Solana (SOL) jumped past a critical resistance level that had limited its recovery attempts during the November 2021-March 2022 price correction multiple times, thus raising hopes of more upside in April.
Solana flips key resistance to support
To recap, SOL’s price underwent extreme pullbacks upon testing its multi-month downward sloping trendline in recent history.
For instance, the SOL/USD pair dropped by 60% two months after retracing from the said resistance level in December 2021. Similarly, it had fallen by over 40% in a similar retracement move led by a selloff near the trendline in November 2021.
SOL/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView
But Solana flipped the resistance trendline as support (S/R flip) after breaking above it on March 30, accompanied by a rise in trading volume that showed traders’ conviction in the breakout move. In doing so, SOL’s price rallied by 25% to reach $135, bringing the psychological resistance level of $150 within reach.
Why is SOL (technically) bullish?
From a technical perspective, SOL’s breakout move above its falling trendline resistance coincided with a bullish crossover between its two key moving averages: the 20-day exponential moving average (20-day EMA; the green wave) and the 50-day EMA (the red wave).
Dubbed the golden cross, the technical indicator occurs when an asset’s short-term moving average jumps above its long-term moving average. Traditional analysts consider this crossover as a buying signal.
For instance, the 20-50 EMA crossover in August 2020 may have assisted in pushing SOL’s price upward by more than 650% to over $267, in addition to other fundamental and technical catalysts. As such, the golden cross boosts SOL’s likelihood of continuing its rally, as well as its breakout above the falling trendline resistance.
RSI divergence
The upside prospects increase further if a technical fractal highlighted by Delphi Digital is to be believed.
The crypto research firm highlighted a correlation between SOL’s price and the combination of its two technical indicators: the S/R flip and relative strength index (RSI) divergence.
Notably, the first time Solana’s RSI jumped above 70, an “overbought” area, after a strong price uptrend — that had it also break above the descending trendline support of that period — SOL tended to continue rallying despite its RSI consolidating lower or sideways.
Solana daily price chart featuring S/R flip and RSI divergence. Source: Delphi Digital
For instance, SOL rallied 378% after the first time its RSI broke above 70 in August 2021. Similarly, the period of an overbought RSI during May-June 2021 also coincided with Solana’s 268% upside move. The fractals appeared similar to how SOL has been performing lately, suggested Delphi Digital.
Therefore, SOL/USD could continues its uptrend when using Fibonacci retracement levels, drawn between $261-swing high to $77.50-swing low, suggesting $147-$150 as the interim upside target.
SOL/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView
Conversely, a pullback upon or ahead of testing the $147-$150 price range can result in SOL retesting the $120 as its interim support, with a possible slide toward the 20- and 50-day EMAs.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
Avalanche (AVAX) jumped 43.8% between March 14 and March 31 to a $97.50 daily close, which is the highest level since Jan. 5. This layer-1 scaling solution uses a proof-of-stake model and has amassed $9 billion in total value locked (TVL) deposited on the network’s smart contracts.
AVAX token/USD at FTX. Source: TradingView
Subnet adoption propels the recent price rally
Some analysts attribute the rally to Avalanche’s incentive program to accelerate the adoption of subnets which was announced on March 9. According to the Avalanche Foundation, subnets enable functions that are only possible with “network-level control and open experimentation.”
The program will allocate up to four million AVAX, worth roughly $340 million, to fund decentralized applications focused on gaming, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and financial applications (DeFi).
Wes Cowan, managing director of DeFi at Valkyrie Investments, added that “Avalanche’s subnet with KYC infrastructure, will be a massive step forward for institutional adoption.”
Even with the good news, AVAX price is still 33% below its $147 all-time high and the token holds a $26.3 billion market capitalization. As a comparison, the market cap of Terra (LUNA) stands at $38.1 billion, and Solana (SOL) has a $43.8 billion total value.
Avalanche is also Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible and it is not plagued by the $15 average transaction fees and network congestion that impact the Ethereum network.
The use of Avalanche’s smart contracts is in decline
Avalanche’s primary DApp metric started to display weakness in March after the network‘s TVL dropped below 94 million AVAX.
Avalanche Total Value Locked, AVAX. Source: DefiLlama
The chart above shows how Avalanche‘s DApp deposits peaked at 132.9 million AVAX on March 14, but drastically declined to the lowest level since Jan. 3. In dollar terms, the current $9 billion TVL is 24% below its $12.2 billion all-time high in December 2021.
Meanwhile, Terra’s TVL increased by 116% between January and March 2022, reaching $19.8 billion. Similarly, Waves’ smart contract deposits increased from $730 million to $4.5 billion in the same period.
