March 7, 2022

Ubuntuland 🌍 Africa's metaverse that's waiting for you…

March 07, 2022

March 7, 2022

Good morning, EmergingCrypto.io subscribers

EmergingCrypto.io Weekly Update February 27 - March 5

Africa

Image Credit: James Wiseman via Unsplash

Ubuntuland - Africa's metaverse that's waiting for you

Have you heard of Ubuntuland? No? Maybe you should. If you missed your chance buying a plot of pixelated digital earth in Decentraland, you'll have another chance at your metaverse real estate mogul dreams in Ubuntuland, Africa's first metaverse launched by Africarare who is building a metaverse for African creativity. In Ubuntuland you'll be able to "create, experience and monetize content and applications like art exhibitions, concerts, film festivals, business meetings, play-to-earn games, social experiences, and much more." The African metaverse's virtual currency will be the Ethereum-based $UBUNTU token that will enable you to purchase one of the 204,642 plots of land that will be available and in-world goods and services. (Read on EmergingCrypto.io; Read on UNLOCK Blockchain) 

Green hydrogen hub, Namibia, partners with Mark Cuban-backed blockchain project, dClimate

The Republic of Namibia through the University of Namibia has established a partnership with dClimate, the decentralized network and marketplace for climate data. The southwestern African country has become a production hub for green hydrogen, a carbon-free fuel source. dClimate, the Mark Cuban-backed project, will be helping Namibia monetize and quantify their green hydrogen output by enabling a blockchain-native registry and verification system for quantifying the country's carbon sequestration, carbon emissions, and carbon credits from green hydrogen projects within Namibia. (Read on EmergingCrypto.io; Read on Ledger Insights)

Eastern Europe

Image Credit: Max Kukrudziak via Unsplash

Pussy Riot backed UkraineDao raised over $6 million in ether via NFT sale for Come Back Alive non-profit

Another week of news headlines dominated by the Russian war in Ukraine. Over $37 million in crypto donations have flooded in to support the Ukrainian government, military, and charities including over $6 million, or 2,188 ether, from the sale of a one-of-a-kind Ukrainian flag NFT sold by the decentralized autonomous organization UkraineDao. Created by Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova, Trippy Labs and PleasrDAO members, the proceeds from the sale will go to Come Back Alive, a nonprofit organizations in Ukraine that provides military equipment to the Ukrainian military. However, the DAO decided that the funds should be channeled only towards medical assistance, no military equipment. (Read on EmergingCrypto.io; Read on Cointelegraph) 

Ruble-USD Tether trading soars as Ruble sinks

Meanwhile, as the value of the Russian ruble continues to sink, ruble-USDT trading volumes surged last week as traders look for price stability on the back of western sanctions. Oslo-based, Arcane Research, reported that "Activity on Binance suggests that both Ukrainians and Russians seek crypto as a safe haven for their savings as war ravages and capital controls intensify…[The] USDTRUB volume reached a new all-time high of $35 million." Crypto is demonstrating an interesting use case in Russia and Ukraine. On the one hand, there has been considerable chatter in the last week about Putin's government and oligarchs utilizing crypto as a means to avoid western sanctions. On the other hand, Ukrainians who are fearful of a collapse of the country's currency and banking system look to crypto as a safe haven to preserve their savings. (Read on EmergingCrypto.io; Read on Blockchain.News)

Latin America

Image Credit: Rafaela Biazi via Unsplash

Projects selected for Brazil's CBDC challenge

Last week the Brazilian Central Bank selected nine projects out of 47 applicants for its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) competition, the Real Digital Lift Challenge. The objective of the competition was to submit applications that addressed (1) real-time settlement of tokenized assets (delivery versus payment or DvP), (2) currency exchange (payment versus payment or PvP), (3) IoT, and (4) DeFi.

The nine projects selected are :

  • Aave – the public blockchain DeFi lending protocol

  • Bitcoin Market, Bitrust and CPqD – DvP for crypto assets

  • Banco Santander Brazil – using DvP for tokenized vehicles and other assets

  • Febraban (Brazilian banking federation) – DVP for financial assets

  • Giesecke + Devrient (G+D) – the central bank provider in a project for dual offline payments

  • ItaĂş Unibanco, Brazilian stock exchange B3 and R3 – PvP for international payments

  • Tecban and Capital – an e-commerce logistics solution that uses IoT

  • VERT, Digital Asset and Oliver Wyman – rural financing

  • Visa Brazil, ConsenSys and Microsoft – SME financing using DeFi

The next phase of the of the competition will begin the implementation of the projects above in late March. (Read on EmergingCrypto.io; Read on Ledger Insights) 

Argentine province, Chaco, signs agreement to start solar Bitcoin Mining

Ever head of Chaco? If not, it's a province in northeast Argentina whose Governor signed an agreement with the tech and finance startup, Capsule Corporation, to create a solar energy powered bitcoin mining pool in the sunny Argentine region. In addition to hopefully profiting off of sustainable bitcoin mining, the project also intends to create at least 100 new jobs in Chaco. (Read on EmergingCrypto.io; Read on Cointelegraph)

Asia

Image Credit: Valeriy Kryukov via Unsplah

Bitcoin's carbon emissions getting worse says new study

Despite what Chaco, Argentina may be trying, bitcoin mining's overall carbon footprint has increased by 17% since the Chinese crypto mining ban in 2021 in a new study published by the scientific journal Joules. The mining migration away from China, which accounted for more than 60% of the bitcoin hash rate before May 2021, did not result in a 'greener' digital currency. In fact, the report highlighted that the amount of renewable energy used to mine bitcoin decreased from 42% to roughly 25% since August 2021 and that maintaining the Bitcoin blockchain emits 65 megatons of carbon dioxide annually. The study concluded that Chinese miners had more access to hydropower and were more environmentally conscious than miners based in the US, Kazakhstan, and Russia, the top three mining countries today. (Read on EmergingCrypto.io; Read on Cointelegraph) 

Spotlight on Saudi Arabia

Rounding off this week's newsletter we're spotlighting Saudi Arabia, the oil giant powerhouse and largest gulf country. Although cryptocurrency is not legal tender in the Kingdom Bitcoin is accepted by small businesses and merchants. While 77% of Saudi Arabians are aware of crypto, only 18% trade in crypto. As the Kingdom moves to diversify its economy away from oil, blockchain and crypto companies and projects may be a part of its future. The Saudi government owned media conglomerate, MBC Group, is launching a NFT collection, American blockchain development, architecture and software designer firm, Everything Blockchain, is planning to open up offices in Saudi Arabia, and the American industrial smart contract network company, Data Gumbo, which Saudi Aramco Ventures has invested in, announced that they're opening an office in Khobar to "accelerate regional traction with leading industrial enterprises…[and] to take advantage of the regional business opportunities ripe for smart contract network adoption." The Kingdom has some catching up to do. It currently ranks 113th in Chainalysis' Global Crypto Adoption Index. However, it's still early days. (Read on EmergingCrypto.io; Read on CoinCrunch)

Thanks for reading and have a great week ahead!