Wed 07/03

Good Morning. Our Referral program is live. Please see the bottom of the letter for more details 😀 . Today we have written about how the Indian insurance industry plans on using blockchain, Ethereum founder dumped a tonne of altcoins and WeChat starts accepting CBDC.

â‚č Bowled.io, A Gaming Platform Based On Blockchain Technology, Comes To Shark Tank India: On Shark Tank India, co-founders Akshay Khandelwal and Rahul Singh presented Bowled.io, a blockchain-based NFT gaming platform where cricket fans can earn money, and sought Rs 80 lakh for a 1% equity stake; the platform has already been active in over 125 countries with more than 300,000 games played, and Harsha Bhogle has recently joined as a strategic investor; although the co-founders did not secure a deal on the show, they received valuable business advice from the sharks. On the platform, users can access games, acquire in-game items, join tournaments, and complete the blockchain gaming cycle using the platform's in-game asset utility and wallet.

📝 The Insurance Industry In India Is Considering The Use Of Blockchain Technology To Stimulate Innovation: At the IVCA Conclave 2023, Debasish Panda, the Chairman of India's Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI), announced that the agency is exploring the use of blockchain and Web3 technologies to enhance the country's insurance industry. Panda stated that the industry is interested in leveraging global digitization trends and that blockchain can enable real-time monitoring of road conditions and routes to adjust insurance costs accordingly. Additionally, smart contracts can automate the payout process, bypassing bureaucratic procedures that traditionally cause delays.

🚀 Near Protocol Launches Blockchain Operating System: At ETHDenver 2023, Near Protocol announced the launch of their new blockchain operating system that aims to enhance the user experience on Web3. The system is designed to provide a common platform for users to browse and discover open web resources, and it can be used with any blockchain or Web2 backend. The Blockchain Operating System (BOS) offers a seamless user experience, allowing users to switch between applications and chains without having to use multiple apps. For developers, BOS promises to provide decentralized and composable frontends, with built-in features such as payments, profiles, and notifications, without the need for hosting. In an interview with Cointelegraph, Near co-founder Illia Polosukhin compared the BOS to iOS, stating that it provides a platform for developers to build on and offers distribution and infrastructure services.

🛒 Vitalik Goes On Altcoin Dumping Spree: Vitalik Buterin, one of the co-founders of Ethereum, has faced criticism in the form of memes after he sold off several low-cap alt-coins in the early morning hours. Buterin sold 50 billion Mops for 1.25 Ethereum (worth $2,000), 10 billion Cult for 58 Ethereum (worth $91,000), and 500 trillion Shik for 380 Ethereum (worth $600,000). Twitter users reacted with humor and speculation, suggesting that Buterin sold off the tokens either to avoid taxes or due to the bear market situation. The tokens' prices naturally crashed after the transactions, except for Mops, which inexplicably surged by over 85%. Cult saw a decrease of over 8%, Shik nearly 70%, and BITE over 6%. Despite this, the tokens have benefited from the attention, with Mops surging by 216% in value over the last 24 hours.

đŸ§Ÿ WeChat Starts Accepting CBDC Payments In China: WeChat Pay, the payment arm of WeChat, with more than one billion monthly active users has started accepting digital yuan. The platform currently allows payments for specific transactions, such as McDonald's orders and bill payments, but is expected to enable direct transactions between users in the future. WeChat Pay is the second platform to support the digital yuan, with Alibaba Group's Alipay being the first. It is worth noting that WeChat Pay is owned by Tencent Holdings, which is Alibaba's main competitor. Chinese financial institutions are making efforts to increase digital yuan adoption, with six banks launching several CBDC-focused products and services to attract users and boost adoption a few months after the digital yuan's pilot program launch.

What Is Goerli Eth: Goerli, also known as Görli, was initially introduced in September 2018 and is one of Ethereum’s most prominent testnets. What’s more, it is one of two primary testnets – along with Sepolia – that have not been deprecated. The Goerli testnet started as an ETHBerlin hackathon project; however, it was not until early 2019 that the testnet officially launched at GörliCon in Berlin. It will be killed within the next 12 months as per the latest announcement.