Welcome to another edition of Crypto NFT Today! The last two weeks have been full of important events that will shape the future of blockchain, cryptocurrencies and NFTs.
Mila Kunis caught up in NFT scam investigation, rising oil prices impact cryptocurrency markets, Holesky’s second testnet launch, and more. This week has been filled with important news that you need to know. So let’s dive in and see what’s going on!
Mila Kunis caught in NFT fraud investigation
Mila Kunis is under investigation for an NFT scam surrounding her new TV series. Stoner Cats. About an elderly woman and her cat, the new production featured talents such as Ashton Kutcher, Chris Rock, Gary Vee and even Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum.
Kunis, Hollywood producers and crypto experts have been promoting the new animated series as an NFT project that could receive funding through investment. After promoting the series on a TBS talk show and declaring that it would only be available to NFT holders, more than 10,000 NFTs were sold in 35 minutes.
Shortly after this, Kunis left Stoner Cats were reportedly investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for offering unregistered securities and misleading investors.
Rising oil prices affect the cryptocurrency market
Over the past 18 months, there has been a noticeable decline in investor interest in high-risk assets such as cryptocurrencies. The lack of interest is due to the central bank’s aggressive efforts to raise borrowing costs and control inflation. There are now concerns that the recent rise in oil prices could worsen the situation, as cryptocurrency experts suggest.
The price per barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil has increased by 30% in the current quarter. For the first time in 2023, it crossed the threshold of $93 per barrel.
Noelle Acheson, author of the widely read newsletter Crypto Is Macro Now, weighed in on the oil price rally. CoinDesk: “This rise in oil prices is likely to contribute to core inflation and negatively impact consumer spending. Consequently, it is expected to maintain high interest rate expectations and negatively impact equity prices, resulting in more unsettled market sentiment.”
Holesky testnet launches for second time
In September, on February 28, Ethereum developers managed to implement a second attempt to launch the Holesky test network. After a failed launch earlier this month, a second attempt during a livestream went smoothly. This new network is of interest to many developers as it will help them test the main Ethereum blockchain with ambitious scaling plans.
The European Commission is investigating the environmental impact of cryptocurrency
Concerns have previously been raised in 2021 about the environmental impacts of cryptocurrency mining data centers as part of the European Union’s Green Economy Transition Financing Plan. There are still concerns about the environmental impact and increased energy demand from data centers and distributed ledger technologies, especially those associated with cryptocurrencies.
On September 26, the European Commission invested $843,000 in a study that will reveal the environmental impact of cryptocurrencies. In the tender document, the European Commission said: “There is evidence that crypto-assets can cause significant climate and environmental harm and cause negative economic and social externalities, depending on the consensus mechanism used to validate transactions.”
Reports Show Steady Drop in NFT Value
A study conducted by dappGambl analyzed data obtained from NFT Scan and CoinMarketCap and found a steady decline in the value of NFTs. The researchers stated that a staggering 69,795 of the 73,257 NFT collections currently have a market cap of zero Ether. In other words, approximately 95% of individuals (23 million) who own NFT collections find themselves owning NFTs that have no monetary value, rendering their investment worthless.
Following the release of the data, the researchers issued a statement: “This frightening reality should serve as a sobering test of the euphoria that has often surrounded the NFT space. Between stories of digital art selling for millions and overnight success stories, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that the market is full of pitfalls and potential losses.”