Victory Square Technologies (VST.C) wants to send you to Ancient Egypt, metaverse style
Most things about The Metaverse leave me cold. Yeah. Snoop Dogg has a mansion there, and sure, there’s a guy who doled out $450,000 worth of The Sandbox’s proprietary token Sand to be his neighbour. But it seems like such overhyped garbage—a weird crypto-land grab-bag of frothy hype designed to drag in the rubes and fleece them of all their worldly belongings. Also, NFT.
But that’s before I heard what Victory Square Technologies (VST.C) is doing.
Their portfolio company, Next Decentrum Technologies is partnering with DAF (Digital Access to Finance) to launch NFT projects inspired by Egyptian art, culture and history. Now, I’m a history nerd. So much, in fact, that I write historical fiction novels on the side, and I’ve long been fascinated by Ancient Egypt, so even though I’m certain there’s a rube-fleecing angle to this whole thing, I may be in the market to be fleeced if this is sufficiently cool.
The philosophical question of whether or not it’s still fleecing the rubes if the rube is willing to be fleeced notwithstanding, this is an excellent use of the metaverse concept and maybe the first time I’ve seen a concept involving said series of technological constructs that’s actually generated the kind of frothy excitement in me marketers aim for.
“Egypt is home to one of the world’s richest cultures. There is much for everyone to discover and enjoy,” said Hussein Hallak, CEO of Next Decentrum. “Through this partnership with the DAF team, we aim to bring Egyptian history, culture, and art to the metaverse by using NFTs, AR and VR technology.”
I know. I’m excited too. Let’s not get carried away.
Bit Digital joins Bitcoin Mining Council – invited by Michael Saylor
Bit Digital (BTBT.Q) accepted an invitation extended by MicroStrategy’s (MSTR.Q) CEO Michael Saylor to join the Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC). They join some pretty good company in this council, truth be told. It also includes Argo Blockchain, Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA.Q), Riot Blockchain (RIOT.Q), Galaxy Digital (GLXY.T) and Core Scientific, among others.
“At BMC, we are all coming together to educate the public and gather insights about the latest developments in the bitcoin mining business and how we are using energy. We recognize Bit Digital’s efforts to operate using carbon-free energy, and welcome them to the Council,” said Michael Saylor, founder of the BMC, and CEO of Microstrategy.
The BMC has made industry transparency, best practices and public education on the benefits of bitcoin and mining as part of their self-appointed mandate. Bit Digital participated in the BMC survey on sustainable power and is busy refining its strategy to get in line with the use of carbon-free energy in its operations. The notion here is to operate on 100% carbon-free power.
CurrencyWorks and NFTs and country music star, Parker McCollum, whoever that is
CurrencyWorks’ (CWRK.C) MusicFX.io platform is unloading some NFT from platinum selling country star Parker McCollum. I have no idea who that is, but the words platinum selling suggest it might be meaningful to someone. His best known single is apparently called “To Be Love By You” and the New York Times called it one of the best songs of 2021. Sure.
Apparently, the first thousand fans to register their interest in the Gold Chain Cowboy Club will get priority access to a signed edition of one of the world’s fan club NFT—the Gold Chain Cowboy Club Black Card. Okay.
Priority access opens at 12pm PST December 15, 2021 with those who purchase receiving:
- The Gold Chain Cowboy Club Black Card: Signature Edition
- Individually signed and numbered digital membership NFT
- 12-month membership to the Gold Chain Cowboy Club
- Access to private jam sessions
- VIP access to future events
- Secret Airdrops into their Parker McCollum MusicFX Collection
- Opportunities for meet & greet passes when attending select Parker McCollum concerts & events.
Even if you have no idea who McCollum is—like me, you have to recognize that this use of NFT is probably the farthest most companies are ever going to get to recognizing the technology’s true potential. Whether or not that scares you off, that’s up to you. For right now, NFT are still good and frothy, so as my grandmother says, make hay while the sun shines.
Maybe Wondr Gaming has their eye on the ball with NFTs
Remember what I said about Parker McCollum and how companies have basically reached the end of the line with their use of the NFT tech? I meant it. But I’ll qualify here. First, let me introduce Wondr Gaming (WDR.C), they’re launching an NFT with Windser, who is apparently one of the fastest rising musicians in North America if press releases are to be believed.
Again I have no idea who he is, but I turned 35 again the other day and am probably in the “get off my lawn” area of life when it comes to music and new musicians. While I may not know who this guy is or be aware of his content, I can definitely recognize the medium by which the message is delivered. This medium is NFTs. My opinion hasn’t changed—I still think they’re a massive overvalued bubble—but I have to recognize game when I see it. This tech has some serious disruption potential. The best part about crypto, and one of the biggest promises it makes, is that it eliminates middlemen.
NFT’s in Real Estate could eliminate the need for realtors with their exorbitant fees. Just deal with each other, get yourself a good smart contract developer for Ethereum, Cardano or Solana, and have at it. For music, this could eliminate (or augment) the requirement for aggregators like Spotify. Go online. Buy the NFT. Download and pay the artist directly. Ownership still points back to the artist for the content. It’s authentic. Unique. Etc. Artists can get paid for doing what they love instead of getting the shaft in backroom deals by the greasy and unscrupulous music-industry versions of Harvey Weinstein.
Anyway. Windser’s new single is called Memory and it’s going to be available in a limited edition series of six NFT hosted on Music.WondrNFT.com. Get you some if you’re fan, and get a chance to get access to a private virtual concert, and maybe a private Zoom meet and greet with Windser.
Wellfield Technologies brings a global financial leader to their advisory board
Normally I wouldn’t include a client of Equity Guru’s in a roundup. That’s normally because we don’t have any (or many) blockchain clients. But now we have one, and they’re actually quite interesting.
