A unit of the Chinese fintech conglomerate Ant Group is tokenizing more than $8 billion worth of energy infrastructure on its own blockchain. 

Ant Digital Technologies, the enterprise solutions arm of the Jack Ma-backed Ant Group, is in the process of tokenizing 60 billion yuan ($8.4 billion) of power infrastructure on its AntChain network, according to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter. 

The company has been monitoring power output and outages from 15 million energy devices, including wind turbines and solar panels across China, and uploading this data to their blockchain, according to the report. 

Ant Digital has already completed financing for three clean energy projects using asset tokenization, raising about 300 million yuan ($42 million) total, and its next step will be to issue tokens linked to those assets. 

One of the company’s future expansion options is putting tokens on decentralized offshore exchanges to create more liquidity for the assets, but this is subject to regulatory approval, according to the anonymous sources. 

Ant already tokenizing energy assets 

Ant Digital raised 100 million yuan ($14 million) for energy firm Longshine Technology Group in August 2024, and linked 9,000 of its electric charging units to AntChain. 

In December, it secured over 200 million yuan ($28 million) for GCL Energy Technology by connecting photovoltaic assets to its blockchain.

Related: Green RWAs recast climate assets as profitable cutting-edge tech

Asset tokenization allows companies to bypass traditional financial intermediaries by issuing digital tokens directly to investors. 

This provides several benefits, such as cutting out middlemen like loan officers and underwriters, reducing costs and speeding up funding access, and opening investment opportunities to retail investors typically excluded from infrastructure financing.

Stablecoin ambitions

Ant Group also has grand stablecoin ambitions.

In July, it was reported that Ant Group was working with stablecoin issuer Circle to integrate USDC into its blockchain platform. 

Meanwhile, the group’s global division, Ant International, has been leveraging infrastructure for cross-border corporate payments and applying for stablecoin-related licenses.

RWA onchain value at record high

Real-world asset tokenization is still a nascent sector; however, onchain value has almost doubled since the beginning of this year, reaching a record high of $28.4 billion this week, according to RWA.xyz. 

More than half of this total is tokenized private credit, while just over a quarter of it is tokenized US Treasurys. Ethereum remains the market-dominant chain for tokenizing RWA with a 57% market share.

Magazine: Bitcoin may sink ‘below $50K’ in bear, Justin Sun’s WLFI saga: Hodler’s Digest

]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/ant-digital-is-putting-8b-in-energy-assets-on-the-blockchain-report/feed/ 0 57508 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/once-eth-exceeds-4900-analysts-are-putting-together-the-crypto-market/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/once-eth-exceeds-4900-analysts-are-putting-together-the-crypto-market/#respond Sun, 24 Aug 2025 20:23:00 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/once-eth-exceeds-4900-analysts-are-putting-together-the-crypto-market/

ether (eth) Pushed into unknown territory on Sunday, it cleared $4,900 at Coinbase at 5:40pm at UTC, surpassing previous record of $4,867 set on November 8, 2021.

TradingView’s 5-year ETH-USD price chart shows clean and multi-year breakouts. ETH ultimately achieved the height of 2021 after a long integration, and the historic overhead level has not tilted.

This is what traders call price discovery. The market is printing new highs just in psychology and order flows, not in the previous chart resistance.

The 5-day view will be entered into tape action. After a fast run from the mid-$4,700, ETH pushed through $4,900, reaching a high of around $4,946.90. As of the chart snapshot – 6:48pm UTC – The final price was around $4,941.57. That sequence forced buyers to absorb supply near the old ceiling, and to a classic breakout pattern of fresh height.

Analyst Miles Doiser summarised the changes in leadership as “BTC is exhausted and ETH is not.” In plain English, he flags relative momentum. Bitcoin rally stuck near recent highs, but the ether has invaded the price discovery.

When the market says one asset is “depleted”, upward attempts usually decline, follow-throughs are weak, and sellers keep pushing high. “Not” means the opposite – stronger follow-through, fresh height, active dip viewing. Traders often turn towards assets that exhibit higher relative strength when other leaders tire.

Crypto Rover focused on supplying the exchange. “Exchange Reserves” refer to coins held in wallets controlled by centralized trading venues.

