<ul class="summary-list"><li>A crypto art rendition of the Nyan Cat <keyword id="1607045" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Meme">meme</keyword> sold for about $590,000 on Friday.</li><li>Crypto art represents a $100 million market and allows digital artists to monetize memes.</li><li>Investors have gambled on digital keepsakes like the Nyan Cat in the past.</li></ul>A one-of-a-kind digital rendition of the Nyan Cat meme from 2011 sold for about $590,000 in an online auction on Friday. Over the past few weeks, online sales of nonfungible tokens, more commonly known as NFTs, have taken off, as cryptocurrencies like <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/bitcoin-btc-price-record-high-market-cap-cryptocurrency-1-trillion-2021-2-1030096685">Bitcoin boomed</a>. NFT art products - which operate as a type of digital asset or token - have in some instances sold for over $3.5 million a piece, contributing to a crypto art market that is currently <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/blockchain-bites-why-buy-an-nft">valued at over $100 million</a>.For Chris Torres, the creator of Nyan Cat, the NFT sale represented his first foray into crypto art."I'm very surprised with the success, but I think I'm most glad knowing that I've basically opened the door to a whole new meme economy in the crypto world," Torres told <a href="https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/nyan-cat-nft-sells-for-300-eth-opening-door-to-the-meme-economy-2021-02-19">Nasdaq</a>.Torres remastered the original animated GIF for its 10-year anniversary and ran a 24-hour auction on the crypto art platform Foundation on Thursday. The platform itself had only just launched two weeks prior and allows artists like Torres to continue to profit off their work if a buyer resells the piece later on for further profit.Bids for the Nyan Cat started at 3 Ether (ETH) or about $1,544.38 and closed at 300 ETH - about $590,000 at the time of the sale. The majority of crypto art platforms use Ethereum as means of payment. ETH is the <a href="https://www.techradar.com/news/worlds-second-largest-cryptocurrency-sets-new-all-time-high-price">second largest cryptocurrency</a> by market value after Bitcoin.The buyer was anonymous, appearing only as "oxy7eb2...3f6b" on Foundation's site. The account will likely be the sole owner of the digital meme, as Torres told <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/18/22287956/nyan-cat-crypto-art-foundation-nft-sale-chris-torres">The Verge</a> he has no plans to sell additional copies of the image in the future.Despite the sale, the existing Nyan Cat GIF and video will still be available for distribution online. The crypto art sale simply allows the buyer to operate as a collector of sorts - as the owner of a digital piece of art based on a popular meme.The Nyan Cat meme originated on YouTube and quickly became an internet sensation. The video depicts an animated cartoon cat that has a Pop-Tart for a torso. The video follows the cat as it flies through space, leaving a rainbow trail. The sequence is set to Japanese pop music and currently has over 185 million views on YouTube.For the sale, Torres remastered the Nyan Cat through minor touch-ups, including removing a star from the animated sequence, according to The Verge. <h2>Crypto art could allow creators to profit off memes</h2>"The creator originally owns it, and then they can sell it and directly monetize and have recognition for their work," Torres told The Verge.Nyan Cat is not the first crypto art to sell for a large sum of money. On Sunday, a group of 34 digital collectible pieces of art, called CryptoPunks, sold for over $1 million in ETH, according to <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/ethereum-digital-collectibles-nft-cryptopunk-sale">CoinDesk.</a> In December, the digital artist <a href="https://cryptobriefing.com/digital-art-auction-raises-record-million/">Beeple sold an NFT art collection for over $3.5 million. </a>Investors have gambled on digital products like Nyan Cat in the past. In 2018, 1.5 million people<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cryptokitties-blockchain-beanie-babies-transactions-plummet-2018-6"> put over $40 million into the digital equivalent of Beanie Babies, CryptoKitties.</a> Torres, Foundation, and Ethereum.org did not respond in time to comment.

'Nyan Cat' flying Pop-Tart meme sells for nearly $600,000 as one-of-a-kind crypto art

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="1985091" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="dogecoin">Dogecoin</keyword> jumped as much as 35% in 24 hours as <keyword id="107096" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Tesla">Tesla</keyword> CEO <keyword id="6355315" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="elon-musk">Elon Musk</keyword> tweeted about the <keyword id="6357017" type="DEFINITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="cryptocurrency">cryptocurrency</keyword>.</li><li>The cryptocurrency's price later dropped again before climbing back to about 25% gains.</li><li>Year-to-date returns on the meme-based cryptocurrency were about 1,032.91%, according to CoinDesk. </li></ul>Elon Musk, chief executive at Tesla and SpaceX, drove the price of Dogecoin cryptocurrency by as much as 35% higher with a series of tweets late Saturday. The digital currency hit an all-time high of $0.065448, up about 35% from its 24-hour low of $0.048356, according to <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/price/dogecoin">CoinDesk</a>. The cryptocurrency's price later dropped again before climbing back to about 25% gains.Year-to-date returns on the cryptocurrency were about 1,032.91%, the site said. The cryptocurrency had a market capitalization of about $7.81 billion early Sunday. Musk on Saturday night posted a <keyword id="6354616" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Twitter">Twitter</keyword> poll, asking his 45.8 million followers to choose "the future currency of Earth."He gave two options: "Dogecoin to the Moooonn" or "All other crypto combined." The poll resulted in 71.3% of the 2.4 million voters saying that "Dogecoin to the Moooonn" would be the future of currency. Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/crypto-bitcoin-investing-strategy-voyager-dogecoin-cryptocurrency-interest-stephen-ehrlich-2021-2?r=ks-sub">Investors are flocking to trade Dogecoin and other hot digital tokens on Voyager, a platform with no Robinhood-style restrictions. Its CEO says Bitcoin will hit $100,000 this year - and shares 3 other cryptocurrencies to watch.</a>Last week, Musk <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/dogecoin-price-elon-musk-twitter-cryptocurrency-market-trading-reddit-doge-2021-2-1030043774">sent the coin up 59%</a> with another series of tweets, where he called Dogecoin "the people's crypto." He's also boosted bitcoin, and has been <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/elon-musk-moves-markets-dogecoin-bitcoin-price-gamestop-stock-2021-2-1030050416">a vocal supporter</a> of the <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/dogecoin-price-crypto-reddit-traders-satoshistreetbets-trigger-copycat-wsb-rally-2021-1-1030015774">Reddit</a> group Wall Street Bets. Dogecoin has benefited from <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/reddit-day-traders-wallstreetbets-gamestop-gme-rally-upending-stock-market-2021-1-1030009280">the mania driven</a> by that group. Just before midnight in California, Musk added another tweet, building off a meme <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-10-us-states-where-dogecoin-popularity-surging-reddit-gamestop-2021-2">he'd posted</a> last week. On February 4, he posted a drawing ripped from "The Lion King," with himself as Rafiki, the cartoon monkey, holding up a baby - Simba in the movie, but the Dogecoin dog in Musk's version.On Saturday, he added two other monkeys to the scene. They had the heads of Gene Simmons, from the band Kiss, and Snoop Dogg. Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1358319935978496001?s=20">said</a>, "So ... it's finally come to this ..."