To confirm whether the TVL drop in Avalanche is troublesome, one should analyze DApp usage metrics. Some DApps, such as games and collectibles, do not require large deposits so the TVL metric is irrelevant in those cases.
Avalanche DApps 30-day data. Source: DappRadar
As shown by DappRadar, on April 1 the number of Avalanche network addresses interacting with decentralized applications declined by 16% versus the previous month. In comparison, the Solana network faced a 6% user increase, while Ethereum declined by 11%.
Even though Avalanche’s TVL has been hit the hardest compared to similar smart contract platforms, there is solid network use in the decentralized finance (DeFi) segment.
The above data suggest that Avalanche is losing ground versus competing chains. Given that AVAX rallied 43.8% in 17 days, some holders might feel uncomfortable if the decentralized application network continues to post weak TVL and DApp usage data.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.
Following the successful completion of its initial parachain auctions, the Polkadot (DOT) ecosystem has begun to gain traction with the cryptocurrency community as the first chains begin to come online and integrate with Ethereum (ETH).
Astar (ASTR) is one such Polkadot-based project that finished off the month of March on a hot streak after the multi-chain smart contract platform attracted the attention of retail and institutional crypto investors.
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that after hitting a low of $0.107 on March 22, the price of ASTR has climbed 104% to a daily high at $0.208 on April 1 as demand for the token increased 20-fold.
ASTR/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView
Three reasons for the rally include the completion of a $22 million funding round, the expansion of the Astar ecosystem through protocol launches and partnerships, and an increase in users and total value locked on the Astar network.
Institutional investors pile in
The development that helped kickstart the progress Astar has made in 2022 was the successful completion of a $22 million fundraising round on Jan. 28.
Participants of the fundraiser included Polychain, Alameda Research, Alchemy Ventures, Crypto.com Capital and Digital Finance Group, along with multiple angel investors such as Dr. Gavin Wood, Richard Ma and Keisuke Honda.
The fundraise followed the mainnet launch of Astar on Jan. 17 and will be used to help develop the Astar ecosystem to support both Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and WebAssembly, allowing developers to deploy existing Solidity contracts as well as Polkadot native smart contracts.
The Astar ecosystem expands
In the months since launching its mainnet, Astar has seen multiple projects launch on its network and is anticipating the addition of even more in April.
The project is referring to the month of April as “Astar Season” because it has plans to launch at least 15 new projects on the network as part of its push to attract new users.
Upcoming launches include decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols such as Avault and Alnari Finance, the gaming protocol Astar Farms and the AstridDAO and ADAO decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).
Astar has also recently revealed a new partnership with Oasys, a layer-one blockchain built for game developers.
A third factor propelling the momentum for Astar has been the inflow of new users to the ecosystem, which now has more than 100,000 unique wallet addresses.
Another day, another milestone Feeling excited about all the growth we are seeing on Astar Network! pic.twitter.com/mGUTcb4Gb4
— Astar Network | WASM + EVM HUB on Polkadot (@AstarNetwork) March 29, 2022
As a result of the inflow of new users and the launch of multiple projects on the network, the total value locked on Astar hit a new all-time high of $1.16 billion on April 1, according to data from Defi Llama.
Total value locked on the Astar Network. Source: Defi Llama
The recent growth has given Astar the largest TVL of all the Polkadot parachains and helped it to become the eighth-ranked EVM-compatible chain by TVL.
— Astar Network | WASM + EVM HUB on Polkadot (@AstarNetwork) April 1, 2022
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
Bitcoin (BTC) has clawed back much of the losses that took place in January and now the focus of traders shifts to April, which has historically been a strong month for. According to Coinglass data, Bitcoin has closed April in the red only on three occasions and the worst monthly loss was a 3.46% drop in 2015.
Although history favors the bulls, the Whale Shadows indicator has noticed that more than 11,000 Bitcoin has left a wallet where it had been lying dormant for seven to ten years. The movement of similar-sized quantities from dormant accounts has generally resulted in a major top, according to independent ma analyst Phillip Swift.
Along with keeping an eye on the crypto markets, traders should also track the performance of the U.S. stock markets for clues because Bitcoin has been closely correlated to the equity markets for the past several weeks.
Could bulls clear the overhead hurdle in Bitcoin and select altcoins and extend the strong recovery from the lows? Let’s study the charts of the top-10 cryptocurrencies to find out.
BTC/USDT
Bitcoin turned down from the 200-day simple moving average ($48,291) on March 29 and dipped to the 20-day exponential moving average ($43,935) today. The long tail on today’s candlestick suggests that buyers are accumulating on dips.
BTC/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
The bulls will make another attempt to push the price above the 200-day SMA. If they manage to do that, the BTC/USDT pair could rally to $52,000 where the bears may again mount a strong resistance.
