The latest version of Winamp allows users to link a Metamask wallet through browsers. As well as access audio and video files on Ethereum and Polygon blockchains. Crypto-Upvotes expert review

Winamp media player has released an update with support for NFT tracks. The new 5.9.1 version of the player for Windows desktop systems allows users to link their Metamask wallet through Brave, Chrome or Firefox browsers. And access NFT-formatted audio and video files, this company said in a press release.

Winamp will now support ERC-721 and ERC-1155 tokens on Ethereum and Polygon blockchains. NFT tracks can be listened to and added to playlists, just like any other audio file format.

NFT support will be added with several other important updates. The capabilities of the player will be complemented by a feature-rich cross-platform service for content creators. This service is scheduled to launch in early 2023.

Winamp, launched in 1997, was a key player in the first digital music innovation – the mp3 format. Now the player, keeping up with the times, is introducing the next generation of formats. As more and more writers and artists use web3 technology.

What to expect from Football Fan Token during FIFA World Cup 2022. Which platforms have joined the sporting event, what happens to the coins of the national teams. And which of the competition-related assets are most attractive for investment

On November 20, the FIFA World Cup in Qatar kicked off and will run until December 18. Cryptocurrency community actively participates in the event. Many platforms are sponsoring it, and cryptocurrency exchanges are adding new fan tokens for football teams and announcing promotions related to the World Cup.

The championship is sponsored by Algorand Blockchain (ALGO), which will continue to help FIFA with developments related to digital assets after this event. World Cup 2022 is also sponsored by Crypto com, a crypto platform. Users of this exchange were able to attend matches and win official paraphernalia.

Crypto exchange Binance launched a promotion for fans called Binance Football Fever 2022. It allows you to win rewards during the Championship by completing tasks. OKX platform launched the OKX Football Festival promotion on the occasion of this event. In which platform users can win participation in NFT airdrop.

Huobi raffled off tickets to the FIFA World Cup 2022 in October, while Poloniex held the “Poloniex FIFA World Cup Carnival” with a prize pool of $100k. Platform MEXC launched a referral program that could win $4.5k, and Gate.io runs the Gate.io World Cup NFT Collection, with a pool of $10k and other prizes.

At the same time, a lot of championship-themed tokens and NFT collections have popped up online due to sports hype. Which have unclear tokenomics and unknown developers. If you want to join the digital celebration of football, it is worth carefully studying the history of each project and its financial component.

Fan tokens from football teams

In September, crypto exchanges MEXC, Gate and OKX added tokens for teams from Spain, Brazil, Argentina and Portugal ahead of FIFA World Cup 2022. The first two coins have been issued on the Bitci platform, while the second two support the Socios and Chiliz platforms.

Argentina – Argentine Football Association Fan Token (ARG)

Despite the fact that the championship has just started. And Lionel Messi’s team token has already seen a drop of 24% after Argentina’s loss to Saudi Arabia 1:2.

The result of the match was unexpected, as the Saudi team was considered the outsider in the group. The coin has since recovered slightly in the 24 hours since then, rising 4.2% to $5.61. Argentina’s next game is on November 26, their opponent is Mexico.

Brazil – Brazil National Football Team Fan Token (BFT)

The token had been around $1 at the start of the tournament, but dropped 10% on November 23 and is hovering around $0.69. The first match of the team will be on November 24, the Latin American team will play against Serbian team.

Spain – Spain National Football Team Fan Token (SNFT)

The first game of the Spanish national team will be on November 23. It will be played against Costa Rica. The rate of SNFT token before the match is at $0.35 and shows a daily decline of 2.2%.

Portugal – Portugal National Team Fan Token (POR)

The cryptocurrency POR is worth about $4.92 on November 23 and is up 2.9% per day. The team will play their first match against rivals from Ghana on November 24.

France Fan Token (FRA)

The French team’s first game was on November 22. The French defeated Australia 4-1. The FRA token increased by 147% to $0.0013 during the day. Next game of team will be held on November 26, the opponent will be Denmark.

FAN token function has changed

Although Fan tokens were designed to address utilitarian issues. And to enable loyal fans to become more involved in life for their favourite teams. But today, these coins are not being used in the way the developers intended.

Paradoxically, they were originally intended for purely technical functions. Now fan tokens have instead become a kind of “shares” for clubs, according to our Crypto-Upvotes experts.

Because tokens have become priced not in terms of their value to a fan, but in terms of their success and public reputation. In this regard, the fan-token market has become a totalizator. And it has already been compromised by the ability to manipulate the price regardless of the actual success of teams.

