First Volcano-Powered Bitcoin Mined as NFT Sector Captures XRP & DOGE Developers

As Q3 closed, positivity oozed in the crypto markets as the first images were revealed of El Salvador’s new geothermal bitcoin mining facility. Elsewhere, the NFT sector continued to push development with both XRP and Dogecoin developers fomenting interest. A positive week was rounded off as US officials confirmed that there is no intention of shutting cryptocurrency operations down in the country. 

• The first bitcoin is mined from a volcano-powered mining facility in El Salvador
• Ripple Labs launches $250 million NFT fund
• Dogecoin co-founder targets ETH bridge and NFTs
• US Fed says it has no intention of banning cryptocurrencies

El Salvador’s bitcoin mining facility opens

El Salvador, a country that in Q3 made history by adopting bitcoin as legal tender, is continuing to lead cryptocurrency innovation. On Tuesday, the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, posted a video on Twitter showing off a new bitcoin mining facility.

The video, which was captioned “First steps…”, includes an aerial view of the compound situated in dense green forest, snippets of bitcoin mining rigs, and shots of the surrounding landscape. It is believed the facility is situated next to an active volcano.  

The idea of a geothermal volcano-powered bitcoin mining facility was first suggested by the President in June. At the time, the President tweeted “I’ve instructed the president of La Geo SV (our state-owned geothermal electric company), to put up a plan to offer facilities for bitcoin mining with very cheap, 100% clean, 100% renewable, 0 emissions energy from our volcanos.” It seems that vision is now a reality. 

When first proposed, the idea was met by some questions but also hope for the development of a renewable clean energy source for the energy-intensive mining process. Many believe that bitcoin is now accelerating the race to find cleaner energy sources with companies and countries looking at how to integrate the leading cryptocurrency into their economies. 

Although the facility in El Salvador is still a work in progress, it was confirmed on Friday that 0.00599179 BTC had been mined so far – approximately $280. More importantly, there now seems little doubt as to Bukele’s commitment to making bitcoin a success within the pioneering country.  

Ripple launches $250 million NFT fund

With over $2.5 billion worth of NFT sales taking place in the first half of 2021, the NFT sector has cemented its position within the cryptocurrency industry. To accommodate increasing demand the company behind the popular XRP cryptocurrency, Ripple, announced last week that it would be establishing a fund dedicated to the up and coming sector.

NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are cryptographic tokens used to represent ownership of an asset. The asset could be digital or physical. Digital art, music, memes, in-game accessories have all been represented by NFTs. The newly established Ripple Creator Fund will target both developers and NFT creators situated within this new space. 

The company believes that the sector currently suffers from two key problems that heighten the barrier to entry. For creators, there is a fear that NFTs won’t sell and a lack of NFT understanding due to poor user interfaces. For developers, the current infrastructure offers high transaction fees and cumbersome development platforms. Ripple believes that the company’s native XRP Ledger holds the answers to these problems. 

Ripple believes that the XRP Ledger will offer extremely low transaction fees and an intuitive development platform as it has been designed that way from day one. The blockchain also offers a native decentralized exchange (DEX) which can be used for the sale and transfer of NFTs within the ecosystem. 

The fund was established in collaboration with Ripple’s partners who are already in the NFT sector. These include Mintable, mintNFT, and VSA Partners. In the first 24 hours after launching the fund, Ripple received proposals from over 100 NFT developers. $2 million has already been awarded.

Dogecoin renews focus on Ethereum and NFTs

Dogecoin, the meme-based cryptocurrency and blockchain, has become an internet sensation throughout much of 2021. While initially offering no meaningful utility, other than wealth transfer, Dogecoin developers continue to look towards the future. Last week, one of the co-founders, Billy Markus, hinted towards what upcoming developments Dogecoin may hold.

In a tweet posted on Wednesday, he outlined two things that he believed would help the Dogecoin ecosystem. “1) Completion of DOGE-ETH bridge. 2) NFT platforms (e.g. Opensea) allowing for the DOGE-ETH token to be used for purchases. NFTs purchasing is high demand with crypto. Allowing for DOGE purchases of NFTs greatly increases its utility.”

Markus’s views fall in line with that of Ethereum’s co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, who voiced similar encouragement for a Dogecoin to Ethereum bridge in September. By connecting the two ecosystems, DOGE holders may one day be able to use DOGE within the NFT and DeFi applications that exist on Ethereum. 

Fed Chair Powell claims US has no intention of banning crypto 

Cryptocurrency markets were boosted last week by claims that the Federal Reserve, or indeed the US Government, has “no intention” of banning cryptocurrencies. The news was gladly received by the crypto community that witnessed yet another shutdown of cryptocurrency activity within China during the week prior.

During Thursday’s Federal Reserve hearing the Fed Chair, Jerome Powell, was questioned initially on inflation concerns. This was met with continued faith that inflation figures would fall and that the current inflation being experienced was the result of supply chain issues. The Fed anticipates inflation to ease during the first half of next year.

House Representative, Tedd Bund, then changed the focus to cryptocurrencies, citing a quote made by Powell in July regarding the need for a digital U.S. currency. He then asked whether it was the Chairman’s “intention to ban or limit the use of cryptocurrencies like we’re seeing in China?” Powell responded that there was “no intention to ban them” and outlined that stablecoins, in particular, should be brought within the regulatory framework.

Although not concrete evidence of US Government approval, the comments made last week seemed to suggest the country would rather embrace this new realm of technology as opposed to shutting it out. 

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