Alternatively, if the price once again turns down from the 200-day SMA, it will suggest that bears have erected a strong barrier at this level. The pair could thereafter consolidate between the 20-day EMA and the 200-day SMA for a few days.
A break and close below the 20-day EMA will suggest that the bullish momentum has weakened. That could result in a decline to the 50-day SMA ($41,461).
ETH/USDT
Ether (ETH) turned down from the 200-day SMA ($3,488) on March 29 but the shallow correction and the sharp recovery suggest strong demand at lower levels.
ETH/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
The rising 20-day EMA ($3,098) and the relative strength index (RSI) near the overbought zone indicate that bulls are in control.
If buyers propel the price above the 200-day SMA, the bullish momentum could pick up further and the ETH/USDT pair could rally to the psychological level at $4,000.
Contrary to this assumption, if the price once again turns down from the overhead resistance, it will suggest that bears are unwilling to relent. The bears will then try to pull the pair below the 20-day EMA. If they succeed, the pair could drop to the 50-day SMA ($2,860).
BNB/USDT
Binance Coin (BNB) broke above the overhead resistance at $445 on March 30 and 31 but the bulls could not sustain the higher levels.
BNB/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
The bears pulled the price to the 20-day EMA ($413) today but the strong rebound off the level suggests strong buying by the bulls at lower levels.
If bulls push and sustain the price above $445, the BNB/USDT pair could rise to the 200-day SMA ($467) and then make a dash to the psychological level at $500.
This positive view will invalidate in the short term if the price turns down from the current level and plunges below the moving averages. The pair could then remain range-bound between $350 and $445 for a few more days.
SOL/USDT
Solana (SOL) had been witnessing a tough battle between the bulls and the bears near the critical level at $122. The long wick on the March 31 candlestick indicated selling at higher levels but the bears could not sustain the price below $122 today.
SOL/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
This suggests that the bulls aggressively purchased on the minor dip. The buyers have pushed the price above the overhead resistance at $122, indicating the start of a potential new uptrend.
The SOL/USDT pair could now challenge the 200-day SMA ($150). If bulls overcome this barrier, the next stop could be $163.
Conversely, if the price fails to sustain above $122, it will suggest that the demand dries up at higher levels. The pair could then drop to the 20-day EMA ($103).
XRP/USDT
Ripple (XRP) formed an inside-day candlestick pattern on March 30, which resolved in favor of the bears on March 31 with a sharp downmove. This suggests that the buyers who may have purchased at lower levels closed their positions aggressively.
XRP/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
The 20-day EMA ($0.82) is flattening out and the RSI has dropped close to the midpoint, suggesting that the bullish momentum may be weakening. If the price breaks below the 50-day SMA ($0.78), the XRP/USDT pair could slide to the next support at $0.70.
Contrary to this assumption, if the price rises from the current level, the buyers will try to drive the pair above $0.86 and again challenge the resistance at $0.91. A break and close above this level could open the gates for a possible rally to the psychological level at $1.
ADA/USDT
Cardano (ADA) turned down from the overhead resistance at $1.26, suggesting that the bears are defending the level with vigor. The price could now drop to the 20-day EMA ($1.05) which is an important level to keep an eye on.
ADA/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
If the price rebounds off the 20-day EMA, the buyers will make one more attempt to push the ADA/USDT pair above $1.26. If they manage to do that, the pair will complete an inverse head and shoulders pattern. This setup will suggest that the pair may have bottomed out.
The pair could then rally to the overhead resistance zone between the 200-day SMA ($1.50) and $1.63 where the bears may mount a strong resistance. This bullish view will be negated in the short term if the price breaks and sustains below the 50-day SMA ($0.95).
LUNA/USDT
Terra’s LUNA token turned down after hitting a new all-time high on March 30, indicating that the bears are attempting to stall the uptrend. However, a minor positive is that the bulls have not allowed the price to break below $96. This suggests that the bulls are attempting to flip this level into support.
LUNA/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
The rising 20-day EMA ($95) suggests advantage to buyers but the negative divergence on the RSI indicates that the bullish momentum could be weakening. If buyers push the price above $111, the uptrend could resume. The LUNA/USDT pair could then rally to $125.
Contrary to this assumption, if the price turns down from the current level or the overhead resistance and breaks below the 20-day EMA, it will suggest that the traders are aggressively booking profits. The pair could then drop to the 50-day SMA ($80).
Avalanche (AVAX) broke above the overhead resistance at $98 on March 30 and 31 but could not sustain the higher levels. This may have invited profit-booking by the short-term traders.
AVAX/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
Although the bears pulled the price to the 20-day EMA ($87), the long tail on the day’s candlestick suggests strong demand at lower levels. The bulls are attempting to drive and sustain the price above the overhead zone between $98 and $100.