Where to invest?

If you consider the investment component of this segment, first of all, you need to keep an eye on platforms and blockchains. Which ones are placing such tokens, not the fan tokens themselves. For example, it looks more strategic to buy a conventional Chiliz (CHZ) token than a coin from some promising sports club.

CHZ cryptocurrency was released back in the fall of 2018 on Ethereum as a control token for a fan token ecosystem that was being created. And a year later, Chiliz Chain of the Ethereum network was created to reduce commissions. This project brought most of its fan community together under the Socios.com aegis. They became the first blockchain project to start issuing tokens for sports fans.

Cryptocurrency Shiliz (CHZ) is quoted at $0.183 on November 23. Before the start of World Cup 2022 it was worth $0.26, but by the evening of November 22 it was down to $0.17. For the previous day the coin grew in price by 2.2%.

In addition to Chiliz and its Social.com platform, Turkish platform Bitci is gaining momentum. It has already issued tokens for football teams of Brazil, Peru and Spain, Turkish national basketball team and many other sports teams. Which are mostly from Turkey and Spanish-speaking countries.

Deal volume in cryptocurrency market has fallen to values of December 2020. Our experts have analyzed what is happening in this industry and told us when volumes will start to grow again

In October, trading volumes on cryptocurrency exchanges updated the minimum since December 2020. The amount of transactions on trading floors last month amounted to $543 billion compared to $733 billion in September.

Main reasons for volume fall

The main factors that influenced the decline in trading volumes include falling cryptocurrency prices. And, as a consequence, a decrease in interest in popular and hype assets, such as NFT and DeFi. As well as external factors, primarily risks of recession in western economies on back of tighter monetary policy. And geopolitical tensions that have increased this year.

At the same time, according to our Crypto-Upvotes expert, it is impossible to talk about a decline in interest in cryptocurrencies. Despite the decreased trading volumes of retail players and low interest in social networks and media space. Blockchain technology itself and crypto-projects are actively financed by funds and institutional investors.

Market has been in a sideways trend for 137 days (4.5 months), our finance expert recalled. When the price trades in a limited range for a long time, investors get nervous, he said.

“Statistically, markets are in a sideways trend more than 75% of the time. You have to live with that. Buyers’ activity remains low on the background of risk aversion.” – explained our specialist.

Is “Crypto Winter” in hot phase? What will happen to cryptocurrency trading volumes?

Low trading volumes indicate that the cryptocurrency market is in the “crypto winter” stage.

However, the current situation in the crypto market cannot be called “crypto winter”. Unlike a similar period in 2018-2019, both capitalization and number of participants are much higher now. And development of blockchain products has not stopped, despite falling prices for cryptocurrencies.

Volume of investment in industry from outside also indicates normality of current market situation. And the volatility on individual top assets is quite enough to make money even in current periods of time.

Trading volumes will grow as volatility rises and prices of major crypto assets move out of the ranges they have been in since this summer. Once market participants understand the direction of further movement. They will immediately connect to it, which will allow trading volumes to grow according to our Crypto-Upvotes experts.

Hugo Boss will release 1,000 animated tokens from the series “Take Your Emotions” will be presented in early November

Fashion house Hugo Boss announced a partnership with Imaginary Ones, a Web3 company. With this partnership, the first NFT-collection in the brand’s history will be released. Presentation is planned for early November.

A collection called Embrace Your Emotion or EYE will consist of 1,001 animated 3D objects. With this project, Hugo Boss encourages users to embrace their emotions with courage. And regardless of whether they are bad or good, says this project description.

Also Hugo Boss will release special 5 NFTs will be animated characters. These characters will represent joy, sadness, fear, anger and love. Another character will combine all qualities of these five characters. And he will be auctioned for charity on the occasion of World Mental Health Day (October 10).

Of the remaining 1,000 tokens, 500 will be available to buyers of exclusive merchandise t-shirts. Another 500 will be available to NFT holders from other Imaginary Ones projects and contest participants. Our experts have noticed that these contests will be held on Web-3-company social networks starting Oct. 4.

For the first time in 2022, organizers of awards have added a category “Best Performance in Metaverse”. Snoop Dogg, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and Twenty One Pilots are also nominated. NFT becomes part of music.

Eminem and Snoop Dogg will perform the track “From The D 2 The LBC” at the MTV Music Awards. It was created in collaboration with the NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC).

