‘Enormously risky’: How NFTs lost their lustre theSundaily
Source link

Latest Crypto News
Amidst the Terra LUNA crash, a steep selloff has been witnessed across the crypto market. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have also faced the brunt of broad selling pressure. On Saturday, NFTs rose in market cap, however, sales volumes were in a downturn.
As per CoinMarketCap data, the NFT collections market cap rose by 1.2% currently and was at nearly $10.98 billion in the last 24 hours. However, in sales volumes term, it dived by over 10% and was around $29.93 million.
Top NFTs traded in the green today. FLOW surged over 2.4%, while ApeCoin jumped 6.7%, Decentraland MANA climbed over 7%, Tezos advanced over 9%, and The Sandbox soared over 7.7% at present.
Since the start of May, crypto markets have been on a selling spree after Terra UST lost its peg and its sister token LUNA crashed to zero and eventually got delisted on many exchanges.
The real-time data of CoinMarketCap shows that the global crypto market cap is $1.26 trillion, a 2.44% increase over the last day. However, the total crypto market volume over the last 24 hours is $55.50 billion, which makes a 26.80% decrease. Further, the total volume in DeFi is currently $5.89B, 10.61% of the total crypto market 24-hour volume.
Bitcoin jumped by over 2% but traded below the $30,000-mark. The coin was around $29,500.
Counterpart Ether too rose over 2%, however, erased its $2,000-level. It was currently around $1,978.
Meanwhile, Terra USD slumped by nearly 15% and was near $0.05477. LUNA dived over 24% and traded at $0.008223
In the past seven days, Terra USD shed more than 71%. On the other hand, its sister LUNA dipped over 72%.
Year-to-day, Terra LUNA dropped by 100%.
As per the CoinMarketCap data, in the last seven days, NFT sales volume picked up by over 3%. However, in the last 30 days, they have slipped by nearly 5%.
According to CrytoSlam data, so far in May, sales in NFTs stand at $2.4 billion with a total transaction of 2,503,076. There are more unique sellers than buyers this month.
So far, in May, there are 421,356 unique buyers and 781,293 unique sellers, the data showed.
In April, sales in NFTs stood to the tune of over $3.69 billion, while in March it stood at $2.5 billion. In January, NFT sales were at a record high of over $4.6 billion but in February the sales slowed to over $3 billion.
In January this year, NFTs recorded all-time unique buyers of 1,008,363 while the number of unique sellers was 822,365. The transaction this month was also at a record level of 7,539,479.
The CryptoSlam data revealed that the number of unique buyers in NFTs was higher in February and March as well compared to the unique sellers. But that has reversed since April.
Nike sued StockX over StockX’s Vault NFTs, accusing the company of violating its trademark. Nike also said it was able to buy counterfeit sneakers on the StockX online marketplace.
The suit could set a legal precedent regarding what kind of NFTs can be created, and it could also put a dent in StockX’s reputation.
Nike’s professional relationship with online marketplace StockX appears to have taken a turn for the worse. The two companies are locked in a legal battle that started with NFTs and has escalated with accusations of the selling of fake sneakers.
Nike said on May 11 that it purchased fake sneakers from StockX, a popular reseller site that prides itself on its guarantee of legit sneakers. This caused a stir among sneaker enthusiasts who use the site to buy and sell sneakers, sometimes for hundreds or even thousands of dollars, with the expectation of receiving authenticated shoes.
The accusation comes after the Jordan shoemaker sued StockX in February saying the e-tailer violated its trademark when it began selling nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, featuring Nike sneakers. Nike is seeking damages and an end to StockX selling the digital tokens. StockX, on the other hand, says the trademark claim is baseless. Nike amended the suit this week to include the allegation about counterfeit sneakers.
The legal battle has the potential to set some legal guidelines for NFTs, which currently have minimal restrictions. NFTs have become popular in the art and collectibles scenes, whether they’re characters that are part of Bored Ape Yacht Club, or virtual sneakers sold by Nike itself. Some NFTs have fetched millions of dollars, but the overall value of NFTs has been falling in recent months.
