Luc Smits van Oyen
Weekly crypto news: PostNL brings out crypto stamp NFTs
We've arrived at the end of the week again, and that means another new crypto news overview!
This past week (May 21, 2022 through May 27) we saw the crypto market go up and down relatively quietly, but nothing special happened in terms of price action. The market is still in the red, volumes are low, and it is unclear what is going to happen in the coming period.
Still, behind the scenes it always remains very busy. There are still big venture capitalists investing their money in Bitcoin (BTC) right now, and there are always new positive developments in the crypto world. For example, you'll soon be able to start saving PostNL stamps in NFT form. And do you live in Brazil? Then from now on you can buy a house with crypto.
This and more is discussed in the weekly crypto news overview. So read along quickly!
PostNL also wants to benefit from the rise of NFTs (non-fungible tokens), and what's better than the combination of old-fashioned stamp collecting and the new NFTs?
This is also how the company advertises their new development:
"Stamp collecting something from the past? Hell no! Step into the world of crypto stamps with our very first NL crypto stamp!"
But what does this NL crypto stamp entail? The crypto stamp is basically a two-part stamp. On the one hand, you get a physical stamp, which you can actually use as a stamp. On the other hand, you get a digital version in the form of an NFT, which you can collect, trade or send via the blockchain.
There is also a QR code on each physical stamp. This is needed to claim the digital version.
Collecting stamps is not as trendy as it used to be, but perhaps PostNL is making a nice move to get today's youth to collect them.
Gafisa, a leading Brazilian real estate developer, has started accepting cryptocurrency payments for real estate transactions. The company accepts crypto payments through the local cryptocurrency exchange Foxbit.
Guilherme Augusto Soares Benevides, chief executive officer of Gafisa, pointed to the growth of the cryptocurrency space as part of the company's reason for considering crypto.
"There is no way to do business without accepting crypto as a form of payment, because we focus on Customer Experience. We want to provide our customers with all the comfort they need, and if that means crypto payments, then we provide crypto payments."
Along with Bitcoin, the company accepts payments in numerous other cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA), Ripple (XRP), Solana (SOL), and others. In total, the company accepts payments in 16 different cryptocurrencies.
According to the real estate developer, 1 in 130 people in Brazil live in a home developed by Gafisa, making it one of the largest real estate developers in the country.
Ripple, the company behind the XRP cryptocurrency, has announced in a press release that it will invest in "modernizing the market for carbon credits," and that it will help remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Blockchain and cryptocurrencies are to be an important part of this.
In total, Ripple is investing $100 million. No specific destinations are mentioned, but the project has the overall goal of mitigating climate change. Part of this is an initiative to put financial products around carbon credits on the XRP Ledger (XRPL). In fact, the XRPL has the ability to host other tokens in addition to XRP.
Carbon credits are licenses that companies can buy to emit a certain amount of greenhouse gas. Companies that help make the world climate neutral receive these credits. They can then sell them to companies that need them. If they were put on the XRP Ledger, it would save on the consumption of the financial system needed for this. Efficiency, scalability, more transparency in the market and better verification around certain projects and companies are the main reasons, says Ripple.
It has become almost an inevitable pattern over the past ten days - a scenario in which Bitcoin tries to reach, approaches, and even briefly breaks through the $30,000 mark before the bears rise up and push it back below $30,000.
Since the beginning of this week, there have been three separate occasions. The first was over the weekend when the rejection BTC floated below $29,000. The same thing happened again on May 23 and 24. Bitcoin jumped by nearly $2,000 yesterday when it touched $30,000 again.
However, this too was short-lived. BTC failed there and sank below that coveted line. Currently, the cryptocurrency is struggling to stay above $29,000. Its market capitalization has fallen to $560 billion, while its dominance over altcoins has risen above 45%. This is the highest the metric has reached since October last year.
This was the main crypto news of this week. Earlier this week we also wrote about OpenSea's new NFT marketplace in the article "OpenSea Announces New NFT Marketplace - Seaport".
