Friday 12 March: Crypto and Bitcoin and ChainGuardians (reupload)

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Latest Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Cryptocurrency news and trends. We take a look at the key events affecting the blockchain sector and review market movements. Combining both fundamental analysis and tech...

AI Analysis

Here's a full summary of the BoxMining live stream from March 12th, diving into the latest in crypto, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and a deep dive into the NFT space with the co-founders of ChainGuardians. It covers market trends, significant regulatory news, and the exciting new frontier of non-fungible tokens, including their practical applications in gaming and beyond.

The crypto market is buzzing with activity, especially in the altcoin sector, even as Bitcoin and Ethereum see steady but less dramatic gains. We're seeing major moves in regulation, with high-profile hires and legislative shifts, alongside a huge influx of institutional money. A significant portion of the stream is dedicated to exploring the exploding world of NFTs, including the eye-watering sales figures and a fascinating discussion with the ChainGuardians team about how they're pushing the boundaries of digital collectibles through gaming and unique storytelling.

* Market Overview: Altcoin Season is Heating Up: While Bitcoin is steadily climbing around $57,000 and Ethereum is consolidating around $1,800, the altcoin market is truly exploding. Because the major coins aren't moving too aggressively, money is flowing into altcoins, leading to significant double-digit and even triple-digit gains for projects like Polygon (Matic), SKALE, and Chiliz. It feels like the early stages of altcoin season, with a palpable fear of missing out (FOMO) driving activity as people hunt for the next "unicorns" or "blue chips" in the space.
* Personal Investment Insights: There was some initial skepticism about Matic due to hype versus development, but after a call with Sandeep (Polygon's co-founder), it was clear he knows his stuff, leading to an investment around $0.20 – a decision that has paid off handsomely. It's a reminder to control emotions and consider exposure rather than just entry/exit points.
* Binance's Regulatory Move: Binance recently hired former U.S. Senator and Ambassador to China, Max Baucus, as a policy advisor to work with U.S. regulators. This is a massive step, highlighting the unfortunate reality that "who you know" is crucial in politics. While it exposes the brokenness of the political system (where money and connections can influence policy), it's incredibly powerful for crypto adoption because it brings in someone who understands the space to educate and push regulators forward.
* Bitcoin Consolidation: Bitcoin appears to be finishing its consolidation phase, with steady upward movement after a period of intentional "wrong signaling" a few weeks prior, where large Bitcoin movements from miners were used to spook the market into believing a dump was imminent.
* Solana and Tether: Tether tokens are now live on the Solana blockchain, which is exciting for the Solana ecosystem, especially for users of Serum and FTX. Solana is notable because it scales directly on its original layer, unlike many projects requiring Layer 2 solutions.
* Massive Money Flow into Crypto: The crypto space is awash with capital, evidenced by BlockFi's recent $350 million Series D funding round from major investors. This trend of large funds raising capital and looking to deploy it is driving the current market wave, especially amplified by big announcements like Elon Musk's Bitcoin purchase.
* Crypto Twitter Suspensions: There were alarming, unannounced suspensions of prominent crypto Twitter accounts, like Crypto Dog and Woo Woo. While some accounts were restored, it raises concerns about potential algorithmic errors or intentional silencing.
* China's Crackdown on Crypto Social Media: Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter, suspended accounts for major crypto exchanges like Huobi, Binance, OKEx, and MXC. This is seen as a political move to suppress excitement around Bitcoin, which is trending in China, especially as the government pushes its own digital currency (DCEP). The belief is that government suppression often leads to the community returning tenfold, showing the resilience of crypto.
* Institutional Demand for Bitcoin: Goldman Sachs' CEO noted a rising demand for Bitcoin from their customers, further indicating growing institutional interest.
* DAOs and Regulation: Wyoming recently approved a bill recognizing Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) as companies, marking a significant step in the legal and regulatory understanding of these new structures. This highlights how regulators are scrambling to keep up with rapid innovation in the crypto space, especially concerning the legal standing of governance tokens.
* NFT Explosion and Significance: The NFT space is booming, with record-breaking sales like the $69.3 million digital art piece at Christie's. While initially baffling (why buy something you can download?), the presenter now sees it as an early, immutable form of digital art, similar to collecting rare baseball cards or historical items. OG crypto collectors often view NFT value in ETH, not USD, making even expensive NFTs feel "cheap" as ETH's value rises. This trend genuinely benefits digital artists, providing direct cuts and potential future royalties from transactions.
* Introducing ChainGuardians: ChainGuardians, co-founded by Emma and Iden (the "NFT Professor"), is an NFT + gaming + blockchain superhero project. They aim to create exclusive, meaningful art with unique, named characters for each blockchain or major project, rather than randomized ones like CryptoKitties. Each "Guardian" is an avatar representing a chain, capturing blockchain history.
* ChainGuardians' NFT Mining Game: They've developed a "gamified mining" experience where each NFT character acts like a mining rig with a hash rate. Holders can stake their NFTs (or partner project NFTs) to earn other tokens, a concept they pioneered as "NFT mining" two years ago.
* ChainGuardians' RPG Game: Beyond mining, they have a full-fledged RPG (Role-Playing Game) that aims for mass market adoption. Players can use their NFT characters to go on adventures, interact with story elements, and battle other players in turn-based combat.
* Bridging Digital and Physical: A unique aspect is their physical merchandise, like an NFT watch with an NFC chip. This watch authenticates the token and can be tapped during the RPG game to execute special moves, creating a deeper, more immersive interaction between the digital NFT, the game, and a physical item.
* Addressing "Pay-to-Win" Concerns: To balance the game, ChainGuardians offers free-to-play options where players can grind for randomized characters. For the more powerful collectible "Guardians," a clever "native chain buff" system is in place: a Guardian is most powerful on its native blockchain's "world" or "season." This prevents permanent overpowering, allowing new players to enter a new "world" and be dominant there, creating a dynamic meta-game.
* Artist's Background and Future Vision: Their artist, Noi Staka, is a veteran who has worked for DC Comics, Nintendo, and Disney. The ChainGuardians team is passionate about building a comprehensive universe with comics, more merchandise, and eventually dreaming of a "decentralized superhero" crossover, like Shiva (their character) fighting Aquaman.
* NFTs as Functional Art and Investment: The ChainGuardians team views NFTs as more than just pretty art; they are functional, collectible investments that can also earn returns. They are excited about the potential for design and fashion, pushing the boundaries of what digital collectibles can be.

Transcript

Welcome back guys to another episode of BoxMining. I see myself here. It's probably it's getting like a 15 second delay actually. I'm like, oh my god, this guy's just typing on his keyboard. But anyways, welcome back guys to another episode of BoxMining live stream here where we talk live what is happening in the cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, Ethereum, altcoins, everything space. And I hope you guys are having a wonderful day. Today is bright and early in Hong Kong, 11am in the morning here on the 1...