Nike’s suit could also impact StockX’s reputation as a sneaker authenticator, possibly opening the door for rival companies like eBay and Goat.
Here’s what you need to know about the two companies and why they’re trading barbs over sneakers and NFTs.
StockX is an e-commerce site that mainly caters to people buying and selling sneakers. It also lets people sell other items, such as designer clothes, Pokemon trading cards and PlayStation 5 consoles, but shoes are its primary business. A report from research firm NPD earlier this year said StockX accounts for “29% of all footwear bought online.”
A key aspect of StockX’s business is its authenticity guarantee, which the company says has an accuracy rate of more than 99%. Prior to the resale site’s debut in 2016, sneaker enthusiasts often conducted transactions for rare shoes in person, at stores or conventions, or they tried eBay. Deals on eBay, however, came with risk, since there wasn’t an easy way to authenticate sneakers before buying them. eBay later instituted its own authenticity program for sneakers, in 2020.
On StockX, sellers make an account on the site and list their unworn sneakers, also referred to as deadstock, for whatever price they think the shoes are worth. That’s usually at a premium above the retail price. Each shoe listed has its own price-tracking, to show its value, similar to a stock market listing.
When someone buys a pair of shoes, instead of sending the sneakers directly to the buyer, the seller ships the shoes to one of StockX’s authentication facilities in the US or overseas. It’s at these locations that StockX verifies the authenticity of the sneakers. Rare shoes, such as certain Nike Air Jordan 1s, can be worth thousands of dollars, but fakes can be bought from Chinese manufacturers for less than retail price.
Verified sneakers get sent to the buyer by StockX, while those that fail authentication are sent back to the seller, and the buyer isn’t on the hook for the purchase.
StockX revealed its Vault NFT lineup back in January. While most NFTs don’t offer ownership of a physical asset, the Vault NFTs are tied to an actual shoe or other item depicted in the NFT.
When people buy a Vault NFT, say for sneakers such as Nike’s Jordan 1, they’re also buying that physical pair of shoes. The physical sneaker remains in a vault owned by StockX until the owner of the NFT redeems it. However, the owner can also leave the sneaker in the vault and sell the NFT, meaning the shoes have a new owner.
One of the Vault NFTs has already increased in value from $5,000 to $8,000, and StockX has created other tokens for trading cards, watches and action figures.
In February, Nike filed a lawsuit against StockX over trademark infringement. The athletic apparel company said the Vault NFTs will “confuse consumers” and dilute the company’s “famous trademarks.”
The complaint, filed in the Southern District of New York, alleged that “StockX is ‘minting’ NFTs that prominently use Nike’s trademarks, marketing those NFTs using Nike’s goodwill, and selling those NFTs at heavily inflated prices to unsuspecting consumers who believe or are likely to believe that those ‘investible digital assets’ (as StockX calls them) are, in fact, authorized by Nike when they are not.”
Nike began selling its own NFTs in April. Its line of virtual sneakers, called the Nike Dunk Genesis Cryptokicks, consists of 20,000 different tokens with one pair of Cryptokicks already selling for more than $130,000.
Nike amended its complaint alleging that it was able to buy counterfeit sneakers on StockX that had passed StockX’s authenticity verification. Nike said in the suit that since Dec. 2021 it purchased four fake pairs of Air Jordan 1 Retro High OGs in the black/varsity red-white colorway. This is the same shoe StockX included in its line of Vault NFTs.
Nike said that because the sneakers tied to the NFTs are in a vault, it’s concerned “StockX has linked the infringing Nike-branded NFTs to counterfeit goods and sold those ‘claim tickets’ to fake shoes at heavily inflated prices to consumers who had no opportunity to inspect the shoes before reselling the NFT to another unsuspecting consumer.”
In a March court filing, StockX said its NFTs don’t violate Nike’s trademarks, and it called the lawsuit a “baseless and misleading” attempt to interfere with the popular secondary market for its sneakers, according to a report from Reuters.
