Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) had an exponential rise in popularity during 2021, with people from across the globe buying, selling, and promoting their favourite NFTs on social media platforms like Twitter and Discord.
Non-fungible tokens are deeds proving you own a piece of the project they’re from. These can vary over many chains, and each chain would have its’ own die-hard community behind it. Native crypto wallets such as Coinbase, Gemini, and Exodus support many cryptocurrencies, allowing you to switch between coins and NFTs in an instant. You can own and store multiple NFTs from various platforms in the same wallet, and such versatility is a massive positive for the NFT community.
Securities, or not?
As widely covered, the cryptocurrency market took a rather large plunge off the back of the news that the Securities and Exchange Commission confirmed over 60 different cryptocurrencies should have been labelled as securities, meaning the two biggest exchanges, Binanceand Coinbase, had been offering these 60 plus cryptocurrencies wrongly.
The markets took a huge hit, and many of the 60+ coins dropped up to 30% in a single day, one of the worst days for the crypto market during its bear market season. Bitcoin and Ethereum, however, remained strong as they were left out of the ‘witch hunt’ ordered by the SEC.
SEC vs. Ripple Labs
It feels as though the SEC’s initial lawsuit launched against Ripple Labs XRP began many years ago, and the crypto community is now expecting an imminent ruling on the case. There is a strong sense that the outcome could see the return of many investors amid a long and cold bear market.
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A win for Ripple Labs in the case would ultimately confirm XRP as a non-security and essentially give a great sense that both Binance and Coinbase would come out scot-free in their lawsuit with the SEC.
What would an SEC victory mean for the crypto markets?
In the scenario that the SEC is victorious in their case vs. Ripple Labs, it would set in motion a worst-case scenario for crypto investors and the crypto community. Fear would reach an all-time high, setting off a chain reaction of panic selling that would only worsen the environment.
While the expectation is that a ruling is all but imminent, the hard truth is that there may still be some legs to this case, as Ripple Labs was not hesitant in objecting to everything brought forward by the SEC.
The United Kingdom’s push to be a global crypto hub
The UK Law Commission has proposed creating a new digital property category to bring all cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens under UK law. While the proposal is still in its early stages, this could be a huge potential breakthrough for both the crypto community and the NFT community, when confidence in the two has been at all-time lows since its initial inception.
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What this essentially means is that those who buy crypto or NFTs in the UK could potentially have a guarantor, which drastically reduces the risk for buyers and holders. It’s no secret that these types of markets are susceptible to various scams, and formal proceedings to acknowledge these digital assets could re-ignite a fire that once burned ferociously.
Attracting global business
If the UK government approves the backing of these digital assets, it may set off a wave of interest in various firms and blockchain-based companies making the move over to the UK, which would be a massive boost to the economy, creating both more wealth and more jobs for citizens.
With the cost of living crisis ongoing, mortgage owners took yet another hit recently, with the Bank of England increasing interest rates yet again. With this in mind, the UK government will need some more incentives to boost the economy, and while this would not fix everything, regulating both cryptocurrencies and digital assets would be a boost nonetheless.
The Central Bank of Digital Currency nears
As shown in many countries now, the Central Bank of Digital Currency has shown some great strengths, and while only a few countries have it fully rolled out, there seems to be a lot of good that can come from a national digital currency. The main areas where the CDBCs are already running are scattered across the Caribbean and a few other lowly populated countries.
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Russia is one of the biggest players, and their rolling out of their own take on the digital currency will be a great example of how well it works in such a populous country that is vastly richer than the ones already launched.
It was only earlier this year that Russia approved the sale of crypto solutions in banks. This was a huge positive for the crypto community, and when taking politics out of the picture, Russia and the interest in crypto assets give a pretty bright green light on what may come in the future in terms of acknowledgement and application of digital assets.