Monday, January 7, 2019

Fort-not gonna happen 👾

January 7, 2019

Fortnite Accidentally Accepted Monero, But What Might Crypto Hold for Gaming?

Whoops!

Early last week it was reported that Fortnite, a popular Battle Royale game that has millions of online players around the world, had started accepting Monero (XMR) as a payment option for its merchandise store.

The move built confidence in the crypto community that adoption was accelerating and XMR would get all the glory.

Now, however, the founder of Epic Games - the company that developed Fortnite - is saying that the decision to accept XMR was accidental.

But don't count crypto out

Shortly after Epic founder Tim Sweeney announced the mishap, he continued to say that many "at Epic are big fans of the decentralized computing tech underlying cryptocurrency."

And Epic isn't alone. Crypto and gaming have stood hand and hand as investors and developers flock to build the next big game.

Last year Mythical Games secured $16 million to build a blockchain-related game. Similarly, CryptoKitties, an Ethereum app that allows users to buy and sell unique cats, gathered $12 million from investors.

So what's the use case?

Many believe crypto will take gaming to the next level with non-fungible tokens - a fancy way of saying each token is unique.

As for Fortnite, some believe the game could create a digital economy with real scarcity if player skins and items were built using non-fungible tokens - but this idea definitely has its skeptics.

For now though, Sweeney says the technology needs a lot of work on "volatility and fraud-proofing" before it hits the mainstream.

BITCOIN

Bitcoin Transaction Fees Hit Three-Year-Low

Bitcoin transaction fees recently hit there lowest mark since October 13, 2015. At the time of this writing, the median transaction fee for Bitcoin is as low as $0.024.

Here's a comparison to when transaction fees were last this low:

January 6, 2019:

Median transaction fee: $0.02
Transactions last 24h: 253,673

October 13, 2015:

Median transaction fee: $0.02
Transactions last 24h: 134,741

Scaling the Bitcoin network

After having trouble with high fees in 2017, due to scaling issues, Bitcoin has seemed to figure out how it can grow while keeping the fees reasonable.

The Lightning Network is still in its infancy with a total capacity of 557 BTC. But, the network is rapidly growing. At launch, the Lightning Network was very difficult to use. Now with constant improvements, it is making progress and gaining more adoption.

REGULATION

Kraken Received 3x More Law Enforcement Requests in 2018

Government is getting nosey

According to a tweet from the exchange, Kraken received three times more inquiries in 2018 than it did in 2017.

The exchange received a total of 475 requests from government agencies during the last calendar year. In comparison, it received only 160 similar requests in 2017.

Of the 475 inquiries, a majority of them originated from United States government agencies. The US accounted for 315, followed by UK (61) and Germany (34).

ADOPTION

You Can Get Married on Ethereum in Nevada

According to the AP, two counties in Nevada have either implemented or are conducting trials to put marriage certificates on the Ethereum blockchain.

The reason? Security. Add on the feature that each certificate is digital and can be accessed from anywhere and you've got a nice set up.

Not so fast though

Despite the legitimacy of each certificate, some government agencies are still reluctant to accept them.

While large organizations like the Social Security Administration are good at accepting the digital documents, state motor vehicle departments have different policies.

Still, it's an awesome move for the blockchain-loving state, and yet another win for the paperless economy.

BITS

But wait, there's more...

🎨 A French graffiti artist has hidden $1000 in Bitcoin in his latest project.
👨‍⚖️ Two lawmakers from the U.S. state of Colorado have introduced legislation seeking to exempt some digital tokens from securities laws.
🇯🇵 Japan's financial regulator is considering allowing Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETF).

MEME