If they manage to do that, the AVAX/USDT pair could pick up momentum and rally to $120. Conversely, if the price once again turns down from the overhead resistance, it will suggest strong selling at higher levels. That could pull the price to the moving averages.
DOT/USDT
The failure to break above the $23 resistance may have attracted profit-booking by the short-term traders in Polkadot (DOT). That has pulled the price down to the 20-day EMA ($20) today.
DOT/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
The strong rebound off the 20-day EMA suggests buying on dips. The bulls will now make another attempt to clear the overhead hurdle at $23. If they succeed, the DOT/USDT pair could start a new uptrend and the price could rally to the 200-day SMA ($29).
Alternatively, if the price turns down and breaks below the 20-day EMA, it will suggest that the bullish momentum may have weakened. That could pull the price down to $19 and if this level gives way, the next stop could be $16.
DOGE/USDT
Dogecoin (DOGE) turned down from $0.15 on March 28 and dropped to the moving averages. This is an important support for the buyers to defend if they want the bullish sentiment to remain intact.
DOGE/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
If the price rebounds off the current level with strength, the bulls will attempt to push the DOGE/USDT pair above $0.15. If they succeed, the pair could rally to the overhead resistance at $0.17. The marginally rising 20-day EMA ($0.13) and the RSI in the positive territory indicate a minor advantage to buyers.
This positive view will invalidate in the short term if bears sink and sustain the price below the moving averages. Such a move could open the doors for a possible drop to the critical support zone at $0.12 to $0.10.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.
Cointelegraph Magazine talks to some of the leading Metaverse founders to discover their secret sauce for Web3.
Featuring co-founder of The Sandbox Sebastien Borget, co-founder of Upland Idan Zuckerman, head of metaverse growth of Unique Network Irina Karagyuar, chief marketing officer of Univers Peter Nguyen, co-founder of Alien Worlds Sarojini McKenna, co-founder of Immersys Daniel Knott, head of metaverse and NFT of Zilliqa Sandra H and co-founder and chief marketing officer of Bloktopia Paddy Carroll.
Sand dues
The Sandbox has established itself as a major player in the Metaverse and appears to some to have catapulted onto the main stage overnight. But, co-founder Sebastien Borget points out that The Sandbox began life as a mobile gaming studio, pursuing that for eight years before spending four more in blockchain.
So, it’s not an overnight success, just in the right place at the right time — or, perhaps, it helped create the right place and time.
“We’ve been unlucky at times and also lucky. I wouldn’t pretend we invented anything. The ingredients were all there and we were able to piece them together with meaning, value and utility. Now, we are focused on how we develop this form of entertainment,” he says.
“We started with gaming but we are open to any kind of entertainment and want to bring in more culture, more lifestyle, more immersion and more socialization in ways not seen before.”
There are many metaverses in Web3 and Magazine caught up with some of the more prominent founders to get unique insights into how these new digital lands emerged. After all, it’s not every day that someone gets to create a new land — or more importantly — people are enthused enough to come join them.
Progressive decentralization
Like many of the Web3 projects being built, the Sandbox is currently being run as a centralized entity, but its economy is being decentralized through NFTs. Borget calls it progressive decentralization.
It is big business, as Sandbox has demonstrated through the sale of its virtual real estate and the attraction of some of the biggest brands including Paris Hilton, Snoop Dog and Nike.
The current value of the land base of Sandbox based on the secondary market price is close to $1.5 billion, while the SAND token’s market cap is $3.3 billion and ranked #37 overall by total market cap, perCoinMarketCap.
Last month, JP Morgan issued a report on metaverses which concluded by saying that the Metaverse will most likely infiltrate every sector in some way in the coming years, with the market opportunity estimated at $1 trillion in yearly revenues. It’s a bit loose on specifics and the report leaned much more heavily into the hype than reality, but suggests that the only way is up. Since publishing that report, JPMorgan has opened a branch in Decentraland and only this week, HSBC followed suit.
“The timing is right,” says Borget.
An artist‘s impression of the Metaverse. Everyone will be good looking in the virtual world.
The only way is Upland
Upland is an NFT metaverse that is mapped to the real world where users can buy, sell and trade virtual properties akin to real-life counterparts.
“Upland is all about the blurring between the real and digital worlds. While there is huge room for fantasy worlds in the Metaverse, Upland is focused on an experience that is mapped to the real world and real-world location delivered through a mobile-first mindset,” says Idan Zuckerman, co-founder of Upland.
With its direct mapping, Upland mirrors much of reality, but when asked which part of IRL would he leave behind, Zuckerman says instantly:
“Wars.”
