Dubai’s evolution from a land of sand dunes to a financial hub synonymous with luxury, skyscrapers, and opulence, has been remarkable  over the past few decades. While it may have risen from the desert sands as a symbol of modernity and extravagance,

From Sand Dunes to Trading Screens: Dubai’s Evolution as a Financial Powerhouse

Ethereum price is at an inflection point as it trades above $1,700 with no clear directional bias. Apart from the market FUD emanating from increasing regulatory crackdowns and a global banking crisis,

Ethereum Price Prediction: What To Expect From ETH As The … – Analytics Insight

Dune Analytics data shows Ethereum and Polygon non-fungible tokens on NFT marketplace OpenSea might record the lowest monthly sales in October. That comes as digital collectibles saw faded interest as crypto players battled with broad-based challenges,

OpenSea sales volume at 2023 lows as NFT winter deepens

Blur continues to pace OpenSea in terms of monthly sales volume. Data from the Dune Analytics dashboard showed that monthly sales volume on OpenSea embarked on its descent since March and has fallen consistently in the past seven months. So far this ...

OpenSea in October: NFT sales to hit new lows in 2023

The ride is a pulse-pounding crescendo, a symphony of motion and excitement amidst the Arabian Desert dunes. As the sun sets, the desert transforms into a magical canvas, painting the sky with warm hues. At a Bedouin-style camp, immerse yourself in the ...

Dubai Unleashed: 10 Adventurous Escapades to Elevate Your Experience

Even as Dune: Part Two has been delayed to next spring, anticipation for the upcoming sequel is still pretty high. The new film will adapt even more of Frank Herbert's iconic sci-fi franchise ...

Dune: Part Two's Timothee Chalamet Reveals How Co-Star Austin Butler Motivated Him

An curved arrow pointing right. OpenAI reportedly scrapped the launch of an AI model named after the dystopian desert world of science-fiction epic "Dune" after it failed to meet expectations.

OpenAI tried to develop an AI model named after a dystopian hellscape in 'Dune,' but the project failed to land, report says

“After I met Tom Cruise, right after finishing the first Dune, he sent me the most wonderfully inspiring email,” Chalamet said. In it, the Top Gun star – who is famous for his dedication to ...

Tom Cruise’s secret email to Dune star Timothée Chalamet revealed

Get the most recent info and news about Dune Analytics on HackerNoon, where 10k+ technologists publish stories for 4M+ monthly readers.

Dune Analytics

When I first started doing marketing analysis breakdowns, I was focusing on Web 2.0 brands at . Growth Models Honestly, I was never short of strategies to analyze. In Web3, it’s a lot harder as so many projects seem to go the same “community first” route. Which can be great, but a lot of them don’t do it so well, and they’re missing out on some real low-hanging fruit. One of the brands that has impressed me over the last few years is . Dune Analytics I’ve been on calls with people who are ten years in the space and those just entering who have mentioned checking out Dune. What’s amazing with Dune is they haven’t made the common Web3 approaches of… Airdrops “Pay to follow” community growth Use to earn models with their own token (they have no token) They’ve leveraged what I consider a lot of traditional PR and brand awareness strategies which could easily lead to dominating the SERPs. And all of it comes from the way they’ve built their product. It’s an incredible tool and one of the first people think of when it comes to . blockchain analytics So what did they do to quickly rise to the top? What is Dune Analytics? Dune is a web-based app that allows anyone (with a little SQL knowledge) to query blockchain data and create awesome visuals like the one below. Some people even spend their time building full dashboards to give others an overview of a project, collection, or even sub-set of the industry, as with this example on . CEXs It’s a weird thing. Dune doesn’t pay people to build these dashboards, but every day countless new visualizations show up and are promoted by the people building them (I’ll explain why they do this later on). In my opinion, they’re talked about more than many other brands in the space that offer data visualizations, like . Nansen The question is, how did they do it? Let’s take a look. Dune’s astronomic growth Dune was founded in 2018. But if you look at any of the analytics tools out there, you don’t really see the platform taking off until around 2021. has its organic traffic taking off from early 2022 (the SEMRush numbers are low, IMO, and only considered organic). SEMRush And sees them starting to generate backlinks around the same time. This looks like it’s coinciding with the brand's raise that happened in August 2021. Series A At the time, it felt like Dune popped up out of nowhere. People were talking about it, sharing links, and creating visualizations like mad. Within no time, Dune was everywhere. And what’s interesting is that little of their traffic comes from Google searches. Most of it is direct. I’m actually amazed more of it isn’t referral traffic either (which we’ll get into shortly). Dune has managed something few brands can. They’ve become synonymous with their category (blockchain analytics) and are often the first service thought of when someone needs analytics visualizations. As a result, they get a large volume of people who don’t even need to search for them. They simply go straight to the site. I’ll be analyzing how they did this and also looking at a few of the areas I think they could improve in. Dune helps both the supply and demand side of blockchain data visualizations. This is essentially what it comes down to. Dune has done an incredible job of helping both the supply and demand side of data visualization with its platform. Dune’s helping data scientists get noticed and secure paying work. Dune is also helping people who need analysis (VCs and content creators) get detailed information on the industry as a whole. They’ve positioned themself in the middle of these two groups and created something that helps both sides of the scale. The result is everyone wants to talk about them. Let’s get into the details. Demand - Generating PR and awareness by enabling content creators Let’s be honest. The best tools, projects, and products help users achieve their goals. Usually, they make achieving them faster, easier, or cheaper. We’re currently in a phase of creators. Everyone is producing content, from individuals who want to make a bit of side income to brands that want to attract thousands of new users. Content is the way to do it. It could be through video, a blog, podcast, newsletter, or even social media accounts. The amount of content being produced is huge. And, if I’m going to be really harsh here, a lot of it is pretty generic and little more than noise. It's created by people who aren’t always experts (at least not yet). They’re simply driven enough to put the time in to continually produce content. Building an audience by offering the same kind of general overviews as everyone else is a long, hard process. But, if you have a unique insight, perhaps from data analysis, you’re immediately going to stand out. Not only do opinions backed by data carry more weight, they also have cool images that grab attention and help explain elements. Enter Dune. Analyzing blockchain data was a bitch before Dune for everyone but the most technical of people. But, thanks to Dune and a little SQL knowledge, anyone can spin up a simple graph or more detailed dashboard of analytics. The result is creators of all kinds referencing Dune in their work. Brands and influencers use Dune to talk about project growth or interesting changes in the market. Huge publications with millions of readers, like , use Dune to bolster their reporting. Coin Telegraph Video regarding Web3 analysis feature Dune. tutorials All of these references not only expose Dune to a wider market but it gets them a backlink which assists with their organic Google rankings. According to SEMRush, Dune has around 3.5M backlinks pointing to its site from over 14,000 domains. Dune has basically created a product that creators need to grow their own business and must reference if they use it. The result is a huge level of exposure and backlinks to help the brand grow. Supply - How Dune gets data scientists to create visualisations My first thought when looking into Dune is, “ ”. how do they get these people to create these visualizations? I mean, without the visualizations, Dune wouldn’t get a fraction of the press or use it does. These people are literally creating the marketing material for Dune. But why on earth should anyone bother learning how to use Dune? Again, it all comes down to Dune taking a back seat and letting other people benefit from the product. Data scientist jobs are pretty hard to land. You need a specific skill set and need to be able to demonstrate your ability to potential employers. It's also competitive and relatively well compensated. This means brands that need to hire a data scientist only want those who are proven. It's hard for a newbie in the space to show their skills and land work. Dune enables that. Anyone can sign up for an account and start building cool dashboards for free. Because it’s free to build a public dashboard, Dune effectively became a portfolio for data scientists. It’s the data scientist equivalent of… WordPress or Medium for Writers ( if you like Web3) Mirror.xyz YouTube for video editors Figma for UX designers Aspiring data scientists can create dashboards that show their skill and use it to land work. It's great because if someone’s visualization is picked up by one of the big publications like CoinTelegraph, the creator gets a link back to their work which can drive potential clients to them. But Dune also goes one step further. They have something called their wizard program. Those who are very skilled with Dune can become a Dune wizard and have their work featured. They get a special category on the main search page. As more and more people start to see the Wizard’s work, more brands reach out to them to help them build their own dashboards, as mentioned in this with a Dune Wizard. interview Dune has also released a job board to help those wizards apply for and land jobs in the space. Some of those jobs have 6-figure salaries. Not bad for someone who’s exploring their desire to understand and visualize blockchain data. Again, it comes down to Dune taking a back seat. Their product is not the highlight and focus for these people. They’re enabling others to use their product to chase their own goals. Freely marrying supply and demand for blockchain data The whole Dune approach to giving others the tools they need to grow and achieve their own goals works so well. Dune sits in this wonderful overlap of needs between three groups. - they want to build a portfolio and get a job Data scientists - who need data vis to create more engaging content Creators - who need t find reputable data scientists to help them understand investments or their own progressions Institutions Few brands are able to do this. Most brands want the detailed data visualizations they create to sit behind a paywall so only customers can access them. Others charge a high fee, so fledgling creators can’t get access to the tools in the first place. And then there are some who are so intent on retaining IP that they don’t really allow others to share their product. Dune bucks all of these trends. It’s free for anyone to set up visualizations and free to use them (with relevant citations) in any marketing material. On the surface, you might think that Dune is just a tool to visualize vast amounts of blockchain data. But it’s so much more than that. Dune is a matchmaking platform that offers opportunities to data scientists and valuable data to those who need it. By helping everyone, they’re also helping themselves. But how do they help themselves if it’s all free? How Dune monetizes While you can create dashboards and share Dune visualizations for free, they also have a paid tier. They know everyone wants (or needs) their data to be publicly available to everyone. A lot of projects need specific on-chain data analysis to help them understand how they can grow as a brand. They need specific analyses for their own internal processes. Dune has a paid plan for this. Institutions can sign up for a paid plan to help them with their in-house data analysis. It's a good fit for projects which have a lot of on-chain data to organize or VCs that need to understand how projects are growing. What I love about this model is that you can essentially get a full product demo for free. Anyone who is thinking of buying a premium plan can just head to Dune and see what they can produce. If they like the data readouts, then they’re more likely to sign up for a paid plan. And if they need help, they can find it directly within the Wizards’ portal. Areas I believe Dune is missing out on I am amazed that Dune doesn't get more organic traffic. I think they could massively increase traffic if they took a look at this. They have great domain authority. At the time of writing, their DA is 78, according to Ahrefs. If you’re not aware, DA is a third-party metric that assesses the authority of a site. Generally speaking, the higher the DA (it’s out of 100), the more likely it is to rank highly in Google. 78 is really quite high. And yet organic traffic is incredibly low. SimilarWeb has it at below 10% of all traffic to the site. Why? Well, a lot of the data visualization is not optimized for Google searches. And I wouldn’t change them. I think they’re great as they are. So what is Google indexing for Dune? They tend to index a lot of the creator pages. And really, I can’t imagine these are showing up for much in terms of searches. If I were consulting at Dune and they wanted to increase traffic, I would try to use the platform to create data readouts related to what people are searching for. Here’s a small snippet from Keywords Everywhere around some basic crypto searches. There are around 20,000 searches per month here, and the competition is pretty low (CMP is on a scale of 0-1, with 1 being the most competitive). With Dune’s DA, they could spin up some articles that they update every month or so and have them ranking quite highly in Google. They have the benefit of… Being a recognized authority Having direct access to data Having an established audience They could easily create articles that address high-volume searches and use their own data to create something no one else can. In the above cases, you'd have to be careful of “financial advice,” but you could easily find an angle that avoids that. For example, rather than an article that looks at “which crypto to buy today for the long term,” you could create one which is “cryptocurrencies that have the highest trade activity over the last X months.” You still optimize for the primary keyword listed in the image, but you get away from making any concrete investment claims. I imagine they could easily add a few more hundred thousand visitors to their site every month by tackling this. Especially as the SEO approaches in Web3 are weak AF right now. Summing up Dune Dune’s success is really down to 2 key elements, in my opinion. Having a great product that helps multiple groups Enabling people to use their product for free which promotes free PR While it’s not a marketing strategy per se, the way they’ve built things creates a strategy that has Dune on the tip of everyone’s tongue. They’ve built something with the aim of helping others. They don’t put themselves at the center of everything but find themselves there, thanks to their generosity. It’s a true Web3 approach. I do think they could be doing more in terms of traffic, and I hope that their monetization model is enough to keep them viable as they grow. Also published . here

