There is no denying that NFTs are all of the hype at the moment. Only last year, NFTs became a $40 billion market. And, this is only the beginning! We're sure you have seen news stories about NFT artworks being in huge demand!

We’re seeing crazy interest in different NFTs, from digital art to in-game avatars, and Otherdeed NFTs are the latest to experience insane levels of demand. In this post, we will reveal everything you need to know. 

Before we take a look at Otherdeed NFTs in more depth, we must first explain what an NFT is. Non-fungible tokens, as the full name goes, provide a way of adding scarcity to a digital item, which then drives value. This means NFTs can be purchased, invested in, traded, collected, and so forth in the NFT marketplace.

Unlike Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, you cannot exchange one non-fungible token for another. It is unique and cannot be replaced on a like-for-like basis, which is what makes NFTs so highly valued.

On the 1st of May, Yuga Labs experienced unprecedented levels of demand for its Otherdeed NFTs, which are similar to “title deeds” yet they are for digital land plots in the Otherside metaverse.

Yuga Labs has quite the reputation when it comes to NFTs. they have also acquired the Meebits and CryptoPunks NFT collections, so you may be familiar with them.

Before we delve deeper into the sale itself, we’ll explain what Otherdeed NFTs are to give you a better understanding.

To understand Otherdeed NFTs, you first need to understand Bored Ape Yacht Club, which is often abbreviated to BAYC. This is an NFT collection and ecosystem that Yuga Labs has developed. 

There are around 10,000 Bored Ape NFTs that make up the BAYC collection. These NFTs are unique digital collectables that live on the Ethereum blockchain. 

Your Bored Ape will double up as your membership card for the Yacht Club, providing you with access to benefits that are just for members. The first of these benefits is what is known as ‘THE BATHROOM’ - a graffiti board that members can collaborate on. 

You can then unlock future perks and areas via roadmap activation. 

Every Bored Ape is unique and has been generated from more than 170 possible traits, including clothing, headwear, expression, and more. While all apes are amazing, some are rarer than others. 

The apes are stored on the Ethereum blockchain technology, as ERC-721 tokens and hosted on IPFS. It will cost you approximately 0.08 ETH to buy an ape.

ApeCoin, which is otherwise referred to as $APE, is an ERC-20 governance and utility token that is used within the APE ecosystem for the purpose of empowering a decentralised community building at the forefront of web3.

Some of the different things that $APE is used for are as follows:

Incentivisation - ApeCoin is a tool in the digital economy for third-party developers that enables them to take part in the ecosystem through the incorporation of APE into projects, including games and services. 

Access - You will be able to get access to different parts of the ecosystem by using $APE. These are areas that would not be available otherwise, such as services, events, merch, and exclusive games. 

Means of payment - $APE is the utility token for the ecosystem, meaning all participants can use an open, shared currency, without the need for centralised intermediaries. 

Governance - Finally, ApeCoin is also the governance token for the ecosystem, enabling holders of $APE to take part in ApeCoin DAO.

It is important to know that there is a fixed, permanent supply of ApeCoin, which is set at one billion tokens.

This total is never going to get greater, as there is no minting capability exposed through the interface of the contract. Moreover, any token burning capability is not exposed by the interface, so the total supply will never get lower.

Now that we have provided you with some all-important background information regarding BAYC, let’s look at Otherside. Back in the spring of 2019, Yuga Labs posted a tweet revealing that Otherside, a game powered by $APE, was going to launch this April and it would be based on BAYC.

More information started to come out about this exciting and fascinating game. It was set to be an MMORPG game whereby players can employ their NFTs as characters or native avatars. At the time, a report was published by Cointelegraph, where they stated that an investor pitch deck revealed that Yuga Labs anticipated earnings of $178 million by selling virtual lands, with APE being a de-factor to token to process these purchases. 

The date was then set; the Otherside land sale was to get underway on the 30th of April, with Yuga Labs letting everyone know exactly one week in advance.

A few days later we were given some details:

We were informed that you would need both ETH and ApeCoin in your wallet. While the mint would be exclusively in ApeCoin, some ETH would be required for gas. 

The mint was to have a Dutch style of auction, meaning the price of ApeCoin would actually reduce over time. 

For both MAYC holders and BAYC holders, they would be able to claim a non-fungible token for 21 days after the auction. In order to claim, KYC approval is not needed, but people did need to be KYC-approved for minting NFTs.

They also made it clear that any ApeCoin that would be earned from the auction would then be locked for up to one year, meaning it could not be used to vote in ApeCoin DAO.

So, what’s the Otherdeed side of things?

An “Otherdeed” is the key to your Otherside. If you hold an Otherdeed, you will have the ability to take part in prototype builds, demos, and tests so that you have a direct impact on the final design and experience the game provides. 

Moreover, each Otherdeed is also a dynamic NFT, created as a collection of elements, from Kodas to resources, which will evolve as you are moving component pieces around. 

More in-depth details about the ‘Otherside’ land sale

The Otherside contained 200,000 unique plots of land, which could be claimed using Otherdeeds once the Otherside world launched. 