He had a very clear image of what he wanted to achieve from the beginning and says it’s important to understand the future ramifications of newly developed technology. He points out the domain extension for Upland is dot.me with the “me” standing for metaverse.
“Our inspiration came from the earliest concept of NFTs. Back in 2018, we studied the ERC-721 contract, or the NFT standard on Ethereum, and early products that were built to utilize it for early iterations of blockchain games,” says Zuckerman.
“We realized what this could mean for the future of digital economies and digital ownership. Web3, even before the term was coined as the future, has been the DNA since the beginning of the Upland operation.”
Web3?
Irina Karagyuar, head of metaverse at Unique Network, the leading Polkadot NFT platform, explains that Web3 is a “decentralized, consensual and token economy based model” compared with the existing Web2 “centralized platform-oriented model” of Facebook, Spotify, YouTube, Google, etc. “If we remain with the same Web2 model, any new development, including the Metaverse, will exacerbate the problems we’re facing already related to data privacy, human rights, the uneven spread of wealth for creators and other problems.” Karagyuar adds that “Web3 is adding real value to the Metaverse because it will allow sustainable business models and bring trust back again. All we need for this to become true is to educate the people so we get things right.”
Zuckerman is looking forward to build out the usefulness of Upland to more than just land. He wants to make Upland into the most sustainable digital economy the world has ever seen and is keen on brands and entrepreneurs entering this space.
Upland has Metaventures which are player-run shops that present micro-entrepreneurs and enterprises with the ability to create new revenue streams.
Zuckerman believes that community is the single most important aspect of any digital economy.
Peter Nguyen, chief marketing officer of Univers, a metaverse network that seeks to connect the metaverses, agrees.
“Community is extremely important to Univers because we are a project built for the people, by the people. We want our ecosystem to benefit every type of user. Therefore, nurturing a passionate community interested in the evolution of Univers is crucial. We want community feedback. We want users to explore their own creativity and add to the project. We want to connect all of these amazing virtual experiences and give people a place to dream while they build meaningful relationships.”
Without a community, then there is no Metaverse.
Communities and competition
“It’s all about the DAO,” says Sarojini McKenna, referring to decentralized autonomous organizations. He’s the co-founder of Alien Worlds, a metaverse with seven planets built on the WAX blockchain.
Alien Worlds is converting people to mass adoption through strategy and governance. It’s like sneaking extra shredded vegetables into children’s dinners — they don’t even know they are eating them. Likewise, the gamers are often unaware that they are building something much bigger than mining Trilium on a planet in a galaxy far, far away.
Launched two years ago, it’s the biggest game on WAX and flips in and out of first and second place of all decentralized applications globally with PancakeSwap and Splinterlands, according to DappRadar (https://dappradar.com/rankings.)
Female Cyborg from Alien Worlds
Alien Worlds allows people to earn Trilium through mining on the six planets in the game using different implements and rewards. Trilium can also be cashed out, and there are many videos on YouTube showing you how to do this, but McKenna is less interested in that aspect.
The goal is not just to mine Trilium, it’s to mine it and stake it to a particular planet. The six planets are competing for the scarce resource. The bigger the planet with more users and the more Trilium staked, the more Trilium it attracts in daily inflation.
From there, the planets can get a bigger treasury and more control over their planet. In time, adherents of each planet will be able to amend the codebase and change the rules of the game. Initially, a starter template is passed down, much in the same way as the ten commandments, with certain permission thresholds. But, over time, they are going to be able to scratch away at the rules and instate their own.
“We are always encouraging players to team up, make friends and then go and dominate a planet. This is all in preparation for the arrival of governance to the six planets and whether or not they own land, and we want players to run events with people with common goals. In turn, this may lead to the actual management of a planet,” says McKenna.
The bridge is all mine
In a new development, Alien Worlds also announced that it built a bridge to Minecraft, the popular gaming platform with more than 100 million players. It will offer a fast onboarding of non-blockchain gamers onto the WAX platform and allow traditional gamers the opportunity of earning cryptocurrency, in this case, Trilium, for completing quests.
This was a daring idea, as the worlds of gamers and blockchain play-to-earn are not as neatly connected as one might imagine when looking in from the outside. For one, P2E games are focused on earning largely through repetitive tasks or card-based challenges. Gamers like to play games, often employing complex storylines — although there are also many shoot ‘em up popular models.
Another P2E game on the WAX blockchain is Immersys. Founded by Daniel Knott, he originally started called Immersys a Multiverse.
“After looking into the term metaverse and its meaning, we decided we were in fact not just a metaverse, but a metaverse ecosystem. The Metaverse is made up of many different levels. Each level is represented by some sort of future tech, decentralization and nonfungible tokens are just a small portion of the Metaverse. We call ourselves an ecosystem because Immersys is focused on developing technology that spans multiple layers of the Metaverse like augmented reality and virtual reality.”
