Bitcoin Ordinals May Boost Miners’ Profits; Yuga Labs Reimburses Gas Fees; PlayDapp Loses $31M in Hack
Summary:
Digital asset management firm, Grayscale, highlights that Bitcoin Ordinals inscriptions could be a source of revenue for Bitcoin mining firms post-April's halving event. High Ethereum 'gas' fees have forced Yuga Labs to reconcile with disgruntled players by reimbursing the fees instead of offering an alternative NFT. Despite an increased market interest, Google searches for "Bitcoin" are at a 40-month low. The blockchain gaming platform, PlayDapp, suffers a security breach, leading to a loss of $31 million. Spot Bitcoin ETFs reach $10 billion, led by BlackRock and Fidelity's ETFs, while FTX sells Digital Custody to CoinList at a markdown.
Digital asset management firm, Grayscale, indicates that inscriptions on Bitcoin Ordinals could improve revenue prospects for Bitcoin mining companies, following the anticipated halving event in April. Grayscale researcher, Michael Zhao, stated in his Feb 9 report that miners have often earned over 20% of their transaction fees from inscriptions alone, since the inception of Bitcoin Ordinals. Mining firms have enjoyed a considerable $200 million profit from nearly 59 million Bitcoin collectors' items since the launch of the Ordinals protocol in January 2023. He suggests this pattern of profit will likely continue due to the renewed interest from developers in the Bitcoin blockchain. This halving event will halve mining rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC potentially jeopardizing the financial position of many mining firms unless more transaction fees and a surge in BTC value can counteract the reduction in rewards.
Yuga Labs, the company behind the 'Legends of The Mara' game, has announced it will reimburse 'gas' fees to players who attempted to acquire the 'Loot' non-fungible token (NFT) but couldn't due to the high Ethereum gas fees. Originally, the company planned to distribute a different 'on-chain' reward – the 'Catalyst' NFT, but this proposition was met with disapproval from the community. As a result, the company's co-founder, Greg Solano, affirmed it would be better to cover the 'gas' fees rather than offer another NFT as compensation.
In other news, despite substantial surges in Bitcoin’s price and the launch of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the United States, Google search interest in "Bitcoin" is nearing a 40-month low according to Google Trends data. The low search interest might indicate a lack of attention from retail investors, as suggested by crypto hedge fund investor, Fred Krueger.
Blockchain gaming platform and NFT public market, PlayDapp, announced a security breach causing a loss of $31 million. The exploit involved minting 200 million PlayDapp (PLA) tokens and is suspected to have been caused by a leak of a 'private key'. PlayDapp is working with cryptocurrency exchanges to suspend PLA trading, and has offered a bounty to the offender to return the funds, warning of imminent involvement from the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.
In other significant news, Spot Bitcoin ETFs have amassed $10 billion in assets in just the first 20 trading days. The leading contributors being BlackRock and Fidelity's ETFs, with $4 billion and $3.4 billion, respectively. FTX has divested its interest in Digital Custody to CoinList at a substantial deduction of $500,000, which was initially bought for $10 million.
Published At
2/12/2024 9:40:32 AM
Disclaimer: Algoine does not endorse any content or product on this page. Readers should conduct their own research before taking any actions related to the asset, company, or any information in this article and assume full responsibility for their decisions. This article should not be considered as investment advice. Our news is prepared with AI support.
Do you suspect this content may be misleading, incomplete, or inappropriate in any way, requiring modification or removal?
We appreciate your report.