It was the first 100,000 Otherdeeds that we made available on the 30th of April. We currently do not know about the next 100,000 Otherdeeds and when they will be revealed. 

The Otherdeed NFT mint was set to happen at 9 pm ET on the 30th of April, with a mint price established of 305 ApeCoin per Otherdeed. 

There were 55,000 Otherdeeds that were up for sale to be bought using KYCed wallets. 

In order to mint, there were four requirements that you needed to meet:

You needed to already be KYC approved by Blockpass

Anyone who held MAYC or BAYC NFTs was able to claim one Otherdeed for each BAYC or MAYC NFT they had. Once the first 100,000 Otherdeed NFTs were sold, MAYC and BAYC holders had 21 days to claim their Otherdeed NFTs.

When you purchase land, you will get a digital NFT artwork icon, which is a representation of the sediment your land boasts. Every sediment comes with a unique frame (environment), which goes with it. 

The dots on top of the icon represent how rare the land is, with tiers from one to five. Should there be an artefact in your land, it will be shown underneath the land, and the dots here represent resource rarity, with tiers from one to three. 

There will also be a token ID displayed if your land has a Koda. 

There are a total of 15 categories of traits for the land, which are as follows:

At the moment, there is still not as much clarity out there regarding each of the traits. However, what we must make clear is that even if you got three tiers in one trait, the overall value may not be as great as you would expect. 

They are important, though, as these traits combined will determine how rare your NFT is. 

Every Otherdeed NFT available is a dynamic one, created as part of a collection of all of its elements, from Kodas to resources. Rather than being a static representation of a piece of your land, your Otherdeed for Otherside is designed so that it evolves along with what you decide to do in the game. 

With these NFTs being dynamic, the possibility to evolve or upgrade could be there. Perhaps five or four dots are just the beginning? It is possible that people can evolve their land in a more enjoyable way with the resources they mine for it. Even if you begin on a lower tier, it does not mean it is the end of the road for you. You could make it richer in the future. Of course, this is all theoretical at the moment. 

We have mentioned Koda a few times now, and you may be wondering what on earth this is! Well, every plot of land is going to have the possibility of containing some rare artefacts, natural resources, and if you are very lucky, a Koda. 

A Koda is basically an Otherwise local, however, information is a bit short in terms of their role within the future metaverse. We know that they are important, though.

On the Otherside website, an introduction to the Kodas was posted. They were called the “primal beings” that ushered us into the Otherside. Helpfully, the introduction also said that we do not know what their affinity to the land is or why they have brought us here. But we have been told to tread cautiously if we meet a Koda. All very intriguing, right?

In the 100,000 plots of land parcels, there are only 10,000 Kodas. At the time of writing, the floor price for an Otherdeed with a Koda on it is approximately 20 ETH.

There have been some rumours that Kodas are going to become a separate PFP NFT project, but there has been no confirmation of this. 

What we do understand at the moment, though, is that a Koda is viewed as a stamp of rarity, so those who managed to bag one will definitely be feeling lucky. 

But as we will highlight a few times, this NFT collection is a dynamic one, and so this means you could potentially exchange Kodas with others in the future or airdrop one. We will have to wait and see.

How did the first 100,000 Otherdeed NFTs end up being distributed?

The first 100,000 non-fungible tokens were distributed in the following manner:

55,000 NFTs were purchased using ApeCoin for the Infinite Expanse, Cosmic Dream, and Rainbow Atmos

20,000 NFTs are for the MAYC claim, which is for the Chemical Goo on the swamp’s outskirts

10,000 NFTs are for the BAYC claim, which is for the Biogenic Swamp that is housed in the centre of the Otherwise

15,000 NFTs are for Yuga and other project developers for Infinite Expanse, Cosmic Dream, and Rainbow Atmos

According to statistics offered by Nansen, Otherdeed for Otherside was the top-selling collection of NFTs in the first few days of May. In fact, on the 3rd of May, statistics showed that around 11K ETH was spent within the previous 24-hour period.

These figures alone show that the Otherside metaverse land sale was a success. 

There was a crazy amount of demand for the land plots that were made available for purchase in the NFT marketplace as part of the Otherdeed sale. However, the sheer demand resulted in a number of issues. 

In terms of the size of this NFT mint and the huge levels of demand, it is fair to say that the sale was unprecedented. Yuga Labs released a statement stating that they had hoped that the unique challenges they faced would be dealt with thanks to a rigorous gating mechanism, which involved a significant clearing price at 305 ApeCoin, a maximum mint of two for every KYC’d wallet, and an on-chain KYC.

However, this was not enough to ensure that everything went smoothly. In fact, Etherscan crashed because the scale of the NFT mint was so big! Yuga Labs have since apologised for “turning off the lights on Ethereum for a while.” 

They have also said that it seems evident that ApeCoin is going to need to migrate to its own chain so that it can scale properly in the NFT market. 

