Tip on Twitter — in Bitcoin!

September 24, 2021       /       Unchained Daily       /       Laura Shin

Daily Bits ✍️✍️✍️

• Twitter users can now tip in Bitcoin directly on the app; the social media platform also released plans for an NFT authentication program.

• The Federal Reserve will soon release a paper on central bank digital currency, says Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

• Dfinity’s Internet Computer, a layer 1 blockchain, plans to host Bitcoin smart contracts by the end of the year.

• Circle has partnered with Plaid to help facilitate faster transactions between fiat and tokens via the Automated Clearing House network.

• FTX signed a sponsorship agreement with Formula racing team Mercedes-AMG Petronas.

• Binance deactivated accounts associated with Suex, the crypto exchange recently sanctioned by OFAC due to allegations of money laundering.

• ShapeShift, a decentralized crypto platform, airdropped an additional $2 million in FOX tokens yesterday.

• eToro launched a DeFi index.

What Do You Meme?

What’s Poppin’?

Solana NFTs are poppin’.

While much of the NFT community has its eyes set on Ethereum, the Solana NFT ecosystem is starting to show promise. Solana has seen a slew of marketplaces launch in the past few weeks and months, like Digital Eyes, SolSea, and Solanart, allowing for easier access for users to purchase NFTs on Solana. Additionally, after a few NFT drop mishaps, like the play-to-earn Aurory’s launch, which saw over $1 million stolen in a phishing attack and the NFTs minted at the incorrect price, it appears that sales are going much smoother now — especially with the advent of Metaplex’s Candy Machinehelping set up a more fair auction process for Solana NFT drops.

Here are three stats on Solana NFT growth:

• Two Solana NFT projects, Solana Monkey Business and Degenerate Ape Academy, have a market cap of over $100 million, according to data from Solanalysis. For context, only 12 Ethereum-based projects have hit $100 million volume.

• Solanart, an NFT marketplace on Solana, has facilitated approximately $390 million in volume since its inception earlier this year. Data from DappRadar shows that Solanart ranks as a top-five NFT marketplace on any blockchain for all time.

• Solana saw its first million-dollar NFT sale when Degen Ape #7225 sold for 5,980 SOL on September 11.

Unchained How-To:

The Solana NFT space offers a low-cost, low-stakes playground to test out this new technology and play with NFTs. Unlike Ethereum, where minting fees and transfer fees can be upwards of $50 to $100 at times due to gas, Solana gas fees are almost always under $1 and usually less than a cent.

If you’re interested in experimenting with NFTs without taking a huge hit to your crypto wallet, here is a quick walkthrough on how to buy a Solana NFT.

1. Download and set up a Solana wallet. 

Solana offers quite a few options on this front, but the two most popular are Sollet and Phantom. After downloading a wallet, Phantom and Sollet will give you a 12-word seed phrase (just like MetaMask), which will help you restore your wallet should you ever get locked out. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe, where nobody else can access it.

• You can download Sollet to your browser here.

• You can download Phantom to your browser here. (I prefer Phantom)

2. Purchase some SOL and send it to your wallet. 

To buy a Solana NFT, you must have a little bit of SOL, just like you need ETH to purchase Ethereum NFTs. If you are in the US, you can buy SOL at Coinbase or FTX.US. Once purchased, send it to the public address of your Phantom/Sollet wallet. This should take seconds because Solana’s block speed is super fast.

Tip: I would recommend limiting your first Solana transaction to .2 SOL. With Solana, gas fees are negligible, so there is no excuse not to send a test transaction to ensure you have the correct wallet address.

3. Head on over to a marketplace, unleash your inner degen, and purchase something weird.

As mentioned above, there are tons of marketplaces on Solana. I would recommend using Solanart or Digital Eyes, as they offer the easiest user experience at the moment. Once you have arrived on a marketplace, be sure to connect your wallet (there should be a button in the top right corner of your screen) so that you can actually use your SOL on the platform.

As for projects, there are so many to choose from. With your first acquisition, I would recommend going small. There are projects on Digital Eyes going for as little as .1 SOL (~$20). Find something you like, be it a new Twitter profile picture, or a screensaver for your phone, and purchase it!

4. Show your NFT off on Twitter and tag @unchained_pod! 🙂

Recommended Reads

• @SpartanBlack_1, on the recent market correction:

• Alex Woodard, a research analyst at Arca, on Uniswap and SushiSwap:

• Strike CEO on how the Strike and Twitter integration came about:

On The Pod…

How SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s Views on Crypto Have Changed Since His MIT Days 

Nik De, managing editor for global policy and regulation at CoinDesk, stops by Unconfirmed to discuss the current state of crypto regulation, including recent comments by SEC Chair Gary Gensler on stablecoins and why Coinbase decided to sideline its Lend product. Highlights:

• Nik’s biggest takeaway from Gary Gensler’s interview with the Washington Post
• why Nik thinks Gensler has escalated his rhetoric regarding stablecoins and DeFi
• how crypto exchanges are currently regulated and how that might change
• what it would take to convince crypto exchanges to register with the SEC
• whether the SEC has the purview to regulate stablecoins
• Nik’s thoughts on Coinbase’s Lend product and the SEC’s stance on lending products
• what the overall picture of crypto lending is in the US
• whether the SEC will go after DeFi protocols
• what to expect from the SEC going forward, especially with the end of its fiscal year coming up next week

Book Update

You can purchase it here: http://bit.ly/cryptopians