Dogecoin's price jumped as high as 35% after Elon Musk tweeted 'Dogecoin to the Moooonn' in a Twitter poll on the future of crypto

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Travis ScherTravis Scher, head of the investment arm at Digital Currency Group.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>While crypto tanked in 2018, investors are still pouring billions into the space. Blockchain and crypto-related firms raised $3.9 billion as of October 2018.</li><li>Travis Scher, who heads the investment arm at Digital Currency Group, shared his outlook on the crypto space with Business Insider. </li><li>Scher says the areas worth watching in 2018 include the rise of crypto infrastructure for institutional investors, blockchain-based games, and non-fungible tokens. </li></ul>The cryptocurrency market kicked off the year of 2018 with a bang <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-is-bitcoin-crashing-2018-11">but wrapped up with a slump.</a>After peaking at $20,000 in December 2017, bitcoin now trades at around $4,000 per coin. But despite this sell-off, venture investors are still pouring money into the nascent industry. Blockchain and crypto-related companies raised $3.9 million in the first three quarters of 2018, according to Pitchbook. Business Insider spoke with Travis Scher, who heads the investment arm at Digital Currency Group (DCG), to get his outlook on the key crypto trends he's watching in 2019. Founded by Barry Silbert, DCG has made investments in 130 crypto-focused portfolio companies, including market leaders like Coinbase, Circle, and Ledger. Here are the key trends he's following in the new year. More crypto infrastructure for big Wall Street investors From crypto exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken to crypto wallets like Abra, Blockchain, and Ledger, there's been a lot of growth in infrastructure for retail investors looking to enter the crypto space. Proper infrastructure for big, sophisticated Wall Street investors, however, like custodians and security standards, has lagged behind.That is, until now, Scher says. A number of established Wall Street firms have started to<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-pops-after-report-goldman-sachs-will-start-trading-products-linked-to-bitcoin-2018-5"> dip their toes into trading crypto products and</a> are looking for market safeguards to which they're accustomed.Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, is <a href="https://medium.com/bakkt-blog/launch-and-faqs-e1a3f7691d7b">poised to launch</a> a bitcoin futures product on its Bakkt platform in January. ErisX, an exchange heavily backed by Wall Street investors like DRW, Virtual Financial and TD Ameritrade, will offer spot trading in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether as well as future contracts in Bitcoin, subject to approval by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Digital Currency Group has invested in four types of institutional infrastructure firms, including exchanges like ErisX, institutional custodians like BitGo and Ledger's enterprise Vault solution, new trading platforms like Omniex and SFOX, and data companies like Digital Assets Data and Flipside. Blockchain games and non-fungible tokensWhile blockchain is typically known as being a platform that facilitates the transaction of digital currencies, there are alternative uses of the technology. One includes games which are built on the blockchain. An early pioneer of these "blockchain games" is CryptoKitties in which gamers can collect, breed and trade cartoon kittens on the Ethereum blockchain. The game took off in late 2017 and went so viral that it once caused Ethereum network congestion.Non-fungible tokens is what facilities digital collectible games like CryptoKitties. Each token is unique and distinguishable from others of the same class. A common analogy of non-fungible tokens is baseball cards - each has distinctive information and different degrees of scarcity. That compares to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether which are fungible tokens, meaning they can be exchanged, much like a dollar bill. You can swap a dollar bill with another dollar bill, and it wouldn't make any difference.Scher thinks the development of blockchain games and non-fungible tokens may allow the nascent technology to be adopted more widely. "We'll see more experimentation around gaming and non-fungible tokens, which will see some adoption, hopefully some big hits, push the infrastructure forward and [lead to] a variety of other use cases," he said.This sector is largely ignored by venture capitalist because the games are a hit-driven business, Scher said"Venture capitalists should be paying attention to the ones that are building platforms and developer teams, companies that are not creating just one game but are building several developed business models that can succeed," he said. Slower funding for blockchain startups and crypto hedge fundsScher expects funding for crypto ventures to slow down in the first half of this year as the market cools down from crypto-mania. "The first half of 2018 saw tremendous amount of venture investments in the crypto markets, but now we have been in a bear market for so long that no matter what way the market goes over the first six months of this year, I think venture fund convictions around this industry are definitely going to be lower," he said. This means it will be much harder for new blockchain startups to raise money and for existing crypto companies to raise follow-on rounds. The plunge in the crypto market has caused a number of blockchain startups to shutter operations or downsize, as <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-06/crypto-market-crash-is-causing-startups-to-shutter-operations">Bloomberg reported in December</a>. Scher thinks the prolonged winter in crypto will have an impact on crypto hedge funds and that will ripple through token sales."A lot of these funds suffered tremendous losses in 2018, and I think a lot of them are going to shut down," he said. "There is going to be a real struggle to raise new money. As there is going to be less money going into the crypto funds, there is going to be less money available for token projects."Crypto markets started off last year with a bang, and a large amount of new crypto hedge funds swarmed into the market. But as 2018 neared its end, the market lost nearly 80% of its value from the all-time high it recorded in 2017. According to Crypto Fund Research, 35 crypto hedge funds were forced to close shop in 2018.

A leading investor at Barry Silbert's bitcoin investment firm shares his top crypto trends for 2019

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Jean Chalopin is co-creator of Inspector Gadget and the chairman of Bahamas-based Deltec Bank.</li><li>Chalopin secured a secret $50 million loan for Deltec from an FTX-related entity in 2021, according to Forbes.</li></ul>One would not be blamed for not having the kids' show "Inspector Gadget" on their FTX collapse bingo card, but apparently the two are connected. Jean Chalopin, one of the minds behind several children's shows including the 1980s cartoon, is the chairman of Deltec. The Bahamian bank's parent company secured a secret $50 million loan from an entity connected to FTX through former executive <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/ryan-salame-ftx-exec-republican-mega-donor-new-england-restauranteur-2022-12">Ryan Salame,</a> Forbes <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidjeans/2023/01/15/ftx-deltec-bank-jean-chalopin-moonstone/?sh=49176af911e4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> on Monday.Deltec International Group received millions from Norton Hall, an entity run by Salame, in October of 2021, Chalopin confirmed to the news outlet. You may not have heard of Deltec, but the obscure financial services provider was once on its way to becoming the most important crypto bank with clients like FTX and <a href="https://tether.to/en/tether-banking-relationship-announced/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tether.</a> The mysterious offshore bank said that it was holding nearly $2 billion for Tether in 2018.Bankman-Fried's Alameda Research trading firm later invested $11.5 million in another Chalopin-owned entity called <a href="https://protos.com/the-curious-case-of-ftx-and-farmington-state-bank-aka-moonstone/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Moonstone</a> through a holding company. Chalopin is on the board of both Moonstone and Deltec. The investment from Alameda was for 10% of the bank, valuing Moonstone at $115 million, <a href="https://protos.com/exclusive-moonstone-bank-explains-ties-with-alameda-research/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Protos</a> reported in late November.Moonstone was formerly known as Farmington State Bank, a small rural banking institution and a mysterious piece of the FTX puzzle in the wake of the exchange's collapse. Chalopin said that the deal signified "the recognition, by one of the world's most innovative financial leaders, of the value of what we are aiming to achieve," according to a <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fbh-corp-raises-11-5m-in-private-equity-funding-from-alameda-research-ventures-301497307.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release.</a> Moonstone, which is located in a <a href="https://datausa.io/profile/geo/farmington-wa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">140-person farming town</a> in Washington state, had roughly $50 million in FTX funds, per a court filing in December. The crypto exchange became Moonstone's largest customer. Chalopin's companies and FTX, along with the bankrupt exchange's related entities, forged a lucrative relationship, according to Forbes. Deltec sponsored FTX's Crypto Bahamas Conference in late April, with Chapolin as a guest speaker alongside Tony Blair and Bill Clinton. In the <a href="https://www.prweb.com/releases/2022/4/prweb18609021.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sponsorship announcement,</a> Chalopin described Deltec as a "long-time friend of FTX.""It is is our pleasure to support them," he added. "As the first financial institution in The Bahamas to have supported blockchain developments and adopted digital currencies, our participation in Crypto Bahamas is a great fit as we work with regulators, industry experts and entrepreneurs to advocate for innovation and positive disruption."After Deltec decided to pivot to digital assets in 2018, Chalopin and his associates assisted Bahamian authorities with their own crypto efforts and helped the government draft crypto-friendly legislation."They were one of the first regulators to put together something," Chalopin previously told Forbes. "And that attracted FTX."

