Top 10 crypto artist Trevor Jones on being rich, rekt and rich again: NFT Creator

He teamed up with the Evening Standard to create NFTs to celebrate the new King and once sold $4.3 million of art in 24 hours.

With a total artwork value of $24 million Trevor Jones is one of the Top 10 most successful crypto artists worldwide. Trevor Jones’ journey to crypto art stardom started the same way as many crypto noobs: His portfolio went way up, he failed to take profits, and the price came crashing down wiping out the paper gains. A traditional painter, Jones always wanted to explore the intersection of art and technology, and he experimented with QR code oil paintings in 2012 and dived into AR art in 2013. But it was his 2017 investment in Bitcoin that sparked deep curiosity in what this new world of crypto and blockchain was about. After getting rekt in 2018’s crypto winter, Jones turned his attention from crypto trader to crypto painter. He says: I caught that bull run and made a lot of money and then lost a lot of money in 2018. It all went up and all came crashing down. “I really fell down the rabbit hole and got completely excited about the space and the people. I was following whoever I could on Twitter, the likes of Vitalik Buterin and John McAfee and characters like that. Very quickly, I started having thoughts that this is something I would like to explore with my art.” Crypto art was almost non-existent as a genre in 2018 within traditional art circles, so Jones took it upon himself to hire a commercial gallery to stage a crypto-themed exhibition where he showcased some of his first original crypto art at the Crypto Disruption Exhibition. “The 12 paintings I did were all inspired by the crypto space, and from the new perspective I was coming in from, I didn’t know a lot about it at the time. I focused on some of the characters, such as Satoshi Nakamoto, ideas and themes like the bull and the bear, hodling and riding the wave. It was kind of me figuring out how to visualize this space through these paintings,” he said.

“I sold almost everything from the exhibition to anonymous collectors around the world where they paid me in Bitcoin and Ethereum. It really blew my mind because normally when you go through an art gallery to sell work, you don’t get to meet the collectors for the most part, it’s all done behind closed doors. You’d hopefully receive money two to three months down the line when the gallery pays you out.” “To get paid immediately was just so eye-opening. A few of the paintings were actually sold before the exhibition even opened. I was just posting some images on Twitter and somebody would reply saying they liked it and how much is it? I’d tell them a number, and they’d just send me some Bitcoin, and the sale was done. It was just the most surreal thing.” Oil paintings to NFTs With a path similar to Josie Bellini’s, from crypto artist first to NFT artist second, Jones recalls Coin Fest in April 2019 in Manchester being a pivotal moment. David Moore from Known Origin tried to explain to him why he should be interested in NFTs. “Coming from the perspective of a traditional artist who had a very successful exhibition of paintings that were selling between $5,000 and $12,000, I was grappling with the fact that NFTs at this time were only selling for about $20 or being gifted,” Jones says. It didn’t make sense in my head that I should sell a digital representation of a painting for $30 when the physicals were being sold for five figures.” But Jones continued to investigate the world of NFTs, tapping into newfound relationships with the likes of Alotta Money, Pascal Boyart and Coldie. He paid particular attention to Matt Kane and Coldie in the back half of 2019 who were starting to make sales in the hundreds or thousands of dollars and “started to think maybe there’s a way that it makes sense to bring my work together with a digital counterpart.” He says he was initially hesitant out of concern for collectors of his physical art who had paid top dollar. “I felt that it would be disrespectful to then sell that painting for $30, but I was still learning about editions and all the nuances of the space at the time,” he says. The Canadian artist was an instant success when he finally decided to take the NFT plunge. His very first NFT titled “EthGirl,” a collaboration with NFT art legends Alotta Money, broke the record for the highest sale on SuperRare, selling to ModeratsArt for 72.1 ETH ($10,207 at the time of sale). “Alotta Money is the most amazing dude. I worked with him on ‘EthGirl,’ which was inspired by the Picasso piece ‘Girl with a Mandolin.’ It was a big oil painting I did, and he animated it. It was still super early days in the NFT art scene, but it caused a huge bidding war between Moderats and Whale Shark and ended up breaking records.” “Everybody was talking about it because this was really the first time that I think artists, including myself, realized we could actually make a living from selling digital art through NFTs. It was really a pivotal moment I believe in the space. It raised a lot of eyebrows to where we might be headed.” Check it out by clicking the “Play” button in the tweet below. Personal style Coming from a traditional art background but with a love of technology and an appreciation for history, Jones says his style is hard to label, but his aim was to be a “social realist in this space — to capture moments in the crypto space but also in the real world.” “I don’t really have a unique style, but my work is always connected to the long history and tradition of painting and art history. I studied art history at university for five years. I’m somewhat of an anachronism in this space of crypto; here’s this crazy innovative digital new world and then some old painter dude comes in and starts working away, and people like what I’m doing.” “I’ve been interested in technology for a while with my previous work painting QR codes and exploring AR back in 2013, so I think that’s probably one of the reasons why the collectors in NFTs accepted me with open arms because there’s a history of my curiosity in technology and innovation.” Notable sales to date