Sadly, some users experienced failed transactions because of the huge levels of demand being forced through the Ethereum bottleneck. Yuga Labs said that for everyone to who this applies, they will be refunding your gas and they appreciate the willingness to build alongside them. 

Nevertheless, for those who missed out due to these issues, those kind words are unlikely to offer much solace. 

Ethereum’s rate reached a new high & people paid a lot in gas fees

If you delve into the NFT market a little deeper and engage on forums, you will see that a lot of people have been complaining about spending huge sums of money on gas fees.

Because of the Otherside NFT mint, the burning rate of Ethereum reached the highest it has ever been. In fact, users paid as much as five ETH in gas costs for a transaction. 

Even though Yuga Labs have since stated that they are refunding the gas fees, a lot of people have been left feeling dissatisfied with the mint. 

We saw that one transaction resulted in a user paying as much as 63,893.01 ETH in gas fees just to be able to mind lands on the Otherside metaverse. To give you some perspective, this currently equates to around $177 million in physical money.

What this means is that the fees ended up being higher than the actual cost of buying the underlying Otherdeed NFTs themselves, which is not what you want when completing NFT transactions.

It certainly resulted in some of the highest gas fees we have ever seen since the Ethereum network came about!

According to Will Papper, co-founder of Syndicate, a DAO infrastructure startup, simple code fixes could have lowered the gas fees. Many users were not happy that Yuga Labs did not have a gas-optimised smart contract for minting. 

Would Ethereum 2.0 have prevented this issue?

We all know that Ethereum 2.0 is on the way, with this expected to happen later in the year. This will see the network moving to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, which will reduce the carbon footprint Ethereum has. 

One of the major changes that are particularly relevant here - sharding - is not anticipated until next year. This is expected to increase transaction speeds while cutting gas fees in the open marketplace. 

Despite this, a lot of analysts anticipate that Ethereum’s Layer 2 networks will take on more of the transactions on the Ethereum network. And different Layer 1 blockchains, like Cardano, Solana, and Avalanche, are trying to compete for the developers on Ethereum. 

In Yuga Labs’ response to the issue, they said that creating their own chain for ApeCoin seemed to be the needed solution. 

ApeCoin DAO could establish its own blockchain network. Given the issues facing Ethereum, it would make sense. However, it is no easy task, and it takes a lot of time.

Nonetheless, this could be a huge benefit for Yuga Labs, as they look to compete with other metaverse projects, such as Sandbox and Decentraland, which both use tokens based on Ethereum.  

ApeCoin prices and scrapping the Dutch auction

Earlier, we told you that Yuga Labs was planning a Dutch auction. Well, this approach ended up being scrapped, which many people are attributing to the fluctuations in ApeCoin prices.

When ApeCoin first came about on the 17th of March, it sold at $5. On the 28th of April, just before the NFT mint, it reached an all-time high of $26.70. However, after the sale on the 30th of April, ApeCoin fell from $24.86 down to $167.3, which may surprise a lot of people.

However, the reduced ApeCoin demand may have happened because of Yuga Labs backtracking on the Dutch auction. Instead, they sold the Otherdeed NFTs at a flat price. 

The rise and fall of the prices of ApeCoin simply reflect the good old game of supply and demand.

To begin with, the market is red all around, with collectors looking to sell NFTs so that they can purchase land on Otherside. A lot of users sold their blue-chip projects to do this, which caused the floor price of blue-chip projects to decrease.

However, we have now seen that the floor prices of blue chips are more stable, with some even on the increase. This happened after the Otherside land sale. Blue chips, especially Doodles, have never been stronger.

The floor price of Doodles increased by a monumental 38 per cent over the previous seven days, at an ATH of 25.25 ETH.

Once the Otherside land sale concluded, holders of Otherwise who quickly flipped are using the profits they turned to put them into other blue-chip projects. So, we are certain that blue chips are only going to get stronger and stronger.

Final words on Otherdeed for Otherside NFTs

So there you have it: everything you need to know about Otherdeed for Otherside NFTs. There is no denying that this NFT collection has caused quite a storm over the past months.

With demand being so high, a lot of people ended up being disappointed due to failed transactions, and the gas fees also caused quite an uproar.

However, there is no denying that the sale itself was a success, and it is intriguing to see how these NFTs are going to play out over the next few months and when the remaining 100,000 will be made available.

Otherdeed by Otherside | Learn all you need to know about the new collection by the creators of Bored Ape Yacht Club from the NFT experts at Fracas Digital

Otherdeed By Otherside | Fracas Digital NFT

Otherdeed For Otherside Everything You Need To Know

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few years, you will at some point have overheard someone talking about NFTs, and it's gotten to the point now that you can no longer just nod and smile politely whenever they get brought up in conversation, as you pretend to know what the other person is talking about. To start with, NFT stands for non fungible token, and it was awarded 'word of the year' by Collins Dictionary in 2021. Non fungible tokens have become increasingly popular ever since they first came to be in 2014, and a whopping £123 million has been spent on this new phenomenon since November 2017, but what is an NFT exactly? And why is selling and owning NFTs the current hottest trend? This article promises to provide you with the answers to all of your NFT related questions, whether you are looking to buy NFTs, find out how NFTs work, or are just wanting to understand the hype surrounding the NFT space and the impact of buying and selling a mere digital file is having on the world today.