The co-creator of 'Inspector Gadget' reportedly had a close relationship with Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX, which included a secret $50 million loan

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Justin Bieber's bought a Bored Ape NFT for $1.3 million in January. It's now probably worth $70,000, according to NFT Price Floor.</li><li>The 95% drop in valuation comes after Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX collapsed and caused crypto prices to crash.</li></ul>Pop star Justin Bieber started off the year <a href="https://thehill.com/changing-america/enrichment/arts-culture/592282-justin-bieber-purchases-bored-ape-nft-for-five-times/">purchasing his first Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT</a> for 500 ethereum, a blockchain currency, equivalent to $1.3 million.But the market value, or "price floor," of individual NFTs from the Bored Ape collection has tanked to 58 ethereum, or $70,0000, as of Thursday morning -- a 95% drop in value, according to data from <a href="https://nftpricefloor.com/">NFT Price Floor</a>. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/high-profile-celebrities-cryptocurrency-bitcoin-nft-promoted-kim-kardashian-list-2022-10#mila-kunis-11"></a>Sinking NFT prices follow the collapse of crypto exchange giant FTX earlier this month as the Sam Bankman-Fried scandal <a href="https://decrypt.co/114158/bored-ape-yacht-club-nft-prices-fall-after-ftx-sinks-crypto-market">reportedly lowered overall crypto prices and hurt Bored Ape Yacht Club's NFT valuations.</a> That's because NFT owners panic-sold them to avoid prices from dropping even further, <a href="https://decrypt.co/114718/justin-bieber-bored-ape-nft-now-69k">according to a report from crypto news site Decrypt</a>. Bored Ape, which comprises more than 10,000 NFTs depicting cartoon monkeys wearing different outfits, is one of the most successful NFT art collections, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/bored-ape-yacht-club-nft-sales-1-billion-opensea-bayc-2022-1">valued at more than $1 billion</a>.Before the crypto crash, Bored Ape's NFT prices peaked at $429,999 in late April in response to hype around the use of NFT land plots for its personal metaverse platform Otherside. But since NFT sales have dipped, its prices have fallen by 82% as of this month, <a href="https://decrypt.co/114158/bored-ape-yacht-club-nft-prices-fall-after-ftx-sinks-crypto-market">reported Decrypt</a>. In addition to Bored Ape, some top ethereum NFT collections are also facing lower values this month. DeGods prices have fallen by 68%; CryptoPunks' dropped by 37%; and DeGods' by 66%, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/leeorshimron/2022/11/12/ftxs-implosion-is-crushing-the-solana-nft-ecosystem/?sh=451c375a4abf">according to Forbes</a>. While Bieber never specified why he purchased an NFT, some critics speculate that <a href="https://www.polygon.com/22904893/nft-explainer-why-celebrities-buy-bored-ape-yacht-club-jimmy-fallon-paris-hilton">celebrities buy NFTs as a status symbol,</a> a way to flaunt their wealth and exclusive purchases.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/high-profile-celebrities-cryptocurrency-bitcoin-nft-promoted-kim-kardashian-list-2022-10#mila-kunis-11">Talk show host Jimmy Fallon, model Paris Hilton, and rappers Snoop Dogg</a> and <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/01/01/oscar-winning-rapper-eminem-purchases-bored-ape-yacht-club-nft-for-462k/">Eminem</a> also own Bored Ape NFTs.

Justin Bieber bought a Bored Ape NFT in January for $1.3 million that's likely worth about $70,000 in the wake of the FTX collapse

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The firm behind Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs is being sued for not disclosing celebrities' involvement.</li><li>The lawsuit alleged that Yuga Labs manufactured celebrity endorsements and misleading promotions.</li></ul>A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Yugo Labs, the company behind Bored Ape Yacht Club, on behalf of investors who claim it failed to disclose the alleged involvement of celebrities in promoting and selling NFTs, <a href="https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/CELEBS-NFT-SUIT.pdf">court papers show</a>. The lawsuit claimed that stars including Justin Bieber, Serena Williams, and Madonna promoted Bored Ape misleadingly. The legal action against blockchain cryptocurrency startup Yuga Labs was filed on Friday in California District Court.Plaintiffs Adonis Real and Adam Titcher have been investing in YugoLabs NFTs since April 2021, per the court documents.The complaint alleged that "billions of dollars" were generated in sales and re-sales through manufactured celebrity endorsements and misleading promotions, and "at no point did any of the defendants register these securities with the SEC."Dozens of other celebrities are named as defendants in the suit for their involvement in "promoting and selling a suite of digital assets," the court papers stated, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Paris Hilton, Jimmy Fallon, Kevin Hart, DJ Khaled, and Steph Curry.The unique selling point of Yuga Labs' NFT collection, called the Bored Ape Yacht Club, is that NFT owners become members of an exclusive "club" that included these celebrities."In our view, these claims are opportunistic and parasitic. We strongly believe that they are without merit, and look forward to proving as much," a Yuga Labs spokesperson told Insider.The exclusivity, according to the lawsuit, was "entirely manufactured" by Guy Oseary, a Hollywood talent agent, YugoLabs executives, and a front operation "MoonPay," to promote and sell digital assets. MoonPay is a platform that facilitates the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies.The documents also cited that "MoonPay purports to be a white-glove service designed to help the super-rich and celebrities buy NFTs 'without all the hassle of setting up a wallet, buying crypto, using that crypto to purchase an NFT, and then taking custody of it'.""In truth, the Executive Defendants and Oseary used their connections to MoonPay and its service as a covert way to compensate the Promoter Defendants for their promotions of the BAYC NFTs without disclosing it to unsuspecting investors," according to the lawsuit."The executives at Yuga and Oseary together devised a plan to leverage their vast network of A-list musicians, athletes, and <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/category/entertainment/celebrity-news" target="_blank" rel="noopener">celebrity clients</a> and associates to misleadingly promote and sell the Yuga Financial Products," the documents stated.Bored Ape, which comprises more than 10,000 NFTs depicting cartoon monkeys wearing different outfits, is one of the most successful NFT art collections, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/bored-ape-yacht-club-nft-sales-1-billion-opensea-bayc-2022-1" rel="">valued at more than $1 billion</a>.

The company behind Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs is being sued for using celebrities to promote their products

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11931720" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="adidas" source="Orion">Adidas</keyword> is entering the <keyword id="11121339" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="metaverse" source="Orion">metaverse</keyword> in partnerships with several NFT communities.</li><li>These includes Bored Ape Yacht Club, Punks Comic, and Gmoney.</li><li>The brand changed its Twitter profile picture to a signature Bored Ape cartoon wearing Adidas.</li></ul><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/adddf-stock">Adidas</a> is the latest brand name entering the metaverse. The company is partnering with prominent figures in the space including the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/boredapeyachtclub/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;ig_rid=ab16287c-110c-4452-bd09-2ca2f0972883">Bored Ape Yacht Club</a> founder, Pixel Vault's NFT comics <a href="https://twitter.com/punkscomic?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1465002550525054986%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fhypebeast.com%2F2021%2F11%2Fadidas-metaverse-four-way-collaboration-info">Punks Comic</a>, and crypto investor and NFT collector <a href="https://twitter.com/gmoneyNFT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1465002557827428355%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fhypebeast.com%2F2021%2F11%2Fadidas-metaverse-four-way-collaboration-info">Gmoney</a>, according to a <a href="https://twitter.com/adidasoriginals/status/1466443459951271939?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1466443459951271939%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdecrypt.co%2F87467%2Fadidas-metaverse-bored-ape-yacht-club-ethereum-nft">tweet</a>.Included in the announcement is a link to the Adidas <a href="http://adidas.com/Metaverse">website</a> and a 29-second clip showing avatars inspired by Gmoney, an original character in Punks Comic, and the company's new Bored Ape character."The metaverse is currently one of the most exciting developments in digital, making it an interesting platform for Adidas," the company told Insider via email. "We will be sure to come back to you and share details in due course."Little is known at this point what the sportswear brand is up to. The metaverse tab on its website simply shows a barcode, which prompts users to download the Adidas app. In the app, the company presents the three NFT pioneers with more in-depth introductions."This fall, Adidas, known for celebrating ideas at the bleeding edge of originality, it settling in at the frontier of creativity: The metaverse," its website reads. "Our goal there? To see every one of its inhabitants thrive."The three collaborators took to their respective social media accounts to tease the collaboration.Adidas changed its Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/adidasoriginals/photo">profile picture</a> to a signature Bored Ape cartoon wearing <keyword id="12665289" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="adidas-originals" source="Orion">Adidas Originals</keyword> clothing, which displays Pixel Vault's Punks Comic logo and Gmoney's iconography. The character is Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT #8774, which Adidas purchased in September for 46 ether, or around $156,000, according to NFT marketplace <a href="https://opensea.io/assets/0xbc4ca0eda7647a8ab7c2061c2e118a18a936f13d/8774" target="_blank" rel="nofollow external noopener">OpenSea</a>.Bored Ape Yacht Club is a collection of 10,000 unique ape NFTs that live on the ethereum blockchain. High-profile figures such as NBA superstar Stephen Curry have <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/steph-curry-nft-bored-ape-yacht-club-180000-ethereum-nba-2021-8">snapped up</a> pieces from the collection. Owning a Bored Ape NFT doubles as an exclusive membership pass to the community's various activities.Separately, on November 24, Adidas revealed it partnered with <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/coin-stock">Coinbase</a>, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the US, via <a href="https://twitter.com/adidasoriginals/status/1463571957249630223?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1463571957249630223%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bloomberg.com%2Fnews%2Farticles%2F2021-11-24%2Fadidas-originals-says-it-has-partnered-with-coinbase">tweet</a>."We've partnered with Coinbase. Probably nothing," the company said, employing a tongue-in-cheek method the crypto community often uses to tease big announcements.