“Bitcoin Angel” and “From Palette to Canvas”: Total sales amassed $4.3 million on Nifty Gateway on Feb. 25, 2021. “Bitcoin Angel” generated $3.2 million in seven minutes, while $1.1 million in sales were generated from 15 x 1-of-1 artworks as part of the “From Palette to Canvas” collection that included the NFT and physical painting on Nov. 21, 2021.

EthBoy” by Trevor Jones and Alotta Money: Sold on Async Art for 260 ETH ($143,000 equivalent on the date of sale) on Nov. 21, 2021.

“The Collision” by Trevor Jones x Pak: The collection generated approximately $1.3 million on Nifty Gateway, released on Dec. 18, 2020.

“Genesis” — Trevor Jones and Jose Delbo collaboration: Sold on Makers Place for 540.86 ETH ($204,445 equivalent on the date of sale) on Oct. 18, 2020. Included this Genesis Batman 1-of-1 sale for 302.5 ETH ($114,000 equivalent on the date of sale). Castle Party Jones, who has lived in Scotland since 1999, has put his own spin on what an NFT IRL event should look like with his Bitcoin Angels Castle Party. The event brings artists and collectors together for a two-night celebration. With Bitcoin Angel, my life changed entirely in seven minutes, and having spoken with a few bigger collectors on Twitter, one suggested I throw a castle party. At first, I thought it was a stupid idea, but after sleeping on it for a day or two, I came to realize it was a great idea.” “I have an opportunity through this castle party to thank all the people who bought one of my artworks. That’s really how it started off, to invite all the owners of Bitcoin Angels and a way of giving back to my community, and it’s grown from there.” The 2023 castle party will be held in France from September 3 to 5, with holders of Jones’ artworks receiving discounted tickets. The Oath Coronation NFT To celebrate the coronation of the new King, Jones recently teamed up with the Evening Standard newspaper and Apollo Entertainment to release an open-edition NFT titled “The Oath” to own a piece of history. It was a free mint dropped on Nifty Gateway, with 20,200 being minted, which set a record for an open-edition mint on the platform. “I thought it was a cool opportunity to capture a moment in history and get people excited about digital art and what NFTs are. The Evening Standard is one of the biggest U.K. publications, and this was a chance to create something with them to get disseminated out into the real world,” said Jones. Which hot NFT artists should we be paying attention to? Jones cites four artists who were part of the #ArtAngelsNFT series he created to shine a spotlight on emerging artists. Saint MG (@SaintMG1) — Artist and architect from Colombia. Lost Angel in the digital renaissance. Nurart (@NurArt_) — Visual artist from Cuba. Weaver of symbols. Richard Masa (@RichardMasaArt) — Abstract-surrealist from Paris. Maria Fynsk Norup (@mariafynsknorup) — Conceptual self-portrait artist from Denmark. Emotional storytelling. “Art Angels could be considered somewhat of a Shark Tank show meets the dating game. It’s where we’d connect artists and collectors. It’s been life-changing for some of the artists involved. Saint MG made a 1-of-1 sale on SuperRare and some other sales and sold about $9,000, which is a lot in his hometown of Colombia.” “Nurart from Cuba has also made life-changing money from some sales and is such a great artist. Richard Masa is absolutely phenomenal, just an amazing artist, be sure to check him out. Maria as a photographer is really special — her work just takes you to places.” Favorite NFTs in your wallet: “La Peste Bleue” by Alotta Money “(r)Evolution” by Alotta Money (gifted by ModeratsArt)