This past week (May 21, 2022 through May 27) we saw the crypto market go up and down relatively quietly, but nothing special happened in terms of price action. The market is still in the red, volumes are low, and it is unclear what is going to happen in the coming period.
Still, behind the scenes it always remains very busy. There are still big venture capitalists investing their money in Bitcoin (BTC) right now, and there are always new positive developments in the crypto world. For example, you'll soon be able to start saving PostNL stamps in NFT form. And do you live in Brazil? Then from now on you can buy a house with crypto.
This and more is discussed in the weekly crypto news overview. So read along quickly!
PostNL launches NL crypto stamp
PostNL also wants to benefit from the rise of NFTs (non-fungible tokens), and what's better than the combination of old-fashioned stamp collecting and the new NFTs?
This is also how the company advertises their new development:
"Stamp collecting something from the past? Hell no! Step into the world of crypto stamps with our very first NL crypto stamp!"
But what does this NL crypto stamp entail? The crypto stamp is basically a two-part stamp. On the one hand, you get a physical stamp, which you can actually use as a stamp. On the other hand, you get a digital version in the form of an NFT, which you can collect, trade or send via the blockchain.
There is also a QR code on each physical stamp. This is needed to claim the digital version.
Collecting stamps is not as trendy as it used to be, but perhaps PostNL is making a nice move to get today's youth to collect them.
Buying a house in Brazil with crypto? It can be done!
Gafisa, a leading Brazilian real estate developer, has started accepting cryptocurrency payments for real estate transactions. The company accepts crypto payments through the local cryptocurrency exchange Foxbit.
Guilherme Augusto Soares Benevides, chief executive officer of Gafisa, pointed to the growth of the cryptocurrency space as part of the company's reason for considering crypto.
"There is no way to do business without accepting crypto as a form of payment, because we focus on Customer Experience. We want to provide our customers with all the comfort they need, and if that means crypto payments, then we provide crypto payments."
Along with Bitcoin, the company accepts payments in numerous other cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA), Ripple (XRP), Solana (SOL), and others. In total, the company accepts payments in 16 different cryptocurrencies.
According to the real estate developer, 1 in 130 people in Brazil live in a home developed by Gafisa, making it one of the largest real estate developers in the country.
Ripple invests $100 million in carbon credits
Ripple, the company behind the XRP cryptocurrency, has announced in a press release that it will invest in "modernizing the market for carbon credits," and that it will help remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Blockchain and cryptocurrencies are to be an important part of this.
In total, Ripple is investing $100 million. No specific destinations are mentioned, but the project has the overall goal of mitigating climate change. Part of this is an initiative to put financial products around carbon credits on the XRP Ledger (XRPL). In fact, the XRPL has the ability to host other tokens in addition to XRP.
Carbon credits are licenses that companies can buy to emit a certain amount of greenhouse gas. Companies that help make the world climate neutral receive these credits. They can then sell them to companies that need them. If they were put on the XRP Ledger, it would save on the consumption of the financial system needed for this. Efficiency, scalability, more transparency in the market and better verification around certain projects and companies are the main reasons, says Ripple.
Bitcoin dominance is at highest point in 7 months
It has become almost an inevitable pattern over the past ten days - a scenario in which Bitcoin tries to reach, approaches, and even briefly breaks through the $30,000 mark before the bears rise up and push it back below $30,000.
Since the beginning of this week, there have been three separate occasions. The first was over the weekend when the rejection BTC floated below $29,000. The same thing happened again on May 23 and 24. Bitcoin jumped by nearly $2,000 yesterday when it touched $30,000 again.
However, this too was short-lived. BTC failed there and sank below that coveted line. Currently, the cryptocurrency is struggling to stay above $29,000. Its market capitalization has fallen to $560 billion, while its dominance over altcoins has risen above 45%. This is the highest the metric has reached since October last year.
This was the main crypto news of this week. Earlier this week we also wrote about OpenSea's new NFT marketplace in the article "OpenSea Announces New NFT Marketplace - Seaport".