Has AI token’s bullish momentum temporarily stopped?
The significant growth of AI projects such as Fetch.ai (FET) and Render (RDNR) has attracted the attention of the community. FET has recorded an increase of over 90% while RDNR also surged 56% within two weeks.
Nvidia (NVDA) – a leading provider of graphics processing units and also the strategic developer of Render (RDNR) will publish its financial report on Nov 21. Nvidia’s EPS raised continuously in the first 3 quarters of 2023, showing the effectiveness of its business strategy, especially in the development of graphics processors and Render (RDNR).
In its latest earnings report, NVIDIA’s sales in Q2 reached $3.51 billion, surpassing the initial prediction of $11.19 billion. Profit per share reached $2.7, higher than forecast of $2.08.
A token closely related to NVIDIA, $RDNR, also had incredible growth in the past 2 days; other AI tokens such as $TAO, $PHB, $AGIX, $WLD, $FET also saw an increase of nearly 20%. NVIDIA’s earnings report is positive so the community is extremely optimistic about this narrative. However, the FOMO mentality can also lead to “sell the news” as important news related to AI is coming.
Hong Kong narrative
Last week, Hong Kong advanced the CBDC pilot, bringing e-HKD trials to phase 2. Kong’s trials have shown potential uses in payment, deposit and investment scenarios, also showing the commitment to integrating digital currencies and improving efficiency of the city’s financial system. Hong Kong is a global financial hub that applied digital ledger technology to improve international payment efficiency and attract major investors. After the JPEX crypto scandal, Hong Kong has strengthened its crypto laws to rebuild trust and prevent frauds.
Tightening crypto regulations enhances the safety and transparency of the crypto space in the region. The SFC’s new guide on tokenization promotes transparency and security, bridging traditional finance and blockchain innovation.
On Nov 13, Legislator Duncan Chiu proposed allowing Bitcoin purchased through licensed Hong Kong exchanges to qualify under the program, underscoring the region’s progressive stance on virtual currencies. Hong Kong’s program has an entry threshold of approximately $3.84 million, up from $1.3 million previously, aiming to attract family offices and wealthy individuals. Investments in real estate are still prohibited, but other assets such as stocks, bonds and possibly Bitcoin will likely be eligible.
Japan narrative
The Progmat Coin ecosystem is growing in Japan with the cooperation of market players, wallet providers, and crypto exchanges. Stablecoin platform Progmat Coin, MUFG and wallet provider Ginco have begun a study with the goal of issuing a yen-denominated XJPY stablecoin and dollar-denominated XUSD stablecoin, Progmat said in a statement.
The XJPY and XUSD stablecoins will be intended to improve the efficiency of settlements between crypto asset exchanges, with XUSD for use in cross-border settlements. Japanese crypto exchanges use banks for settlement, according to the Tokyo Fin Tech blog, causing delays that the Progmat system will eliminate.
MUFG introduced the Progmat platform in February 2022 in a consortium with other large Japanese banks. It is regulated under the revised Payment Services Act that came into effect in June 2023. Progmat would support the “trust” type coin, issued by trust banks.
In June, MUFG announced that Progmat will support banks issuing stablecoins on Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche and Cosmos, in strict compliance with Japanese law. The Japanese government has made many positive moves to welcome the crypto market such as Nomura – the leading investment bank in Japan has launched the Bitcoin Adoption Fund, SC Ventures & SBI Holdings have invested more than $100M in crypto, etc.
Will GameFi come back?
The blockchain gaming industry is attracting significant investment, especially after the success of Axie Infinity and MIR4 in 2021. Total investment value skyrocketed from $151.6 million (2020) to $5.5 billion (2021) and $8.5 billion (2022). However, in 2023, it is expected to decrease to $2.3 billion.
The proportion of blockchain gaming investment within the overall gaming industry has steadily increased, going from 1.1% in 2020 to 9.5% in 2021, 38.3% in 2022, and a striking 57.2% in the first quarter of 2023. Despite increased investment capital, blockchain games have not yet achieved the expected dominance in the gaming industry in general.
Sandbox – the giant of NFTs in the 2021 bull-run season has just announced open publishing and new 100M SAND Game Maker Fund on November 3. Starting in 2024, the fund will empower creators, rewarding them not just for their creations but also for the engagement they generate within the platform.
Excitingly, there are reports that GTA 6 is set to incorporate cryptocurrency rewards in its upcoming upgraded version. This integration of blockchain technology and crypto-based rewards is part of a larger trend in the gaming industry known as the “play-to-earn” system. However, it’s important to note that Rockstar Games has not officially confirmed adding crypto elements to the game.
Besides, Illuvium is about to take the gaming world by storm with its debut on the Epic Games Store on Nov 28. Illuvium Labs hopes to attract a wider audience of gamers as well as make their game compatible on both mobile and desktop devices.
This may be a good time to research and participate in blockchain game projects to accumulate rewards for next year.
Liquid Staking (LSD)
As the focus of the crypto world in the period Q1-2 2023, ETH’s return to the $2,000 threshold has made many catalysts on the Ethereum ecosystem vibrant again.
EigenLayer, which once caused congestion on the ETH network and gas fees to spike every time the Pool was deployed, has just launched “Testnet Stage 2”, allowing users who have not had the opportunity to join the Mainnet to receive airdrops.