“(r)Evolution” by Alotta Money. (Known Origin) Links: Twitter: twitter.com/trevorjonesart Linktree: linktr.ee/trevorjonesart Website: trevorjonesart.com/ Subscribe

Bitcoin and proof-of-stake have natural ‘synergy’: Bitcoin Builders 2023

Stanford University professor David Tsè said his team’s research had revealed a security property between Bitcoin and proof-of-stake protocols.

Less than a year after proof-of-stake (PoS) became the consensus mechanism for the Ethereum blockchain — the industry’s largest blockchain network — researchers have found that PoS can complement Bitcoin. Stanford University professor David Tsè spoke to Cointelegraph at the 2023 Bitcoin Builders conference in Miami, Florida, about his team’s findings on Bitcoin, PoS, security and energy consumption.

Tsè facilitates a research lab specializing in blockchain consensus protocols at Stanford University in California. He said the first consensus protocol it looked into was Bitcoin’s proof-of-work (PoW) protocol. “Bitcoin was like our first love,” he said. Through this “deep understanding” of Bitcoin and then an understanding of PoS protocols, he continued to say that his team found a “very natural synergy” between the two. “By building an extra layer of protocol that shares the security between Bitcoin and PoS, we find that it will become very strong, giving you a very strong security property.” Tsè pointed out that on its own, the PoS blockchain has two major limitations: Due to it being based on proof of “stake,” or capital, it’s hard to start a new blockchain due to the need to attract stakers. He said, “If you don’t have capital, you don’t have enough security.” In addition to security and capital being intertwined, the Stanford professor also highlighted that security is what he calls “short range” on PoS, whereas Bitcoin is the opposite, with stronger “long-range” security, making them “the perfect complement to each other.” He wants it so that people can build distributed ledger applications in a more simple way: “Security is very important, but instead of everyone trying to fragment and compete for limited capital, take capital from a huge reservoir which is Bitcoin, and use it as economic security for all these chains.” In such a method, Tsè envisions developers being able to focus on building the application, which is the core purpose of creating a blockchain network, rather than on recruiting the stake to secure the chain. Related: Bitcoin self-custody advocate explains why on-ramps are key to adoption One of the major pushbacks toward building on Bitcoin — and PoW systems in general — has been the energy consumption associated with such protocols. Tsè said that Bitcoin’s bad reputation for energy consumption makes it difficult to explain to the next generation of students. However, Tsè says he believes the important thing is to not only look at the energy being consumed, but the “why” behind the consumption. “Without energy, there is no security. Without security, there’s no value. In some sense, what we’re doing right now, from a technology point of view, is to make higher value use of that energy.” He highlighted security as one of Bitcoin’s most valuable assets and pointed to new projects like Bitcoin Ordinals leveraging that security. “What makes Ordinals interesting on Bitcoin, as opposed to any other platform, is that they’re building on the most secure blockchain in the world.” Recently, Bitcoin nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have been sweeping through the crypto space, causing equal amounts of hype and skepticism about whether they are good for Bitcoin. Some thought leaders in the space believe they’ll fade out, but on the other hand, Binance’s NFT marketplace added Bitcoin NFT offerings on May 9. On the same day, inscriptions for Bitcoin Ordinals had nearly doubled in a little over a week, almost hitting the 4.8 million mark.

Moral responsibility’: Can blockchain really improve trust in AI?