When these balances go down, there are fewer coins available to sell immediately. Prices can accelerate as demand rises as a thin film of liquid supply, as buyers will have to bid high to return to circulation after exchange to compensate for the coin. It is the mechanic behind his “supply shock” phrase. This is a setup that does not guarantee a straight price, but allows you to expand your movement once momentum begins.

Michael Van de Poppe provided a risk check. He highlighted the unusually large weekly candles and warned that weekend breakouts often recede when liquidity normalizes early in the week.

The idea is simple. The weekend orders can get thinner, which can make movements more easily. When Fuller’s participation returns Monday, prices will occasionally retest the breakout area and check it out as support before trending again. In fact, that means that a pullback to the breakout zone, by itself, does not negate the larger bullish break seen on the five-year chart.

The US Treasury is exploring whether identity checks should be built directly into decentralized finance (DeFi) smart contracts, a move critics warn could rewrite the very foundations of permissionless finance.

Last week, the agency opened a consultation under the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act), which was signed into law in July. The Act directs the Treasury to evaluate new compliance tools to fight illicit finance in crypto markets.

One idea was embedding identity credentials directly into smart contracts. In practice, this would mean a DeFi protocol could automatically verify a user’s government ID, biometric credential, or digital wallet certificate before allowing a transaction to proceed.

Supporters argue that building Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks into blockchain infrastructure could streamline compliance and keep criminals out of DeFi.

Fraser Mitchell, Chief Product Officer at AML provider SmartSearch, told Cointelegraph that such tools could “unmask the anonymous transactions that make these networks so attractive to criminals.”

“Real-time monitoring for suspicious activity can make it easier for platforms to mitigate risk, detect and ultimately prevent money launderers from using their networks to wash the proceeds from some of the world’s worst crimes,” Mitchell said.

Related: GENIUS Act to spark wave of ‘killer apps’ and new payment services: Sygnum

DeFi ID checks: protect data or risk surveillance?

Mitchell acknowledged the privacy tradeoff but argued that solutions exist. “Only the necessary data required for monitoring or regulatory audits should be stored, with everything else deleted. Any data that is held should be encrypted at row level, reducing the risk of a major breach.”

However, critics say the proposal risks hollowing out the core of DeFi. Mamadou Kwidjim Toure, CEO of Ubuntu Tribe, compared the plan to “putting cameras in every living room.”

“On paper, it looks like a neat compliance shortcut. But you turn a neutral, permissionless infrastructure into one where access is gated by government-approved identity credentials. That fundamentally changes what DeFi is meant to be,” Toure told Cointelegraph.

He warned that if biometric or government IDs are tied to blockchain wallets, “every transaction risks becoming permanently traceable to a real-world person. You lose pseudonymity and, by extension, the ability to transact without surveillance.”

For Toure, the stakes go beyond compliance. “Financial freedom relies on the right to a private economic life. Embedding ID at the protocol level erodes that and creates dangerous precedents. Governments could censor transactions, blacklist wallets, or even automate tax collection directly through smart contracts.”

Related: GENIUS Act yield ban may push trillions into tokenized assets — ex-bank exec

Who gets left behind?

Another concern is exclusion. Billions of people globally still lack formal identification. If DeFi protocols require government-issued credentials, entire communities, migrants, refugees and the unbanked risk being locked out.

“It may restrict access for users who prefer anonymity or cannot meet ID requirements, limiting DeFi’s democratic nature,” Toure said.

Data security is also a flashpoint. Linking biometric databases to financial activity could make hacks more catastrophic, exposing both money and personal identity in a single breach.

Critics stress that the choice isn’t binary between crime havens and mass surveillance. Privacy-preserving tools like zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) and decentralized identity (DID) standards offer ways to verify eligibility without exposing full identity.

With ZKPs, users can prove they are not on a sanctions list or over 18 without revealing who they are. DID frameworks allow users to hold verifiable credentials and selectively disclose them. “Instead of static government IDs, users hold verifiable credentials they selectively disclose,” Toure said.

