold storage.
• Once trades are settled, the assets would then become accessible to the user again.

Binance, the leading cryptocurrency exchange, announced on Monday that it will enable institutional investors to post collateral from cold wallets with Binance Custody. This will enable investors to keep their collateral off the platform and in cold storage, which can provide an extra layer of security for the assets.

Under the new service, institutional investors can place their assets in cold wallets which are kept off the internet and are thus much less vulnerable to hacking and other security threats. When the investor is ready to place a leveraged position, they can post the collateral from the cold wallet to the exchange, and once the trades are settled, the assets would then become accessible to the user again.

Binance said that its Custody service will provide a secure and reliable way to store and manage digital assets, while also allowing users to get the most out of their investments. The exchange said that its Custody service is designed to provide users with the highest levels of security and convenience, with a range of advanced features designed to protect user funds.

Furthermore, Binance said that its Custody service also provides users with access to a wide range of digital asset management tools, including asset tracking, automated trading, and portfolio risk management. Additionally, the exchange said that its Custody service is designed to provide users with the flexibility to develop their own asset management strategies, which can help them to maximize their investments.

Overall, Binance’s new Custody service is a welcome addition to the crypto community, as it provides institutional investors with an extra layer of security for their collateralized positions. This service will also allow users to get the most out of their investments, as they can access a wide range of asset management tools, as well as develop their own strategies.

• North Korea’s Lazarus Group is likely behind a $100 million hack on the Harmony Network.
• Over the weekend, the group moved $63.5 million (~41,000 ETH) from the hack.
• Crypto exchange Huobi blocked funds tied to the hack on Monday morning.

North Korea’s Lazarus Group is the likely perpetrator behind a $100 million hack on the Harmony Network, and over the weekend, the group moved $63.5 million (~41,000 ETH) from the hack. On Monday morning, crypto exchange Huobi blocked funds tied to the attack.

The news was reported by pseudonymous blockchain sleuth ZachXBT, who said on Twitter that the Lazarus Group had “a very busy weekend, moving $63.5 million (~41,000 ETH) from the Harmony bridge hack through Railgun before consolidating funds and depositing on three different exchanges.” The funds were moved before Huobi was able to block them.

The hack on the Harmony Network, which occurred in April 2020, was one of the largest in the history of blockchain. The hacker was able to exploit a vulnerability in the Harmony bridge, which allowed them to steal nearly 43,000 ETH from users. At the time, the value of the stolen funds was estimated to be around $100 million.

An analysis by blockchain research firm Elliptic revealed that the Lazarus Group was likely behind the attack. The group is believed to be responsible for a number of other high-profile hacks, including the WannaCry ransomware attack in 2017.

In response to the attack, Huobi blocked the funds on Monday morning and contacted the blockchain research firm to investigate the incident further. The exchange said that it is “committed to the safety of our customers’ funds,” and that they are “working to ensure that all stolen funds are recovered and returned to their rightful owners.”

The incident highlights the need for users to be vigilant when it comes to their crypto security, as malicious actors are constantly finding new ways to steal digital assets. In order to protect themselves, users should always make sure to store their funds in a secure wallet, and to use two-factor authentication wherever possible.