This Week in the Metaverse: Bitcoin is upping its NFT game

Although long known for financial use, the Bitcoin blockchain is never a player when it comes to NFTs, which has become one of the main use cases for Ethereumfollowed later by Solana and Polygon.

But the Bitcoin network just surpassed Solana in NFT trading volume in the past seven days, and now trails only Ethereum, according to CryptoSlam. While some critics say Bitcoin NFTs, or Ordinals, slow down the network and increase fees, supporters say the technology can improve the blockchain.

One such supporter is Bob Bodily, who works on an NFT market for Ordinals called bioniq. The body told me that at the time the 10th Ordinal was written earlier this year, he knew the technology was going to be big. Two factors stand out to him as evidence that Ordinals have more room to grow: Bitcoin’s $518 billion market cap—more than double Ethereum’s—and the fact that with Ordinals all the data for in an NFT on-chain.

“A lot of collections don’t do well, and so the fact that you have excitement and strength in Ordinals in the middle of a bear market, I think that speaks volumes,” he said. luck.

Already, he said, Bitcoin is attracting developers who were original Bitcoin proponents but found it difficult to build on-chain. He said he saw some developers starting to build Bitcoin again after leaving years ago for Bitcoin Cash, which was created as a result of a disagreement between developers in 2017.

Decrypt reported on Thursday that network also attracts developers from Ethereum, which has long been attractive for teams looking to build dapps that use smart contracts.

Ordinals have exploded in popularity, with 9.3 million inscriptions made since they were introduced in December, according to Dune. We will soon see if the Ordinals open the door to many new applications for Bitcoin, or if, in the end, it is just another cycle of hype.

New launch spotlight

Binance wants to facilitate your next NFT loan. With Binance NFT Loan product Announced this week, the world’s largest crypto exchange offers users a 3.36% interest rate on loans, whose amount can fluctuate depending on the price of an NFT placed for collateral. Only NFTs from the Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, Azuki, and Doodles collections are currently accepted.

Last week, I wrote about how to return NFT loans, thanks to the upstart Blur and the more established Arcade. This announcement could accelerate that trend. At least for a limited time, the loan product has some of the best interest rates in the industry, and is lower than the national average interest rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage, which was sitting at 7.17% as of Friday, according to Bankrate.

There are still risks. If the value of your NFT collateral falls too low, you risk liquidation. Your interest rate may also change based on the general market, Binance warns.

In other news

Bitcoin NFTs, or ordinalsthere are stablecoins. Strong USDissued by the Web3 company Stably, says that crypto will make trading orders easier than using US dollars or another fiat currency, CoinDesk reported.

Web3 company element and Web3 agencies Come on associated with Platinum groupthe ticket operator for Formula 1 Grand Prix events, at will launch a new platform offering NFT tickets. The NFT tickets are intended to prevent counterfeiting and serve as digital souvenirs and will be introduced at this weekend’s race in Monaco. In the long term, companies want to use NFT tickets to provide holders with additional benefits and loyalty rewards.

Paris Hilton launched a collection of 5,555 NFT avatars this week for the Web3 metaverse platform The Sandbox. Paris Hilton’s media company, 11:11 Media, creates avatars with inspiration from her real-life outfits and accessories. The avatars will be sold for 100 SAND each and will be released in three waves. 11 people who purchase a limited 1-of-1 edition of the collectibles will receive a free ticket to Paris: Live in Concert on June 7.

Courtesy of 11:11 Media

SURREALa company that offers “metaverse as a service” to clients such as the Atlanta Braves, introduced a consulting service called S-Map Consulting to help customers launch, maintain, and expand their own virtual worlds.