Analysis: How Dune Analytics Became the Most Discussed Blockchain Data Tool

Authors:
(1) SIMONE CASALE-BRUNET, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland;
(2) MIRKO ZICHICHI, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain;
(3) LEE HUTCHINSON, WhaleAnalytica.com, Switzerland;
(4) MARCO MATTAVELLI, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland;
(5) STEFANO FERRETTI, University of Urbino “Carlo Bo”, Italy. Table of Links 1 Introduction 2 State of Art 3 Projects Selection and Data Collection 3.1 Blockchain data 3.2 Twitter data 4 Data Analysis and Results 4.1 Ethereum wallets and Twitter users and 4.2 The communities 4.3 Hashtags 4.4 The role of the social network community 5 Conclusions and References 5 CONCLUSIONS The NFT phenomenon is a topic that became mainstream during 2021 and has continued to receive increasing attention from early 2022 to the present. This blockchain-based technology has also come to the forefront thanks to projects such as BAYCs whose images have been purchased by celebrities and traded at very high prices as reported by several media. In this paper, we analyzed the phenomenon of NFTs, focusing on the class related to PFPs. We chose 18 projects based on our knowledge in the field and based on their importance in terms of volumes traded, users, and social activity. It was illustrated through analysis of social activity how the concept of social community is essential to ensure liquidity and value of PFP projects, i.e., used as social icons. The centrality and influence of the community related to BAYCs was demonstrated, that despite being second to CryptoPunks in terms of volumes traded, social activity is much higher and central to every other project in the industry. This work aimed to lay the groundwork for more in-depth future studies on understanding whether patterns and causality conditions may exist between elements such as the number of tweets, average price of a collection, Twitter users, and Ethereum wallet. REFERENCES [1] Oluwaseun Ajao, Jun Hong, and Weiru Liu. 2015. A survey of location inference techniques on Twitter. Journal of Information Science 41, 6 (2015), 855–864. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165551515602847 [2] Dune Analytics. 2022. rchen8: OpenSea Dashboard. Retrieved June 6, 2022 from https://dune.xyz/rchen8/opensea [3] Joseph Bonneau, Jonathan Anderson, Ross Anderson, and Frank Stajano. 2009. Eight friends are enough: social graph approximation via public listings. In Proceedings of the Second ACM EuroSys Workshop on Social Network Systems. 13–18. https://doi.org/10.1145/1578002.1578005 [4] Evan Brinckman, Andrey Kuehlkamp, Jarek Nabrzyski, and Ian J. Taylor. 2019. Techniques and Applications for Crawling, Ingesting and Analyzing Blockchain Data. In 2019 International Conference on Information and Communication Technology Convergence (ICTC). IEEE, 717–722. https: //doi.org/10.1109/ICTC46691.2019.8939746 [5] Pinar Caglayan and Zehra Ozkan. 2021. NFTs and copyright: challenges and opportunities. Journal of Intellectual Property Law& Practice 16, 10 (06 2021). https://doi.org/10.1093/jiplp/jpab104 [6] Umit Can and Bilal Alatas. 2019. A new direction in social network analysis: Online social network analysis problems and applications. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications 535 (2019), 122372. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physa.2019.122372 [7] Simone Casale-Brunet, Paolo Ribeca, Patrick Doyle, and Marco Mattavelli. 2021. Networks of Ethereum Non-Fungible Tokens: A Graph-Based Analysis of the ERC-721 Ecosystem. In IEEE Blockchain 2021, 06 - 08 December. https://doi.org/10.1109/Blockchain53845.2021.00033 [8] Joseph Coelho, Dawson D’almeida, Scott Coyne, Nathan Gilkerson, Katelyn Mills, and Praveen Madiraju. 2019. Social Media and Forecasting Stock Price Change. In 2019 IEEE 43rd Annual Computer Software and Applications Conference (COMPSAC), Vol. 2. 195–200. https://doi.org/10.1109/ COMPSAC.2019.10206 [9] CoinMarketCap. 2022. Ethereum historical data. Retrieved June 6, 2022 from https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/historical-data/ [10] Iain J Cruickshank and Kathleen M Carley. 2020. Characterizing communities of hashtag usage on twitter during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic by multi-view clustering. Applied Network Science 5, 1 (2020), 1–40. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41109-020-00317-8 [11] Roberta De Michele, Stefano Ferretti, and Marco Furini. 2019. On helping broadcasters to promote tv-shows through hashtags. Multimedia Tools and Applications 78, 3 (2019), 3279–3296. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-018-6510-7 [12] Decrypt.co. 2022. Hot Ethereum NFT Platform LooksRare Is Rife With Wash Trading - And OK With It. Retrieved June 6, 2022 from https: //decrypt.co/90317/ethereum-nft-market-looksrare-wash-trading [13] Joshua Fair!eld. 2021. Tokenized: The Law of Non-Fungible Tokens and Unique Digital Property. Indiana Law Journal, Forthcoming (04 2021). [14] Stefano Ferretti, Marco Furini, and Manuela Montangero. 2019. Diabetes: What are italian twitter users talking about?. In 2019 28th International Conference on Computer Communication and Networks (ICCCN). IEEE, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCCN.2019.8847039 [15] Anastasia Giachanou and Fabio Crestani. 2016. Like it or not: A survey of twitter sentiment analysis methods. ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR) 49, 2 (2016), 1–41. https://doi.org/10.1145/2938640 [16] Google. 2022. BigQuery. Retrieved June 6, 2022 from https://cloud.google.com/bigquery/ [17] Shrey Jain, Camille Bruckmann, and Chase McDougall. 2022. NFT Appraisal Prediction: Utilizing Search Trends, Public Market Data, Linear Regression and Recurrent Neural Networks. arXiv preprint arXiv:2204.12932 (2022). [18] Arnav Kapoor, Dipanwita Guhathakurta, Mehul Mathur, Rupanshu Yadav, Manish Gupta, and Ponnurungam Kumaraguru. 2022. Tweetboost: Influence of social media on nft valuation. arXiv preprint arXiv:2201.08373 (2022). [19] OpenSea. 2022. OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace. Retrieved June 6, 2022 from https://opensea.io/ [20] Daniel M Romero, Brendan Meeder, and Jon Kleinberg. 2011. Differences in the mechanics of information diffusion across topics: idioms, political hashtags, and complex contagion on twitter. In Proceedings of the 20th international conference on World wide web. 695–704. https: //doi.org/10.1145/1963405.1963503 [21] İlker Türker and Eyüb Ekmel Sulak. 2018. A multilayer network analysis of hashtags in twitter via co-occurrence and semantic links. International Journal of Modern Physics B 32, 04 (2018), 1850029. https://doi.org/10.1142/S0217979218500297 [22] Twitter. 2022. Search Tweets API. Retrieved June 6, 2022 from https://developer.twitter.com/en/docs/twitter-api/tweets/search/introduction [23] Kishore Vasan, Milán Janosov, and Albert-László Barabási. 2022. Quantifying NFT-driven networks in crypto art. Scienti!c reports 12, 1 (2022), 1–11. [24] Shermin Voshmgir. 2020. Token Economy: How the Web3 reinvents the Internet. Vol. 2. Token Kitchen. [25] Andi Wiliam, Sasmoko Sasmoko, Wibowo Kosasih, and Yasinta Indrianti. 2020. Sentiment analysis of social media engagement to purchasing intention. In Understanding Digital Industry. Routledge, 362–365. https://doi.org/10.1201/9780367814557-86 [26] Nick Yee, Jeremy N. Bailenson, and Nicolas Ducheneaut. 2009. The Proteus Effect: Implications of Transformed Digital Self Representation on Online and O&ine Behavior. Communication Research 36, 2 (2009), 285–312. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650208330254 arXiv:https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650208330254 This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. Authors: (1) SIMONE CASALE-BRUNET, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland; (2) MIRKO ZICHICHI, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain; (3) LEE HUTCHINSON, WhaleAnalytica.com, Switzerland; (4) MARCO MATTAVELLI, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland; (5) STEFANO FERRETTI, University of Urbino “Carlo Bo”, Italy. Authors: Authors: (1) SIMONE CASALE-BRUNET, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland; (2) MIRKO ZICHICHI, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain; (3) LEE HUTCHINSON, WhaleAnalytica.com, Switzerland; (4) MARCO MATTAVELLI, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland; (5) STEFANO FERRETTI, University of Urbino “Carlo Bo”, Italy. Table of Links 1 Introduction 1 Introduction 2 State of Art 2 State of Art 3 Projects Selection and Data Collection 3 Projects Selection and Data Collection 3.1 Blockchain data 3.1 Blockchain data 3.2 Twitter data 3.2 Twitter data 4 Data Analysis and Results 4.1 Ethereum wallets and Twitter users and 4.2 The communities 4.1 Ethereum wallets and Twitter users and 4.2 The communities 4.3 Hashtags 4.3 Hashtags 4.4 The role of the social network community 4.4 The role of the social network community 5 Conclusions and References 5 Conclusions and References 5 CONCLUSIONS The NFT phenomenon is a topic that became mainstream during 2021 and has continued to receive increasing attention from early 2022 to the present. This blockchain-based technology has also come to the forefront thanks to projects such as BAYCs whose images have been purchased by celebrities and traded at very high prices as reported by several media. In this paper, we analyzed the phenomenon of NFTs, focusing on the class related to PFPs. We chose 18 projects based on our knowledge in the field and based on their importance in terms of volumes traded, users, and social activity. It was illustrated through analysis of social activity how the concept of social community is essential to ensure liquidity and value of PFP projects, i.e., used as social icons. The centrality and influence of the community related to BAYCs was demonstrated, that despite being second to CryptoPunks in terms of volumes traded, social activity is much higher and central to every other project in the industry. This work aimed to lay the groundwork for more in-depth future studies on understanding whether patterns and causality conditions may exist between elements such as the number of tweets, average price of a collection, Twitter users, and Ethereum wallet. REFERENCES [1] Oluwaseun Ajao, Jun Hong, and Weiru Liu. 2015. A survey of location inference techniques on Twitter. Journal of Information Science 41, 6 (2015), 855–864. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165551515602847 [2] Dune Analytics. 2022. rchen8: OpenSea Dashboard. Retrieved June 6, 2022 from https://dune.xyz/rchen8/opensea [3] Joseph Bonneau, Jonathan Anderson, Ross Anderson, and Frank Stajano. 2009. Eight friends are enough: social graph approximation via public listings. In Proceedings of the Second ACM EuroSys Workshop on Social Network Systems. 13–18. https://doi.org/10.1145/1578002.1578005 [4] Evan Brinckman, Andrey Kuehlkamp, Jarek Nabrzyski, and Ian J. Taylor. 2019. Techniques and Applications for Crawling, Ingesting and Analyzing Blockchain Data. In 2019 International Conference on Information and Communication Technology Convergence (ICTC). IEEE, 717–722. https: //doi.org/10.1109/ICTC46691.2019.8939746 [5] Pinar Caglayan and Zehra Ozkan. 2021. NFTs and copyright: challenges and opportunities. Journal of Intellectual Property Law& Practice 16, 10 (06 2021). https://doi.org/10.1093/jiplp/jpab104 [6] Umit Can and Bilal Alatas. 2019. A new direction in social network analysis: Online social network analysis problems and applications. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications 535 (2019), 122372. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physa.2019.122372 [7] Simone Casale-Brunet, Paolo Ribeca, Patrick Doyle, and Marco Mattavelli. 2021. Networks of Ethereum Non-Fungible Tokens: A Graph-Based Analysis of the ERC-721 Ecosystem. In IEEE Blockchain 2021, 06 - 08 December. https://doi.org/10.1109/Blockchain53845.2021.00033 [8] Joseph Coelho, Dawson D’almeida, Scott Coyne, Nathan Gilkerson, Katelyn Mills, and Praveen Madiraju. 2019. Social Media and Forecasting Stock Price Change. In 2019 IEEE 43rd Annual Computer Software and Applications Conference (COMPSAC), Vol. 2. 195–200. https://doi.org/10.1109/ COMPSAC.2019.10206 [9] CoinMarketCap. 2022. Ethereum historical data. Retrieved June 6, 2022 from https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/historical-data/ [10] Iain J Cruickshank and Kathleen M Carley. 2020. Characterizing communities of hashtag usage on twitter during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic by multi-view clustering. Applied Network Science 5, 1 (2020), 1–40. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41109-020-00317-8 [11] Roberta De Michele, Stefano Ferretti, and Marco Furini. 2019. On helping broadcasters to promote tv-shows through hashtags. Multimedia Tools and Applications 78, 3 (2019), 3279–3296. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-018-6510-7 [12] Decrypt.co. 2022. Hot Ethereum NFT Platform LooksRare Is Rife With Wash Trading - And OK With It. Retrieved June 6, 2022 from https: //decrypt.co/90317/ethereum-nft-market-looksrare-wash-trading [13] Joshua Fair!eld. 2021. Tokenized: The Law of Non-Fungible Tokens and Unique Digital Property. Indiana Law Journal, Forthcoming (04 2021). [14] Stefano Ferretti, Marco Furini, and Manuela Montangero. 2019. Diabetes: What are italian twitter users talking about?. In 2019 28th International Conference on Computer Communication and Networks (ICCCN). IEEE, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCCN.2019.8847039 [15] Anastasia Giachanou and Fabio Crestani. 2016. Like it or not: A survey of twitter sentiment analysis methods. ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR) 49, 2 (2016), 1–41. https://doi.org/10.1145/2938640 [16] Google. 2022. BigQuery. Retrieved June 6, 2022 from https://cloud.google.com/bigquery/ [17] Shrey Jain, Camille Bruckmann, and Chase McDougall. 2022. NFT Appraisal Prediction: Utilizing Search Trends, Public Market Data, Linear Regression and Recurrent Neural Networks. arXiv preprint arXiv:2204.12932 (2022). [18] Arnav Kapoor, Dipanwita Guhathakurta, Mehul Mathur, Rupanshu Yadav, Manish Gupta, and Ponnurungam Kumaraguru. 2022. Tweetboost: Influence of social media on nft valuation. arXiv preprint arXiv:2201.08373 (2022). [19] OpenSea. 2022. OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace. Retrieved June 6, 2022 from https://opensea.io/ [20] Daniel M Romero, Brendan Meeder, and Jon Kleinberg. 2011. Differences in the mechanics of information diffusion across topics: idioms, political hashtags, and complex contagion on twitter. In Proceedings of the 20th international conference on World wide web. 695–704. https: //doi.org/10.1145/1963405.1963503 [21] İlker Türker and Eyüb Ekmel Sulak. 2018. A multilayer network analysis of hashtags in twitter via co-occurrence and semantic links. International Journal of Modern Physics B 32, 04 (2018), 1850029. https://doi.org/10.1142/S0217979218500297 [22] Twitter. 2022. Search Tweets API. Retrieved June 6, 2022 from https://developer.twitter.com/en/docs/twitter-api/tweets/search/introduction [23] Kishore Vasan, Milán Janosov, and Albert-László Barabási. 2022. Quantifying NFT-driven networks in crypto art. Scienti!c reports 12, 1 (2022), 1–11. [24] Shermin Voshmgir. 2020. Token Economy: How the Web3 reinvents the Internet. Vol. 2. Token Kitchen. [25] Andi Wiliam, Sasmoko Sasmoko, Wibowo Kosasih, and Yasinta Indrianti. 2020. Sentiment analysis of social media engagement to purchasing intention. In Understanding Digital Industry. Routledge, 362–365. https://doi.org/10.1201/9780367814557-86 [26] Nick Yee, Jeremy N. Bailenson, and Nicolas Ducheneaut. 2009. The Proteus Effect: Implications of Transformed Digital Self Representation on Online and O&ine Behavior. Communication Research 36, 2 (2009), 285–312. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650208330254 arXiv:https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650208330254 This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. available on arxiv