When Austrian-born physicists Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch first split the atom in the late 1930s, they probably didn’t anticipate their discovery would lead a few years later to the atomic bomb. The artificial intelligence (AI) revolution is arguably no different. AI algorithms have been around for decades. The first artificial neural network, the perceptron, was invented in 1958. But the recent pace of development has been breathtaking, and with voice recognition devices like Alexa and chatbots like ChatGPT, AI appears to have gained a new public awareness. On the positive side, AI could dramatically raise the planet’s general education level and help to find cures for devastating diseases like Alzheimer’s. But it could also displace jobs and bolster authoritarian states that can use it to surveil their populations. Moreover, if machines ever achieve “general” intelligence, they might even be trained to overturn elections and prosecute wars, AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton recently warned. “Enormous potential and enormous danger” is how United States President Joe Biden recently described AI. This followed an open letter in March from more than 1,000 tech leaders, including Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak, calling for a moratorium on AI developments like ChatGPT. The technology, they said, presents “profound risks to society and humanity.” Already, some countries are lining up against OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT. Italy temporarily banned ChatGPT in March, and Canada’s privacy commissioner is investigating OpenAI for allegedly collecting and utilizing personal information without consent. The EU is negotiating new rules for AI, while China is demanding that AI developers henceforth abide by strict censorship rules. Some amount of regulation seems inevitable. An antidote to what ails AI? With this as a backdrop, a question looms: Can blockchain technology remedy the problems that afflict artificial intelligence — or at least some of them? Decentralized ledger technology, after all, is arguably everything that AI is not: transparent, traceable, trustworthy and tamper-free. It could help to offset some of the opaqueness of AI’s black-box solutions. Anthony Day, head of strategy and marketing at Midnight — a side-chain of Cardano — wrote in April on LinkedIn with respect to blockchain technology: “We DO need to create a way to enable traceable, transparent, uncensorable, automated TRUST in where and what AIs will do for (or to) our world.” At a minimum, blockchains could be a repository for AI training data. Or as IBM’s Jerry Cuomo wrote several years back — an observation that still rings true today: With blockchain, you can track the provenance of the training data as well as see an audit trail of the evidence that led to the prediction of why a particular fruit is considered an apple versus an orange.” “Users of centralized AI models are often unaware of the biases inherent in their training,” Neha Singh, co-founder of Tracxn Technologies — an analytics and market intelligence platform — tells Magazine. “Increased transparency for AI models can be made possible using blockchain technology.” Many agree that something must be done before AI goes more heavily mainstream. “In order to trust artificial intelligence, people must know and understand exactly what AI is, what it’s doing, and its impact,” said Kay Firth-Butterfield, head of artificial intelligence and machine learning at the World Economic Forum. “Leaders and companies must make transparent and trustworthy AI a priority as they implement this technology.” Interestingly, some work along these lines is underway. In February, U.S.-based fintech firm FICO received a patent for “Blockchain for Data and Model Governance,” officially registering a process it has been using for years to ensure “responsible” AI practices. FICO uses an Ethereum-based ledger to track end-to-end provenance “of the development, operationalization, and monitoring of machine learning models in an immutable manner,” according to the company, which has more than 300 data scientists and works with many of the world’s largest banks. Notably, there are subtle differences between the terms “AI” and “machine learning,” but the terms are often used interchangeably. Using a blockchain enables auditability and furthers model and corporate trust, Scott Zoldi, chief analytics officer of FICO, wrote in an AI publication earlier this year. Importantly, the blockchain provides a trail of decision-making. It shows if a variable is acceptable, if it introduces bias into the model, or if the variable is utilized properly…. It records the entire journey of building these models, including their mistakes, corrections and improvements.” AI tools need to be well-understood, and they need to be fair, equitable and transparent for a just future, Zoldi said, adding, “And that’s where I think blockchain technology will find a marriage potentially with AI.” Separating artifice from truth Model development is one key area where blockchain can make a difference, but there are others. Some anticipate that devices like ChatGPT might have a deleterious effect on social media and news platforms, for instance, making it difficult to sort out artifice from what is real or true. “This is one of the places where blockchain can be most useful in emerging platforms: to prove that person X said Y at a particular date/time,” Joshua Ellul, associate professor and director of the Centre for Distributed Ledger Technologies at the University of Malta, tells Magazine. Indeed, a blockchain can help to build a sort of framework for accountability where, for instance, individuals and organizations can emerge as trusted sources. For example, Ellul continued, “If person X is on record saying Y, and it is undeniable,” then that becomes a reference point, so “in the future, individuals could build their own trust ratings for other people based upon what they said in the past.” “At the very least a blockchain solution could be used to track data, training, testing, auditing and post-mortem events in a manner that ensures a party cannot change some events that happened,” adds Ellul. Not all agree that blockchain can get to the root of what really ails AI, however. “I am somewhat skeptical that blockchain can be considered as an antidote to AI,” Roman Beck, a professor at IT University of Copenhagen and head of the European Blockchain Center, tells Magazine. “We have already today some challenges in tracking and tracing what smart contracts are really doing, and even though blockchain should be transparent, some of