Swiss and Ukraine Adoption, Twitter’s Top Tokens, and $300k Digital Buildings

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rh1dFY4Om3U" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe src="https://anchor.fm/cryptodailyshow/embed/episodes/Swiss-and-Ukraine-Adoption--Twitters-Top-Tokens--and-300k-Digital-Buildings--Dec-14-2021-e1bn2f3" height="102px" width="400px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>

Some exciting things are happening with banks around the world.

The largest online bank in Switzerland, Swissquote, is going to be launching it’s own crypto exchange platform.

Their chief marketing officer, Jan De Schepper, announced that his company plans to open its own crypto exchange before the end of the first half of 2022. Their goal is to become “the leading Swiss provider of digital assets,”

They reported that their customers are overwhelmingly demanding more support for cryptocurrencies. Right now, Swissquote supports 24 cryptocurrencies.

The company’s net income from crypto investments increased by over 1,000% to 63.2 million Swiss francs in the first half of 2021.

Another country looking at Crypto adoption is Ukraine.

One of the oldest commercial banks in Ukraine, Tascombank, announced today they are working with the fintech company Bitt to create a stellar-based pilot program for a public blockchain version of their currency, the hryvnia.

Bitt CEO Brian Popelka was quoted, “Bitt’s DCMS will equip Tascombank with all of the technology required to securely mint, store, issue, distribute, and redeem the electronic hryvnia.”

In other news, despite recent dips Memecoins are seeing some things to be excited about.

Elon Musk came out and said that Tesla will accept Dogecoin as a form of payment for some merch, and “we will see how it goes”.

Of course, this caused the Doge community to go wild, and the coin shot up about 20%.

And for Shiba Inu owners, Shib actually ranks at the 4th largest cryptocurrency… …Based on Twitter followers.

The memecoin has 2.3 million followers, although Doge is still barely ahead of them with 2.6 million followers. Bitcoin is actually second on the list with 3.9 million and top of the list is BNB with 6.6 million followers.

Now it’s time to shift our focus over to the world of NFTs.

We’ve discussed how digital land is a booming market, but what about digital architecture and buildings?

Well, one company charges as much as $300k to design and build virtual buildings.

Voxel Architects has built 40 virtual buildings this year, working with clients like Sotheby’s auction house and ConsenSys Software Inc., which is the creator of the popular crypto wallet MetaMask.

For Sotheby’s, they built a replica New Bond Street Galleries in London on Decentraland, which showed art pieces like work from Banksy and Bored Ape Yacht Club.

Voxel’s CEO, Leandro Bellone, said the pandemic really sped up business for them, as more people spent time in virtual worlds and business keeps picking up.

Only a few months ago they were receiving about 10 requests to build a week, and now they are receiving around 40.

Bellone said that their goal for next year is to ramp up their staff and create more buildings to exist both in the physical and virtual worlds.

Shoe brand Nike has decided to double down on its NFT success by purchasing the startup RTFKT.

RTFKT is a collectibles studio known for making NFTs that merge culture and gaming.

They launched in January of 2020 by Benoit Pagotto, Chris Le, and Steven Vasilev.

Nike said in a press release that the team “leverages the latest in-game engines, NFTs, blockchain authentication and augmented reality to create one of a kind virtual products and experiences”.

President and CEO of Nike, John Donahoe, was quoted saying, This acquisition is another step that accelerates Nike’s digital transformation and allows us to serve athletes and creators at the intersection of sport, creativity, gaming, and culture.”

“We’re acquiring a very talented team of creators with an authentic and connected brand. Our plan is to invest in the RTFKT brand, serve and grow their innovative and creative community and extend Nike’s digital footprint and capabilities.”

“Nike is the only brand in the world that shares the deep passion we all have for innovation, creativity, and community, and we’re excited to grow our brand which was fully formed in the metaverse.”

Please follow our show wherever you listen to podcasts – and please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. If you get your podcasts on Youtube, be sure to subscribe and leave a comment there.

Be sure to follow me on:

Instagram: @DustinKnouse https://www.instagram.com/dustinknouse/

Twitter: @DustinKnouse https://twitter.com/DustinKnouse

Linkedin: @DustinKnouse https://www.linkedin.com/in/dustinknouse/

Facebook: @DustinKnouse https://www.facebook.com/DustinKnouseOfficial/

TikTok: @DustinKnouse https://www.tiktok.com/@dustinknouse

Resources:

Switzerland’s Largest Online Bank Swissquote to Launch Its Own Crypto Exchange

Ukrainian bank uses Stellar to launch electronic hryvnia pilot

Dogecoin Rockets 20% After Elon Musk Says Tesla Will Use for Merch Payments

SHIB is now world’s 4th largest cryptocurrency by Twitter followers, BNB ranks 1st

This architecture firm is making up to $300,000 per project to design real estate in the metaverse