Magazine: Scottie Pippen says Michael Saylor warned him about Satoshi chatter

]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/us-treasurys-defi-id-plan-is-like-putting-cameras-in-every-living-room/feed/ 0 54863 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/city-killer-asteroid-could-strike-the-moon-putting-satellites-at-risk/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/city-killer-asteroid-could-strike-the-moon-putting-satellites-at-risk/#respond Tue, 24 Jun 2025 00:28:23 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/city-killer-asteroid-could-strike-the-moon-putting-satellites-at-risk/

NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies has been tracking Asteroid 2024 YR4 since it first came into view last year. While initial estimates predicted up to a 3.1% probability that the asteroid would strike the Earth, with additional data, that probability has dropped to 0.00081%. Using the last bit of data the James Webb Space Telescope was able to gather before the asteroid makes its way around the Sun, the center has also updated the probability that the asteroid will strike the moon, raising it to 4.3%, up from an earlier estimate of 1.2%.

NASA emphasizes that if an unlikely collision were to occur, it would not alter the moon’s orbit. According to New Scientist, however, while the moon itself may not be at risk, the debris from the impact could endanger the thousands of artificial satellites orbiting the Earth.

A team from the University of Western Ontario in Canada calculated that the impact could create a kilometer-wide crater, spewing an amount of debris at satellites “equivalent to what we would expect to see in years or even decades, but occurring in just a few days.” The debris would likely destroy any satellites but could cause irreparable damage.

NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office told New Scientist it would be “premature to speculate on potential response options” at this point. When 2024 YR4 comes back into view in 2028, scientists will have about four years to refine the data and develop a plan if a collision appears likely.

Previously:
• NASA bringing asteroid hunters to Sundance
• Asteroid flying close to Earth turns out to be douchebag’s car
• Comparing the size of known asteroids to New York City

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson says that America’s aggressive spending could result in a total collapse of the social system.

In a new interview with Tucker Carlson, Johnson says that there may be a time when those living on social benefits will be left out to dry if the government can no longer afford to fund its extensive welfare state while also running massive deficits.

Says Johnson,

“If you’re living on different transfer payments or different types of welfare benefits, you may not get those. You can’t borrow more money, so you’re going to have to take what money we spend on other government programs, and we’ll have to service our debt. You have to pay it off, unless we want to go into full default… Which means you’ll never float more debt, so other than print more money, which creates even more hyperinflation…

We will lose our position as the world’s reserve currency, and we’ll lose our ability to print dollars that people accept. It’s a marvelous thing that we just print dollars, we can send them overseas, people will produce products and ship them over here, high-quality products at a pretty low cost. That’s one of the reasons we’ve been able to keep inflation in check, producing all these massive deficits over the last couple of decades, because we do import a lot of products. 

We’ve got billions of people that are either un or under-employed around the world, we provide the capital, they produce the factories, they produce the goods, we just give them paper. It’s fiat currency, we print it, we keep printing it, and it’s been working out pretty well. At some point in time, that gravy train might stop.”

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Generated Image: Midjourney

If you’ve taken part in Web3 gaming before, you’ve probably caught glimpses of its vast potential: open economies, true digital ownership, and vibrant communities.

However, we often see flashy token launches followed by empty promises and abandoned projects. As they launch their ISLAND token, Nifty Island is building with patience and purpose to realize that potential. It uses its token as a starting point for a community-driven world where players and creators shape the future together.

What Nifty Island Is All About

So, what exactly is Nifty Island? Think of it as a digital playground filled with “islands” that you can customize from top to bottom. It has a bit of that Roblox feel but in a way that encourages players to bring in their favourite NFTs and build something they’re proud of.

It’s a world where you host friends, run events, and show off your creations. They’ve teamed up with various Web3 communities to keep things fresh so players can actually feel like part of something growing and evolving over time.

Source Nifty Island

Why the ISLAND Token Matters

In many crypto projects, tokens come first, and the fun comes later—if at all. Nifty Island flips that script. The ISLAND token is meant to give you a real stake in this evolving universe. Sure, it’s a currency for in-game items and upgrades, but it’s also a tool for shaping its world.

By staking ISLAND, you can get your hands on exclusive resources, speed up how fast you earn rewards, and even have a say in the platform’s direction. LayerZero’s omnichain tech ensures these tokens can work across multiple blockchains.

To break it down: the more ISLAND you hold and stake, the more influence you have. Maybe you want larger plots of land to build your dream island or access unique consumables.