The music video for “From the D 2 the LBC” was released along with a single. Directed by James Larez, the video alternates between footage of the rappers and animation in which they are presented as NFT avatars.

Our experts found out on the day of the single’s release, Eminem and Snoop Dogg performed the song at ApeFest. Which was held in New York City for  holders from the BAYC collection.

Market for virtual art continues to grow, despite falling prices for cryptocurrencies and collectibles. Which of NFT artist’s works sold the most, and what was bought this summer.

NFTs are unique crypto-assets that are often objects of art and digital collectibles. Rapid growth in popularity of NFTs began in 2021. And by the end of which NFT trading volume exceeded $13 billion.

This figure was up almost 400 times from 2020 ($33 million). However, due to the downturn in the cryptocurrency market in 2022. The NFT industry has shown a significant decline in sales: in July, it was about $647.23 million.

Despite this, investors and NFT enthusiasts continue to be interested in digital art. Prices for some works by virtual artists approach those of luxury goods. And in particular, they are comparable to the cost of a luxury home. The most popular tokens continue to be items from the Bored Ape Yacht Club, Cool Cats and Crypto Punks collections. Such NFTs are owned by celebrities including rappers Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, footballer Neymar, Madonna, Ozzy Osbourne and others.

Our experts found the most expensive NFTs ever sold

The Merge – $98.1 million

This work of art was created by Pak, a student of Mike Winkelmann (also known as Beeple). This painting is made up of balls of different sizes. About 29 thousand people invested in The Merge, and total value of NFT was $91.8 million.

The First 5000 Days – $69.3 million

Work by American graphic designer Beeple. NFT was sold in 2021 for $69.3 million at Christie’s auction. First 5000 Days is a collage of Beeple work from 2007.

Clock – $52.7 million

This NFT was created by digital artist Pak to support Wikileaks journalist Julian Assange. The clock counts down how many days Assange has been in prison. It was bought by an activist group AssangeDAO.

HUMAN ONE – $28.8 million

Another NFT by Beeple, sold by him at Christie’s auction. HUMAN ONE is an animated 3d image of an astronaut. Beeple has access to this NFT and can change it periodically.

CryptoPank No. 5822 – $23.7 million

Pixel NFT with a blue punk in a bandana was sold for 8,000 ETH. It was bought for that amount in early 2022.

Expensive NFT buys over last few months

The Answer

The Answer was sold for 100 ETH ($174,900) This work is by one of the most successful digital artists of anyma. Who illuminates in his work the interaction between technology and nature.

gn

NFT gn desktop wallpaper by artist Rajon Bliss (@rivenribbon) was purchased by Snoop Dogg for 64.0 ETH ($97.3k).

88MPH In SoHo

A work by photographer Guido Di Salle was sold for 55.0 ETH ($74,000).

Synth Garden

NFT by Indian artist Archana Nair was sold for 124.69 ETH ($138,100).

Painting by actor Jim Carrey– Sunshower for 62,04 ETH ($69,500 )

Blockchain entertainment is not only fun, but also profitable. What options does play-to-earn open, and what are the prospects for the development of industry GameFi ?

GameFi are blockchain projects that allow profits for gaming experience: users earn profits for participating in game. All player items and rights become their property: characters, land, artifacts, clothing, and more.

Project developers choose the cryptocurrency for payments within the project. However, more often than not, each platform creates its own token. Some projects may require a small investment to start gaming activity, but mostly you just have to play.

There are other options for earning money at GameFi. NFT items can be sold. The price of game items will be higher the more popular a game is. You can also rent your virtual property. Or participate in tournaments or bet on the results of competitions. In some projects, you can put your earned coins in stacking.

Basic earning rules and how GameFi works

The main principle of earning in this industry is Play-to-Earn. Players are paid for what they play, which is either hours spent in the app or specific useful in-game actions. All schemes come down to a developer paying users to use their app. In this case, for the use of a project game. Depending on mechanics of these games, there may be slightly different ways of investing in such projects.

Our Crypto-Upvotes experts gave Axie Infinity as an example. In which to “multiply NFT characters” players need to spend in-game currency SLP. If player numbers continue to increase, it might be enough to buy such a token, in the hope that increased demand will drive up prices.

More critical investors can take part in gameplay. Then their earnings will come from the sale of game currency and newly obtained “characters”. There are many such games, but their principles are similar.

A recent trend on STEPN showed that projects actually create very different ‘something-to-Earn’ mechanics: run, jump, play, breathe and even have sex. But each project is unique in some way, and you have to study its history and perspective individually.