How Social Engagement Drove NFT Market Success in 2022

Authors:
(1) Yufan Zhang, Duke Kunshan University, SciEcon CIC (yz605@duke.edu);
(2) Zichao Chen, Duke Kunshan University, SciEcon CIC (zc142@duke.edu);
(3) Luyao Zhang, Duke Kunshan University. SciEcon CIC (lz183@duke.edu);
(4) Xin Tong, Duke Kunshan University (xin.tong@dukekunshan.edu.cn). Authors: Authors: (1) Yufan Zhang, Duke Kunshan University, SciEcon CIC (yz605@duke.edu); (2) Zichao Chen, Duke Kunshan University, SciEcon CIC (zc142@duke.edu); (3) Luyao Zhang, Duke Kunshan University. SciEcon CIC (lz183@duke.edu); (4) Xin Tong, Duke Kunshan University (xin.tong@dukekunshan.edu.cn). CONTENT OVERVIEW Abstract and 1 Introduction 2 Methodology 3 Results 4 Discussions and Conclusion, and References ABSTRACT As a blockchain-based application, Non-Fungible Token (NFT) has received worldwide attention over the past few years. Digital artwork is the main form of NFT that can be stored on different blockchains. Although the NFT market is rapidly developing, we observed potential ethical and racial fairness issues in the design of NFT artworks due to a lack of ethical guidelines or censorship. Therefore, we investigated CryptoPunks, the most famous collection in the NFT market, to explore and visualize its potential ethical issues. We explored the ethical issues from three aspects: design, trading transactions, and related topics on Twitter. We scraped data from Twitter and Dune Analytics using python libraries, Twitter crawler, and sentiment analysis tools. Our five visualizations implied that 1.6 times more male punks were created in the initial design process than the female ones. And the male ones have a higher average selling price than females; lighter-skinned punks tend to sell for higher prices. The results of our study and visualizations provide a preliminary exploration of CryptoPunks and further inspire future ethical-related investigation and research in the NFT domain. 1 INTRODUCTION Non-fungible token (NFT) is a unit of data stored on the blockchain that certifies a digital asset to be unique [14]. The NFT market achieved more than 2 billion dollars in transactions in the first quarter of 2021 — which is 2000% higher than the fourth quarter of 2020 [10]. Besides, many famous artists and companies have joined the NFT market [9, 13]. Numerous NFT digital avatar collections are created based on attributes like the avatar’s gender, skin color, and accessories. CryptoPunks [1] is one of the most popular NFT collections that offers more than 10,000 unique collectible character images, selling on every mainstream NFT marketplace. However, potential ethical problems arise in the fledgling NFT market without a regulatory mechanism and central government. For example, CryptoPunks with different genders and skin colors have significantly different price trends [8]. Moreover, the algorithmic or manual generation processes of NFT usually remain unrevealed. Although CryptoPunks creators claimed that each artwork is generated algorithmically, the punks showed imbalance attributes in gender and race [1]. Therefore, our research questions of this project are: • What potential gender and racial ethical concerns exist in NFT artwork collections in the generation and trading process, such as CryptoPunks? • What are Twitter users’ perceptions of NFT ethical problems? 2 METHODOLOGY 2.1 Data Source The data are from two data sources: blockchain transaction records of CryptoPunks token from DuneAnalytics [2] ranging from the launch date of CryptoPunks, June 23, 2017, to May 7, 2022, and the Twitter threads with at least five likes from Twitter [15] with related topic keywords including “NFT,” “CryptoPunk(s),” “ethic,” “informed consent,” “transparency,” “accountability,” “privacy,” “fairness”, “trust,” “gender,” “ethnicity,” “skin tone,” and “skin color.” 2.2 Data Processing 2.2.1 Construct databases Using the Python Pandas [12] and Numpy [11] libraries, we construct four databases: transaction database (16,823 transaction records), token database (10,000 punks), trader database (5,911 addresses), and tweet database (83,568 tweets), whose primary keys are the transaction ID, CryptoPunks ID, Ethereum address, Twitter thread ID respectively. 2.2.2 Extract visualization data To depict the distribution of CryptoPunks with different attributes, we group the CryptoPunks tokens with their attributes. Specifically, the attributes of CryptoPunks are categorized into four levels: the type (e.g., human), the gender (e.g., male), the skin tone (e.g., dark), and the number of attributes (e.g., 3 attributes). Furthermore, the transaction database is merged with the token database to add the CryptoPunks ethics-related attributes (i.e., gender and skin tone) into each transaction record. Using the Python NetworkX [4] library, we build the CryptoPunks transaction network for each year from 2017 to 2022 with the addresses as the nodes and the transaction as the edges. 2.2.3 Conduct sentiment analysis Using the Python flairNLP [7] library, we conducted sentiment analysis on the tweet content in the tweet database. Unlike the rule-based sentiment analysis toolkit, such as Textblob [6], flairNLP processes the texts via the deep neural network, which generally yields better model performance in Natural Language Processing (NLP) tasks such as sentiment analysis. Specifically, all the tweets are classified into positive, neutral, or negative sentiments. 2.3 Data Visualizations We construct five visualizations using the Python Plotly library [3]. First, we create an interactive Sankey diagram to illustrate the distribution of CryptoPunks with different attributes. Second, we apply the Time River design idiom to visualize the price change of different combinations of attributes. Third, we create a scatter plot to depict the price disparity of skin tone. Fourth, we create a circular network visualization based on the undirected graph of the transaction network by year. Last, we create the bar chart and word cloud figures using Python WordCloud [5] package to visualize Twitter users’ sentiment towards NFT-related ethical topics. A detailed introduction to the visualization results will be shown in the results section. 3 RESULTS 3.1 CryptoPunks Generating Distribution Knowing the initial amount of CryptoPunks provides insights of the design team’s opinions of equality. Figure 1 reveals intuitively that the number of genders in the original set of CryptoPunks is quite different. There are 6,039 male Punks, but only 3,840 female Punks. There were also differences in the number of punks with different skin colors, with dark skin having the lowest number. 3.2 Price Trend of Punks in Different Skin Colors and Genders In this section, we analyzed the price changes of eight types of Punks in the market and the differences between them, as shown in Figure 2 (from top to bottom are ”Male Albino”, ”Male Light”, ”Male Medium”, ”Male Dark”, ”Female Albino”, ”Female Light”, ”Female Medium”, ”Female Dark”). Figure 2 indicates that the average transaction prices of male and light-skinned punks was higher than that of female and dark-skinned punks of the same period at most time from year 2017 to now. However, the price gaps among these groups were not very huge. 3.3 Transaction Prices Sorted by Skin Color Type The scatter plot visualizes the CryptoPunks transaction records and its skin tone. Each circle represents a transaction, and its color refers to the punk’s skin tone. Through interaction, users can see the CryptoPunks details and data for each transaction. In general, the dark spots were generally below the light ones, which implied that the price of dark Punk is generally lower than that of light Punk. 3.4 CryptoPunks Transaction Network (by Year) The circular network visualizes the transaction network of CryptoPunks by year, which explores CryptoPunks’ current trading market and trading network. Each node refers to a trader who has participated in at least one transaction of CryptoPunks, and each edge refers to a transaction with the color representing the punk skin tone of the transaction. In this graph, the right side of the transaction line is the most dense, which means that prices in the CryptoPunks market are likely to be dominated by a few big business merchants or high frequency collectors. 3.5 Twitter Analysis with Bar Chart & Word Cloud The bar chart and the word cloud visualizations in Figure 5 reflected the sentiments of Twitter users’ attitudes about NFT ethics. We did not identify many participants who are aware of gender and ethical inequities in NFT, which means that the ethical training and management of the NFT market is urgently needed and necessary. 4 DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSION NFT is a scorching and popular market where the numbers of players are growing rapidly. In our project, we successfully collected and visualized data about the market transactions of CryptoPunks, an NFT artwork collection and tweets. Our five interactive visualizations demonstrated that different levels of gender and racial inequality have emerged both during the creation and trading processes of CryptoPunks. Our project, as a pioneer in this field, will resonate with the community and more players and inspire more researchers to study the ethical issues of blockchain. REFERENCES [1] Cryptopunks: All attributes. [2] Dune. [3] Modern analytic apps for the enterprise - plotly. [4] Networkx — networkx documentation. [5] Wordcloud for python documentation — wordcloud 1.8.1 documentation. [6] Textblob: Simplified text processing — textblob 0.15.2 documentation, 2018. [7] flairnlp/flair, 09 2020. [8] M. Egkolfopoulou and A. Gardner. Even in the metaverse, not all identities are created equal. Bloomberg.com, 12 2021. [9] R. Farrington. Why big brands are spending millions on nfts. [10] R. Frank. Nft sales top $2 billion in first quarter, with twice as many buyers as sellers, 04 2021. [11] Numpy. Numpy — numpy, 2009. [12] Pandas. Python data analysis library — pandas: Python data analysis library, 2018. [13] M. Swant. As coca-cola auctions its first nft, more brands are entering the metaverse. [14] V. Tabora. Looking beyond nft from million dollar jpeg energy hogs to its value proposition, 04 2021. [15] Twitter. Twitter. it’s what’s happening., 2000. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 DEED license. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 DEED license. available on arxiv