So, now you know what NFT stands for, you're still none the wiser about what a non fungible token is, and maybe you're even asking yourself "what on earth are fungible tokens?", or what does the word fungible even mean?

Well, if something is fungible then it means that it can be replaced by another item that is identical to it. If something is non-fungible, then it means it cannot be replaced and therefore it makes it totally unique - it's a one of a kind. To put it simply, physical assets such as a loaf of bread would be a prime example of a fungible item in the real world - it's fungible because you can easily find another identical loaf of bread in your local supermarket as it is not exactly special as far as physical assets go. Any other loaf of bread would suffice as there is nothing about it that is unique or individual, or anything about it that distinguishes it from any of the other loaves of bread in the supermarket. Another instance would be money, a pound coin can be traded for another pound coin, and it will still be worth the same. An example of a fungible item/token in the virtual world is a Bitcoin, which is a type of cryptocurrency. If you trade one Bitcoin for another Bitcoin, then what you receive will be the same as what you gave away through the exchange. Each Bitcoin is worth the same as any other Bitcoin - it's fungible.

Non fungible tokens, digital content and NFT artwork

In contrast to this, a Starry Night by van Gogh would be an example of a non-fungible item. There may be copies of the physical art printed and distributed (these would be examples of fungible items) but there is only one true original that is irreplaceable and that is the first Starry Night painted and touched by van Gogh himself, and it is this uniqueness that gives the item its value - with an estimated value of over £100 million, if you're interested. To put this into context, the viral Charlie Bit My Finger video of 2007 sold for £500,000 back in May as an NFT. Think of it like this - the Starry Night painting is a real-world object, and a physical artwork, whereas the NFT (in this instance, the Charlie Bit Me clip) is a digital asset that represents this. It's the physical reality and the virtual reality. The Charlie Bit My Finger video is but one example of many.

Adding value to objects is not a new concept and has existed for a long time prior to NFTs - (again just look at the art world), but with the rapid advancement of technology and the internet, it makes sense that people would look to do the same thing in a non-physical way, including digital art. Buying and selling digital art as NFTs through the NFT market is undoubtedly the most popular of NFT exchanges as it reduces an artists need to sell their artwork through galleries and art fairs, yet enables artists to get their work out to the public as well as enabling monetisation. However, their art is created digitally as an NFT and instead of making the NFT purchase with physical money or through the bank, the artwork is purchased using a digital wallet which holds cryptocurrency (such as Bitcoin or Ethereum) via something that is known as blockchain technology.

The difference between cryptocurrency and Non Fungible Tokens NFT

Cryptocurrencies are possible because of the blockchain, and they are built using the same programming as NFTs, but their similarities end there. The fungibility of cryptocurrency means that each Bitcoin and Ethereum holds the same amount of value, therefore making it a reliable means for NFT transactions and those looking to buy NFTs.

As we now know, if something is a non fungible token, then it does not share the same amount of value as another non fungible token due to each one being unique. For instance, the Charlie Bit My Finger video is not equal to the Earth and Mars videos by Grimes, due to the mere fact that they both are NFTs. This is what makes crypto and NFTs different.

A blockchain network (such as the Ethereum network) is a public and unchanging digital ledger that ensures transactions are being recorded and assets are being tracked within a business network.  This gives us the T in NFT, which as we know stands for token, and it is through the blockchain that NFTs exist. The blockchain stores a list of entries which cannot be altered once they are created.

NFTs are typically held on Ethereum, but there are other blockchains that support them as well, such as Solana.

The Ethereum blockchain and the Bored Ape Yacht Club

The Bored Ape Yacht Club is a collection of 10,000 Bored Ape NFTs living on the Ethereum blockchain. Created by Yuga Labs, the BAYC is an NFT project that has a library of NFT art consisting of characters with unique traits, and considered to be some of the most sought after digital collectibles from an NFT provider, even being bought by celebrities including Justin Bieber and Snoop Dogg.

Ether is the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain, and one of the main NFT projects living on their blockchain happens to be BAYC. The blockchain has computing power which secures the ownership of the NFT, providing a greater peace of mind for those buying NFTs - meaning that Justin Bieber and Snoop Dogg, for example, have the certified authentication that they are the only owners of their particular BAYC digital art.

The process of creating a non fungible token is called "minting". It is done by turning a digital nonfungible item into a digital asset on the blockchain. Making an NFT, or "minting" will cost next to nothing, but to sell NFTs it can cost up to a thousand dollars - and there is no guarantee that it will even sell!