In some projects it is enough to buy control tokens. And somewhere the game will involve the investor in internal processes. For ordinary players everything is simple – they exchange their time for the developers’ money. One only needs to assess the risks if entering the game requires an initial investment to buy a starter set of tokens.

GameFi principles are not new, although the association of projects with blockchain has renewed interest in a whole industry. All principles of generating some profit existed before decentralization of games. In most cases, if a player gets something for free. Then money in this transaction is a player himself – his time, personal data, behavioral information, his attention, etc. All of this can be sold to analysts, advertisers, researchers, etc.

How to choose gaming projects to make a profit

First of all, it is better to pay attention to the major established projects with a large audience. For example: Axie Infinity, Alien Worlds,  CryptoBlades and many others. The tokens of these projects have the greatest liquidity, which will reduce risks from investing in them.

Another strategy could be to buy blockchain service tokens. In which most of the GameFi-projects are located. In addition to Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain, it is possible to buy more specific ones: WAX, EOS, KardiaChain, ThunderCore.

Our experts say that it is very dangerous to follow new projects without personal experience. Many of them are created for purposes of scams or financial pyramid scheme principles. Others may close due to bad business processes and external manipulation.

Our Crypto-Upvotes experts named promising projects where there is a strong gamer community with high involvement. This allows brands to integrate into gaming. Coins from game studios and native tokens from the top five most popular games are also worth considering.

Solana released a Web 3.0 phone named “Saga” to appeal to a growing number of mobile phone users accessing digital assets.

Solana Labs has unveiled the “Saga” smartphone based on the Android operating system. “Saga” is a customized version of OSOM smartphone with built-in cryptocurrency wallet features. It will come pre-installed with Solana Mobile Stack. SMS a toolkit that allows you to create decentralized applications for mobile phones.

And so we found out that this smartphone will allow you to store digital assets and NFTs, sign transactions, and pay for purchases through Solana Pay. But it won’t just be a mobile phone. This device will support Solana-based apps and will have its own dapp Store. Solana Labs has said it intends to develop Saga ecosystem with partners like NFT marketplace Magic Eden, DeFi-platform Orca and wallet Phantom.

Also according to Solana website, this device features a 6.67-inch OLED display, 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage space. The smartphone is based on Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset.

Also SMS toolkit supports the Seed Vault secure storage protocol for private keys. This latter puts them in a special enclave, separated from the wallet, applications and operating system. Solana Labs explained that SMS provides developers with a set of libraries and APIs that allow them to create decentralized mobile applications for Android devices. Solana Mobile Stack is already available for download on GitHub.

Want to buy this smartphone now? It is possible and our Crypto-Upvotes team found out how to do it.

“Saga” is expected to go on sale in early 2023 at a price of $1,000. Our experts found out that it is already possible to place a pre-order for 100 USDC – this amount will be deducted from the full price of smartphone, it is also already known will first be released in USA, Canada, EU and UK markets. So with an estimated price of $1,000. Saga mobile phone will compete with flagship models from Apple, Samsung and other mobile phone companies. With a strong ecosystem of software developers who can develop alternative Web 3.0 applications.

Cristiano Ronaldo will launch the first NFT collection in partnership with Binance by end of 2022

Football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo will release several NFT collections. Sportsman entered into a multiyear partnership with Binance exchange, according to a Binance blog. So a goal of this partnership would be to create digital collectibles and attract soccer fans to Web3 ecosystem. “Nothing is more important to me than the fans, so the idea of bringing unprecedented experiences and access through this platform is something that I wanted to be a part of” – says Ronaldo. “We are thrilled to provide his fans with exclusive engagement opportunities to connect with Ronaldo” – said Binance CEO “CZ”.

So the first collection, set to launch at the end of this year. Will feature NFTs with an original design developed by Binance in collaboration with Ronaldo. According to an exchange blog, through a series of NFT collections, Ronaldo will provide a unique experience for soccer fans from many countries. Binance does not disclose details about this partnership, we do not know pricing or other options for this NFT collection at this time. Cristiano Ronaldo already has experience with crypto projects. In 2019, he played for Italian Juventus Football Club, which launched token JUV, which gave fans the right to vote in a number of decisions.

Our company Crypto-Upvotes offers complex promotion for NFT projects.

Complex promotion is necessary for an NFT project to increase brand awareness and attract new holders. Our team offers many different services to promote NFT projects. We can offer PR, Influencers, Trends Everywhere, Billboards and more. We can create a individual marketing plan for you for any advertising budget.