En Route to Wider Crypto Adoption
A deeper dive into four interesting projects that stayed green while Crypto markets were red
Initially, this article was started off with the intention of looking at tokens that had seen significant rises in value while the markets were in decline and reasons why this was happening. I ended up going down this rabbit hole of amazing projects across different categories in the space. What I found was the astonishing awesomeness of what blockchain and Cryptocurrencies can provide.
I’ve narrowed my findings down to four amazing projects. They span across, gaming, integrated finance, payments, and crowd-sourced funding.
Some honorable mentions that weren’t included in this article are Golem Network, Ocean Protocol, livepeer, Ethereum Name Service, kyber Network, and Decentral Games.
1. ULTRA (UOS)
What is Ultra?
Ultra is a next-generation PC game distribution platform powered by blockchain.
Why is Ultra Needed?
In a market heavily dominated by one key player (Steam), Ultra wants to democratize game distribution by leveling the playing field for developers, players, streamers, and everyone in the ecosystem. If you’re not familiar with Steam, it’s the Google Play Store or App store of PC gaming. Steam is the world’s largest distributor of PC games owning about 75% of the entire market share.
This dominance comes with a lot of downsides. As things stand, PC game makers have few options for bringing their games to consumers. Smaller developers have few options other than to publish on a platform that may or may not meet their needs. The largest distributors i.e Google Play Store, App Store, and Steam charge a 30% fee for distribution. These platforms also have a lot of restrictions on what takes place on their platform, earlier this year, we saw an example of this when Steam banned NFT’s.
What Does Ultra Offer?
Well, where one door is closed here, Ultra opens another more inclusive, innovative, and explanatory door. Ultra, unlike other distribution platforms, uses the power of its EOSIO blockchain to empower developers and gamers. It allows gamers to truly own games and in-game purchases on Ultra. These can also be, sold, traded, or given away within the platform’s marketplace.
Ultra also gives creators access to a wider audience. Streamers can stream content right from the platform, engage viewers and receive donations through THETAtv.
Ultra’s unique approach allows developers to continue making revenue every time a game or NFT is resold while charging just 12% as a distribution fee. Within Ultra’s platform, the Ultra token (UOS) serves a range of functions, both at the protocol (staking) and app-level (transactions). Users can buy games and NFT’s, donate to streamers, access funds got from sales in the secondary market, and many more things using Ultra’s wallet.
Ultra has seen a lot of progress since it started in 2018. Alongside launching its Mainnet the platform has also announced some very impressive partnerships this year. Gaming giants like Ubisoft, AMD, and Skybound Entertainment are expected to release games on the platform early next year.
- You can learn more about Ultra here
2. MASK NETWORK (MASK)
While scrolling through Twitter have you ever come across an NFT you liked, a new Cryptocurrency you weren’t familiar with, a DAO voting link, an initial coin offering for a new token, or even just wanted to buy bitcoin but you didn’t want to leave Twitter. If yes, then you might love Mask.
Mask is a decentralized portal that lets users use decentralized applications (DApps) like crypto payments, decentralized finance, decentralized storage, e-commerce (digital goods/NFTs), and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) over existing social networks without having to migrate, creating what is referred to as a decentralized Applet (DApplet) ecosystem. The Mask Network essentially is a protocol that acts as a bridge between the internet and a decentralized network running on top.
Social network users account for about 90% of all Internet users worldwide and social networks have evolved into an infrastructure that only a select few can avoid. Direct competition with these heavyweights appears infeasible. Rather than building a new platform, Mask Network wants to connect Web2 (the current web) and so-called Web3, allowing the general public to use the improved web within existing mainstream platforms.
Mask in its earliest version provided the ability for users to send and receive encrypted posts on Twitter and Facebook.
In its next major version released, Mask enabled payments. Specifically, it introduced crypto giveaways or what it refers to as “red packets”. This allows users to give out their Cryptocurrencies to other Twitter users who have the Mask extension installed. Here’s a quick demo of how it works.
Going along the payment line, Mask taps into the personal finance space launching its Twitter trading widget enabled by CMC and Uniswap. Allowing users to trade and swap cryptos directly on Twitter by simply hovering over any $+ticker symbol of their choice or searching it through the search menu.
Users will also be able to send payments, trade tokens, borrow, follow top traders, engage in public offers, issue personal tokens, gamble on current events, and get professional portfolio analysis without ever leaving social networks.