Digital assets such as drawings, music, a video clip, gifs and even tweets are being bought and sold for millions {the first ever tweet was recently sold for a staggering $2, 915, 835.47}, however, as we've already learnt, much of the current hype around NFTs is using this computing power to sell digital art, and a lot of this digital art is being sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

This poses the question as to why people are willing to spend this much money on digital assets, which is something that can ultimately be screenshotted and viewed online free of charge. The answer is that the person buying the NFT will have the sole ownership of the unique digital token as it comes with its very own digital signature (whether it’s the first ever tweet sold, a video clip of an NBA top shot, or a cat gif selling for over half a million dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency) thus granting them some serious bragging rights, and for many digital collectors, this certified ownership holds more value to the NFT owner than the item itself. Like Bieber and Snoop!

If it has been screenshotted then it’s not the original, therefore it has very little value, but a one of a kind means high prices and in the NFT world, digital scarcity is what matters the most.

NFTs unique data makes purchasing these digital collectibles all the more appealing. The identifying information of the NFT (the digital signature attached) is recorded in a smart contract. These smart contracts are programmes that are stored on a blockchain, such as the Ethereum blockchain mentioned above, and they run when all predetermined conditions between the buyer and the person selling NFTs are met. It is this information that makes every NFT unique - no two NFTs are the same. Each token has a non-transferable, unique identity that distinguishes it from other digital tokens.

OpenSea is one of the largest NFT marketplaces, professing to be the premier destination to browse, buy and sell NFTs including music, digital collectables, digital artwork and gaming items. Digital artists are selling their NFT art which now ultimately has the same value as real world items and actual physical art. It continues to grow in popularity as a choice made by NFT creators to sell their digital artwork through NFT markets, such as OpenSea. Some people have now even begun trading NFTs of the same value through the NFT marketplace, trading digital content with equally high prices. Not only can users browse digital collectables, but they can even browse NFT collections for digital real estate (more on that later).

Another popular NFT marketplace is LooksRare, which is a site that rewards users for their participation.

Through NFT trading, people are learning to make a lot of money and NFT collections may even one day surpass ownership of the physical asset as NFT sales soar and the digital economy rises. However, it is not just artists that are profiting from this. Many brands have jumped onto the NFT bandwagon as a way to market their product. Food brands like McDonalds and Taco Bell, and fashion brands such as Nike and Gucci are using NFTs for marketing purposes, creating one of a kind digital collectibles and selling them as a limited edition. These brands are using NFTs in innovative ways not only to gain traction and revenue for their brand, but to boost their social media following, support a campaign or a charity for a good cause or a movement.

With the popularity of NFTs on the rise, another obvious direction for NFT tokens is fundraising. NFTs can be a fantastic way to make money through auctioning, which allows such organisations to raise money for their cause. It also promotes awareness for the charity and the cause, as well as appealing to a new and wider audience.

Use of NFTs in virtual real estate is still a relatively new concept, but it's still a thing nonetheless. As with any other NFT, purchases are made using the cryptocurrency that the NFT provider accepts.

Digital land and buildings exists in the virtual world, which is often referred to as "the metaverse". A place where users can construct anything they want using popular platforms such as Minecraft or Roblox. Surprisingly though, NFTs and buying property doesn't just begin and end in the metaverse. NFT real estate can also represent property in the physical world! Physical establishments and even land can be tokenised and represented as an NFT, and the first official NFT house was sold in Florida in 2022. There really is no stopping the NFT!

Now, more than ever - humans are spending more and more time online, and with the emergence of social media, interaction and communication with people all over the world in various time zones has never been easier. Whether it's selling artwork, or buying plots of land - the subject of NFTs remains to be the topic on everybody's lips, and now that you are a fountain of knowledge on the matter, who knows? Maybe you can look toward selling your own digital art, acquire the ownership of a viral video, sell your own viral video, or even buy your next home. The possibilities really are endless.

What Is an NFT | Learn all you need to know about NFTs from the experts at Fracas Digital

What Is an NFT? | Fracas Digital

A blockchain is a record of transactions of digital assets across all computer system networks. Each block in a blockchain consists of several online transactions, with any new recorded transactions being automatically distributed throughout the entire network of computer systems. Blockchains are most famously known for their significance within cryptocurrencies and are mostly decentralised.

Decentralisation is fundamental to blockchain technology. With decentralisation, no one has the ability to control the data. This means that no transactions can therefore be overridden and the system can be at its strongest. Decentralisation builds trust that data cannot be modified, and is verified and virtually impossible for it to be hacked or tampered with.

A blockchain is a type of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) which in other words is a database managed by several participants. Blockchains in particular are a DLT where transaction data is recorded with the use of a cryptographic sign known as a hash. This means that if there were any suspicious activities with any block, it would be evident immediately that someone is trying to violate them.

It is a secure system that stores information in a way that makes it almost impossible to hack into and exploit. All records are encrypted individually, meaning that if a hacker wanted to hack into a blockchain system, they would have to work on all blocks in the blockchain across all versions distributed.

There are many examples of secure blockchains such as the well-known cryptocurrencies Bitcoin blockchain and Ethereum blockchain which are continuously rising with blocks being added to their chain, and this has a significant impact on the security.

There are different types of blockchains in general. This includes private blockchains, public blockchains, and hybrid blockchains. The main types of blockchain will be explained further below.