StockX released another statement following Nike’s assertion that it purchased counterfeit sneakers on the site, saying it takes “customer protection extremely seriously.”
“Nike’s latest filing is not only baseless but also is curious given that their own brand protection team has communicated confidence in our authentication program, and that hundreds of Nike employees — including current senior executives — use StockX to buy and sell products,” the company said. “This latest tactic amounts to nothing more than a panicked and desperate attempt to resuscitate its losing legal case against our innovative Vault NFT program that revolutionizes the way that consumers can buy, store, and sell collectibles safely, efficiently, and sustainably.”
The editorial content on this page is based solely on objective, independent assessments by our writers and is not influenced by advertising or partnerships. It has not been provided or commissioned by any third party. However, we may receive compensation when you click on links to products or services offered by our partners.
The estate of The Notorious B.I.G. is gearing up to deal in the infamous NFTs, as reported by THR, OMG. But rest assured, reader, that “The Brook,” the new activation that will allow fans of Biggie Smalls’ music to “own” their own non-existent piece of memoribilia related to him, is not just your average NFT drop that’s going forward for some reason even though we’re pretty sure crypto done crashed: It’s also a weird game thing where you can hang out with a bizarre digital copy of Christopher George Latore Wallace himself.
This is, again, per THR, which notes that The Brook is being produced with the endorsement of Wallace’s mother, Voletta, who gave her blessing to the project by saying, “Technology continues to create opportunities that are beyond one’s imagination and I’m excited that we are stepping into the future with a beautiful rendition of a hyperrealistic avatar of my son Christopher.” Which, far be it from us to question either digital verisimilitude or a mother’s love, but the version of B.I.G. we see counting his money and walking around digital Brooklyn in the trailer for The Brook is less “hyperrealistic avatar” and more “Oh, hey, someone modded Biggie Smalls into Grand Theft Auto V.”
And, honestly: It really is kind of bizarre to see so many tech-grift buzzwords combined into a tribute to a guy who died in 1997. The Brook will not only serve as a place to pick up B.I.G. NFTs (implied to be cassette tapes) but also a browser-enabled Metaverse thing where you’ll apparently be able to walk around fake computer Brooklyn and watch all the hottest concerts that couldn’t get booked in Fortnite or Second Life.
As to who’s creating this madness, Burst Live Inc. will be responsible for producing content that will appear on The Brook, while Surreal Events will do all the technical stuff. THR notes that this isn’t even the first NFT-metaverse project centered on a dead famous person to be announced in recent months; we don’t know how the fuck we managed to miss “A Long Walk to Meta: Mandelaverse,” your one-stop shop for Nelson Mandela NFTs, but that’s apparently just the glorious digital future we find ourselves living in.
UAE’s Museum of the Future has partnered with Binance NFT, Binance’s NFT marketplace, for an NFT collection titled “The Most Beautiful NFTs in the Metaverse.”
The Museum of the Future(MOTF) is based in Dubai and was opened on 22 February 2022 and is better known for its stunning and futuristic circular architecture etched in giant Arabic calligraphy. The museum showcases immersive scenes and settings that visitors can explore and interact with and its theme and mission tie in well with the web3 currents including NFTs, blockchain, and cryptocurrencies.
The museum’s partnership with Binance NFT will see it develop assets in this direction. The museum’s executive director Lath Carlson has stated that this is just the first of such ventures that will see the museum work on a number of high-impact ventures. It also ties into Dubai’s ambition to go big on cryptocurrencies and develop a digital asset ecosystem that can generate longer-range economic growth inside a digital economy.
The museum wants to use the collaboration to create and launch a range of digital products on the blockchain. Their first NFT collection is known as The Most Beautiful NFTs in the Metaverse.
The museum wants to pioneer the development of the crypto-technology space in the emirates. The museum will soon announce the first NFT drop that is themed “The Most Beautiful Building on Earth.”