the activities are hard to audit.” Elsewhere, the European Commission has been looking to create a “transatlantic space for trustworthy #AI.” But when asked if blockchain technology could help offset AI’s opaqueness, a European Commission official was doubtful, telling Magazine: Blockchain enables the tracking of data sources and protects people’s privacy but, by itself, does not address the black-box problem in AI Neural Networks — the most common approach, also used in ChatGPT, for instance. It will not help AI systems to provide explanations on how and why a given decision was taken.” When “algos go crazy” Maybe blockchain can’t “save” AI, but Beck still envisages ways the two technologies can bolster one another. “The most likely area where blockchain can help AI is the auditing aspect. If we want to avoid AI being used to cheat or engage in any other unlawful activity, one could ask for a record of AI results on a ledger. One would be able to use AI, but in case the results are used in a malicious or unlawful way, would be able to trace back when and who has used AI, as it would be logged.” Or consider the autonomous driving vehicles developed with AI technology in which “sensors, algorithms and blockchain would provide an autonomous operating system for inter-machine communication and coordination,” adds Beck. “We still may not be able to explain how the AI has decided, but we can secure accountability and thus governance.” That is, the blockchain could help to trace who or what was really at fault when “an algo went crazy.” Even the aforementioned EU official can foresee blockchain providing benefits, even if it can’t solve AI’s “black box” problem. “Using blockchain, it might be possible to create a transparent and tamper-proof record of the data used to train AI models. However, blockchain by itself does not address the detection and reduction of bias, which is challenging and still an open-research question.” Implementing a blockchain to track AI modeling In the corporate sector, many companies are still struggling to achieve “trustworthy” AI. FICO and Corinium recently surveyed some 100 North American financial services firms and found that “43% of respondents said they struggle with Responsible AI governance structures to meet regulatory requirements.” At the same time, only 8% reported that their AI strategies “are fully mature with model development standards consistently scaled.” Founded in 1956 as Fair, Isaac and Company, FICO has been a pioneer in the use of predictive analytics and data science for operational business decisions. It builds AI models that help businesses manage risk, combat fraud and optimize operations. Asked how the firm came to employ a permissioned Ethereum blockchain in 2017 for its analytics work, Zoldi explained that he had been having conversations with banks around that time. He learned that something on the order of 70%–80% of all AI models being developed never made it into production. One key problem was that data scientists, even within the same organization, were building models in different ways. Many were also failing governance checks after the models were completed. A post hoc test might reveal that an AI-powered tool for fraud detection was inadvertently discriminating against certain ethnic groups, for example. “There had to be a better way,” Zoldi recalls thinking, than having “Sally” build a model and then find six months later — after she’s already left the company — that she didn’t record the information correctly “or she didn’t follow governance protocols appropriate for the bank.” FICO set about developing a responsible AI governance standard that used a blockchain to enforce it. Developers were to be informed in advance of algorithms that might be used, the ethics testing protocols that need to be followed, thresholds for unbiased models, and other required processes. Meanwhile, the blockchain records the entire journey in every model development, including errors, fixes and innovations. “So, for each scientist who develops a model, another checks the work, and a third approves that it’s all been done appropriately. Three scientists have reviewed the work and verified that it’s met the standard,” says Zoldi. What about blockchain’s oft-cited scaling issues? Does everything fit on a single digital ledger? “It’s not much of a problem. We’ll store [on the blockchain] a hash of — let’s say, a software asset — but the software asset itself will be stored elsewhere, in something else like a git repository. We don’t literally have to put 10 megabytes worth of data on the blockchain.” A “moral and legal responsibility” Commercial developers would be well served to heed experiences like FICO’s because political leaders are clearly waking up to the risks presented by AI. “The private sector has an ethical, moral and legal responsibility to ensure the safety and security of their products,” said U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris in a statement. “And every company must comply with existing laws to protect the American people.” The concerns are global, too. As the EU official tells Magazine, “To ensure AI is beneficial to society, we need a two-pronged approach: First, further research in the field of trustworthy AI is necessary to improve the technology itself, making it transparent, understandable, accurate, safe and respectful of privacy and values. Second, proper regulation of AI models must be established to guarantee their responsible and ethical use as we propose in the [EU] AI Act.” The private sector should weigh the benefits of self-regulation. It could prove a boon for an enterprise’s developers, for one. Data scientists sometimes feel like they have been placed in a difficult situation, Zoldi says. “The ethics of how they build their models and the standards used are often not specified” — and this makes them uncomfortable. The makers of AI devices don’t want to do harm to people, but they’re often not provided with the necessary tools to ensure that doesn’t happen. A blockchain can help, though, in the end, it may be one of several self-regulating or jurisdictional guardrails that need to be used to ensure a trustworthy AI future. “You talk to experts and they say, ‘We’re smart enough to be able to generate this technology. We’re not smart enough to be able to regulate it or understand it or explain it’ — and that’s very scary,” Zoldi tells Magazine. All in all, blockchain’s potential to support a responsible AI has yet to be widely recognized, but that could soon change. Some, like Anthony Day, are even betting on it: “I’m not sure if blockchain truly will save the world, but I’m certain it can save AI.”