Private blockchains, also known as managed blockchains are not necessarily decentralised, as the general public does not have access to them. Private blockchains require permission to be able to access them and are controlled by the organization of the blockchain itself. An example of private blockchain networks would be a business-to-business digital currency such as currencies like Ripple. The most common private blockchains include Ripple and Hyperledger

Advantages of private blockchain networks

One of the main advantages of a private blockchain is speed. As private blockchains have fewer participants, it takes less time for the network to reach a consensus, meaning that more transactions can be recorded in less time. Private blockchains are able to process and record thousands of transactions per second and when comparing this to public blockchains such as Bitcoin, this is a lot faster.

Another advantage is that private blockchains are a lot more scalable. Because it is centralized, the decision-making process is a lot faster and as only a few nodes are responsible for managing data, the network can process a lot more transactions.

Disadvantages of private blockchain networks

However, there are also drawbacks to private blockchains. The fact that they are not decentralized, is one of the biggest disadvantages. Blockchain was initially introduced to avoid centralization but because of its private network, private blockchains automatically become centralized.

Another disadvantage would be trust. As the validity of records cannot be independently verified by all participants, there is less trust around public blockchains, therefore fewer people find these secure.

This being said, security is in fact another issue with private blockchains. As there are fewer nodes, it becomes a lot easier for hackers to gain control of the network using malicious methods. This means private blockchains are at more of a risk of being hacked into.

Public blockchain networks allow anyone to join and no one needs any sort of permission before becoming a member. These are completely decentralised and allow all nodes to have equal rights in regard to accessing the blockchain. Currently, public blockchains are mainly used to buy and sell cryptocurrency as well as mining. There are many well-known examples of such blockchains such as Bitcoin network, Ethereum network, and many more.

One of the biggest advantages of using a public blockchain is that there is no issue of trust. Everything has to be recorded in public blockchains and therefore cannot be changed. This means that everyone is encouraged to do what is right for the benefit of the network.

Another main advantage of these is security. It is said that the more decentralised and active a blockchain is, the more secure it will be. With there being many people working on the network, it is almost impossible for any type of attack to occur. It is extremely unlikely for any hackers to gain control or tamper with anything.

In addition to the above, another advantage is transparency. All data that is related to transactions are open to the public for them to verify. Transparency in blockchains increases their overall use.

One of the biggest problems with public blockchain is speed. An example would be Bitcoin which is extremely slow and only able to process seven transactions per second which is a major let down compared to others such as Visa, which can manage 24,000 transactions per second. The reason for them being so slow-paced is due to the amount of time it takes to process each block.

Another issue would be energy consumption. Most algorithms rely on proof-of-work which results in using a lot of electricity in order to function. There are however other algorithms such as proof-of-stake, which use much less electricity that they could consider using instead.

Before discussing the final type of blockchain, there will be a small overview of public and private blockchains, showing how similar and different they can be from one another. Both private and public blockchains are similar in many ways.

Firstly, both blockchains can add records but cannot be changed or deleted, meaning they’re unalterable. In order to verify the validity of any records, the majority have to agree on the validity, meaning they aren’t able to tamper with anything and this actually makes it a lot more secure.

Although they have their similarities, public and private blockchains also have differences. The main difference is the amount of access that participants are given. Considering the principle of decentralisation and to practice it in its fullest extent, public blockchains are completely open and anyone can take part by adding and contributing in the verification of data. The most common and well known examples of public blockchains are Bitcoin and Ethereum. Both of these types of cryptocurrencies have been created with open source computing codes, which can be in use and looked at by anyone.

In opposition, a private blockchain only allows specific individuals to take part in a closed network. Participants are given certain rights as well as restrictions in the network, meaning some can have as much as full access, whereas others would have limited access of the network. This being said, private blockchains are more centralised in nature as not many are in control.

In addition to the above, another point to take into account would be that public blockchains also allow anonymity to a certain extent whereas private blockchains do not. An example of this would be that anyone can buy and sell a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin without showing their identity, as it allows the equal treatment of everyone. On the other hand, in private blockchains, participants have to show their identity. This is mainly because private blockchains are used in business-to-business situations where it is essential to show ones identity.

A hybrid blockchain is a unique type of blockchain technology that combines elements of both public and private blockchains or tries to use the best parts of both blockchains.

Transactions and any records in a hybrid blockchain are made private, however, can be verified when required. This in other words would mean that access can be given through a smart contract. Private data will be kept inside the network, but can still be verified publicly. The difference it has from private blockchains is that, although a private body might own the hybrid blockchain, they do not have the ability to change transactions.

A new user joining a hybrid blockchain has complete access to the network. Their identity is protected from other users until they take part in any sort of transaction. By making a transaction, their identity is shown to other users.

Hybrid blockchains can prove to be beneficial in many aspects. To start with, a hybrid blockchain protects privacy whilst enabling communication with third parties. Hackers cannot attack even after having 51% to tamper with the network. The reason for this is that hybrid blockchains operate within a closed ecosystem.