CryptoPunks: The Digital Art Boom with an Analog Bias Problem

WILMINGTON, USA, January 2nd, 2025/Chainwire/--Silencio Network, the world’s largest noise intelligence platform, has set a historic benchmark for the Web3 and Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN’s). Through its strategic partnership with Legion (legion.cc), Silencio generated an unprecedented $112 million in allocation requests, surpassing its $500,000 raise target by over 220x. This milestone highlights increasing interest in DePIN projects and demonstrates the demand for real-world blockchain solutions. Silencio's success underscores its leadership in leveraging blockchain technology to tackle tangible challenges while empowering a global community. Clarifying Community-First Intent While $112.7 million in allocation requests were received, Silencio intentionally accepted only $1.3 million. Silencio has created a strong foundation for long-term, decentralized growth by prioritizing community incentives over large-scale capital intake. Pioneering the Future of DePIN Silencio’s achievement goes beyond the interest. It demonstrates the rising demand for decentralized infrastructure networks that address pressing global issues like noise pollution. “This isn’t just a milestone for Silencio; it’s a defining moment for the DePIN space,” said Thomas Messerer, CEO and Co-Founder of Silencio Network. “Our community-first approach resonated with people worldwide, proving that when you put users at the center of innovation, extraordinary things happen.” Operating in over 180 countries with a network of 460,000 sensors, Silencio processes more than 100,000 daily transactions, creating the world’s most comprehensive noise intelligence database. The $SLC Token and the Path to TGE The $SLC token, governed by the BlockSound Foundation, lies at the heart of Silencio’s ecosystem, rewarding contributors and scaling the network sustainably. The pre-sale was designed as a community-first initiative, ensuring early adopters play a pivotal role in shaping the project’s future. With the Token Generation Event (TGE) just weeks away, $SLC will unlock new opportunities for ownership, engagement, and impact, empowering users and enterprises to participate actively in Silencio’s mission. Real-World Leadership in DePIN With the DePIN market projected to grow from $56 billion to $3.5 trillion by 2028, Silencio’s pre-sale ranks among the largest-ever allocation initiatives in Web3 history. This success can reinforce Silencio’s pioneering role in shaping the future of decentralized physical infrastructure networks. Noise pollution imposes a staggering multi-trillion-dollar cost on the global economy, impacting life expectancy, driving up healthcare expenses, and diminishing work efficiency worldwide. It affects a majority of the global population, significantly reducing quality of life. Silencio's innovative, smartphone-powered solution democratizes access to noise intelligence, offering a scalable pathway to creating quieter, healthier cities. By empowering individuals with actionable insights, Silencio enables smarter choices about where to live, dine, and stay, fostering a better quality of life for communities everywhere. Joining the Movement Users can download the Silencio app, contribute to the world’s largest noise databank, earn rewards for making a difference, and visit www.silencio.network to learn more and explore the network’s activity on Dune Analytics. About Silencio Network Silencio Network is revolutionizing the global approach to capturing, processing, and utilizing noise intelligence data. By transforming everyday smartphones into real-time noise sensors, Silencio provides hyper-local insights that drive impactful decisions across industries such as urban planning, real estate, and hospitality. Envisioning a future where noise-level data influences real estate pricing and guides daily choices in selecting hotels and restaurants, Silencio is paving the way for smarter, more informed decisions. With operations spanning over 180 countries and a network of 460,000 sensors, the platform generates more than 100,000 daily on-chain transactions, solidifying its position as the world’s largest noise intelligence platform. About Legion Legion is revolutionizing early-stage crypto investments with its MiCA-compliant fundraising platform. Engineered to democratize access for retail investors, a built-in reputation system lets projects customize allocations and offer discounts based on each investor’s unique on- and off-chain activities. Reputation scores dynamically evolve based on how investors support the projects they invest in, disincentivizing short-term, value-extractive behavior. Contact Christopher von Halem Silencio Network Christopher@silencio.network This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here WILMINGTON, USA, January 2nd, 2025/Chainwire/--Silencio Network, the world’s largest noise intelligence platform, has set a historic benchmark for the Web3 and Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN’s). Through its strategic partnership with Legion (legion.cc) , Silencio generated an unprecedented $112 million in allocation requests, surpassing its $500,000 raise target by over 220x. Legion (legion.cc) Legion (legion.cc) This milestone highlights increasing interest in DePIN projects and demonstrates the demand for real-world blockchain solutions. Silencio's success underscores its leadership in leveraging blockchain technology to tackle tangible challenges while empowering a global community. Clarifying Community-First Intent While $112.7 million in allocation requests were received, Silencio intentionally accepted only $1.3 million. Silencio has created a strong foundation for long-term, decentralized growth by prioritizing community incentives over large-scale capital intake. Pioneering the Future of DePIN Silencio’s achievement goes beyond the interest. It demonstrates the rising demand for decentralized infrastructure networks that address pressing global issues like noise pollution. “This isn’t just a milestone for Silencio; it’s a defining moment for the DePIN space,” said Thomas Messerer, CEO and Co-Founder of Silencio Network. “Our community-first approach resonated with people worldwide, proving that when you put users at the center of innovation, extraordinary things happen.” “This isn’t just a milestone for Silencio; it’s a defining moment for the DePIN space,” said Thomas Messerer, CEO and Co-Founder of Silencio Network. “Our community-first approach resonated with people worldwide, proving that when you put users at the center of innovation, extraordinary things happen.” Operating in over 180 countries with a network of 460,000 sensors, Silencio processes more than 100,000 daily transactions, creating the world’s most comprehensive noise intelligence database. The $SLC Token and the Path to TGE The $SLC token, governed by the BlockSound Foundation, lies at the heart of Silencio’s ecosystem, rewarding contributors and scaling the network sustainably. The pre-sale was designed as a community-first initiative, ensuring early adopters play a pivotal role in shaping the project’s future. With the Token Generation Event (TGE) just weeks away, $SLC will unlock new opportunities for ownership, engagement, and impact, empowering users and enterprises to participate actively in Silencio’s mission. Real-World Leadership in DePIN With the DePIN market projected to grow from $56 billion to $3.5 trillion by 2028, Silencio’s pre-sale ranks among the largest-ever allocation initiatives in Web3 history. This success can reinforce Silencio’s pioneering role in shaping the future of decentralized physical infrastructure networks. Noise pollution imposes a staggering multi-trillion-dollar cost on the global economy, impacting life expectancy, driving up healthcare expenses, and diminishing work efficiency worldwide. It affects a majority of the global population, significantly reducing quality of life. Silencio's innovative, smartphone-powered solution democratizes access to noise intelligence, offering a scalable pathway to creating quieter, healthier cities. By empowering individuals with actionable insights, Silencio enables smarter choices about where to live, dine, and stay, fostering a better quality of life for communities everywhere. Joining the Movement Users can download the Silencio app , contribute to the world’s largest noise databank, earn rewards for making a difference, and visit www.silencio.network to learn more and explore the network’s activity on Dune Analytics . Silencio app Silencio app www.silencio.network www.silencio.network Dune Analytics Dune Analytics About Silencio Network Silencio Network is revolutionizing the global approach to capturing, processing, and utilizing noise intelligence data. By transforming everyday smartphones into real-time noise sensors, Silencio provides hyper-local insights that drive impactful decisions across industries such as urban planning, real estate, and hospitality. Silencio Network Silencio Network Envisioning a future where noise-level data influences real estate pricing and guides daily choices in selecting hotels and restaurants, Silencio is paving the way for smarter, more informed decisions. With operations spanning over 180 countries and a network of 460,000 sensors, the platform generates more than 100,000 daily on-chain transactions, solidifying its position as the world’s largest noise intelligence platform. About Legion Legion is revolutionizing early-stage crypto investments with its MiCA-compliant fundraising platform. Legion Legion Engineered to democratize access for retail investors, a built-in reputation system lets projects customize allocations and offer discounts based on each investor’s unique on- and off-chain activities. Reputation scores dynamically evolve based on how investors support the projects they invest in, disincentivizing short-term, value-extractive behavior. Contact Christopher von Halem Silencio Network Christopher@silencio.network This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here here here

Silencio Network Breaks Records: $112 Million In Allocation Requests, Surpassing Target By 220x

Silencio Şəbəkəsi Rekordlar qırır: 112 milyon dollar ayırma sorğusu, hədəfi 220 dəfə üstələyir

Το Silencio Network σπάει ρεκόρ: 112 εκατομμύρια δολάρια σε αιτήματα κατανομής, ξεπερνώντας τον στόχο κατά 220 φορές

Silencio Network bate récords: 112 millones de dólares en solicitudes de asignación, superando el objetivo en 220 veces

Silencio Network bat des records : 112 millions de dollars de demandes d'allocation, dépassant l'objectif de 220 fois

साइलेंसियो नेटवर्क ने रिकॉर्ड तोड़े: आवंटन अनुरोधों में $112 मिलियन, लक्ष्य से 220 गुना अधिक

Rezo Silencio kraze dosye: $112 milyon dola nan demann alokasyon, depase sib pa 220 fwa

Silencio Network が記録を更新: 割り当て要求額 1 億 1,200 万ドル、目標額の 220 倍を達成

Silencio Network ທໍາລາຍສະຖິຕິ: $112 ລ້ານໃນການຮ້ອງຂໍການຈັດສັນ, ລື່ນເປົ້າໝາຍ 220x

Silencio сүлжээ дээд амжилтыг эвдэв: 112 сая долларын хуваарилалтын хүсэлт, зорилтоо 220 дахин давсан.

Nabasag ng Silencio Network ang Mga Rekord: $112 Milyon Sa Mga Kahilingan sa Paglalaan, Lumampas sa Target Ng 220x

Silencio Network Rekor Kırdı: 112 Milyon Dolarlık Tahsis Talebi, Hedefi 220 Kat Aştı

I-Silencio Network Yephula Amarekhodi: $112 Million Ezicelweni Zokwabiwa, Idlule Ithagethi Ngo-220x