Adidas wades into the metaverse in partnership with Bored Ape Yacht Club and other NFT communities

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The developers of an <keyword id="11919795" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="nft" source="Orion">NFT</keyword> collection called Frosties vanished in a potential "<keyword id="12896582" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="rug-pull" source="Orion">rug pull</keyword>."</li><li>The anonymous creators disappeared on their investors who had purchased all 8,888 tokens, according to Blockworks.</li><li>A rug pull is a type of scam in which creators quickly cash out their gains after launching a crypto project. </li></ul>The developers of a non-fungible token collection called <a href="https://opensea.io/collection/frosties-nft?tab=activity">Frosties</a> vanished in a potential "rug pull" after buyers put in $1.3 million into the digital collectible. The anonymous creators reportedly disappeared on their investors who had purchased all 8,888 tokens on January 9 via <a href="https://opensea.io/collection/frosties-nft?tab=activity">OpenSea</a>, according to <a href="https://blockworks.co/nft-creators-stole-1-3m-from-investors-then-vanished-sources-say/">Blockworks</a>, less than an hour after the cartoon ice cream collection dropped.It is estimated that the creators earned $1.3 million in ethereum based on its wallet. At that time, the tokens had a floor price average of 0.04 ETH (roughly $135). As of publishing, it has slipped to 0.002 ETH (roughly $7).The Frosties incident may be among the first known <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/squid-game-cryptocurrency-trading-at-to-0-scammers-make-2-1-million/articleshow/87479063.cms" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rug pulls</a> this year, a type of scam in which creators quickly cash out their gains after launching what appears to be a legitimate crypto project. At present, the developers of Frosties have closed down their Twitter, Discord, and website, and removed their wallet from OpenSea, <a href="https://blockworks.co/nft-creators-stole-1-3m-from-investors-then-vanished-sources-say/">Blockworks</a> reported. But the supposed victims of the scam were not discouraged. Many flocked to a new <a href="https://discord.com/channels/929914686772772905/929915934217478154" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Discord</a> group immediately after the incident with the goal of "unrugging the Frosties" and retrieving their funds.NFTs — <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/non-fungible-tokens-nfts-have-taken-over-heres-why-theyre-important-2021-4?utm_medium=ingest%3Futm_source%3Dmarkets&amp;utm_medium=ingest%3Futm_source%3Dmarkets&amp;utm_medium=ingest%3Futm_source%3Dmarkets&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets&amp;utm_source=markets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">digital representations</a> of artwork, sports cards, or other collectibles tied to a blockchain — have surged in popularity in the past year as investors from Wall Street and Hollywood get onboard.And as the market continues to boom, scams are also on the rise. Last year, the estimated value of rug pull scams totaled $2.8 billion, according to <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/crypto-crimes-2021-defi-scam-stolen-funds-rug-pull-chainalysis-2022-1">Chainsalysis</a>.

The developers of an NFT collection called Frosties vanished in a potential 'rug pull' after buyers put in $1.3 million

<ul><li>SuperRare non-fungible token (<keyword id="4668945" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="nft" source="Orion">NFT</keyword>) called ‘Some Other A------’ was first listed for around $100 in 2018.</li><li>On December 6, it sold for $2 million — a 20,000 times increase in value.</li><li>The artwork comes from digital artist <keyword id="12687960" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="xcopy" source="Orion">XCOPY</keyword> who has made at least two other million dollar sales.</li></ul>The SuperRare non-fungible token (NFT) project has been a mainstay in the non-fungible token (NFT) space in recent times. But yesterday, another piece called “<a href="https://nonfungible.com/project/superrare/SUPR/2123">Some Other A</a>------” was sold for over $2 million. Routine for the NFT-verse right? One could argue that it is. Except that this particular piece started at just about $100 three years ago and has since appreciated 20,000-fold. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="wazirx" comment="wazirx" text="wazirx">wazirx</cmsannotation> The NFT was listed on 3 March 2019 for $105.93 or 0.8 ETH. It appreciated by about four times in the next one year to $483.45, when it exchanged hands on 11 November 2020. On December 6, the NFT was sold for a whopping 550 ETH valued at $2,305,990.50, according to data tracking website <a href="https://nonfungible.com/project/superrare/SUPR/2123">NonFungible</a> — making it the most expensive sale over the last seven days. <div type="image" title="some other asshole" msid="88144738" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;SuperRare non-fungible token (NFT) &amp;#39;Some Other A------&amp;#39;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Top five NFT sales over the last seven days: <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; table-layout: fixed; width: 451.276pt;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">NFT Project </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">NFT </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Value in dollars </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">SuperRare </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Some Other A------ </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$2.3 million </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">SuperRare </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Decay </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1.5 million </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">CryptoPunks </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">C#9137 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1.2 million </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">SuperRare </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Decentral Eyes Dogg </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$802,689 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Decentraland </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">EST#1965 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$856,700 </td></tr></tbody></table>Source: NonFungible <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="XCOPY’s third NFT sells for millions" comment="subhead" text="XCOPY’s third NFT sells for millions">XCOPY’s third NFT sells for millions</cmsannotation> The NFT was minted by London-based digital artist XCOPY who is amongst the originals in the crypto art community online. He has also been on SuperRare since early 2018, and has since released over 100 NFTs on the platform, according to <a href="https://niftygateway.com/profile/xcopy">Nifty Gateway</a>. The artist’s collections usually include three animated cartoon-based GIFs refreshing at high frame rates. Nifty Gateway says the artist is a “pioneer” of crypto art. This isn’t the first time that a piece from XCOPY has been sold for millions either. The artist sold a piece called Deathless on 21 August 2020 for $1,069,420.69. Another piece, called Overlord, was sold in February, earlier this year, for $1,469,000.00. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Far from the largest NFT sale this year" comment="subhead" text="Far from the largest NFT sale this year">Far from the largest <keyword id="11219799" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="nft-sale" source="Orion">NFT sale</keyword> this year</cmsannotation> Despite the high price though, the XCOPY sale is nowhere close to the most <keyword id="12687956" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="expensive-nft" source="Orion">expensive NFT</keyword> sales seen this year. Digital artist Mike Winkelmann, also known as Beeple, is amongst the top sellers this year. He sold an artwork called ‘Everydays: the First 5000 Days’ <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/the-man-who-bought-beeples-69-million-nft-reveals-his-identity-to-show-the-equalising-power-of-crypto-but-is-caught-in-a-controversy-himself/articleshow/81583375.cms">for $69 million</a> earlier this year. Other large NFT sales in the year include Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s sale of the first tweet ever for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/twitter-ceo-jack-dorseys-first-ever-tweet-sold-for-2-9-million-as-an-nft/articleshow/81639599.cms">$2.9 million</a>, while digital artist Grimes has sold her artwork for as much as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/beeples-latest-crypto-art-just-sold-for-6-million-to-the-same-tech-executive-who-was-outbid-at-the-last-minute-for-the-record-breaking-69-million-auction/articleshow/81658139.cms">$6 million</a>. Tim Berners Lee sold the source code for the world wide web for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/web-creator-tim-berners-lees-nft-of-the-original-source-code-sold-for-5-4-million-at-auction/articleshow/84040370.cms">$5.4 million</a> too. Meanwhile, projects like CryptoPunks and the Bored Ape Yacht Club have clocked in new all-time-highs in sales volume, according to the metrics provided by NonFungible. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/no-crypto-ban-in-india-sebi-will-reportedly-be-pulled-in-to-regulate-the-sector/articleshow/88065166.cms">No crypto ban in India — SEBI will reportedly be pulled in to regulate the sector</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/the-lawyer-behind-getting-indias-2018-crypto-ban-quashed-hasnt-ruled-out-going-to-court-again/articleshow/88042758.cms">The lawyer behind getting India’s 2018 crypto ban quashed hasn’t ruled out going to court again</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/crypto-faqs-answered-everything-you-need-to-know-about-crypto-regulations-trading-taxes-and-cbdc-in-india/articleshow/88139203.cms">Crypto FAQs answered — everything you need to know about crypto regulations, trading, taxes and CBDC in India</a>