Why is XRP price up today?

The XRP price rally over the past few days is now at risk of exhaustion as a traditional bearish reversal pattern comes into view.

The price of XRP XRP tickers down $0.46 jumped by nearly 4.25% to $0.461 on May 17, its highest level in over a week after Ripple scored a small win in its legal battle versus the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The XRP gains appeared despite the broader cryptocurrency market, led by Bitcoin BTC tickers down $26,903 and Ether ETH tickers down $1,810 , seeing modest losses of 1% in the past 24 hours. Ripple scores a small win versus SEC The XRP/USD pair hourly chart below shows exactly when XRP price decoupled from the rest of the crypto market.

XRP price noticeably jumped when former defense attorney James K. Filan tweeted a copy of a May 16 judgment concerning the legal battle between Ripple and the SEC. Notably, U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres denied the SEC's motion to seal the agency's internal communications that occurred after a speech by its former chairman, Willian Hinman, in June 2018. In that speech, Hinman argued that Ethereum's Ether token is not a security asset. The judgment could push Ripple toward a legal win, given its ability to prove that XRP is not a security. Meanwhile, Ripple's apparently increasing chances of winning have likely led XRP to rise 10.5% since May 16 despite a broader downside sentiment in the market. For instance, trading volumes for XRP-related pairs on Binance surged by more than 200% in 24 hours as the price rallied, suggesting that the move could have momentum behind it. What's next for XRP price? However, technicals are starting to lean bearish with XRP positioned for a potential price correction in May. The bears will argue that the so-called Gravestone Doji on XRP's March 17 candle was confirmed by a long upper wick and a minor distance between the token's open and low points. Traditional analysts see a Gravestone Doji candle as a bearish reversal pattern.

In addition, XRP faces downside pressure from its 50-day exponential moving average (50-day EMA; the red wave) near $0.454 and a short-term descending trendline resistance. In the case of a pullback, XRP will likely see the next significant support at $0.42 in May, down 5.5% from current price levels. Related: Defending against SEC to cost Ripple $200M, CEO Brad Garlinghouse says Conversely, a decisive break above the resistance confluence will push XRP price toward $0.50 as its next target by June. This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