As time goes on, Solana keeps improving its position as a major force in the blockchain world, leaving many of its competitors in the rear view. Where the likes of Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain and TRON once held the spotlight, now it’s Solana’s turn to be in the lead. Editor’s note: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Cryptocurrencies are speculative, complex, and involve high risks. This can mean high prices volatility and potential loss of your initial investment. You should consider your financial situation, investment purposes, and consult with a financial advisor before making any investment decisions. The HackerNoon editorial team has only verified the story for grammatical accuracy and does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of the information stated in this article. #DYOR Dune Analytics’ data shows that, in 2024, Solana’s stablecoin supply jumped 156% compared to last year, reaching over $3.7 billion. Better still, it also hit a new record for real economic activity in October ($36.8 million), while the TVL has surpassed $6 billion for the first time since 2022. The growth is impressive, and it clearly shows that the opportunities within the Solana ecosystem are growing. In this article, let’s explore why that is the case. What Is Fueling Solana’s Growth? Solana offers vast opportunities, but its growing popularity comes to a simple thing: it’s fast and cheap. However, some users want the transactions to be even faster, so they are paying priority fees to speed up the processing. Last week (October 21-27, 2024) the amount paid jumped almost twice (from $8.3M to $15.2M), which significantly boosted the real economic value activity. Another key factor in Solana’s growth was the rise in Jito tips (where users tip to ensure smooth transaction processing) — they surged from $10.3M to $20.1M in the same week. These figures highlight how the trader’s interest towards Solana is going up, especially those who want to launch new projects. The main attraction is, once again, low costs. Transaction fees on this chain remain competitively low — just a fraction of a cent, compared to, for example, Ethereum, where the fees per transaction can reach $6–8. Another reason for Solana’s success has been, of course, the boom of DeFi opportunities within its ecosystem. Protocols like Sanctum, Jito, and Kamino have attracted new waves of users by offering creative solutions for things like lending, staking, and liquidity provision. They are successfully drawing in crypto investors with high yields and point systems with promises of airdrops from several projects. This is not just giving a boost to Solana’s DeFi landscape but also brings more liquidity into the whole ecosystem. Additionally, the launch of decentralized exchanges and cross-chain bridges between Solana and other blockchain networks plays a significant role in the ecosystem’s success. Take Jupiter, for example — one of the top Solana-based platforms in 2024, the DEX aggregator boasts consistently high trading volumes. On October 25, it nearly crossed the $2B mark, establishing a new record. Bridges, meanwhile, are adding to Solana’s popularity by simplifying transfers across other networks and giving users opportunities to diversify their strategies. All without needing to leave Solana’s ecosystem. For developers, this means getting access to a broader user base. For investors, the chance to move assets across chains quickly and cheaply (as we’ve already covered earlier). Finally, one of the biggest attributes that Solana can boast of is true decentralization. Unlike BSC or XRP, Solana’s infrastructure is fully driven by the community, which has helped a lot in terms of establishing trust among users and positioning Solana as a genuine option for developers devoted to the core idea of decentralization. SOL Token’s Bullish Outlook What can we expect soon? As of October 27, Solana’s SOL token was trading at $179. End-of-the-year periods historically tend to mean price increases for tokens. Forecasts also say that a bull market is expected to begin at the end of 2024. And not only that, Bitcoin’s halving has already passed earlier in the year, and prices always go on the rise after that. So with everything above taken into account, we can reasonably expect SOL to reach around $200 by the end of 2024. And if it manages to break out of its current accumulation phase, it could even potentially challenge its previous all-time-high of $259. The data brought up at the beginning of this article also supports this line of thinking, showing Solana’s rising popularity. With more projects moving to Solana to take advantage of its opportunities, SOL’s future growth seems like a safe bet. Admittedly, these are just my personal observations and should not be taken as gospel or financial advice. Volatility is always a factor in crypto, so market participants should carefully consider their options before making any decisions about buying or selling SOL. Stablecoins on Solana Are the Future of Payments Typically pegged to fiat currencies like USD, stablecoins offer a sense of safety and usability that more volatile cryptocurrencies cannot. This makes it far easier for them to take an increasingly important role in the global financial infrastructure; stablecoins are already becoming essential for making both everyday transactions and large-scale business payments. Solana is in a good spot to benefit from their rise. For example, stablecoins like PayPal’s PYUSD have already made an impact —  where it struggled to scale on Ethereum, PYUSD has gained almost $250 million in market cap​ on Solana between May-October 2024. Users mostly prefer using USDT and USDC on Solana since it ensures fast, low-cost stablecoin transactions. These stablecoins can be confidently called the most popular, as they are already a mainstream payment tool. Between October 2023 and October 2024, their market cap jumped $36B and $9,7B respectively. At the same time, Tether recently released data that shows how the number of on-chain wallets has grown to 330 million by Q3 2024, with the average growth of 9% across the last four quarters. This surge in popularity is significantly benefiting Solana as well. Solana’s Future is Bright At this point, I’d say that we have firmly established that Solana’s growth in 2024 is no fluke or empty hype. It’s built on genuine technological advantages and real-world benefits for users and developers alike. Solana’s ability to offer fast and affordable transactions, paired with its thriving DeFi landscape and strong stablecoin support, makes it a strong contender for leadership in the blockchain world. As time goes on, Solana keeps improving its position as a major force in the blockchain world, leaving many of its competitors in the rear view. Where the likes of Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain and TRON once held the spotlight, now it’s Solana’s turn to be in the lead. Editor’s note: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Cryptocurrencies are speculative, complex, and involve high risks. This can mean high prices volatility and potential loss of your initial investment. You should consider your financial situation, investment purposes, and consult with a financial advisor before making any investment decisions. The HackerNoon editorial team has only verified the story for grammatical accuracy and does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of the information stated in this article. #DYOR Editor’s note: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Cryptocurrencies are speculative, complex, and involve high risks. This can mean high prices volatility and potential loss of your initial investment. You should consider your financial situation, investment purposes, and consult with a financial advisor before making any investment decisions. The HackerNoon editorial team has only verified the story for grammatical accuracy and does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of the information stated in this article. #DYOR Editor’s note: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Cryptocurrencies are speculative, complex, and involve high risks. This can mean high prices volatility and potential loss of your initial investment. You should consider your financial situation, investment purposes, and consult with a financial advisor before making any investment decisions. The HackerNoon editorial team has only verified the story for grammatical accuracy and does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of the information stated in this article. #DYOR Dune Analytics’ data shows that, in 2024, Solana’s stablecoin supply jumped 156% compared to last year, reaching over $3.7 billion. Better still, it also hit a new record for real economic activity in October ($36.8 million), while the TVL has surpassed $6 billion for the first time since 2022. data data record record surpassed surpassed The growth is impressive, and it clearly shows that the opportunities within the Solana ecosystem are growing. In this article, let’s explore why that is the case. What Is Fueling Solana’s Growth? Solana offers vast opportunities, but its growing popularity comes to a simple thing: it’s fast and cheap. However, some users want the transactions to be even faster, so they are paying priority fees to speed up the processing. Last week (October 21-27, 2024) the amount paid jumped almost twice (from $8.3M to $15.2M), which significantly boosted the real economic value activity. Another key factor in Solana’s growth was the rise in Jito tips (where users tip to ensure smooth transaction processing) — they surged from $10.3M to $20.1M in the same week. jumped jumped surged surged These figures highlight how the trader’s interest towards Solana is going up, especially those who want to launch new projects. The main attraction is, once again, low costs. Transaction fees on this chain remain competitively low — just a fraction of a cent, compared to, for example, Ethereum, where the fees per transaction can reach $6–8. Another reason for Solana’s success has been, of course, the boom of DeFi opportunities within its ecosystem. Protocols like Sanctum, Jito, and Kamino have attracted new waves of users by offering creative solutions for things like lending, staking, and liquidity provision. They are successfully drawing in crypto investors with high yields and point systems with promises of airdrops from several projects. This is not just giving a boost to Solana’s DeFi landscape but also brings more liquidity into the whole ecosystem. Additionally, the launch of decentralized exchanges and cross-chain bridges between Solana and other blockchain networks plays a significant role in the ecosystem’s success. Take Jupiter, for example — one of the top Solana-based platforms in 2024, the DEX aggregator boasts consistently high trading volumes. On October 25, it nearly crossed the $2B mark , establishing a new record. $2B mark $2B mark Bridges, meanwhile, are adding to Solana’s popularity by simplifying transfers across other networks and giving users opportunities to diversify their strategies. All without needing to leave Solana’s ecosystem. For developers, this means getting access to a broader user base. For investors, the chance to move assets across chains quickly and cheaply (as we’ve already covered earlier). Finally, one of the biggest attributes that Solana can boast of is true decentralization. Unlike BSC or XRP, Solana’s infrastructure is fully driven by the community, which has helped a lot in terms of establishing trust among users and positioning Solana as a genuine option for developers devoted to the core idea of decentralization. SOL Token’s Bullish Outlook What can we expect soon? As of October 27, Solana’s SOL token was trading at $179 . End-of-the-year periods historically tend to mean price increases for tokens. Forecasts also say that a bull market is expected to begin at the end of 2024. And not only that, Bitcoin’s halving has already passed earlier in the year, and prices always go on the rise after that. $179 $179 So with everything above taken into account, we can reasonably expect SOL to reach around $200 by the end of 2024. And if it manages to break out of its current accumulation phase, it could even potentially challenge its previous all-time-high of $259. The data brought up at the beginning of this article also supports this line of thinking, showing Solana’s rising popularity. With more projects moving to Solana to take advantage of its opportunities, SOL’s future growth seems like a safe bet. Admittedly, these are just my personal observations and should not be taken as gospel or financial advice. Volatility is always a factor in crypto, so market participants should carefully consider their options before making any decisions about buying or selling SOL. Stablecoins on Solana Are the Future of Payments Typically pegged to fiat currencies like USD, stablecoins offer a sense of safety and usability that more volatile cryptocurrencies cannot. This makes it far easier for them to take an increasingly important role in the global financial infrastructure; stablecoins are already becoming essential for making both everyday transactions and large-scale business payments. Solana is in a good spot to benefit from their rise. For example, stablecoins like PayPal’s PYUSD have already made an impact —  where it struggled to scale on Ethereum, PYUSD has gained almost $250 million in market cap​ on Solana between May-October 2024. $250 million $250 million Users mostly prefer using USDT and USDC on Solana since it ensures fast, low-cost stablecoin transactions. These stablecoins can be confidently called the most popular, as they are already a mainstream payment tool. Between October 2023 and October 2024, their market cap jumped $36B and $9,7B respectively. At the same time, Tether recently released data that shows how the number of on-chain wallets has grown to 330 million by Q3 2024, with the average growth of 9% across the last four quarters. This surge in popularity is significantly benefiting Solana as well. $36B $36B $9,7B $9,7B data data Solana’s Future is Bright At this point, I’d say that we have firmly established that Solana’s growth in 2024 is no fluke or empty hype. It’s built on genuine technological advantages and real-world benefits for users and developers alike. Solana’s ability to offer fast and affordable transactions, paired with its thriving DeFi landscape and strong stablecoin support, makes it a strong contender for leadership in the blockchain world.

Solana’s Surge: Why is It Set to Lead the Blockchain Industry?

