The British pound has edged lower in Friday trading. In the European session, GBP/USD is trading at 1.3558, down 0.28% on the day. UK Retail Sales slide UK retail sales had a dismal December. The headline reading fell -3.6% m/m, missing the consensus of -0.6% and sharply lower than the November gain of 1.0%. It […]

On Thursday evening around 10 p.m. (EST), the price of bitcoin fell beneath the $40K zone for the first time since September 21, 2021. During Friday’s early morning trading sessions, bitcoin plunged to a low of $38,250 per coin. Furthermore, the market capitalization of the entire crypto-economy has slipped under the $2 trillion mark, down […]

The first two rounds of racing in the F1 Esports Series Challengers are in the history books, with our three groups of talented turning laps in anger for the first time.

Held across January-March, this six event, 12 race series will separate the great from the sublime, and offer us 18 incredible drivers to bring to the Pro Exhibition later this year. Here’s what went down in the first event!

XBOX ACTION

First up in the week’s trio of Challengers streams came the Xbox qualifiers. This group represented the fastest participants of the in-game events in October and November 2021, and the group of 16 assembled at Shanghai International Circuit, China.

Tom Manley put it on pole in the first race, but it was the pair behind him that caught the eye. A scintillating first-lap fight between Zak Oates and Ryan Jacobs for second pace saw half a lap of wheel-to-wheel racing. Oates ended up leading the race after the pit stop phase, but a penalty incurred during his pit stop dropped him well down the order, and out of the points. Manley led them home, with Jacobs second, and Sam McLean in third.

Lewis Groombridge took pole for the second race in Bahrain, but wasn’t able to capitalise, and instead it was Manley – who qualified a lowly P11 – who took the secondd win, using a brilliant alternate strategy to carve his way through the pack, making his move on the very last lap with superior grip. Jed Norgrove grabbed second after missing out in the first race, with Zak Oates third, after similarly missing out in China. With a near-perfect start, Manley sits on top of the standings with 50 points, ahead of McLean on 27, with Norgrove and Jacobs joined in fourth with 18 points.

PLAYSTATION RACES

Wednesday heralded the turn of the PS4 and PS5 racers, and Matthew Alder was the man in form in the first race in China. The 16-year-old put it on pole in Shanghai, and only lost the lead during the pits stop phase. Georges Nader and Duncan Hofland kept the pressure on behind in a major way, but they finished in that order to take the first podium of PlayStation Challengers 2022.

The second race in Bahrain provided heaps of entertainment from the off, with Dutchman Joost Nordijk taking pole position. He went largely unchallenged in the early stages, but there was plenty of action elsewhere. Lap 7 saw China race-winner Alder attack Marcel Altstadt, but they pair collided at Turn 1; the latter spinning, and the former falling out of the points late on.

With just a few laps to go, the race reached boiling point, as Noordijk, Mirko Suriano and Nader went three-wide into Turn 1. Though the circuit is wide, it wasn’t wide enough for all of them, and Nader spun after contact between the trio, dropping back and eventually retiring. Suriano defended from Noordijk, but it was no use, and the polesitter was back in front, taking the lead on the final lap. Copying his China form, Duncan Hofland completed the podium in third.

The results put Suriano and Hofland join on top of the standings with 30 points apiece, ahead of race winners Noordijk (28) and Alder (25).

PC DRAMA

As with the other two platforms, China was the first event, with plenty of familiar names among the grid. Tomek Poradzisz was the man to beat in qualifying, taking pole in Shanghai. He didn’t waste time in the racing, crushing the opposition with a winning margin of more than seven seconds – a lightyear in F1 Esports terms! Ulas Ozyildirim and Szelle Kristof completed the podium.

As night fell in Bahrain, John Evans was the man on pole, and he put up a hell of a fight, leading most of the race under the floodlights. As with many other races, Samuel Bean left it late to strike, and blasted past for the lead on the final lap, with a daring pass late on the brakes at Turn 1. Wilson Hughes completed the podium, with former F1 Esports Pro Series racer Floris Wijers close behind in fourth.

With that dominant win in the first race, Poradzisz leads the championship on 33 points, ahead of Bean in second on 27, and Ozyildirim third with 24.

The next Challengers streams will be coming your way in a matter of days, with Xbox, PlayStation and PC all back in action on February 1-3. See you there!

