A.R. Rahman, Australian Open Add To The NFT Momentum; Bitcoin, Shiba Inu Fall

Oscar-winning music composer A.R. Rahman has tied up with the HBAR Foundation on Thursday to create content for a non-fungible token (NFT) platform to support India's indie music community.  The foundation will provide a grant and organisational support to develop the NFT platform, which is to be launched in the first quarter of 2022. The new platform will enable independent musical artists to release content as NFTs, interact with fans, engage with their communities and help monetize their creations, Rahman added. 

"Thrilled to announce our partnership w/ @arrahman- Academy, Grammy & Golden Globe award-winning composer, producer, & musician - to create a #NFT music platform promoting independent Indian artists. A tremendous value for @Hedera ecosystem & India's vibrant music community," the HBAR Foundation tweeted. 

Another big name to ride the NFT tide is the Australian Open, which has become the first-ever Grand Slam championship to launch its own NFTs and a series of events on the Metaverse. “A new era. A new arena. Time to take tennis to another dimension. Introducing @aometaverse, more soon…” Australian Open tweeted on Thursday.  

 Meanwhile, prices of Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB) have plunged more than 8 per cent in the last 24 hours. The price of Bitcoin (BTC) was down by 8.25 per cent and was trading at $42,910.89 in the last 24 hours. Bitcoin dominance in the global crypto market was 39.93 per cent, up by 0.54 per cent in the last 24 hours.

Ethereum's (ETH) price fell by 12.08 per cent in the last 24 hours, and it was trading at $3,364.91. Binance Coin (BNB) was in the red, down by 9.28 per cent; it was trading at $464.65. Among other major coins, Solana (SOL) fell by 12.79 per cent to $148.49, while Cardano (ADA) was down by 9.74 per cent to $1.22.

 Meme Coins 

Like mainstream coins, all major meme coins such as Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Dogelon Mars (ELON), and Samoyedcoin (SAMO) witnessed a fall in the last 24 hours.  

 The price of Dogecoin on January 6, 2022, was $0.1571, down by 7.67 per cent in the last 24 hours. Rival Shiba Inu was down by 9.17 per cent and was trading at $0.0000298, Dogelon Mars (ELON) was down by 13.23 per cent and was trading at $0.000001325, while Samoyedcoin (SAMO) was trading at $0.03345 and recorded a fall of 12.82 per cent. 

Overall Scenario

The global crypto market cap was $2.02 trillion, registering a decrease of 10.79 per cent in the last 24 hours, while the total crypto market volume was $135.09 billion, down by 46.38 per cent.

NinjaFolki (NJF) became the biggest gainer, recording a rise of 1232.98 per cent; it was trading at $0.00004376 at 4:30 pm. On the other hand, yTSLA Finance (yTSLA) witnessed maximum loss, falling 100.00 per cent; it was trading at 0.000000000000002719. 

Latest Update 

Cryptocurrency-linked crime surged to a record high last year in terms of value, with illegal addresses receiving $14 billion in digital currencies, up 79 per cent from $7.8 billion in 2020, Reuters quoted a blog from blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis released on Thursday.

"Criminal abuse of cryptocurrency creates huge impediments for continued adoption, heightens the likelihood of restrictions being imposed by governments, and worst of all victimizes innocent people around the world," Reuters quoted Chainalysis.

Gurukula Kangri (Deemed to be University) situated at Haridwar, Uttrakhand has partnered with WazirX, crypto exchange, to provide a free course in blockchain technology, the press release stated.