Transactions taking place in a hybrid blockchain are cheaper and quicker, along with there being more scalability than a public blockchain network would have. Transactions prove to be cheaper due to there being fewer nodes to verify them in hybrid blockchains.

Hybrid blockchain participants have the ability to choose the participants or decide whether each transaction should be made public. This being the case, guarantees that businesses can use these blockchains in a professional manner.

Although hybrid blockchains have their private side, they still have reliability, security, and transparency whilst being subject to being fully customised.

Hybrid blockchains have been used in global finance and trade, banking, supply chains, within governments, and in many other ways.

Disadvantages of hybrid blockchain networks

It is harder for individuals to implement hybrid blockchains efficiently.

Although public blockchains are more affordable and public, the result from using hybrid blockchains make it worth the money with the results they give.

The first decentralised blockchain was bought in theory by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008, and further launched in 2009. Satoshi had initially created bitcoin to be a form of currency that could be used and sent peer-to-peer without having the involvement of a central bank or any sort of authority to operate and maintain the ledger, unlike how physical cash is.

Although it wasn’t the first digital currency to have been proposed, Bitcoin did in fact solve many issues in the field and to date has been the most successful and well-known digital currency.

The system designed by Satoshi that runs Bitcoin is known as the blockchain. This is the original and largest blockchain and still stores bitcoin transactions as of today.

Non-Fungible Tokens, also referred to as NFTs are blockchain-based tokens that individually represent a unique asset which can be anything, such as art, media, or digital content. In other words, an NFT is irrevocable digital ownership and authorization for a given asset regardless of whether it is digital or physical. Nonfungible, unlike something fungible, is something that cannot be replaceable. Examples of such NFTs would be the original Mona Lisa art piece which is one of a kind and cannot be replaced, as well as the video of Charlie Bit My Finger that went viral and was sold last May for $500,000. NFT is based on hype as the word has been growing recently with many people taking part in investing in these tokens.

The connection between NFTs and Blockchain

Most NFTs are based on a blockchain named Ethereum. As of now, Ethereum generates a lot of electricity to be able to run these blockchains. Within the last year, the amount of electricity used has increased extremely and there are no signs of any decrease in this in the coming future. NFTs and Ethereum have solved some issues that come with assets on the internet. With everything being digital, it is important to restore the uniqueness of each asset as well as some sort of proof of its ownership. NFTs are mainly bought and sold online, and most are usually bought using cryptocurrencies. They are also encoded with the same software as a lot of cryptocurrencies are encoded by.

There can only be one owner of each NFT at a time and they are well secured by the Ethereum blockchain. This means that no one can make changes to any records of ownership or add new NFTs.

Despite NFTs existing since 2014, it is only recently that NFTs are gaining more hype and are becoming a progressively popular way to buy and sell assets such as digital artwork online. There has been over $120 million spent already on NFTs within the last few years.

The range for NFTs is anything that is one of a kind that needs to have its ownership proved. These can be anything consisting of digital artwork, videos, sports highlights, images, music, and many other assets. Even tweets have been used as NFTs with the famous example of the Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey selling his first tweet as an NFT for over £2 million.

NFTs are most of the time unique which increases the value and demand of the assets. However, many NFTs already have several digital creations that exist in different forms elsewhere. Using the example again of the viral video Charlie Bit My Finger, it has many copies already over YouTube and other websites and platforms.

There have been speculations of individuals questioning why people invest so much in digital images or art when they can view these for free online. a valid reason for this would be that an NFT allows the buyer to have full control and own the original item. In addition to this, it also adds in authentication which would be regarded as proof of ownership. Generally, anyone collecting NFTs value these rights almost as much as, or more than the actual item. Blockchain technology and NFTs give artists and content writers a big chance of selling their work. This makes it a lot easier as artists don’t have to go through the hassle of showing their work in galleries or auctions and can instead directly sell as an NFT to buyers. This is also more beneficial as they can keep more of the profit that they earn.

A lot have confused NFTs with cryptocurrency. They are merely similar only on the basis that they have similar programming. Cryptocurrency is more of a fungible currency whereas NFTs are a lot different. Each NFT has a digital signature which makes it difficult for NFTs to be exchanged or for them to equal each other.

In order to buy NFTs, there are a few things to keep in mind. Firstly, there is a requirement for a digital wallet to store the NFTs. Most likely, in order to purchase the NFT, buyers will have to purchase some of whichever cryptocurrency the NFT provider accepts, such as Ethereum which they can use to invest in the NFT. A drawback of this is that it will cost a percentage of the transaction when exchanging from crypto to NFT.

NFTs have their risks as their outcome is unforeseeable. As they are so new, usually individuals invest small amounts to start trying it out. It is really a personal decision as to whether an individual wants to invest in buying NFTs as it comes with its benefits and risks. It all depends on how much in demand they are.

In today's day and age, it is hard to claim ownership of certain assets and to divide them between more than one owner. With NFTs in place, it is a lot easier to divide a digital asset between several owners.