The post F1 Esports Series Challengers 2022: Event 1 Round-up! appeared first on F1Esports News.

Early stage fundraising is always risky. Solv has a solution for early stage crypto companies, or any company that need to take on cash without risk – convertible vouchers! It is a simple concept. Companies need to take on capital to expand. Pretty easy to understand. But – the fundraising process can be complex. The [...]

The post Solv Creates Convertible Voucher System for DAO & Startup Fundraising appeared first on Blockonomi.

The post This Is Why Ethereum Price Will Not Fall Under $2.7k! ETH Bulls Eye For 100% Upswing! appeared first on Coinpedia - Fintech & Cryptocurreny News Media| Crypto Guide

Ethereum is likely to resume its bull run in a tick as the asset has reached its 5-months low of $2.827k. The star altcoin has experienced approximately $193.32 million of liquidations in 24 hours thereby losing almost $5k in its price valuation. As the asset’s hash rate is at ATH and funding rates are positive …

More than Play-to-Earn

Arkverse is created by animal lovers, for animal lovers. A primary objective is to create a world-first ecosystem that allows users to explore, design, and share content related to animals. Its open-world environment has a theme around animals, and participants will interact with it. The Arkverse model incorporates play-to-earn games that allow individuals to earn real money.

Arkverse is more than just a play-to-earn metaverse. Notably, it extends into developing the world's premiere virtual ecosystem. Users may immerse themselves in an exciting open world of creatures. In addition, they can learn about many environmental challenges. The initiative plans to empower people by contributing to animal rights organizations.

ARK Animal-based NFT

Arkverse seeks to create a close-knit community of animal lovers. To accomplish this, it intends to allow users to cooperate and share user-created material, hence supporting the metaverse's organic growth. The ecosystem integrates NFTs, governance tokens, and in-game economics to provide users with a structured, sustainable, and rewarding gaming loop.

Before introducing their Metaverse, Arkverse will launch a series of ARK NFTs. Each NFT series will have its tokenomics, which will be linked to its IDO and Metaverse. Arkverse will introduce the first Arkverse NFT series, consisting of 2,022 Tigers with considerable holder benefits, on February 1st, 2022. Further down the road, Arkverse intends to launch a 3D NFT.

Arkverse Tokenomics

The Arkverse is a multi-coin system with two separate tokens - $ARK and $Haven. The project will determine the exchange rate for the two tokens before the launch of their metaverse. 

$ARK is the governance token for the Arkverse Treasury and DAO. On the other hand, $Haven is an in-game currency used in the metaverse for in-game transactions.

About $ARK token distribution, 30% of the total token supply goes to ecosystem rewards. 20% will go to the token sales, where the project will distribute tokens in purchase according to the lock-up schedule.

Metaverse development will take over 20% of the $ARK tokens. The amount allocated as a reward for team members who contributed to the early stage of the project is 10% of the total token supply. Meanwhile, the amount set aside for the animal monetary foundation is 5%. DAO's governance will determine both the donation method and amount. Meanwhile, advisors, partnerships, and marketing will all receive 5% and liquidity.

What is Next for Arkverse?

For the first quarter of 2022, the project plans to launch the pre-seed sale and a DEX listing. From there, the first NFT minting will go live involving the 12 Zodiac Animals series, followed by the opening of an NFT marketplace. There will then be a second and third minting of the 12 Zodiac Animal series, respectively. 

The first minting for the ARK NFT Animal Lives Matter series will be for the second quarter. Then, there will be the revelation of concept art and core gameplay elements. Finally, the ARK NFT Animal Lives Matter series will be the second minting.

The third and fourth quarters will release the Arkverse Alpha version and governance, respectively. Finally, there will be an Arkverse open beta in 2023.

About Arkverse

Arkverse is a blockchain-based metaverse ecosystem built by and for animal lovers. Everyone in Arkverse is free to produce, distribute, and trade content to receive economic incentives. The project aims to become a leading P2E metaverse ecosystem for exploring, creating, and sharing animal-related content.

Official Links

Website: https://www.arkverse.games/

Discord: https://discord.com/invite/arkverse

Medium: https://medium.com/@arkverseofficial/

Telegram: https://t.me/Arkverse_Announcements

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArkverseGames

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ArkverseProject/

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Victor Zachariades has stepped down from his role as Head of Pepperstone’s Cyprus unit to join Alpaca as the General Manager of Cyprus.

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