The hype around non-fungible tokens (NFTs) continues to escalate as demand for primary sales is only growing higher.

The last manifestation of this was earlier during the BossLogic NFT drop that took place on the OpenSea marketplace, causing it to essentially crash under the high traffic.

OpenSea Crashes as Traffic Surges

OpenSea, touted as the largest NFT marketplace crashed last night under a serious surge in traffic caused by an NFT drop.

The platform took it to Twitter to explain what happened:

Outage notice: the Bosslogic drop caused a 2X surge in traffic at 19:30 UTC, ultimately causing two spikes of failed requests, at 19:50 and 20:40.

The issue was our servers’ ability to reclaim memory. We will have a fix out shortly, but sincerely apologize to all affected!

Naturally, this caused some users to be upset because they’d lost gas fees as a result of the outage. The team responded that they “will not have to pay gas the next time you bid, for the next auction – that cost is only for the first time you ever bid on anything (converting ETH to wrapped ETH).”

BossLogic’s NFT Drop

BossLogic is a well-known artist with almost half a million followers on Twitter and a lot more across different social media platforms.

His latest NFT drop was through a partnership with Ethernity chain to offer 2501 pieces of art to the very first lucky community members.

The tokens were sold for 0.299 ETH and each one of them represented digital artwork that’s featured in the collection.

This latest NFT drop is the latest to create massive hype around it. As CryptoPotato reported yesterday, the interest surrounding non-fungible tokens have surpassed that of ICOs from back during their peak in early 2018. This has caused many people to believe that they are in a state of a bubble.

Featured image courtesy of Inverse

The institutional bitcoin frenzy continues to spread like an epidemic. After several United States mega corporations added the digital currency to their balance sheet, the floodgates have been opened to major institutions across the world. Norwegian holding company Aker ASA said today that it will establish a new unit dedicated to bitcoin investment and the digital asset’s underlying technology.

Miss Out? “No Way”!

Asian smartphone giants, Meitu yesterday joined the league of institutional bitcoin adopters, as reported by CryptoPotato. With the future of modern-day finance hanging in the balance, companies investing reserve cash in bitcoin is widely becoming a norm rather than an exception. The latest to embrace bitcoin is Norwegian holdings, Aker ASA. It made the announcement in a press release this morning.

Aker ASA is going a step beyond investing in the leading digital currency. It will set up a company devoted to investing in bitcoin and blockchain technology. The new company called “Setee AS” will actively participate in the cryptocurrency space by collaborating with other industry players. It will also invest in other companies with healthy prospects in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry.

The company which majors in offshore fishing, construction, and engineering said it would convert all its liquid assets to bitcoin. The new dedicated bitcoin unit will have a capital of around 500 million Norwegian crowns (approximately $58.6 million).

.. With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

According to Aker, the operation of the new entity will span beyond bitcoin investment. The unit is expected to leverage the capabilities of its parent organization to pursue innovations in cybersecurity, financial transactions, and emissions-free verification operations. As part of the latter, the company will research and work on alternative ways to verify bitcoin transactions in a more environmentally friendly manner.

To set the ball rolling, Setee is collaborating with a Canadian global leader in Bitcoin and blockchain technologies, Blockstream. President and CEO of Aker ASA, Øyvind Eriksen, spoke on the launch of Setee and its first partnership.

“With the launch of Seetee, the Aker Group makes another move into software and fintech. We are very excited about the industrial opportunities that will be unlocked by Bitcoin and blockchain technology, and want to contribute forcefully to that effort. These technologies have the potential to reduce frictions in our day to day lives, enhance the security of our digitally driven economies, and unlock new business models for innovation. We look forward to addressing these and other applications together with Blockstream and other partners”

Aker AS is owned by Norwegian billionaire businessman Kjell Inge Rokke. Rokke shared a letter concerning the latest development to the company’s stakeholders. In the letter, he wrote:

First, we will use bit­coin as our trea­sury as­set and join the com­mu­ni­ty. In Bit­coin speak, we will be hodlers. We will be dif­fer­ent, but ad­di­tive.

Yet another Bitcoin ETF is to reach the markets in Canada as the country’s securities regulator has issued “a receipt for the final prospectus” for CI Global Asset Management’s application. Dubbed CI Galaxy Bitcoin ETF (BTCX), it’s expected to launch on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) on March 9th, and Mike Novogratz’ Galaxy Digital Capital Management will act as the sub-advisor. 

• Founded in 1965, CI Global Asset Management is an asset manager with over $180 billion in AUM as of January 2021. The firm announced the nod of approval received from Canada’s securities regulator necessary to launch its own Bitcoin ETF earlier today. 
• The statement described BTCX as a tool that could “provide investors with a convenient way to gain exposure to bitcoin through an institutional-quality fund platform.” It will invest directly in the primary cryptocurrency with its holdings priced using the Bloomberg Galaxy Bitcoin Index. 
• CI GAM will serve as the manager of the ETF, while Galaxy Digital Capital Management, whose founder and CEO is the long-time BTC proponent, Mike Novogratz, will act as “the bitcoin sub-advisor.” Meaning, that GDAM will execute the BTC trading on behalf of the ETF 

• “We believe the emerging digital asset class presents compelling growth and diversification opportunities. The CI Galaxy Bitcoin ETF offers a simple and secure access point for traditional investors to gain exposure to bitcoin.” – commented Partner and Head of Asset Management at GDAM, Steve Kurz. 

• Apart from BTCX, the two parties have also filed for launching the “first ETF in the world to invest directly in Ether” – CI Galaxy Ethereum ETF (ETHX). 
• It’s worth noting that BTCX would not be Canada’s first Bitcoin ETF. CryptoPotato recently reported the first approval for the Purpose Bitcoin ETF, which enjoyed a highly-positive start, accumulating more than $400 million in a few weeks.