Last week was not the most sensational week in the crypto world, but there were some new announcements and, as always, news about NFT and the metaverse. Polygon Network has been the center of a lot of attention during the period.
Highlights:
- GainForest announced that it was working with the government of Paraguay to help protect the country’s endangered forests — with the help of NFTs.
- Polygon’s co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, in the wake of India’s tax scheme on the crypto market, said that the country needs a single authority to manage regulation.
- Polygon also announced a new blockchain system called Supernets, allocating $100 million to a fund that will be used to incentivise development on the highly customisable network.
- In a bit of a surprise, the U.S. Space Force filed a patent for a metaverse-related idea called the Spaceverse. Details are sparse, but the filing alone is noteworthy.
- Japan’s central bank provided more information on its CBDC development, saying that it would model the digital currency on Sweden’s approach, not China’s.
This Week in Crypto
NFTs Now Turns to Plant Trees
A lot has been said about crypto’s ability to drive positive social change, but besides a few notable developments, the use case remains largely untapped. That appears to be changing as one Solana-based project is now utilising NFTs to protect the environment.
GainForest is now working with the government of Paraguay to protect the country’s forests. The Gran Chaco Americano is an area vulnerable to climate change, and with donations, donors receive pictures and data drops on the areas they protect in the form of NFTrees, a good pun on NFTs. The idea is to make forest conservation financially sustainable for long enough until the world figures out to decarbonise society.
It’s one of the more unique ways to implement smart contracts, but it’s paying off. We might see even more in the way of climate-focused blockchain impact, starting with the reduction in energy usage of blockchain networks.
Polygon Co-Founder Comments on India’s Regulation Environment
India’s take on the crypto space is one of cautious acceptance. On the one hand, it allows the market to exist in the country. On the other hand, it has imposed heavy taxation, which has indirectly caused trading volumes to plummet. Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, who is Indian, has commented on India’s effort to regulate the market in the past, asking for laws that would encourage innovation.
Recently, Nailwal said that India needs a single regulator to handle the crypto market, which would help create a better environment for discussion and regulation. He says that a centralised task force that trickles information and instructions down to local entities would be better for regulation and economic growth.
Meanwhile, India has called for global coordination on crypto regulation. It aims to set up a larger regulatory framework, but only following global consensus.
Polygon Announces Supernets
As for some more positive news for Polygon, the project announced that it is launching “Supernets,” a new system for blockchain development with strong customisability. These chains are meant for developers who want to innovate quickly and at low cost, and present a low barrier of entry opportunity for existing and would-be blockchain developers. The overall idea is to fast-track the development of the Web3 space, which has quickly become one of the market’s cornerstones.
https://twitter.com/0xPolygon/status/1517502692670640129
To further encourage development, Polygon has budgeted $100 million to incentivise development on Supernets. That’s a big sum from a team that’s already setting aside money for efforts in other areas of blockchain development.
U.S. Air Force Now Getting Into Metaverse
The latest entrant to the metaverse space is an entity that one might not expect to tap into the fast-growing field. One licensed trademark attorney pointed out that the U.S. Air Force filed a trademark application for something called the “Spaceverse” in the middle of April.
Filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the application reveals little about what the Spaceverse is actually about, though it does say that it will be a secure digital metaverse. However, the very fact that the U.S. military is also showing interest in the metaverse proves that the metaverse has well and truly entrenched itself in the public consciousness.
Japan Modeling Its CBDC After Sweden
Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are now all but certain in the future, with country after country announcing proof-of-concepts and trials. To governments, it is now clear that the technology offers several benefits over legacy systems, and all that’s required is a slow and methodical implementation of a digital fiat currency.
China has not been shy in announcing the success of its trials and is certainly one of the most far along in CDBC development among economically advanced countries. However, Japan’s central bank, the Bank of Japan, announced that it will look to Sweden for inspiration for its CBDC, not China. It also confirmed that a CBDC isn’t guaranteed, and even if it was, the country would only see a CBDC by 2026.