SuperRare NFT sells for more than $2 million — a 20,000-fold increase in value over three years

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Finance memes have gotten weirder since making their big debut earlier this year.</li><li>One $25 billion company referenced marijuana when it raised $420 million. </li></ul>If you thought the meme-stock craze in January was strange, then brace yourself - it's gotten a whole lot weirder.The thousands of retail traders mobilized on social media sites like <keyword id="11910046" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="reddit" source="Orion">Reddit</keyword>, <keyword id="11892744" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="twitter" source="Orion">Twitter</keyword>, and Twitch, have taken the meme-ification of finance to a new level. Take the number 420 for example. (Yes, the number referencing April 20, the well-known day of celebration for marijuana enthusiasts).You probably remember the <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1026872652290379776?lang=en">infamous 2018 tweet</a> from <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/tsla-stock">Tesla</a> Chief Elon Musk that said he'd take the EV-maker private if the stock price hit $420. The tweet, though perhaps a joke, got him in trouble with regulators. Today that number, once an easy jab that might elicit an "lol" from listeners, became the foundation for a $25 billion company's latest funding round. Sam Bankman-Fried, the chief executive officer of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/ftx-crypto-exchange-25-billion-series-b1-sam-bankman-fried-2021-10">raised $420 million</a> in the latest round of funding. How many investors did he get exactly? 69. That's another meme favorite number, though more raunchy.One has to wonder, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reviews/out?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fcrypto-boss-laughs-all-the-way-to-the-bank-11634911208">as the Wall Street Journal reported</a>, if FTX left any money on the table in an effort to attain these iconic meme numbers. FTX didn't immediately respond to Insider's question on the matter.While those numbers are indeed iconic, they are dwarfed by - literally - an even larger meme: <keyword id="12353679" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="harambe" source="Orion">Harambe</keyword>.The Cincinnati Zoo's infamous gorilla was shot and killed when a small child fell into his enclosure in 2016. The controversy eventually faded, but <a href="https://www.insider.com/the-death-of-harambe-meme-and-the-internets-dark-humor-2016-7">Harambe as a meme</a> never did.Today, retail traders backing companies like <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/amc-stock">AMC</a> and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/gme-stock">GameStop</a>, among others, refer to themselves as apes. AMC even decided to start donating to the <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/how-amc-ceo-adam-aron-embraced-the-company-meme-status-2021-6">Fossey Gorilla Fund</a>, which helps endangered gorillas in Africa. It gets more bizarre. On Oct. 20, a group set up a 7-foot-tall <a href="https://www.insider.com/harambe-statue-charging-bull-wall-street-2021-10">statue of Harambe</a> to stare down <keyword id="11895526" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="wall-street" source="Orion">Wall Street</keyword>'s iconic charging bull. The bull was also surrounded by thousands of bananas. Social network Sapien coordinated the installation to show just how "bananas" Wall Street has become. Things are, indeed, bananas.Shiba inu started as a meme of another meme and is now the <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/shiba-inu-coin-price-dogecoin-top-10-crypto-2021-10">10th-largest cryptocurrency</a> in the world with a market value surpassing Robinhood, which hasn't listed the coin on its app despite a <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/shiba-inu-price-record-high-robinhood-petition-count-330000-crypto-2021-10">petition from traders</a>.The coin has risen about 145% in the last seven days as more <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shiba-inu-coin-boosted-by-smart-money-wallet-addresses-crypto-whale-2021-10">sophisticated investors</a> and retail traders known as the SHIB army have driven the price higher. If the wealth behind a cartoon-dog inspired coin isn't proof enough of the meme-ification of finance, how about tiny metal cubes that crypto traders are obsessed with?<keyword id="12346444" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="tungsten" source="Orion">Tungsten</keyword> cubes, with their small size and surprising heaviness, have gone viral among crypto traders in recent weeks. So much so, that prices have surged with a 4-inch cube weighing about 40 pounds <a href="https://midwesttungsten.com/tungsten-cube/?sku=40400-03914B&amp;_vsrefdom=adwords&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_campaign=**LP+Shopping+-+Tungsten+Shapes+%26+Toys&amp;utm_source=adwords&amp;utm_medium=ppc&amp;hsa_acc=7470597278&amp;hsa_cam=1748116248&amp;hsa_grp=119088607892&amp;hsa_ad=482571838727&amp;hsa_src=g&amp;hsa_tgt=pla-297893664908&amp;hsa_kw=&amp;hsa_mt=&amp;hsa_net=adwords&amp;hsa_ver=3&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjw2bmLBhBREiwAZ6ugo-AD7s4PtRK7PHMkcnHOAF17wfYjEmCShmC9poPiaW8iMdlYMDo2LBoCNigQAvD_BwED7s4PtRK7PHMkcnHOAF17wfYjEmCShmC9poPiaW8iMdlYMDo2LBoCNigQAvD_BwED7s4PtRK7PHMkcnHOAF17wfYjEmCShmC9poPiaW8iMdlYMDo2LBoCNigQAvD_BwE">selling for $3,000</a> from Midwest Tungsten. Now crypto traders are bidding for a chance to own an <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/crypto-traders-bid-midwest-2000-pound-tungsten-cube-nft-2021-10">NFT of a 2,000-pound Tungsten cube</a> and the right to visit the physical asset once a year. The rallying cry among the tungsten-crazed community has been "we like the cube," the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reviews/out?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Ftungsten-cubes-bitcoin-gamestop-crypto-investors-11635431036%3Fmod%3Dmarkets_lead_pos10">Wall Street Journal reported</a>.The meme market will continue to get weirder.Take the latest cryptocurrency project based on the Netflix hit show Squid game - its market value is now worth nearly $200 million, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/28/squid-game-cryptocurrency-up-nearly-2400percent-in-the-last-24-hours.html">CNBC reported</a>. And Elon Musk has already alluded to the possibility of <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/elon-musk-tweet-bitcoin-hitting-69000-crypto-btc-record-high-2021-10">bitcoin hitting $69,000</a> and ethereum hitting $4,200. Who knows what the meme world will come up with on that day?

From tungsten cubes to ape statues - the meme-ification of finance is being taken to strange new heights