The MOTF is not just an architectural marvel but is unique in the way every scene exhibited here embraces emerging technology. The facility hosts various futuristic immersive environments, an “optimistic imagination” designed to inspire visitors to positively shape the next chapter in the future of humanity, according to the museum’s website.
The museum leverages distinctive themes to imagine a world that could only be experienced 50 years from now. The museum’s immersive exhibits “touch all the five senses” and the scenes and settings tap into science, technology, and art in its storytelling.
https://virtualrealitytimes.com/2022/05/21/futuristic-uae-museum-partners-with-binance-nft-for-most-beautiful-nfts-collection/https://virtualrealitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Museum-of-the-Future-600×412.jpghttps://virtualrealitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Museum-of-the-Future-150×90.jpgBusinessNFTUAE’s Museum of the Future has partnered with Binance NFT, Binance’s NFT marketplace, for an NFT collection titled “The Most Beautiful NFTs in the Metaverse.”
The Museum of the Future(MOTF) is based in Dubai and was opened on 22 February 2022 and is better known for its stunning and futuristic…Kristin HummelKristin
Hummelkristiehummel@yahoo.comAuthorVirtual Reality Times
According to recent statistics shared by IOHK, the number of native assets issued on Cardano has risen to 4.8 million.
On March 23, Morgan Schofield, head of ecosystem growth at Input Output HK, reported that Cardano’s smart contracts platform hosts four million non-fungible tokens (NFTs), stating that “the 4,000,000th Cardano NFT is being minted, with 50,000 distinct minting policies.”
Charles Hoskinson, quoting this tweet, wrote, “Remember when I predicted thousands of assets and DApps on Cardano? Well, I was wrong. There are now millions of native assets issued and DApps are now in the hundreds SlowAndSteady.”
This difference suggests that since Morgan Schofield’s tweet on March 23, more than 800,000 native assets have been issued.
The Cardano blockchain can natively generate, interact with, and delete custom tokens (or “assets”). “Native” indicates that users can interact with these custom assets straight out of the box, without having to employ smart contracts.
Cardano NFTs are the same as native assets from a technological standpoint. However, a native asset might be a Cardano NFT if it has other properties such as amount or value, name, and a unique policy ID. NFTs can be produced using the Cardano node and, thus, are native assets. However, unlike fungible native assets, which might consist of millions of interchangeable tokens, an NFT is a single native asset that cannot be reminted or destroyed, and it exists on the blockchain in perpetuity.
In the past week, IOHK gave the total number of NFT projects on the Cardano network as 5,549. Presently, this number has risen to 5,656, representing an increase of 107 projects. The rise in the number of minted pieces of non-fungible art and projects is linked to the Cardano network’s growth.
As reported previously by U.Today, Cardano NFT sales touched $27 million in April. ADA traded down 1.64% at $0.52 at the time of publication.
When Collins Dictionary declared ‘non-fungible token’ (NFT) as the word of the year in 2021, people’s interest in knowing more about the concept grew manifold. India was still familiarising itself with NFTs and their relevance when the country’s biggest star Amitabh Bachchan’s NFTs were rolled out and sold for more than Rs 7 crore. The collectibles were purchased by his fans and included his autographed posters, his father’s famous poem Madhushala and a few of his other works. Two NFTs of Bachchan’s recent film Jhund, too, were priced at Rs 2.15 lakh each. Earlier this year, NFTs of Ranveer Singh-starrer sports drama 83 were sold for Rs 10 lakh. In 2021, actor Salman Khan launched NFTs of his Dabangg series. Southern superstars like Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan, too, jumped on the NFT bandwagon to have their own tokens. Another recent Bollywood project that launched its NFT was Radhe Shyam, the film starring Prabhas and Pooja Hegde. ngageN, an invitation-only platform for brands and creators to list their unique assets for potential buyers, rolled out the NFTs for the film. The limited-edition collectibles were minted only once.
