Gobblers FTW

Good morning! Welcome to The Daily Moon. October, or should we say “Hacktober”, is over. The month saw losses worth $760.2 million from 44 crypto hacks. That takes the digital loot to $3 billion, nearly double 2021’s figure.

The markets were back to red. Bitcoin was at $20,500 while Ethereum slipped below $1,600. Nasdaq rose in early trade. Back home, Sensex and Nifty went up marginally.

Gobblers Splits The Portal Gun

Just 50 minutes after its debut, an NFT project took a spot among the top ten. Art Gobblers, an NFT collection created by VC firm Paradigm and Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland, crossed $17 million in sales. It has more than 1,000 owners so far.

FYI Art Gobblers is a decentralised experimental NFT “factory” that invites artists to create art. It consists of “Gobblers” or animated characters that “gobble” art created by artists and convert it into NFTs.

Wubba lubba dub dub?Turns out not for the NFT market. The floor price for Art Gobblers was 13.69 ETH (at 7pm IST) and its most expensive NFT was on sale for 420.69 ETH. The project is popular because it’s something different. Gobblers “eat” art and create bigger NFT art galleries. Anyone can create and mint new art pieces on the blank canvases. There’s an on-chain token GOO associated with the Gobblers.

You get to create art for free. Using the GOO token, the art can be “glaminated” to turn it into a collectible NFT. GOO holders can also mint the artwork and create more blank canvases for other artists.

It’s real painGobblers’ success may be isolated. NFT marketplace OpenSea has hit a 17-month low of $303 million. Amidst these blues, GameStop’s NFT marketplace is now live on blockchain platform ImmutableX.

ICYMI NBA star Steph Curry is trying his hand at NFTs too. His version of the metaverse, Curryverse, will offer NFTs to athletes.

ATOM Recaptures The Universe

Cosmos is ready for version 2.0 and that’s triggered an ATOM rally. Cosmos’ ATOM token is back to $14. The altcoin will undergo a rejig where ATOM will become the preferred collateral within the network.

FYI Cosmos is an internet of blockchains, called interchain, that helps developers to build a series of interoperable blockchains on its network. ATOM powers Cosmos.

What’s special about the upgrade? So far, Cosmos helped developers build blockchains using its software development kit. In version 2.0, Cosmos will offer:

• A platform to develop interchain-native applications.

• A secure platform for interchain coordination.

• Liquid staking for vendors that will enable users to get staked tokens in exchange of the deposited native tokens.

Cosmos will become a self-sustainable economic platform where ATOM will be used as collateral. Multiple Cosmos Councils will govern the network.

When is the transition?Voting on the proposal began on Monday and will conclude on November 14. Close to 90% of voters have supported the reforms.

Ripple Has Allies

The very public spat going on between Ripple (XRP) and the US SEC just got more interesting. Crypto exchange Coinbase and advocacy group Blockchain Association have petitioned a federal court. These entities want to be friends-of-the-court and provide “expertise” on the case.

FYI SEC moved court against Ripple in December 2020. It claims that XRP is an unregistered security, Ripple claims it isn’t.

Ok. But why?Market regulator SEC hasn’t been very clear on crypto. Is it a security? Do stock market rules apply? Now the industry wants answers. This will help them understand how to deal when the SEC comes knocking.

Why does it matter?Allies will make Ripple’s case stronger in court. Whatever the court says in XRP’s case will hold true for the rest of the tokens. Ripple’s even ready to “settle”, but that is if the SEC declares that XRP is not a security.

Dorsey’s DM Pays Off

Twitter’s founder, Jack Dorsey still owns 2.4% of Twitter. Which means he retains voting power. It means crypto will have a role to play on the social media platform.

What’s the big deal?A lot of the excitement is about how Elon Musk plans to incorporate crypto in the Twitter equation. He keeps hinting at it too.

And it is no secret that Dorsey was supportive of Musk’s initial offer to buy Twitter. Both men have been trying to introduce blockchain technology. It is not entirely wild to think that they will do something about it together. Dorsey’s voting rights only add to that thought. There is no official word on how this will pan out. But it doesn’t hurt to wonder, does it?

No draft for Musk planThe Musk Twitter story is like a real life potboiler. Except that nobody knows the script. So this comes as a surprise twist. But again, because this is Musk’s Twitter, nobody knows where this will actually go. Meanwhile, Mr Chief Twit was spotted bargaining with himself.

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Who are we? This newsletter’s ambition is to educate (and to entertain). The world of money is changing everyday and we want to help you decode what’s happening in the world of crypto, public markets in the US and India.