Starknet Foundation Establishes Gaming Committee with $125 Million Budget
The Starknet Foundation, the organization responsible for the Ethereum layer-2 blockchain Starknet, has formed a committee dedicated to advancing gaming on the network. To support its initiatives, the foundation has allocated $125.5 million worth of tokens. The Gaming Committee’s primary role is to analyze, strategize, and propose programs aimed at expanding Starknet’s gaming ecosystem. In a blog post on March 11th, Starknet stated that 50 million Starknet (STRK) tokens have been set aside to fund the committee’s proposals. The success of the committee will be measured based on usage metrics such as daily active users, retention rates, and revenue.
The Gaming Committee consists of six members, including Henri Lieutaud, the head of developer relations at Starknet; Chris Lexmond, the founder of Unstoppable Games; and Gabin Marignier, a co-founder of Focus Tree, a Web3-based productivity app. Other members include Oli Feuler, a Starknet ecosystem developer from StarkWare; Tarrence van As, the co-founder of Cartridge, a Starknet-based “gaming console”; and the pseudonymous creator of Realms World, a Starknet-based game, known as “LordOfAFew” or “LOAF.”
This development comes at a time when Starknet’s network activity has been decreasing, even after StarkWare made changes to the STRK token unlock schedule to address concerns that early investors were selling tokens to retail users.
NFT Prices Decline Despite Rise in ETH Price
On March 12th, the prices of the top nonfungible tokens (NFTs) continued to drop, despite Ether (ETH) reaching its highest value in two years. The floor prices of seven out of the top 10 traded collections on the NFT marketplace Blur have decreased in the last 24 hours, while ETH’s price has increased by around 5% and surpassed $4,000 for the first time since late 2021.
Yuga Labs’ Bored Ape and Mutant Ape Yacht Club collections have seen declines of 13% and 14%, respectively, in the past day. Additionally, Azuki and DeGods have experienced drops of almost 9% and 10%, respectively. The situation worsens when looking at the seven-day change, with DeGods seeing a decline of over 40% in a week and the Mutant Ape Yacht Club declining by over 30%.
Data from CryptoSlam! shows a nearly 22% decrease in sales volume in the past week, with the number of NFT buyers and sellers also dropping by around 75%.
Kevin Rose Claims “Crypto Will Outperform NFTs” After $1.3 Million NFT Sales
Kevin Rose, the co-creator of the Moonbirds NFT collection, which is now owned by Yuga Labs, sold over $1.3 million worth of NFTs, stating that he believes “crypto will outperform” them. According to NFTScan data, one of Rose’s wallets sold approximately 330 ETH worth of NFTs in the past three weeks leading up to March 10th. This includes two sales totaling over 140 ETH. Rose also transferred a high-priced CryptoPunk NFT to another wallet.
In a now-deleted post on X, Rose mentioned that he has been “pruning” his NFT collection because he believes that mass adoption is still far off and that traditional cryptocurrencies will perform better. He clarified that the rumors of him selling everything are not true and that he continues to hold over 100 NFTs.
This comes after Yuga Labs acquired Rose’s company Proof, along with its NFT collections, including Moonbirds, Oddities, and Grails. Proof’s staff has been integrated into Yuga Labs, and Rose has joined the company as an advisor.
Other News
Automaker Nissan has transformed some of its old cars into a metaverse to educate people about traffic safety. The metaverse includes minigames that simulate a driver’s field of view and allow users to interact with a virtual steering wheel.
The upcoming Bitcoin halving event, which involves reducing mining rewards, could potentially lead to a surge in NFT prices as the increased interest in Bitcoin spills over into the NFT world.
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