“Fans and followers can buy these tokens and brag about their association with the movie on their digital walls. They can also transfer these assets to their MetaMask (a software cryptocurrency wallet) and sell on OpenSea (an American online NFT marketplace). These NFTs can be bought only from ngageN / UV Creations (a film production house),” says a spokesperson of the company. The prices for Radhe Shyam collectibles on the platform ranged from Rs 999 to Rs 50,000.The recently concluded Jaipur Literature Festival at Hotel Clarks Amer in Jaipur was not only special because it returned in a hybrid avatar but also because it had its own NFT collection this year. Teamwork Arts, the producer of the event, launched a new NFT collection on the concluding day of the festival. It included 15 moments to celebrate the 15th edition of the festival. The moments included Amitabh Bachchan, the 14th Dalai Lama, Aamir Khan, former president of India late APJ Abdul Kalam, late actor Rishi Kapoor and Shatrughan Sinha, among others. The limited edition NFTs were hosted on the NFT marketplace abris.io. Sanjoy Roy, managing director, Teamwork Arts, says that the international audience was quite happy to hear about the festival doing an NFT drop.
Shining on the silver screen
For celebrities in the entertainment business, NFTs are proving to be an extension of their identity as they cash in on their brand value. The fact that fans are curious to get their hands on the limited-edition collectibles of iconic names from the entertainment industry and blockbuster films proves that there is enough potential in this sector to begin with. In fact, for big brands and names from the film industry, NFT is another chance to earn money as well. Last year, singer Ritviz released two of his albums with 21 songs along with one-of-a-kind artwork with collaborator and visual artist Santanu Hazarika. The NFT, released on WazirX NFT Marketplace for $388.5, was sold out in 37 seconds after going live. NFTs are apparently becoming a growing industry across the world. Several Hollywood artistes and celebrities are now launching their own collectibles. Popular footballer Cristiano Ronaldo has invested in cricket NFT company FanCraze through his company CR7. Rapper Snoop Dogg’s NFT collection earned over $100,000 in just 48 hours last year. Entrepreneur and socialite Paris Hilton’s NFTs were sold for $1.1 million in 2021. Lindsay Lohan’s tokens were priced at $50,000… and the list goes on.
The demand for celebrity collectibles is so high and the scope of business so strong that a Los Angeles-based start-up Ethernity is building a blockchain network to allow celebrities and sportspersons to launch their NFTs. The recent NFT explosion has not happened out of the blue but was a gradual development. The founders of GuardianLink, which initially began as a blockchain research and development firm in 2016, began to realise the potential of the market in 2020 and started thinking of products. Ramkumar Subramaniam, co-founder and CEO of GuardianLink that has minted Kalpana Chawla and Amitabh Bachchan’s NFTs, shares that their transition was more of an extended one as they had the capability and resources and just had to align with what was there in the market. GuardianLink, which was also behind Asia’s first metaverse wedding that had wedding invites as NFTs, is receiving more queries for other events to be celebrated in metaverse along with their NFTs. Ramkumar says that they are open to partnering with others and providing NFTs for them and are developing their own metaverse with another partner. “We want to have people engaged in the metaverse and not just roam around in it,” he says. According to the co-founder, GuardianLink plans to make its platform accessible to several artists and creators to be able to sell their own NFTs in the next one to two years. They will also be launching their app soon.
Big business
The NFT popularity began with curiosity, but its presence is being felt everywhere today. In January, Indian gaming tech group Quadrific Media’s 12th edition of India Online Poker Championship (IOPC) was announced with a new twist—the winners earned in NFTs launched by Spartan Poker.In March, Chennai-headquartered GuardianLink further ventured into the space by introducing the world’s first NFT cricket game to attract gaming and cricket enthusiasts and they can monetise their time and effort. During the same time, online travel company MakeMyTrip, too, dropped its NFT collection on the NFT marketplace ngageN. Named Virtual Vacations, they are a limited-edition immersive NFT collection, featuring top Indian travel destinations including Goa, Rajasthan, Odisha, Meghalaya, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Andaman and Himachal Pradesh. This was almost similar to the virtual tour facilities provided by websites and museums during the pandemic.Last year, designer Raghavendra Rathore took his personal art and converted it into NFTs via block-chain technology for art. The collection was launched as limited-edition on the WazirX NFT Marketplace in association with FDCI x Lakme Fashion Week. “The importance of blockchain is something we all need to take cognizance of as sooner or later it will be an inclusive part of our life in the near future. We need to design products and services that are inherent and imbibe this path-breaking technology,” says Rathore. On the development, Vishakha Singh, co-founder and VP, WazirX NFT Marketplace, says that the designers, globally and in India, have started to understand how NFTs can be used to engage with the larger community and believes that India has a promising NFT market for creators and collectors and this partnership will turn out fruitful for both parties. Video-sharing mobile app Chingari’s NFT venture plans to boost creator economy by helping them monetise through NFT. For this, they launched GARI—social tokens, backed by Solana blockchain— which acts as an in-app currency as well as gives the creators the governance power on the app.