Immersys is a P2E game on the WAX blockchain.
He sees land sales as being important, but the community is even more important. “Land, just like in the real world, is all about location and until all metaverses are connected, you’ll want to make sure you’re building in a world that has a strong community. A place where you can be confident that you’re not just the product, but a producer.”
Knott is also well embedded in the Metaverse, with most of his assets in crypto. He wants to leave fiat behind. And, when asked if he will move to the Metaverse, he says: “I already have.”
Metaverservice
Sandra H is head of metaverse at Zilliqa and calls Metapolis the first-ever metaverse as a service, or MaaS, platform that is powered by a layer-1 blockchain. Launched in January, it is a highly immersive and gamified XR metaverse platform. Her focus is on continuous tech growth and building out cities for brands, partners and individuals to belong to.
The project wants to integrate the real with the Metaverse.
“The Metaverse in itself calls for a mixture of real-world elements and an eclectic mix of ideas and concepts. That is why our vision with Metapolis is to infuse the two — not only when it comes to designing how your city or dome would look like in the Metaverse, but also how you can integrate these elements together to create an immersive experience all around. For example, if you have an NFT on display in your physical house, you can scan a QR code and end up in your Metapolis dome where you can continue looking through your gallery of NFTs,” she says.
Everyone can own a yacht in the Metaverse until the price of the NFT shoots through the roof and noobs get stuck with a dinghy.
Metapolis is looking at having all the “earns” such as play-to-earn and learn-to-earn, including move-to-earn — another way of integrating the real world with the virtual.
“We are deep diving to move-to-earn when it comes to wearables and how they can be attached to our physical world, leveling up our avatars, gain rewards and unlocking features.
When asked if she will move into the Metaverse, H replies: “I am already operating on MST, or Metapolis Standard Time.”
Yes, the rumours are true. Zilliqa will be hitting up #Miami to host an exclusive, early-access event for Metapolis!! 🪩
A more recent metaverse is Bloktopia, which arrived in the past year, and is headquartered in the United Kingdom. Bloktopia is a metaverse platform designed as a skyscraper with 21 levels where users can purchase designated spaces from the floorplan with the platform‘s cryptocurrency token BLOK.
Paddy Carroll, co-founder, says: “For me, a Metaverse is a virtual world and the next logical iteration of the internet. Anything that can be done in the real world should be able to be achieved. It should be focused on social connection but without the boundaries of geographical location. If something which claims to be a Metaverse isn’t doing that, then I don’t think it is one.”
Brands are critical to the Blocktopia skyscraper metaverse. Brands provide identity. They maintain relevance and interest for visitors and they allow for commercialization keeping the Metaverse afloat.
“The mission for our metaverse is to contain everything that anyone will ever need to know about Cryptocurrency and NFTs. We need brands in there, right from exchanges, blockchains, NFT projects and even other metaverses. We have attracted major brands in the crypto space like Binance, Solana and Animoca Brands, along with global influencers like Jake Paul who have opened retail spaces, shops or offices in our digital skyscraper.”
Univers founder Nguyen also agrees on the importance of brands to the space.
“Integrating these brands into the Metaverse is brilliant because brands can create entirely new and limitless experiences while their consumers benefit from the freedom blockchain presents, continuing to indulge in their favorite brands. We’ve already begun to see fashion bands creating NFTs for some of their most sought-after apparel. Not only do consumers get the chance to actually purchase the apparel, but using AR, they can see what it looks like on their body before purchasing.
Nguyen explains that once the apparel is accompanied by NFTs, consumers can prove authenticity and enjoy many other benefits attached to owning the NFT such as private showings, talks or exclusive previews. Brands in the Metaverse can enhance consumer experience while accessing new audiences and adding to the prestige and growth of the Metaverse as a whole.
“It’s a symbiotic relationship where brands benefit from the technology, freedom and ever-growing audience of the Metaverse while gaining real-world utility, untapped audiences and bright new minds to continue developing it,” he says.
Connecting the worlds
Univers aims to address how to connect the metaverses — like international travel but without the carbon footprint. It’s not a Metaverse but a Metaverse network.
Nguyen says: ”This is because the Metaverse is singular, or, more accurately, a space within which all virtual experiences coexist and are pieces of the greater whole. Our objective is to change the dialogue around the Metaverse so that more people understand that we are all important pieces of the Metaverse and are more powerful when connected.
“Univers is the Metaverse network. We are the thread that weaves all of these incredible projects together and allows for increased interoperability, utility and, ultimately, connectivity.”
Like Upworld, Univers looks to include real-world elements in a way that is considered to be not only important but also essential and natural.