Since April 1, the crypto market has been hit with a tsunami of new tokens. We’re talking more than one million in less than sixty days. Over 370,000 new tokens sprouted on Ethereum. But Solana stole the show. A whopping 640,000+ new tokens, most of them meme-tastic creations were launched on the platform. What does this surge in new coins mean for developers, project founders, and CEOs in the space? What You Should Know This isn't your grandma's crypto market. This landscape is a meme-fueled rollercoaster. Of the total 643,000 new tokens launched on Solana, 466,914 were memecoins. Pump.fun, Solana's memecoin factory, is churning them out faster than a Shiba Inu chasing its tail. Some of these freshly minted tokens are straight rug pulls. They only want to survive long enough to cash out and ghost investors who were too lazy to do their own research. Don’t let bad actors dash off carrying your hopes, dreams, and hard-earned cash. A Dune Analytics dashboard tracks the number of new tokens launched on the Solana-based memecoin platform pump.fun. But Ethereum isn't sitting on the sidelines. Its layer-2 blockchain, Base, has become a playground for degens creating memecoins at warp speed. With numbers doubling since April, the massive volume of new tokens means devs, founders, and CEOs must prioritize transparency, security, and building trust with their communities. We’ve been here before. Back in 2017 when the ICO craze was really popping I reviewed hundreds of projects for a top review site. Most of them were trash. From January to December 2017, the value of BTC rose 1500% – the largest one-year increase in history. As bitcoin gained value and legitimacy, trading volumes increased and hundreds of new crypto coins were issued. The following year 751 crypto coins became defunct – the most casualties of any year. Of those, 390 failed due to lack of trade volume and 237 due to issues with fraud. Don’t be the next victim. I’ve grown stealthy at spotting crypto winners and losers based on their publicly available information. You don’t have to be Nostradamus to know most meme projects will crash and burn. A handful will emerge stronger than ever. These will have a community that is vibrant and engaged. The token will tap into humor or pop culture effectively and spark virality. Those with long-term sustainability will move beyond the hype, trends, and shilling. They’ll boast active development, innovative features, or clear utility within a decentralized application (dApp) or ecosystem. These are the projects that soar above the sea of mostly shitcoins riding FOMO and FUD. Keep reading for some additional tea on winning strategies in crypto’s Wild West. Standing Out Is More Difficult Than Ever Project founders and CEOs must be aware of the increased saturation. With one million new tokens flooding the market, it's safe to say that competition has never been more intense. Every project wants more attention and investors. Standing out in this crowded market will require exceptional innovation, marketing, and community-building strategies. Now, get this. The influx of tokens, particularly meme coins, suggests a shift in user expectations. Many users are now seeking entertainment, community, and quick gains alongside traditional investment opportunities. Projects that can cater to these diverse needs may find greater success. Strategies for Success If you’re a project founder, dev, or CEO you need to be prepared to handle intense competition for attention, funding, and user adoption. For me, this demands exceptional innovation, marketing, and community-building strategies. Remember high levels of competition in the space also signals a thriving and dynamic market packed with opportunities. To strike success in this crowded field requires identifying niche markets, catering to specific user needs, and offering unique value propositions can lead to success even in a crowded field. The Gold Rush was a period of intense competition, where thousands flocked to California in hopes of striking it rich. Like the crypto space, it was a crowded field, with everyone seeking the same precious resource. But, not everyone found gold by digging in the same spot. Some prospectors found success by venturing into less explored areas, using different techniques, or focusing on providing services to other miners (like selling tools or supplies). One pro tip is to focus on differentiation. Whether it's through unique features, innovative technology, or a compelling value proposition, finding ways to stand out is crucial in a crowded market. Building a Strong Community An effective strategy for project founders to differentiate themselves and achieve long-term success is to build a strong community. This includes tactics for engaging with investors, fostering trust, and creating a loyal following. This community-driven approach not only strengthens a project's position but also fosters a sense of shared ownership and purpose among its members. I’ve seen the spillover buzz from retail investors make a project more appealing to institutional investors. It’s a powerful force that can propel any project to new heights. The Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), a collection of 10,000 unique Bored Ape NFTs is an example of successfully building a strong community. This project executed several strategies including exclusive benefits, celebrity endorsement, and an active social media presence. They continue to share updates and build a sense of togetherness among members. Creative and Effective Marketing Strategies Fostering community-driven initiatives aligns with another essential tool in the arsenal of project founders. Creative and effective marketing strategies are crucial for projects to stand out from the crowd. Leveraging the power of social media trends, forming strategic partnerships with influencers, and publicity campaigns on crypto news sites help founders stay afloat and emerge stronger than ever. By harnessing these tactics, projects can gain much-needed visibility and traction in an increasingly saturated market. Shiba Inu (SHIB) is a project that started as a meme coin and managed to create a massive following and achieve significant market success. I’ve followed some of their effective marketing approaches. Right out of the gate, SHIB leveraged Reddit, Twitter, and Telegram to engage directly with their audience. They focused on community engagement, viral marketing, strategic partnerships, and transparency. Navigating Regulatory Challenges Project founders and CEOs must stay informed about the latest regulations and compliance measures to ensure their token offerings are above board and legally sound. Regulatory challenges are becoming increasingly complex and can land you in jail. Get expert legal counsel, and implement strong compliance protocols. These moves are essential steps for projects to thrive in the constantly changing regulatory environment. A proactive approach reduces legal risks and increases trust and credibility with investors and users. Ripple (XRP) is a prime example of a crypto project that effectively navigates regulatory challenges. Despite facing significant hurdles, their comprehensive approach to regulation is a model of resilience and adaptability. They continue to apply a combination of proactive legal defense, strategic partnerships, and industry advocacy. This is why they’re positioned as a leader in the blockchain and crypto space. Collaborating and Networking Strategic partnerships and collaborations can be a game-changer for project founders and CEOs. Teaming up with other industry players, networking with investors, and connecting with experts are necessary tools to strengthen your position in the market. This interconnected approach stirs innovation. It also creates a supportive ecosystem. Founders are able to build authority and generate organic traffic to their projects. This is a great way to overcome challenges and discover new opportunities in the face of a million new tokens flooding the market. A prime example of a crypto project successfully collaborating and networking in the current environment is Polygon (MATIC). This layer-2 (L2) scaling solution focuses on enhancing scalability and user experience for Ethereum and other blockchain ecosystems. It also collaborates heavily with DeFi, NFT, and gaming projects. Conclusion With this recent explosion of tokens, the crypto world is more chaotic (and potentially profitable) than ever. Founders, developers, and CEOs must adapt. Stay ready to pivot your strategies and tactics to gain a competitive advantage. How can you embrace new technologies like AI or ML to stay ahead of the curve? The crypto market is evolving with this token tsunami as investors fall into two camps. Will FOMO (fear of missing out) cause your audience to dive headfirst into the memecoin madness? Or does FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) make your prospects hodl Bitcoin and laugh at the memecoin chaos from the sidelines? Do your research and experiment. It’s simple. The future of your project is in your hands. Make it count. Those who can navigate this dynamic, memecoin-filled landscape with innovation, integrity, and adaptability are poised to thrive. The world of crypto is continuously changing. Stay afloat, stay innovative, and stay connected. Since April 1, the crypto market has been hit with a tsunami of new tokens. We’re talking more than one million in less than sixty days. Over 370,000 new tokens sprouted on Ethereum. But Solana stole the show. A whopping 640,000+ new tokens, most of them meme-tastic creations were launched on the platform. What does this surge in new coins mean for developers, project founders, and CEOs in the space? What You Should Know This isn't your grandma's crypto market. This landscape is a meme-fueled rollercoaster. Of the total 643,000 new tokens launched on Solana, 466,914 were memecoins. Pump.fun, Solana's memecoin factory, is churning them out faster than a Shiba Inu chasing its tail. Some of these freshly minted tokens are straight rug pulls. They only want to survive long enough to cash out and ghost investors who were too lazy to do their own research. Don’t let bad actors dash off carrying your hopes, dreams, and hard-earned cash. A Dune Analytics dashboard tracks the number of new tokens launched on the Solana-based memecoin platform pump.fun. But Ethereum isn't sitting on the sidelines. Its layer-2 blockchain, Base, has become a playground for degens creating memecoins at warp speed. With numbers doubling since April, the massive volume of new tokens means devs, founders, and CEOs must prioritize transparency, security, and building trust with their communities. We’ve been here before. Back in 2017 when the ICO craze was really popping I reviewed hundreds of projects for a top review site. Most of them were trash. From January to December 2017, the value of BTC rose 1500% – the largest one-year increase in history. As bitcoin gained value and legitimacy, trading volumes increased and hundreds of new crypto coins were issued. The following year 751 crypto coins became defunct – the most casualties of any year. Of those, 390 failed due to lack of trade volume and 237 due to issues with fraud. Don’t be the next victim. 751 crypto coins became defunct I’ve grown stealthy at spotting crypto winners and losers based on their publicly available information. You don’t have to be Nostradamus to know most meme projects will crash and burn. A handful will emerge stronger than ever. These will have a community that is vibrant and engaged. The token will tap into humor or pop culture effectively and spark virality. Those with long-term sustainability will move beyond the hype, trends, and shilling. They’ll boast active development, innovative features, or clear utility within a decentralized application (dApp) or ecosystem. These are the projects that soar above the sea of mostly shitcoins riding FOMO and FUD. Keep reading for some additional tea on winning strategies in crypto’s Wild West. Standing Out Is More Difficult Than Ever Project founders and CEOs must be aware of the increased saturation. With one million new tokens flooding the market, it's safe to say that competition has never been more intense. Every project wants more attention and investors. Standing out in this crowded market will require exceptional innovation, marketing, and community-building strategies. Now, get this. The influx of tokens, particularly meme coins, suggests a shift in user expectations. Many users are now seeking entertainment, community, and quick gains alongside traditional investment opportunities. Projects that can cater to these diverse needs may find greater success. Strategies for Success If you’re a project founder, dev, or CEO you need to be prepared to handle intense competition for attention, funding, and user adoption. For me, this demands exceptional innovation, marketing, and community-building strategies. Remember high levels of competition in the space also signals a thriving and dynamic market packed with opportunities. To strike success in this crowded field requires identifying niche markets, catering to specific user needs, and offering unique value propositions can lead to success even in a crowded field. The Gold Rush was a period of intense competition, where thousands flocked to California in hopes of striking it rich. Like the crypto space, it was a crowded field, with everyone seeking the same precious resource. But, not everyone found gold by digging in the same spot. Some prospectors found success by venturing into less explored areas, using different techniques, or focusing on providing services to other miners (like selling tools or supplies). One pro tip is to focus on differentiation . Whether it's through unique features, innovative technology, or a compelling value proposition, finding ways to stand out is crucial in a crowded market. focus on differentiation focus on differentiation Building a Strong Community An effective strategy for project founders to differentiate themselves and achieve long-term success is to build a strong community. This includes tactics for engaging with investors, fostering trust, and creating a loyal following. This community-driven approach not only strengthens a project's position but also fosters a sense of shared ownership and purpose among its members. I’ve seen the spillover buzz from retail investors make a project more appealing to institutional investors. It’s a powerful force that can propel any project to new heights. The Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), a collection of 10,000 unique Bored Ape NFTs is an example of successfully building a strong community. This project executed several strategies including exclusive benefits, celebrity endorsement, and an active social media presence. They continue to share updates and build a sense of togetherness among members. Creative and Effective Marketing Strategies Fostering community-driven initiatives aligns with another essential tool in the arsenal of project founders. Creative and effective marketing strategies are crucial for projects to stand out from the crowd. Leveraging the power of social media trends, forming strategic partnerships with influencers, and publicity campaigns on crypto news sites help founders stay afloat and emerge stronger than ever. By harnessing these tactics, projects can gain much-needed visibility and traction in an increasingly saturated market. Shiba Inu (SHIB) is a project that started as a meme coin and managed to create a massive following and achieve significant market success. I’ve followed some of their effective marketing approaches. Right out of the gate, SHIB leveraged Reddit, Twitter, and Telegram to engage directly with their audience. They focused on community engagement, viral marketing, strategic partnerships, and transparency. Navigating Regulatory Challenges Navigating Regulatory Challenges Project founders and CEOs must stay informed about the latest regulations and compliance measures to ensure their token offerings are above board and legally sound. Regulatory challenges are becoming increasingly complex and can land you in jail. Get expert legal counsel, and implement strong compliance protocols. These moves are essential steps for projects to thrive in the constantly changing regulatory environment. A proactive approach reduces legal risks and increases trust and credibility with investors and users. Ripple (XRP) is a prime example of a crypto project that effectively navigates regulatory challenges. Despite facing significant hurdles, their comprehensive approach to regulation is a model of resilience and adaptability. They continue to apply a combination of proactive legal defense, strategic partnerships, and industry advocacy. This is why they’re positioned as a leader in the blockchain and crypto space. Collaborating and Networking Collaborating and Networking Strategic partnerships and collaborations can be a game-changer for project founders and CEOs. Teaming up with other industry players, networking with investors, and connecting with experts are necessary tools to strengthen your position in the market. This interconnected approach stirs innovation. It also creates a supportive ecosystem. Founders are able to build authority and generate organic traffic to their projects. This is a great way to overcome challenges and discover new opportunities in the face of a million new tokens flooding the market. A prime example of a crypto project successfully collaborating and networking in the current environment is Polygon (MATIC). This layer-2 (L2) scaling solution focuses on enhancing scalability and user experience for Ethereum and other blockchain ecosystems. It also collaborates heavily with DeFi, NFT, and gaming projects. Conclusion With this recent explosion of tokens, the crypto world is more chaotic (and potentially profitable) than ever. Founders, developers, and CEOs must adapt. Stay ready to pivot your strategies and tactics to gain a competitive advantage. How can you embrace new technologies like AI or ML to stay ahead of the curve? The crypto market is evolving with this token tsunami as investors fall into two camps. Will FOMO (fear of missing out) cause your audience to dive headfirst into the memecoin madness? Or does FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) make your prospects hodl Bitcoin and laugh at the memecoin chaos from the sidelines? Do your research and experiment. It’s simple. The future of your project is in your hands. Make it count. Those who can navigate this dynamic, memecoin-filled landscape with innovation, integrity, and adaptability are poised to thrive. The world of crypto is continuously changing. Stay afloat, stay innovative, and stay connected.