<ul class="summary-list"><li>To withdraw <keyword id="11918408" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="money" source="Orion">money</keyword> using the iOS or Android apps, you'll have to navigate to your account settings and then click on the transfers option using the website or app.</li><li>But before you can withdraw money from your Robinhood account, you'll have to meet certain requirements, depending on where the money came from.</li><li>You can make up to five withdrawals a day and are limited to $50,000 per business day.</li></ul>Robinhood is one of the most popular trading platforms for young investors, but <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/robinhood-stock-market-controversial-week-traders-cyberattack-accounts-trading-margin-2020-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">not all users are happy</a>. If you want to switch from Robinhood to one of Insider's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/what-are-the-best-investment-apps" target="_blank" rel="noopener">top-ranked</a> investment apps, you can either directly transfer securities out of Robinhood into your new <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-a-brokerage-account" target="_blank" rel="noopener">brokerage account</a>, or you can sell your <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-stock" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stocks</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-buy-cryptocurrency" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crypto</a> and transfer the money into your bank account. It's easy to withdraw money from Robinhood on your iOS or Android mobile device - or by using their website. If you can, it's best to withdraw your cash into the same bank account you used to fund your account. Otherwise, Robinhood may ask you for extra documents to prove that you own the bank accounts in question. <h2>Before you withdraw your funds</h2>Robinhood users should look out for a few rules that limit how and when they can withdraw their cash from their accounts. <ul><li>You may be required to wait up to five business days after depositing funds. Robinhood has an "Instant Deposits" policy, which means some customers can start trading as soon as they've moved cash into their Robinhood account from their checking or savings account. But there's a catch: even though you might be able to buy and sell stock with your "instant deposits," you won't be able to transfer your cash back out of Robinhood right away. Once you've moved money into your Robinhood account, you're typically required to wait up to five business days before you can move that money out. </li></ul><ul><li>After selling stock, you must wait for the trade to settle. When you buy or sell stocks, ETFs, or options in the United States, it takes three business days for those trades to "settle," which means the trade is officially complete. If you're a Robinhood Gold or a Robinhood Instant user, you may be eligible for instant settlement, which means you can withdraw any proceeds right after you sell stocks, ETFs, or, options. </li></ul><ul><li>You can make only five withdrawals per business day. If you've already hit that limit, you'll have to wait until the next business day to make any additional transfers.</li></ul><ul><li>You can withdraw only $50,000 per business day. If you have a large balance that exceeds that amount, you will have to withdraw money in lump sums.</li></ul><ul><li>You have to wait 30 days to withdraw funds from selling free stock. You know that <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/robinhood-free-stock-sec-finra-regulation-nyse-proxy-statements-hood-2021-08" target="_blank" rel="noopener">free stock</a> you received from Robinhood's Referral program? Robinhood will let you sell that stock right away if you want, but you have to keep the cash value of that stock in your account for 30 days before you can withdraw it. </li></ul><ul><li>You'll face special rules if you're switching bank accounts. Watch out if you funded your Robinhood account with one bank account, and want to move your money into a different bank account. That can look suspicious, and Robinhood has some special rules that apply in that situation. They may ask you to send some documents to prove you're really the owner of both bank accounts, like sending pictures of your photo ID or bank statements. To avoid the hassle, it's best if you can withdraw your cash into the same bank account that funded your Robinhood account.</li><li>You may not be able to withdraw money while your account is restricted. Robinhood sometimes restricts users' accounts. That can happen if the user has a negative balance, had a bank account transaction reversed, if the user is suspected of fraud, or for a few other reasons. If your account is restricted, you may not be able to withdraw any money until you've contacted Robinhood to clear things up.</li></ul><h2>How to withdraw money from Robinhood on iOS </h2><ol><li>Tap the account icon in the bottom-right corner.<div type="image" title="A screenshot of Robinhood on iOS with a circle around the account icon, which looks like the head and torso of a person." height="219" width="500" msid="86668439" hostid="261"></div></li><li>Click on the three lines located in the top right corner (often called a "hamburger").<div type="image" title="A screenshot of an account on Robinhood iOS with a box around the Setting menu icon, which looks like three horizontal bars stacked on each other." height="252" width="410" msid="86668440" hostid="261"></div></li><li>Select Transfers.<div type="image" title="A screenshot of the Settings Menu on Robinhood iOS with a box around the &quot;Transfers&quot; option." height="479" width="572" msid="86668441" hostid="261"></div></li><li>Tap Transfer Money.<div type="image" title="A screenshot of the Transfer Money option on the Transfers screen of Robinhood iOS." height="304" width="589" msid="86668442" hostid="261"></div></li><li>Enter the dollar amount and hit Continue. Select Robinhood for the "From" field and then the bank account of your choosing for the "To" field. Then select Transfer.<div type="image" title="A screenshot of the Transfer screen on Robinhood iOS." height="759" width="587" msid="86668443" hostid="261"></div></li></ol><h2>How to withdraw money from Robinhood on Android</h2><ol><li>Tap the account icon in the bottom right corner.<div type="image" title="A screenshot of the Robinhood Android homepage with a box around the account icon, which looks like the head and torso of a person." height="244" width="562" msid="86668444" hostid="261"></div></li><li>Click on the three lines located in the top right corner (often called a "hamburger").<div type="image" title="A screenshot of an account on Robinhood Android with a box around the Menu button, which looks like three horizontal bars stacked on each other." height="278" width="467" msid="86668445" hostid="261"></div></li><li>Tap Transfers.<div type="image" title="A screenshot of the Settings Menu on Robinhood Android with a box around the Transfers option." height="247" width="529" msid="86668446" hostid="261"></div></li><li>Tap Transfer to Your Bank.<div type="image" title="A screenshot of the Transfers screen on Robinhood Android with a box around the &quot;Transfer Money&quot; option." height="285" width="592" msid="86668447" hostid="261"></div></li><li>Enter the dollar amount and hit Continue. Select Robinhood for the "From" field and then the bank account of your choosing for the "To" field. Then select Transfer.<div type="image" title="A screenshot of the Transfer screen on Robinhood Android." height="895" width="595" msid="86668448" hostid="261"></div></li></ol><h2>How to withdraw money from Robinhood on the web</h2><ol><li>Navigate to the Transfers screen.<div type="image" title="A screenshot of the transfers screen of Robinhood on a web browser." height="398" width="530" msid="86668449" hostid="261"></div></li><li>Fill in transfer details and select Review transfer.<div type="image" title="A screenshot of the transfer details screen on Robinhood on a web browser." height="369" width="783" msid="86668450" hostid="261"></div></li><li>Click Submit.<div type="image" title="A screenshot of the review transfer screen on Robinhood on web browser." height="459" width="483" msid="86668451" hostid="261"></div></li></ol><h2>The financial takeaway</h2>You can easily transfer money out of Robinhood into your bank account. But there's a few catches. Most importantly, you can't take money out until five business days after you've transferred that money into Robinhood. You'll also need to wait three business days after selling stocks, ETFs, or options before you can withdraw the proceeds. On the iOS or Android app, get started by tapping the "Account" button in the bottom right of the screen, which looks like a cartoon person. From your browser window, get started by clicking "Account" in the top right, and then click "Transfers."<a data-type="60ad76c4e5224e47165fbabb">Is Robinhood safe? Experts weigh in on using the commission-free investing app</a><a data-type="613a241ebd69125fd4743686">Start investing in mutual funds in 4 steps</a><a data-type="612d03512311696e87596e70">Here are all the fees you'll pay when using the Robinhood app - and how to avoid them</a><a data-type="611143fb0d5b755b492d74c3">Stock trading: How to get started for beginners</a>