“We regard the Metaverse as an extension of our reality. The infinite possibilities of the Metaverse inspire user creativity, while the real world elements are what make the Metaverse truly innovative. By including real world elements, we learn more about our real world and how to actively improve it. The more we embrace the Metaverse as an extension of our reality, the more we can use it to develop real world solutions and expand upon its utility in our everyday lives.”
The common view of most founders is that they are already down the rabbit hole and living in their corner of the Metaverse. As Carroll from Bloktopia says — “come join me.”
A euphoric price rally by ApeCoin (APE) seen in mid-March appears to be exhausted already thanks to the coin’s 70% drop in valuation in the past two weeks — and it may fall further in April.
At the core of this bearish outlook is a rising wedge, a technical pattern that forms as the price consolidates upward inside a range defined by two converging ascending trendlines.
In a perfect scenario, rising wedges resolve into a bearish breakout, confirmed by a decisive drop below the lower trendline that typically takes the price as low as the maximum wedge’s height.
ApeCoin has been painting a very similar pattern since March 18, as shown in the chart below. The coin recently broke below its rising wedge’s lower trendline, bringing itself in proximity with the setup’s theoretical price target near $9, about 30% lower than April 1’s price.
Meanwhile, a clear divergence between rising prices and falling volumes across the last two weeks also indicated a weakening upside momentum, raising the chances of a drop towards the wedge target, as discussed above.
To recap, Yuga Labs, the firm behind the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT collection, minted 1 billion ApeCoin as the governance tokens of their new decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). Then they airdropped 10,000 APE to each BAYC NFT owner, amounting to 15% of the total supply.
Meanwhile, APE gained listing across some of the leading crypto exchanges, including FTX and Binance, on the same day, providing avenues for BAYC owners to liquidate their APE rewards instantly. As it happened, APE rose from nearly $1 to nearly $41 on its March 17 debut, but has since seen a strong correction.
Josh Ver, co-CEO of SparkWorld, a prediction platform for NFTs, noted that APE’s current valuation — still around 1,200% higher than its debut price on Binance — is a result of the “hype, excitement and exuberance” around Yuga Labs’ success as a “blue-chip” startup.
“Yuga Labs, the studio behind the collection, are a commercially viable business; last year, they saw over $127 million in revenue,” he explained, adding that “if ApeCoin holders received a share of these profits, then APE would hold considerable fundamental value.”
But Ben Lilly, a token economist at Jarvis Labs, raised concerns about ApeCoin’s inflationary model, which could weigh its valuation down in the future.
He said that 9.4 million APE would likely enter the market each month over the next year as Yuga Labs, the four BAYC Founders, and will be able to unlock their allocated tokens.
APE supply chart. Source: ChainPulse, Jarvis Labs
“This implies a need for about $132 million of monthly demand or $4.4 million per day that needs to enter the market to soak up new supply,” Lilly wrote, adding:
“With these supply unlocks and substantial inflation in the first year, it begs the question to the market… How will Yuga Labs, BAYC, the DAO and venture firms (a16z and Animoca) generate the needed demand? Is it even possible?
Protecting APE’s value is possible
But like Ver, Lilly suggests that Yuga Labs’ brand value could protect ApeCoin from the said inflationary risks, noting that the $4-billion startup could source better technology, artists, and resources that translates to higher potential asset values later if used wisely.
For instance, Yuga Labs has already released the teaser video of its upcoming metaverse called “Otherside” that enables the crossover of the NFT world’s most popular collections, including CryptoPunks, with the BAYC.
“In that same line of thinking it should not be a surprise either if a more accessible NFT hits the market for use in the Otherside NFT metaverse,” wrote Lilly, adding that it may bring more users to “access the virtual world,” thus growing APE’s marketshare in tandem.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
The last week of March has probably been one of the best for crypto this year. Coins have been on the rise and it seems the momentum is not about to slow down. But as with every strong uptrend, corrections are indeed inevitable. Here is why we think a pullback is coming:
Bitcoin and other major caps have stagnated after the recent uptrend
Short-term buyers have largely driven this surge and will take profit at some point.
It seems like the continued rise was seen in the last two weeks has lost strength.
There will however be coins that will face major corrections than others. We have created a list here to check out:
PancakeSwap (CAKE)
PancakeSwap (CAKE) has actually surprised many analysts with its recent uptrend. The coin did not seem like it hard any buyer demand but has somehow managed to pull up in the market. CAKE has now added at least 30% to its value over the last week.
Data Source: Tradingview
But looking at the price action today, CAKE has slowed in fact, even though the coin has reported modest gains, it has failed to overcome overhead resistance. We expect a small correction to follow in the days ahead.