Wellfield Technologies (WFLD.V) brought on Tamir Agmon, a professor, researcher and global financial consultant as the second member of their advisory board.
Here’s a list of this guy’s accomplishments and credentials:
- Professor Agmon is a globally recognized researcher in the field of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and has authored several research papers on the role of blockchain technology and innovative protocols in the world of finance.
- Currently, Professor Agmon is a Professor of Finance (Emeritus) at the Faculty of Management at Tel Aviv University and Visiting Professor of Finance at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden). He graduated with a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Chicago and has held visiting appointments at MIT, and the University of Southern California.
- Professor Agmon has served as a director on the Boards of several companies both in the financial and industrial sectors in Israel, including one of the country’s largest insurers and has provided financial consulting services to leading companies in Israel, the U.S. and the EU.
Since Wellfield is effectively neck deep in decentralized finance (DeFi) and looking to build open and accessible protocols, and also blockchain based consumer products, this guy makes sense. You can literally go to all ends of the internet and find 100 “experts” in decentralized finance. Check out the sheer amount of bullshit decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) on discord sometime and you’ll see what I mean.
Every second purple-haired vegan so-called tech nerd will expound on the awesomeness of his liquidity pool and go on about how much money he’s made through staking the organization’s token, but when you press a little deeper, he has no idea if the company he’s bullish on actually has a permissioned blockchain doing the staking. When you ask them how they’re sure they are that they’re not involved in a ponzi scheme, they … well, they usually get mad.
But this guy. He’s legit. And that’s rare.
Blockchain Foundry and the Syscoin upgrade
Ready for your brain to hurt?
Actually, Blockchain Foundry’s (BCFN.C) news isn’t that technical, nor hard to digest, this time. These guys do that, though. The hard stuff. The technical stuff. They have absolutely no problem dropping off a massive technical release detailing some serious Byzantine and technical stuff, and given that they’re a former client of ours, it was often our (my) job to decipher it.
Google is my friend.
Regardless, as I said, this isn’t bad. They and the Syscoin Foundation have deployed their Syscoin NEVM (network enhanced virtual machine) upgrade. The NEVM introduces an engine to the protocol strong enough to create and execute smart contracts. Smart contracts are the gateway to decentralized applications (dApps), DeFi applications, NFT, metaverse ecosystems and whatever the next step in this weird evolution might be.
Also, note the order. That’s how this thing has evolved.
The upgrade happened on block 1,317,500 on Dec 6, 2021, of the syscoin blockchain.
You know what the next evolution in the above chain might be? Check out this paragraph:
“Designed to scale to smart cities and beyond, Syscoin’s NEVM combines ethereum’s smart contract functionality with Syscoin’s existing innovative features. These include regulatory compliance capabilities for digital assets, unmatched low-cost fees and fast, ultrasecure transactions built to scale to millions of concurrent users. These capabilities solve many pain points experienced by projects on other smart contract platforms, providing low-cost, scalable and compliant tooling for DeFi, NFTs, metaverse and Web3 applications without compromising security and decentralization.”
Smart cities using NFT, blockchain to make the trains run on time. Also, so the government can keep its eyes on you to make sure you’re not up to anything antisocial at the mall, on the streets, in your kitchen, or between the sheets.
It’s probably a good thing China pissed all over crypto before they realized its full potential as weapon of mass surveillance and oppression, huh?
Here’s a pullout if you’re link averse:
“The blockchain would become a superpowered tracking device and a warehouse of data on an unimaginable scale.”
With respect and apologies to Kurt Vonnegut: So it goes.
The End is Nigh
The rest is mining, private placements and debt financing. Be thee fairly warned. If it isn’t your thing—stay the course and you’ll get a pony at the end. Promise.
Hut 8 purchases 2,505 M30S machines from Foundry
Hut 8 Mining (HUT.T) inked an agreement with Foundry Digital to buy 2,505 MicroBT M30S machines, presently installed at the company’s MedicineHat, Alberta site, under a hosting agreement between Hut and Foundry. The purchase transaction should close somewhere around December 15, 2021, and boost their hash rate by 228 petahashes per seocnd.
Luxxfolio closes a $9.5 million bought deal
Digital asset company, Luxxfolio Holdings (LUXX.C) closed its previously announced public offering of company shares led by PIFinancial (including Canaccord Genuity and M Partners). The underwriters bought 600,000 units of the overallotment option, and the company offered out 13.6 million units at 70 cents. The total cash raised was $9.534 million, so they’ve got cash. There’s also some warrants at an exercise price of $1 until December 7, 2023.
In addition to the usual “working capital” they’re going to use it for, they’re also going to spend this cash on development, and maintenance of the mining operation, and a new set of immersion cooling equipment. That’s probably a good thing.
The pony’s coming really soon. Promise. Can you smell the hay?
Code Chain New Continent offers shares and warrants
Crypto-miner Code Chain New Continent (CCNC.Q) announced this week their intention to offer shares of common stock and warrants in an underwritten public offering. The company wants to buy more cryptocurrency mining equipment in addition to the usual suspects of general working capital and corporate purposes.
Yeah. There’s no more information about the size of the offering, market conditions, nor any assurance if this deal won’t go up in smoke, but hey! At least they’ve set their intention. Maybe they’ve read The Secret and they’re trying to see if it works in business.
Hopefully they’ll let us know how that works out for them in another press release we should’ve skipped.
There. That wasn’t so bad, was it? We’re all about keeping our promises here at Equity Guru, so in the spirit of the good faith you placed in me (us) by sitting through the dry-as-shit financial stuff that’s really quite important for investors to know about – I present to you a pony doing the moonwalk. Enjoy!
—Joseph Morton
Full disclosure: Wellfield Technologies is an equity guru marketing client.