According to the FICCI-EY media and entertainment report ‘2022 Tuning into Consumer’ that was released in March this year, the online gaming segment is expected to reach Rs 153 billion by 2024 at a CAGR of 15% to become the fourth largest segment of the Indian M&E sector, driven by innovations across NFTs, the metaverse and e-sports. Investors and business moguls are aware of the NFT craze and positive of its future prospects. It is, therefore, no doubt that heavy investments are flowing in this direction. NFT-startup Yuga Labs, which is behind the ‘Bored Ape Yacht Club’ collection of NFTs, recently rose to a valuation of $4 billion after a round of fresh funding. The company is behind the popular collection of profile pictures featuring cartoon apes. Going beyond entertainment, the publishing sector too is leveraging the business potential of NFTs. In February this year, author Anirudh Suri’s The Great Tech Game: Shaping Geopolitics and the Destinies of Nations—published by HarperCollins India —became the first book with limited-edition NFT collectible cards. Each card in the series is unique memorabilia digitally hand-signed and numbered by author Suri, who is also the creator of the NFTs.
NFT marketplaces
What’s attracting fans and investors to the NFT market is its uniqueness and non-fungibility in the sense that it cannot be replaced with any other NFT, making its owner the only authentic holder of the token in the digital space. According to a recent study from NFT data company Nonfungible.com, NFT trading witnessed a 21000% spike in 2021, going from $82 million in 2020 to $17.6 billion in 2021. The report also suggests that collectibles and gaming NFTs remained the most popular categories in trading.Subramaniam of GuardianLink says that NFTs of more Bollywood celebrities, sportspersons and other important persons are also on the cards and will be launched on marketplaces like BeyondLife.com. He further shares that entertainment, sports and gaming are big markets for NFTs as well. “In India, there is great affinity for cricket. So, we can think of participation in a lot of aspects,” he adds. It is only a matter of time when each cricketer and IPL team will have its own NFT. To begin with, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) has already announced foray into the metaverse and collaboration with a partner to develop RCB NFTs. Rajesh Menon, vice-president and head, RCB, says, “Our endeavour is to make RCB a truly global lifestyle brand. This expansion in our business portfolio is the right step in the futuristic vision with the launch of Hustle by RCB, a live and on-demand online fitness product, plant-based meat and the team kit, athleisure and many more. We are very excited to unfold the future of RCB brand world.”
Celebrity NFTs, including that of Amitabh Bachchan’s NFTs, are often launched as limited editions. This, according to Subramaniam, generates curiosity among fans and increases the demand. “We recreate moments or certain events as NFTs. They are limited and hence, the demand is more. People can also re-sell them,” he shares. And rightly so, when Amitabh Bachchan’s NFTs were rolled out in November last year, they were priced at $10 each and the re-sell value increased to $2500. Similarly, NFT invitations for Asia’s first metaverse wedding were sold at $10 and are now priced at $4400. Hence, the purchase and selling of NFTs is not only a hobby for fans but a good investment option for those looking for high returns. It looks like the NFT craze is here to stay.
Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors from the G7 met last week to discuss global economic conditions, including cryptocurrency.