The potential of what can be done through Mask is truly astonishing. Here are a few more examples of some of the things that can be done using Mask;
- Purchase or bid for NFTs via OpenSea or Rarible on Twitter
- Participate in token launches through ITO’s (Initial Twitter Offering)
- Set any NFT you own as your Twitter Profile Picture (verifiable on-chain)
- Aggregate all your digital activities i.e writing history, NFT collection, POAPs, donation records, etc all in your profile.
Although there are still a lot of problems en route to mass adoption (ETH’s Sky-high gas fee and sluggish transaction, Smart wallet to eliminate the private key hassle) Mask is changing the way we interact with crypto and I'm here for it.
You can get more in-depth info on what Mask offers here
3. SEEDIFY.FUND (SFUND)
As we all can see, a completely new era is starting for the gaming industry, whereas gamers were just about having fun before, new gamers are making money from time spent gaming, earning items like NFT’s and tokens in-game.
Seedify is an incubator and launchpad for blockchain games and gamers. It’s a blockchain ecosystem that includes a community-run seed fund, a decentralized incubator, and a launchpad. The project broadens the scope of blockchain gaming for both players and developers.
With approximately 2.7 billion gamers around the world, the gaming industry market value peaked at 159.3 billion dollars in 2020. 2021 figures suggest an increasing demand and spending with 2.81 billion gamers and a market value of 189.3 Billion $.
Seedify provides curated IGO’s or Initial Game Offerings through its platform, supporting quality blockchain games to reach crowdsourced funding. Apart from funding, Seedify assists with community development and marketing, as well as providing an avenue for its community to obtain tokens for upcoming blockchain games before they are listed on exchanges.
Entrepreneurs can submit their projects to the Seedify DAO, get voted by the community, and get their seed fund as well as enter the incubation program. Funding allocation is based on a tiering system determined by the amount of SFUND an individual has staked. The benefit for SFUND investors includes early access to promising P2E projects as Startups give Seedify 3% of their total token supply to cover costs, with a portion of it going to SFUND holders as a reward. Token holders thus help support startups while also receiving a return on their investment.
It’s expected that blockchain gaming will bring millions of new users to blockchain while creating many new jobs, financial benefits, as well as increasing the adoption rate of blockchain drastically, and Seedify wants you to be a part of this.
4. REQUEST (REQ)
Request is a decentralized network built on top of Ethereum, which allows anyone, anywhere to request a payment. It is a payment system that enables anyone to make a payment request and securely receive funds. It does away with the need for third parties to deliver a more cost-effective and secure payment option that works with all worldwide currencies.
How does It work?
Anyone with access to the Request Ledger can create a Payment Request. The recipient who is monitoring the network can detect the request (via a wallet or via a financial application). If the user approves the request, it can be paid with only one click. The request is then completed, and the network is updated as a result. When a Request is formed, the trade laws that apply to its specific situation are considered, and taxes are calculated. Advanced payment terms can be set if necessary.
Request offers;
- Security, as no banking information is shared
- Simplicity, as all that is required, is a single button click
- Cost savings, as transactions do not require the involvement of a third party (eg. Paypal)
Where Request fits in
Although most payment requests created today are not as basic as the one
proposed in the first example, the possibilities of what can be developed on top of Requests core protocol are truly boundless. Here are a few examples;
- Integration for Crypto-native and non-crypto native companies to easily accept payments in Crypto but receive fiat and the other way around
- Ability to create more payment request options e.g sharing payment requests between different people, escrow payments.
- Opportunity for easier management of Crypto transactions (payroll, invoices, expenses, and accounting) for businesses
- Cross-currency payments of which the invoiced amount is denominated in regular fiat currency like USD, EUR, GBP, or any other upon request. Whereas the payment of the invoice is fulfilled in cryptocurrency
This list could go on forever but the important thing to note here is the value that can be realized through data gotten from the wider adoption of this technology. Freelancers, small businesses, large companies, and government organizations can save time and resources as tools built with Request can help automate manually intensive processes like taxation, auditing, payment tracking, risk/fraud detection.
Request is making use of the already revolutionary railroads built by Ethereum to provide a gateway for creating more efficient, transparent, and secure payment systems.
Check here If you would like to know more about Request
The largest takeaway from all this is how this technology is changing the way we carry out different aspects of our daily life. It's changing the way we make payments, game, raise money, and interact with people around the world. Although we’re unclear of what Web3 or the Metaverse may eventually look like, the Fun part for this generation is it's getting built before all our eyes.