Skale Network (SKALE)
Skale Network (SKALE) was also another major surprise. The coin was just teetering, and all of a sudden, it shot up from nowhere. SKL has now gained 112% in the last week, with 35% of that coming in the last 24 hours. The token will likely add more gains before it finally corrects in the near term.
IOST (IOST)
IOST (IOST) has also pushed its uptrend to a whole new level, adding around 80% in gains over the last seven days. But even though the coin doesn’t seem like it’s about to slow down, at some point bullish momentum will die. This may in fact happen sooner than you think.
One of the best strategies to grow your capital from crypto would be to find low-cap coins that have so much potential. Coins below the $50 million mark in market capitalization are in particular, quite good and here is why:
Microcap coins tend to have so much room to expand
Demand for promising microcaps will always be high among investors
Small-cap projects tend to be new and often under the radar
So, if you are looking for the next big project with a small market cap today, we have listed three coins below that you can consider:
Numbers Protocol (NUM)
It seems like in recent years, everything has been going toward the blockchain. But very few projects have come up to create a decentralized photo network where artist and creators can share their work securely.
Data Source: Tradingview
The Numbers Protocol (NUM) is trying to address this problem by providing the infrastructure needed. With the increased popularity of NFTs, NUM could see major gains and its market cap remains at just $38 million.
Gods Unchained (GOD)
GameFi is also one area of the blockchain industry that is worth looking at. There have been many games, some of which have gone on to make huge money. Gods Unchained (GOD) appears to have that kind of potential. It’s a free-to-play card game that allows users to earn crypto rewards in the process. The project has a market cap of $35 million.
Cream Finance (CREAM)
Cream Finance (CREAM) is a lending protocol designed to offer crypto-backed loans to people around the world. There are many lending protocols of course but CREAM is trying to offer users better terms and easy access to collateralized loans. With a market cap of just $14 million, you could unlock a lot of future potential with this coin.
There are now signs that the crypto market is on a path toward full recovery. After a terrible start in 2022, a lot of coins in the market have started to show positive momentum. We are at the beginning stages of a crypto rally in the coming weeks, and here is why:
Investor sentiment around major coins has improved massively.
We have seen most coins gain important momentum in the last few weeks.
Inflationary pressure and risky equities are pushing investors towards crypto.
So, if you have been waiting for this bull run for some time, there are a few coins that would be worth getting. Here they are:
Cardano (ADA)
Over the last week, Cardano (ADA) has been on fire. The coin has established this strong uptrend and has managed to cross past several crucial indicators. Although the coin slowed a bit over the last few days, the overall outlook remains very positive.
Data Source: Tradingview
We expect ADA to continue the upward ascend in the days ahead. It is therefore a great buy for bulls who want to ride this momentum and cash in some profits.
Near Protocol (NEAR)
We have seen NEAR slow down even as other coins in the market rise. The coin has however managed to pick up some momentum and has since crossed past various crucial resistance zones. The only way for NEAR is up right now. As sentiment improves in the market and investors pour more capital into crypto, you can expect some positive price action from NEAR.
Internet Computer (ICP)
Despite gaining 20% over the last 7 days, ICP has also been quite slow compared to the rest of the market. We expect this to shift in the days ahead, with more gains coming in Q2. ICP has the potential to deliver at least 30% in the next bull run.
There have been stories in crypto where people have gone from rags to riches in literally months. Shiba Inu for example was one coin that astonished everyone in 2021 with unimaginable growth. For this reason, a lot of investors are always looking for the next big coin that will deliver 10x or more in growth. Here is what to look for in case you want such projects:
Always focus on microcaps that have smaller valuations in the market.
You must be first or among the first people to invest in that asset.
Always analyze the underlying business behind a coin before you buy.
Well, we have done some research on these coins and came up with a list of assets we think have the potential to 10x in the near term. Here they are:
Highstreet (HIGH)
The rise of the metaverse will be the next big thing in crypto. As we speak, a lot of money is flowing towards metaverse projects, and the few metaverse coins we have in the market are seeing strong growth.
Data Source: Tradingview
Highstreet (HIGH) however offers the incredible promise of outstanding returns. The coin combines virtual reality, NFTs, and gaming in one large metaverse. When you consider that HIGH has a market cap of $89 million, it could easily grow 10x in no time.
Base Protocol (BASE)
For example, let’s say you want to speculate on crypto without having to buy many coins; what do you do? Well, Base Protocol (BASE) allows you to get that option. This is a coin that is pegged on the overall market cap of the crypto industry at a rate of 1:1 trillion.
Considering that it has a market cap of around $1.5 million, there is just something raw about this coin that could explode massively in the future. BASE is a short to medium-term asset worth your shot.