How to withdraw money from the Robinhood app

y Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump and the Twitter logo are seen in this photo illustration.<ul class="summary-list"><li>Twitter suspended what appeared to be a network of pro-Trump activists using an app called Power10 to boost their messaging.</li><li>Using this app, these users were able to effectively turn their accounts into bots - automated amplifiers of posts - some of which Twitter has banned for attempting to distort political conversations online. </li><li>The app exposes a flaw in Twitter's ability to enforce its anti-disinformation and spamming policies, experts have said. </li><li>The tool boosted messages by President Donald Trump and his allies, as well as members of the QAnon conspiracy theory movement. </li><li>The tool was built by GOP operative Jason Sullivan, a protege of Roger Stone, who promoted it on social media. </li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>A loophole in Twitter's anti-spamming safeguards allowed users to covertly flood the platform with disinformation and conspiracy theories for years, a Business Insider investigation has found. In an operation apparently masterminded by Jason Sullivan - an associate of Donald Trump's former adviser Roger Stone - supporters of the president were encouraged to deploy an app called Power10. It enabled them to automatically retweet hundreds of messages from Trump and his allies. In effect, it transformed their accounts into automated feeds that were able to behave with a coordination similar to the networks of fake accounts, or "bots," Russia deployed in a bid to subvert the 2016 presidential election. But because they were real accounts it made it difficult for Twitter to detect the operation and establish that it broke its rules against spamming, former CIA analyst and disinformation expert Cindy Otis told Business Insider. REUTERS/Kevin LamarqueJason Sullivan, pictured in Washington, D.C., on June 1, 2018.The operation was able to continue for three years until Twitter suspended a number of accounts for violating its rules. Power10 is no longer available.Otis said that automatic retweet software, such as Hootsuite, is widely used to share political messages. But Power10 is the first case she knows of it being used by supporters of a US political campaign to spread disinformation. Apps such as Power10 use real accounts, which can "make it challenging for platforms to decide what's okay automation and what's bad automation," said Otis."Ultimately, Twitter decided Power10 didn't follow their policies." The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the use of Power10 by activists backing the president, neither did the Republican National Committee. After being contacted by Business Insider, Sullivan strenuously denied seeking to subvert Twitter's rules with Power10.Business Insider reached Sullivan via Twitter direct message to ask him to discuss the app. He initially agreed to speak, but ultimately only gave a single-line response to a list of questions.Business Insider asked Sullivan what he sought to achieve with the app, whether he intended to subvert Twitter's policies, and whether he condoned the spread of disinformation by the app. Seeming to respond only to a question about whether the app was a "deliberate attempt" to get round Twitter's rules, Sullivan wrote: "It was a deliberate attempt to make sure Americans could actually get their word out. Censorship is REAL. THAT should be your story."His response may refer to claims from Trump and some allies that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-to-speak-to-conservatives-at-social-media-summit-2019-7?r=US&amp;IR=T">social media platforms and search engines</a> systematically suppress their voices online, which has been repeatedly debunked.Twitter declined to comment on the record for this story.<h2>'Operation Swarm'</h2>Jess Hernandez, a post-graduate researcher in online disinformation at Arizona State University, and Cody Webb, founder of AI analytics start-up web.ai, gathered information on how Power10 was able to spread messages, and the kind of messages it spread, by tracking the app while it was still live.They were not able to identify how everybody account which used the app, or to calculate its total reach. However, they found that a cluster of 73 accounts were able to generate 106,000 retweets in a single month.All identified users of the app were sharing pro-Trump propaganda. According to Hernandez and Webb, those who signed up provided consent for their accounts to automatically retweet messages from selected accounts, with the apparent intention of spreading pro-Trump messaging in coordinated clusters.They were able to measure the effects of the service thanks to a program they designed to detect the tweet's source - in this case Power10. They were then able to break down the information and analyse it into themes. This image shows the sign-up page for granting the app access to a Twitter user's account. The app requested broad control over real accounts - choosing what they shared, how they interacted, and who they followed or unfollowed. Cody WebbThis screen greeted users when they signed in to the Power10 app. It requested sweeping power over activists' accountsSign-up information was shared quietly within online pro-Trump groups - with strict instructions not to share the information with their political opponents. "Kindly share this program with #Maga Twitter users via PRIVATE message or EMAIL only," <a href="https://twitter.com/conspirator0/status/1172975144106627072?s=20">read one message to users</a>. #Maga is short for "Make America Great Again," a Trump election slogan."We don't want our little 'secret weapon' that we call OPERATION SWARM getting out to the Dems." Under the influence of Power10, the accounts effectively became bots - accounts that automatically share messages according to a broader plan.But, since the accounts were also run by real people, and had substantial histories of independent content, it was difficult for Twitter to notice the artificial activity and take action against it, according to Otis, the ex-CIA analyst. Otis said the accounts involved "can mostly escape de-platforming [being banned] because they're real human accounts with a long history, real followers and therefore some level of credibility." Lisa Kaplan, CEO of the Alathea Group, a consultancy that helps clients protect themselves from disinformation, in an interview with Business Insider said that she views the operation as highly unethical. "Where I come down is, you don't use the same techniques and tactics as our Russian adversaries used against us on the people you've sworn to protect for your reelection campaign," she said"To me, it should be that obvious. But there's not a whole lot of regulation in this. So it's technically not illegal - I would say it's highly unethical."Messages boosted by Power10 included posts from Trump himself and his high-profile supporters in the media and Congress.It also amplified posts by members of the QAnon movement, a network of pro-Trump conspiracists. In FBI documents obtained by <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/fbi-documents-conspiracy-theories-terrorism-160000507.html?soc_src=hl-viewer&amp;soc_trk=tw">Yahoo News last year</a>, the agency labelled the movement a domestic terror threat. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan - the first two Muslim women to be elected to the House of Representatives - were singled out for attack in messages boosted by the app, according to data shared with Business Insider by Hernandez and Webb. Some Power10 user accounts were suspended by Twitter in September 2019 for violating rules on the platform against spamming. <a href="https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/platform-manipulation">On its website</a>, Twitter defines spamming as behaviour "intended to artificially amplify or suppress information or engage in behavior that manipulates or disrupts people's experience on Twitter."<h2>Domestic political operators mimic Russian tactics </h2>Concern about apps such as Power10 follows a study from the <a href="https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2019/april/tackling-domestic-disinformation--what-the-social-media-companie.html">Stern Center for Business and Human Rights at New York University last year</a>. It found that, increasingly, it is domestic political actors, not just foreign, who are flooding social media with political disinformation.Political operators are exploiting digital marketing techniques and loopholes to spread disinformation, and social media platforms have been slow to react, often out of concern about violating the First Amendment rights of users.In the wake of Russian interference in the the 2016 election, both Democratic and Republican campaigns have been accused of using Russia-style disinformation tactics to subvert elections.In 2017, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/19/us/alabama-senate-roy-jones-russia.html">Democratic operatives ran a network of fake Facebook accounts</a> where they spread attacks about the Republican rival of Democratic Senate candidate Doug Jones. President Trump' election campaign has spread doctored videos and promoted conspiracies designed to erode support for his opponents. In December <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/21/technology/LaCorte-edition-news.html">The New York Times reported</a> that former Fox News executive Ken LaCorte was hiring people in Macedonia to churn out fake news to inflame both liberals and conservatives - like the Russians did with "troll factories" in 2016. LaCorte told the Times that he started the sites to drive traffic to a news startup he founded aimed at "restoring faith in the media."<h2>Championed by the king of political 'dirty tricks'</h2>Sullivan is a former media adviser to the veteran dirty trickster Roger Stone, who was jailed for three years on February 20 for lying to Congress and witness tampering. As far back as November 2016 Stone was calling on Trump supporters to join "operation swarm," and sharing with supporters how to enable Power10, <a href="https://hillreporter.com/roger-stone-pal-encourages-trump-supporters-to-sign-up-for-operation-swarm-19055">according to the website Hill Reporter. </a>Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesRoger Stone, former adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, leaves the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Court House May 30, 2019 in Washington, DC.Sullivan was subpoenaed in June 2018 by Robert Mueller as part of the then-special counsel's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election about his work for Stone, <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-usa-trump-russia-stone/u-s-grand-jury-questions-social-media-advisor-to-key-trump-supporter-idUKKCN1IX5FZ">according to Reuters. </a>According to the report, Sullivan told Stone about a system he devised for creating Twitter "swarms" - "an army of sophisticated, hyper-targeted direct tweet automation systems."Sullivan is currently the chairman of the American Pro-Israel PAC. <a href="https://apip.org/our-founder">On its website</a> he claims to have "worked behind the scenes in support of the Donald J. Trump for President 2016 campaign" and to be a "technologist who has developed several apps and holds several U.S. patents." The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment on whether Sullivan worked for it back in 2016.Stone's attorney, Bruce Rogow, did not respond to several requests for comment on his client's alleged promotion of Power10. <h2>QAnon, and a hate campaign against 'The Squad'</h2>According to data shared with Business Insider by researchers Hernandez and Webb, one of the largest clusters of messages boosted by Power10 were attacks on Reps. Omar and Tlaib.They are members of the group of progressive congresswomen of color nicknamed The Squad, which Trump targeted with racist attacks last summer.Attacks on the two were pushed across the Twitter network by a core of 73 accounts, which generated most of Power10's shares and messages.Among the 73 accounts were Trump campaign allies, including Marco Gutierrez, chairman of the Latinos for Trump campaign, and pro-Trump activist Ann Vandersteel. Vandersteel did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Business Insider. Gutierrez told Business Insider that after meeting with Sullivan in 2016 "somehow we ended up putting many of our accounts under this app and that resulted in them being suspended - but I didn't know it went against community standards."He said he detached his account from the app after the suspensions. According to Gutierrez, Sullivan told him the app would enable them "to drive the conversation on Twitter. That we were going to be able to establish presence and get our narrative to move forward."In total, 1,030 messages attacking the lawmakers were pushed by the app over a three-month period, according to the data. Here is a tweet from the Trump campaign promoted by the app, spreading the unsupported claim that Rep. Omar <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/unproven-allegations-ilhan-omar-married-her-brother-explained-2019-7?r=US&amp;IR=T">married her own brother</a> so he could secure a visa to the US. Omar has said the claim is absurd and untrue.Other messages shared by the app claimed that Omar is engaged in an Islamist stealth plot to subvert democracy and install sharia law. In a statement to Business Insider, Rep. Omar described disinformation networks such as that promoted by Power10 as a threat to US democracy. She said: "We can't keep ignoring what is in front of our eyes: Trump and his convicted criminal allies do not believe in democracy. They are profiting off misinformation and conspiracy theories in an effort to fuel neo-fascist politics and making marginalized communities around the world more vulnerable.""All of these people - from the technology companies who fan the flames of hate to the lawmakers who fail to hold him accountable - bear responsibility for this crisis. All of them need to tackle these growing threats to our democracy."The app also boosted messages from accounts promoting the QAnon conspiracist movement. Its followers believe, on the basis of cryptic online messages and no supporting evidence, that Democrats and Hollywood stars covertly run a child abuse ring, which Trump is in the process of dismantling.In this tweet promoted by the app, a promoter of the theory references "The Storm", which an event in which QAnon believers say Trump will go public with his mission to extinguish the child abuse ring.The tweet groundlessly links it to the death that month of convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.Among those whose tweets were promoted is Ben Garrison, who has spread tweets and memes denounced by the Anti-Defamation League NGO as anti-Semitic, and who also promotes QAnon messages. In one cartoon distributed through Power10, Garrison references a Trump rally <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/qbaby-qanon-conspiracy-theory-trump-rally-860526/">in North Carolina in July</a> in which the president praised a baby wearing a onesie emblazoned with a letter Q. Supporters said the president was covertly displaying his support for the movement. In this cartoon, he depicts Sullivan as a key player in Trump's social media strategy (Sullivan is depicted on the right, pulling a curtain back to reveal Trump pulling the levers of Twitter.)In a statement to Business Insider, Garrison denied that his work is anti-Semitic, but did not respond to requests for comment on his alleged use of Power10. "As a cartoonist, I stand for freedom of speech for everyone-including those with whom I disagree. I am against racism, violence, anti-Semitism, censorship, and de-platforming. I have never penned an anti-Semitic cartoon. In fact, I have drawn cartoons that speak out against anti-Semitism," he said. <h2>A 'failure to act' by social media platforms leaves path open for peddlers of disinformation </h2>Kaplan, the disinformation expert, said that the government and social media companies had been slow to halt the flow of disinformation polluting political conversations.As such, she said, it is likely that domestic operators will continue to use tools such as Power10. "There has been a failure to act and have consequences. Right now the only consequence is that these accounts are removed. So I think that we will likely continue to see actors engage in ways to continue to manipulate social media algorithms for their benefit." <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/salomon-recycles-shoes-ski-boots-2020-2">How running shoes can be recycled into ski boots</a></h3>