The committee was joined by Heads of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank Group, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, and Financial Stability Board, some of which have been anti-crypto in their stance.
The report states that the G7 is working alongside the FSB to “monitor and address financial stability risks arising from all forms of crypto-assets.” It cites the recent market downturn in crypto markets as a rationale to:
“advance the swift development and implementation of consistent and comprehensive regulation of crypto-asset issuers and service providers, with a view to holding crypto-assets, including stablecoins, to the same standards as the rest of the financial system.”
No reference to the 20% decline in the Dow Jones is made in correlation to the crypto market’s decline. Interestingly, a drawdown in crypto means that further regulation is required in a “swift” manner.
However, the traditional markets are supposedly efficient and sufficiently regulated. While proper regulation is likely needed within the young crypto industry, it is also important to consider and accept the nuances of blockchain protocols.
Traditional rules and regulations have been designed for the physical world and may not apply to the complex nature of DeFi, GameFi, and other digital financial assets. To say that the development of crypto regulation must be completed in a “swift” and “rapid” manner raises the question of whether this regulation will be thorough and supportive of innovation. Encouragingly, the report does indicate that stablecoin regulation must:
“adequately addresses relevant legal, regulatory and oversight requirements through appropriate design and by adhering to applicable standards.”
It further states that “digital innovation in payments is a key driver of economic progress and development, notably through faster, cheaper, more transparent and more inclusive cross-border payment services.”
However, the next section of the report does not focus on the crypto markets at large. Instead, it asses the feasibility and implementation of Central Bank Digital Currencies which it believes must “should be grounded in transparency.” It highlights that CBDCs, not existing cryptocurrencies, could be the solution to cross-border payments and innovation.
“CBDCs with cross-border functionality may have the potential to spur innovation and open up new ways to meet users’ demand for more efficient international payments.”
Numerous potential solutions exist, including Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, Ethereum Layer 2 solutions, and many other layer-1 blockchains that can manage, process, and settle international payments within seconds with minimal fees. However, these projects are public, open-source, and decentralized.
They are not subject to the same laws and jurisdictions as CBDCs. The G7 believes that the control of the financial system must remain within their remit. With global inflation over 6% and GDP dropping month on month, some will question whether it is time to change and a move towards decentralization.
Lawmakers have filed a bill with the State Duma aimed at introducing the term NFTs to Russian legislation. The authors of the draft say the rights of those who own non-fungible tokens need to be protected as Russians are currently dealing with NFTs at their own risk.
Members of the lower house of Russian parliament, the Duma, have put forward a draft law that will incorporate the term “NFT-tokens” into the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. The sponsors of the bill, Vladislav Davankov and Anton Tkachev, are from the parliamentary group of the liberal New People party.
The explanatory note to the bill, Tass news agency reported, states that the initiative aims to “recognize NFT-tokens as non-fungible tokens of unique digital assets (images, videos or other content) in the form of non-fungible data stored in a distributed ledger system (blockchain system).”
“We need to protect the rights of NFT owners,” said Tkachev, quoted by the party’s press service. He pointed out that at present the legal concept of non-fungible tokens does not exist in Russian law and people continue to make transactions with NFT tokens at their own risk. He further elaborated:
Things have moved forward with cryptocurrencies, but an NFT is not a digital currency but a digital certificate of ownership, that is, an object of intellectual property, which is why we propose to regulate NFTs as intellectual property.
While Russian authorities have been taking steps to comprehensively regulate the country’s crypto space, Russia’s current and upcoming legislation does not explicitly mention NFTs. The term digital financial assets (DFAs), introduced with a law which went into force in January 2021, partially covers cryptocurrencies and some types of tokens.
A new bill “On Digital Currency,” which was submitted by the Ministry of Finance in February, is expected to be adopted this year. It has been designed to fill the remaining regulatory gaps in the nation’s legislation. It has already won the support of the federal government in Moscow, while the Central Bank of Russia remains opposed to the legalization of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.
Do you think the State Duma will approve the new legislation for non-fungible tokens? Tell us in the comments section below.
Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.