Ethereum price fluctuates but ETH 2.0 staking numbers continue to grow
More than 10.2 million ETH is now securely locked within the ETH 2.0 smart contract.
- Ethereum's hashrate achieved an all-time high of 1.11 PH/s earlier this year, showcasing its rising levels of decentralisation.
- Over the course of 2021, Axie Infinity accounted for nearly 75% of all NFT-based blockchain gaming transactions.
- LimeWire, a popular file sharing service from the early 2000s, is looking to make a comeback by launching a new NFT marketplace under its new ownership.
As market uncertainty induced by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict mounts, Ethereum, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency by total market capitalisation, continues to be faced with a lot of volatility, as is highlighted by the fact that over the last 24-hr stretch the altcoin has lost around 5% of its value. These growing losses have taken the digital asset's annual gains to just 40%. At press time, ETH is trading at a price point of AUD$3,467.
Despite these losses, investor confidence in the Ethereum network seems to be growing steadily, with a recent quantitative study revealing that a total of 10.2 million ETH is now securely staked on the ETH 2.0 deposit contract, which went live during the first week of November 2021. As per current ETH prices, the contract now contains over AUD$35.5 billion (US$26 billion).
To become a validator within the Ethereum network, investors are required to deposit/stake upward of 32 ETH into the official Ethereum Launchpad. Furthermore, earlier this year in January, Ethereum's native hashrate levels reached an all-time-high value of 1.11 PH/s, signaling the network's increasing decentralisation.
Axie Infinity continues to dominate the blockchain gaming market
A recent report from NonFungible says that users of the fantasy-based blockchain game Axie Infinity accounted for a total of US$3.5 billion worth of all gaming NFT transactions last year. To put things into perspective, this number accounts for approximately two-thirds of all NFTs transacted across the blockchain gaming landscape over the course of 2021. The second and third places were taken by NBA Top Shot and Loot, with the offerings registering transactions worth US$827 million and US$242 million respectively.
Furthermore, CNBC reported recently that global NFT trading numbers hit an all-time high of US$17.6 billion last year, an increase of 21,000% from 2020. The study also noted that investors were able to generate a mammoth US$5.4 billion worth of profits via the sales of these novel tokens all through 2021. In all, there currently exist a total of 112 blockchain games with an estimated 1.88 million associated wallet addresses.
LimeWire forges comeback via its NFT marketplace
One of the most popular peer-to-peer file-sharing networks of the early 2000s, LimeWire is making a comeback by launching a new digital collectibles marketplace. A representative for the project – which is currently in the hands of new ownership – revealed that the platform's NFT marketplace will focus mainly on art, music and will make its debut sometime in May.
Lastly, LimeWire has also entered into a formal agreement with blockchain solutions provider Algorand to facilitate token minting processes that are both cost- and energy-efficient.
Interested in cryptocurrency? Learn more about the basics with our beginner's guide to Bitcoin, dive deeper by learning about Ethereum and see what blockchain can do with our simple guide to DeFi.
Disclosure: The author owns a range of cryptocurrencies at the time of writing.