The blockchain technology behind NFTs is secure. As NFTs are created by blockchain, it is almost impossible to hack, tamper with or delete any data.

NFTs can show a broadening benefit to one's investment portfolio. As they are different from other investments like stocks, they offer advantages that are still being uncovered.

NFTs are not understood well by a majority of the public as it is something fairly new for many. As they are quite difficult to trade, the number of potential buyers and sellers is not very high.

NFTs do not necessarily produce income. They do not offer any owners any sort of guaranteed income or any income at all. It is all based on the demand for the items.

NFTs have been subject to being used for fraudulent purposes, meaning they can be subject to fraudulent transactions. Even though it has been created by a blockchain that is unquestionably secure, NFTs can still be used in many wrong ways. An example of this is that many artists have recently discovered their work for sale in the form of an NFT without their consent. This is a violation of the uses NFT has been made for. This shows it is hard to ensure that the specific work is original or not.

NFTs are not environmentally friendly. As mentioned above, a huge amount of electricity is used to create and record blockchains, as well as the ongoing debate around the potential harm this will cause in the long run.

Web 3.0 is the next evolution of the internet involving blockchains and the use of decentralisation. In this, members will have full control over the content that they provide as well as how private or public they want their data to be. This means that users can post anything, anywhere without worrying about it being removed if reported. This consists of groups of programs supported by cryptocurrencies that work together to create an ecosystem of decentralized internet services. This includes anything such as social media, news, search engines and open forums.

Web 3.0 has been remade to allow users to not have to be dependent on corporations or the government. This means that they are free to do as they wish.

With web 3.0, companies will not have any CEOs or anyone specifically in charge. They will be run by a voting system where the majority will have success. There will also be no censorship or removal by any authorities on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter

Another factor with web 3.0 is that one's personal identity will not necessarily match their digital identity. This means that people can do anything online such as shopping, playing games, and downloading content without being traced, as there are many ways for participants to anonymize themselves.

Cryptocurrency networks evolving with Web 3.0

The future of web 3.0 could also introduce being able to do shopping or buy stuff online for example by using amazon and paying using metamask. This means that it could also allow the possibility of using cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum to pay for items bought online. This all will not necessarily come into place at once. It will take time to get rid of centralized companies such as Facebook and Google which collect data and make it more decentralised, but will be seen as a work in progress and will change over time.

Blockchain technology has been continuously progressing, and will most definitely continue to change with its ongoing popularity. Blockchain is overall about accessibility and can be used in private or public ways with chances of them both even combining in the future.

It is expected that blockchain will continue to grow in the coming years. Knowing that it is only the start of discovering the capabilities of blockchain, it has the ability to fundamentally bring big changes in the coming future.

What Is Blockchain | Learn all you need to know about the Blockchain from the NFT experts at Fracas Digital

What Is Blockchain? | Fracas Digital NFT

From Yuga Labs, a super power in the NFT space and the original intellectual creators of the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection and owner of Cryptopunk, comes the ApeCoin. There is much speculation that ApeCoin could start another NFT boom and change the face of the NFT space as we know it, but what is an ApeCoin and what changes are in store for the NFT space. 

According to the ApeCoin’s official website, the token is, “a decentralised protocol layer for community-led initiatives that drive culture forward into the metaverse”. ApeCoin, or APE, is an ERC-20 token built using the Ethereum frameworks which aims to decentralise power to the APE currency owning community. For each Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT bought, owners are entitled to 10,094 APE, around $150,000 at the time of writing. 

For the first 90 days of ApeCoin’s existence, anyone who held some combination of NFTs from the Bored Ape Yacht Club and its two spin-off collections, the Mutant Ape Yacht Club and the Bored Ape Kennel Club, can claim a certain amount of APE from ApeCoin’s website. One APE is currently worth about $14 and the total supply of tokens is capped at one billion, not all of which is currently in circulation and, so far, around 110 million APE tokens have been claimed by NFT holders.

All owners of ApeCoins are able to participate in a shared and open currency exchange that can be used without centralised intermediaries. If you own ApeCoin, you can vote on what the APE ecosystems implements allowing greater power to users of the platform. ApeCoin also provides access to certain parts of the ecosystem which would otherwise be unavailable such as exclusive games, merch, events and services. ApeCoin is being speculated to be implemented into other ecosystems which will bolster the use case and give more value to ApeCoin over time. Nearly every major coin exchange already has the coin for sale, showing it is here to stay and a credible currency. 

ApeCoin has been dropped by Yuga Labs to users within their ecosystem. So, if you held a Bored Ape, a Mutant Ape, or a Kennel Club you are eligible to get a present amount of ApeCoin for free during the “airdrop” intended to kick start the cryptocurrencies ecosystem. 

ApeCoin DAO, a new organisational unit governed entirely by token holders. Holding APE makes you an automatic member of the DAO, an online collective centred around crypto with owning a Bored Ape NFT being non essential to join the collective. ApeCoin DAO makes proposals to the community, for the community, which token holders can then vote on. 

what is ApeCoin ? | here is all you need to know from the NFT experts at Fracas Digital