EU finance ministers approve MiCA crypto regulation

European Union finance ministers vote unanimously to adopt the bloc’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation. The Economic and Financial Affairs Council of the European Union — comprising finance ministers of all member states — has given the green light to the highly-anticipated Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation after a vote on May 16. Finance ministers from 27 member states voted in favor of the MiCA bill, and amendments to several regulations and directives relating to the new legislation. Two more pieces of legislation, including regulation on information accompanying transfers of funds and certain crypto assets, were also adopted by the European Parliament in conjunction with MiCA’s adoption. Related: Industry leaders and policymakers react to passage of MiCA in EU The European Parliament formally adopted the MiCA legislation on April 20, paving the way for final approval by the European Council before the regulatory parameters take effect. The legislation sets clear regulatory guidelines and requirements for using cryptocurrencies and related services and activities across the European Union. The scope of the legislation covers a range of cryptocurrencies, digital assets, utility tokens and stablecoins. The next step in the long process for MiCA to become EU law requires the bill to be published in the Official Journal of the European Union. MiCA will come into effect within a year, meaning the regulations will finally become law midway through 2024. The European Commission first proposed MiCA in September 2020, but it has faced numerous hurdles and postponements on its way through the legislative process. The legislation has broadly been welcomed by cryptocurrency service providers and proponents alike, given that it creates a single market environment across Europe regarding regulatory requirements and operating procedures. Related: EU MiCA crypto regulation is a ‘balancing act’: Paris Blockchain Week 2023 Key components of MiCA legislation include registration and authorization requirements for issuers of cryptocurrencies, exchanges and wallet providers. Stablecoin issuers must meet certain security and risk mitigation requirements, while cryptocurrency custody services must ensure sufficient security and safety measures to address potential cybersecurity and operational failures. The legislation also provides a framework to prevent market abuse, insider trading and manipulative behavior in the cryptocurrency space. This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.

Why is the crypto market down today?

Right as analysts thought that Bitcoin BTC tickers down $27,097 was on the cusp of showing signs for a price breakout, the crypto market took a turn to the downside amid increased regulatory uncertainty. Bitcoin price hit a 7-day low on May 16 at $26,970 as traders worry that a larger price dip is possible, and a CME gap sitting at $24,000. Similar worries exist for Ether ETH tickers down $1,827 which traded above the $2,100 level after the Shapella upgrade only to be followed by an intraday low of $1,804 on May 16. The downturn comes as digital asset markets continue to shrink, seeing outflows surpassing $200 million.

Airdrops are great, but be aware of the risks

Airdrops have emerged as a powerful tool for token distribution, user acquisition and community building as the blockchain industry has grown. They provide a unique opportunity for projects to distinguish themselves, incentivize desired behaviors and foster long-term relationships with their user base. But the question remains: Do airdrops work? Based on my prior research in the Journal of Corporate Finance, the answer — at least according to the data so far — is “yes.” But my new research with Kristof Lommers and Lieven Verboven highlights that their efficacy hinges on thoughtful design, clear objectives and strategic execution. At the heart of a successful airdrop lies the careful selection of eligibility criteria and incentives. These criteria can range from simple (like owning a specific token) to more complex (like exhibiting certain behaviors on-chain), but they should be aligned with the airdrop’s objectives. For instance, if the goal is to reward loyal users, then the eligibility criteria could include users who have held a certain token for a specific period. Similarly, if the aim is to promote a new protocol, then the criteria could be interacting with it. ​​Related: Should Bored Ape buyers be legally entitled to refunds? Incentives, on the other hand, can take various forms — from direct token rewards to exclusive access to new features or services. The key is to strike a balance between being attractive enough to engage users and remaining economically viable for the project. For example, the Blur airdrop integrated social media activity into its eligibility criteria. Instead of just providing tokens to existing users or holders of a certain token, Blur incentivized users to share the airdrop on social media platforms and encouraged referrals among their networks to gain extra tokens. This method not only broadened the reach of its airdrop but also fostered a sense of community as users actively participated in spreading the word about Blur. Timing also plays a crucial role. Launching an airdrop too early in a project’s lifecycle might lead to token distribution among users who lack genuine interest, while a late-stage airdrop might fail to generate the desired buzz. The optimal timing often coincides with a project’s token launch, creating initial distribution and liquidity. As prior research by Yukun Liu and Aleh Tsyvinski highlighted, momentum in the market plays a big role in explaining token prices.