One Million New Tokens Since April: How Crypto Project Founders Rise Above the Noise 

A Glimpse Into the Past The concept of smart contracts predates the inception of blockchains, having been delineated by Nick Szabo in 1994. The first practical application emerged years later in 2015 with the Ethereum platform. Fundamentally, smart contracts automate contractual obligations and eliminate intermediaries. Smart contracts have found extensive applications in finance, overshadowing their potential to automate processes across various domains. Decentralized Applications (DApps) extend beyond financial tools; they merely scratch the surface. While the DeFi market has soared in complexity and success, other sectors lag behind significantly. Challenges Facing DApps in Non-Financial Sectors: Development complexity and cost Blockchain’s slow performance Lack of robust integration tools (wallets, infrastructure, etc.) Attempts at broader application have made little headway. The State of Gaming in Decentralization CryptoKitties marked the first step towards decentralized gaming, though it was largely controlled by its developers. Axie Infinity, despite its success, faced significant challenges, including a $615 million hack, due to its proprietary blockchain. Moreover, its gameplay mechanics are private, challenging its decentralized nature. Other projects like Gods Unchained and Heroes of Mavia also fall short of full decentralization. The current trend involves separating gameplay from asset ownership (NFTs for characters and items), with gameplay largely centralized. However such projects omit that mere ownership of NFTs does not provide “full control over assets.” Assets only have value thanks to gameplay mechanics, which are 100% under the control of developers. A popular term describing current projects is . GameFi Low decentralization and emphasis on play to earn. Examples: Axie Infinity Illuvium Splinterlands Pixels League of Kingdoms Gods Unchained Heroes of Mavia Seraph Decentralized Games Truly decentralized games are currently few and far between. Existing games can be divided into the following groups: Focus on the Blockchain Component The gameplay consists of a basic set of actions or resembles very basic game mechanics. The characteristic of such projects is that tokenomics are central, with gameplay tacked on top. It’s hard to call these fully-fledged games. Examples include CryptoKitties, DefiKingdoms, Crypto Raiders, and Neon District. Community-Developed Ecosystems The main project develops only basic assets while the community ecosystem develops games for these assets. This sounds cool and could achieve full decentralization. The problem is that games tend to be boring and often have centralized gameplay. This approach could lead to some good games, but any successful project within such an ecosystem is likely to outgrow it and become its own entity (as happened with DOTA evolving from a map for Warcraft 3 into a standalone game). Examples are Aavegotchi and Axie Infinity (planned). SDK for Simplified Game Development This route allows for significantly fewer resources to be spent on blockchain, and in theory, the gameplay should be more refined. This approach is very promising, but there is a risk that all games will look alike and be quite formulaic. Nonetheless, studios that invest efforts in developing an SDK based on their contracts have every chance to make a good game as a “showcase” for their engine (similar to Unreal Tournament from the web2 era). Examples include MUD SDK and Paima Studios SDK. Effort to Combine Forces Creating quality gameplay and laying the foundation for full decentralization. This approach requires prioritizing the creation of a gameplay process where blockchain serves as an advantage rather than a checkbox feature. This direction is the most promising but also the most challenging. Examples are Primodium and Sacra: Falling of Myrd. Why Do We Need Decentralization for Games? To break the current trend, it’s necessary to focus on the question, and convey this to the users. “Why does a game need to be decentralized at all?” The simple answer to this question is the same as “Why is Bitcoin needed?” Real Ownership of Assets True ownership of an asset means control over its value. Only by providing decentralized gameplay can you guarantee real ownership of the asset. Security Open source is not just a whim of crypto maximalists. Only open source allows for a real security audit and identification of vulnerabilities. Moreover, immutable (or DAO-controlled mutable) code guarantees the preservation of assets and the gameplay mechanics that give value to the game’s main assets. Economy Building a complex economy capable of handling significant assets requires unprecedented quality and security of code in the gaming industry. Fortunately, years of DeFi existence have accumulated best practices in this area. For a game built on smart contracts, it’s easy to imagine an economy operating billions. Excluding the influence of third parties, whether intentional or unintentional, ensures confidence in the stability of the in-game economic model. Resistance to Censorship I think almost every gamer has faced being banned for unclear reasons or even denied access to a game altogether. A decentralized game is protected from this as much as the blockchain it runs on is protected. Even in the presence of a centralized company that supports the game’s UI, the original client code will always be available, allowing the game to be launched locally. Community and Governance The openness of the product attracts a genuinely interested community around the project. The ability to contribute and manage key issues through voting creates incredible long-term support. Integration of Real Assets into the Game Economy A game can be seen as a small state. Like any other state, to ensure a stable economy, it can own assets of other states. This is fully relevant for decentralized games. It’s easy to imagine assets locked in a game generating passive income and creating additional value for the project. All of this can be summarized in one word: DeGame. Technical Implementation Currently, various blockchains have their smart contracts, but EVM and Solidity are the de facto industrial standards. It’s not just that 90% of all developments are written in Solidity, but also the infrastructure built around EVM networks. RPC providers, The Graph protocol for the backend part, Dune analytics dashboards, and other tools solve many problems that are difficult to compensate for with other tech stacks. But is it really possible to “squeeze” game logic into Solidity given that the size of contracts is limited to 24KB and the block time in most blockchains does not exceed 2 seconds? Yes, it’s more than feasible. There are many design patterns for writing complex logic, such as The Diamond Standard (EIP-2335) and the use of libraries along with the ERC-7201 standard. These approaches allow us to almost completely bypass the limitation on the size of the smart contract code. The gas limit per transaction imposes serious restrictions on the number of actions a player can take in one go. However, the use of packed data and standard gas optimization methods allow for even complex logic such as pathfinding on terrain and determining lines of sight within a single transaction. Blockchain enables unique gameplay mechanics for multiplayer. In a standard MMO game, solving the problem of lag with 1000+ players online is practically impossible, but here, the mechanism of competition for gas comes into play. Moreover, gas payments can be tied to in-game currency through ERC-4337. This means you can control the online servers with in-game mechanics (pay more in-game currency to participate in a castle siege with other players, for example). At this stage, it’s too early to talk about a fully decentralized game with real-time action gameplay. However, game genres with turn-based gameplay fit perfectly with the concept of block finalization. Essentially, technical limitations encourage the creation of new genre combinations, such as turn-based MMO RPGs. Over time, a specific blockchain will be created to process on-chain actions of players sufficient even for real-time shooters. L2/L3 blockchains, which can now be deployed in minutes through a UI, have proven themselves well in this regard. It’s more than realistic to imagine a situation where a blockchain game can create its own temporary L3 for a specific game session. The Future of DeGame As always, games present a real challenge to the entire IT industry, pushing it towards more efficient solutions. Not only is there a need to develop complex logic on smart contracts, but the blockchain must also be capable of processing a huge number of transactions. Fortunately, there are now many blockchains capable of achieving the necessary throughput. A sufficiently large project could even develop its own blockchain to handle transactions specific to the game. A decentralized server part for the game with its validators and consensus. However, in the early stages, a standard universal blockchain is more than enough for games without real-time action. And as experience shows, it’s better to focus on one thing, whether it’s the game itself or the infrastructure in the form of a fast blockchain. In the future, we will see many projects that implement gameplay on smart contracts and open a new era in the gaming industry. This revolution goes hand in hand with the evolution of all crypto projects, and it’s only a matter of time before the old game development is displaced by new approaches.

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