How diehard Trump fans transformed their Twitter accounts into bots which spread conspiracies in a vast Russia-style disinformation network

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dominiquegodbout/5163707572/in/photolist-8SimmU-pKzG2Z-gBGX4c-7dwbwf-65dhH-ScoKp6-4EHuZo-9KhQwP-hXe5TE-22LhWc-6hWy7V-ayCjJs-22Li8T-64Bo9-22QGtG-QLrXht-HCn7F-a5Zdfo-buG4ND-buG5er-jLaJDp-buG4W4-8zNCng-9gt4Jo-6hWyi8-22QGDU-ew2yYs-9Cact4-61kWXD-GfFgf-buG5xz-72XbCg-6Cv3Y8-6Cv4xa-4peP9J-655ZQ-buG56k-kezZV-22QHf5-6561B-buG4DP-QSsUhx-68Er3-b1BWEc-dJXn4s-68ErM-67tmx-dh5yWZ-8rafrd-4eAoj3">DominiqueGodbout/Flickr</a></div></div></div><ul><li>In March, investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures gave a total of $12 million to CryptoKitties, a blockchain game for digital collectibles.</li><li>According to data from blockchain analytics sites, the number of CryptoKitties transactions are a fraction of what they were in December.</li><li>CryptoKitties CEO Bryce Bladon says the livelihood of CryptoKitties can't simply be measured by the number of transactions that happen in a month, and that people's behaviors have changed as the price of processing a transaction has increased.</li></ul>When investors gave $12 million to a startup called CryptoKitties in March, many raised their eyebrows at the news.CryptoKitties, which describes its product as one of the world's first blockchain games, uses blockchain technology to collect and "breed" digital cats. Users can buy colorful, googly-eyed cats, some of which cost thousands of real-world dollars, to trade and "breed" more digital cat offspring.It's a bit like blockchain-based Beanie Babies.Like Beanie Babies, CryptoKitties are considered collectibles. Their novelty lies in the fact that owners can prove that they possess sole ownership of the Crypto Kitty they've purchased. In December, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/06/meet-cryptokitties-the-new-digital-beanie-babies-selling-for-100k.html">it was reported</a> that one particular Crypto Kitty sold for around $155,000.People had already spent millions buying and trading CryptoKitties by the time top-tier investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures decided to give the company $12 million. Before the deal went through, one investor in the company told Business Insider that the product embodied one of the most important and applicable use-cases of the blockchain: The ability to safely store digital collectibles online.But it looks like CryptoKitties itself could be in danger of becoming a short-lived novelty.According to data from blockchain analytics sites <a href="https://bloxy.info/token_stat/0x06012c8cf97bead5deae237070f9587f8e7a266d">Bloxy</a> and <a href="https://diar.co/volume-2-issue-22/#4">Diar</a>, the number of CryptoKitties transactions has fallen drastically in the last 3 months.The number of CryptoKitties transactions decreased in June by 98.4% compared to its peak of 80,500 transactions back in December 2017, according to data from Bloxy. The game is still among the most popular options for ethereum-related gaming, but public interest in buying and selling them seems to have waned significantly in recent months.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="https://www.cryptokitties.co/">CryptoKitties</a></div></div></div>CryptoKitties cofounder Bryce Bladon told Business Insider in an email that the decrease in CryptoKitties transactions was to be expected, and there were a few factors, one of which was the skyrocketing costs of processing a transaction based on ethereum. "Since launching CryptoKitties and running headfirst into the challenge of scaling, we've made numerous product and design decisions to reduce the number of superfluous smart contract interactions," Bladon said in an email. "From our discord community to the KittyVerse - our soon-to-launch program for developers building experiences on top of our [platform] - we're delivering numerous ways to engage with CryptoKitties outside of buying and breeding them."In addition, our community has become much more educated on what CryptoKitties is and how it works. <a href="https://kb.myetherwallet.com/gas/what-is-gas-ethereum.html">Gas fees</a> on the Ethereum network have also increased by 50x what they were when we launched. The result is much more purposeful transactions, as opposed to people engaging with the smart contract just to see what happens."Basically, Bladon is saying that the livelihood of CryptoKitties can't simply be measured by the number of transactions that happen in a month, and that people's behaviors have changed as the price of processing a transaction has increased. This has caused people to be more strategic in how often they make one, according to Bladon, and to experiment less with the platform's "smart contracts."He could be right. But it still looks like there's a significant dropoff in the way people are interacting with the digital cats. In April, Greylock Partners <a href="https://medium.com/@mccannatron/state-of-the-dapps-5-observations-from-usage-data-april-2018-a3e9da01bc22">took a closer </a>look at the usage of some of the most popular decentralized apps. Drawing on data from DappRadar, the firm estimated CryptoKitties daily active users at around 907. On Friday,<a href="https://dappradar.com/app/3/cryptokitties"> that same metric on DappRadar</a> had fallen to around 300 daily active users. (Blandon said he was unable to confirm any numbers regarding CryptoKitties' daily active users as he was traveling, and wouldn't have access to the company's analytics until the following week.) The average price of CryptoKitties seems to have decreased dramatically, as well. <a href="https://diar.co/volume-2-issue-22/#4">Blockchain analytics site Diar pegs </a>the average price around $5 per digital cat, a decline from what Diar suggests was its all-time median high of around $41.Like any marketplace, a decrease in the number of transactions is seldom good news - which could be one factor as to why CryptoKitties seems eager to find different use-cases for its product. Just last week, <a href="https://medium.com/cryptokitties/welcome-to-the-kittyverse-kittybattles-and-kittyhats-9e83bb1ded88">the company announced</a> the addition of "KittyBattles" and "KittyHats:" Two new ways of engaging with CryptoKitties beyond a strictly transactional context.Last month, a cryptocurrency startup founder told Business Insider that she felt that CryptoKitties might be destined for the same fate as their Beanie Babie counterparts:"People want to spend their crypto on real stuff," she said. "The only way you can justify spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a cartoon cat is if there aren't enough real world use-cases for cryptocurrencies." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/coat-city-streets-white-cliimate-change-2018-5">Here's why coating our streets white could help lower temperatures in the summer</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

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