On Nifty Island, rewards are built to keep players genuinely engaged. They’re putting aside 175 million ISLAND tokens in a rewards pool that you can tap into simply by playing, hosting events, and diving into daily challenges.

Furthermore, Market-Driven UGC Gaming (MUG) is expected to go live in 2025, changing how players and creators connect. Creators will be able to launch tokens tied to their in-game work, tradable with $ISLAND. Players can discover new tokens, follow their favourite creators, and trade based on what’s hot.

Token Allocation: A Long-Term Commitment

Before the token launch, Nifty Island ran a Play-to-Airdrop (P2A) campaign. Instead of handing out tokens randomly, they gave them to players who spent time on the platform.

Nifty Island’s token allocation looks like it is carefully planned to build trust and stability. About 10% of the total supply (100 million out of 1 billion) went to the P2A campaign, rewarding early players for their genuine engagement. The Rewards Pool holds 17.5% to keep players motivated over time.

There’s also a Community Pool (40%), Ecosystem Incentives (10%), and a small 1% set aside for exchange liquidity. Investors and advisors get 30%—but most of it is locked up for years, slowly released over time. The team’s 20% is also locked for multiple years, aligning everyone’s incentives around long-term growth. The Project Treasury (9%) stands ready to fund future projects and expansions.

Source Nifty Island

An Inclusive Ecosystem That Grows with You

One of the biggest complaints about online games is feeling like you’re stuck with whatever the developers churn out. Nifty Island sees it differently. They want players to guide the ecosystem. If you’re a creator who dreams of building massive virtual spaces for other people to explore, holding and staking ISLAND can open doors to more platform resources.

Furthermore, as the community grows, staking ISLAND tokens will add more ways for holders to influence what happens next through governance, receive rewards, earn consumable items, and access gated quests.

It’s worth noting that Nifty Island has strong backing. They’ve raised more than $20 million in pre-seed funding, and investors have signed up for long lock-up periods. Why does that matter? It shows that this isn’t a hype-driven cash-in. Everyone involved, from the team to the backers, is here for the long haul. That’s a rare signal in a space often marred by short attention spans.

A Vision That Lasts

As the ISLAND token launch approaches, Nifty Island stands apart by looking beyond “launch day” headlines. They’re focused on building a place where tokens have a purpose, where players get rewarded for creativity and effort, and where the community can shape the future.

This patient, people-first mindset is refreshing in a world that often prizes quick wins over genuine connection. Nifty Island is betting that by putting the power in the hands of its players and creators; it can craft a place that is meaningful and worth sticking around for.

Editor’s note: Written with the assistance of AI – Edited and fact-checked by Jason Newey.

When you’re up to your ass in alligators, it’s hard to remember that your initial objective was to drain the swamp.

—Modern proverb, possibly Cajun

So, as you might have noticed, I haven’t been blogging very much lately (again).

There are a few reasons why, chief among them that I have been through a library move. The building which houses the university science library where I work full-time has been closed, and both the staff and collections have been moved to other locations. The building is going to be completely gutted and renovated over the next 2-1/2-to-3 years. Moving a large library is a MAJOR undertaking, folks! And just days after the move in June, as luck would have it, we hosted a science librarians conference, which had attendees coming from all over North America. The last month has been hectic! I haven’t even had an opportunity to unpack most of my moving boxes in my new office!

But another reason why I haven’t been writing much lately is that the virtual reality lab project I am working on is starting to ramp up. While plans for the necessary room renovations for the future home of the XR (Extended Reality) Lab are proceeding (with a projected ready date of January 2025), I have been given a smaller room in the main arts and humanities library to set up a temporary virtual reality demonstration room, equipped with a wireless Meta Quest 3 VR/AR headset, plus a Vive Pro 2 PCVR setup, attached to a Windows PC with a good graphics card (see image above).

I have been spending most of last week and this week previewing and reviewing a curated selection of apps and experiences, and drafting a “menu” for both the Meta Quest 3 and the Vive Pro 2, which I will be giving to Libraries staff so they can decide what VR/AR experiences they would like to have. Most of them are brand new to virtual reality and augmented reality, so I still need to work out the best procedures for giving these demos, and cleaning the hardware between users, helping them avoid VR sickness, etc.

In fact, I have spent so much time hopping in and out of various VR apps to draw up the menus, that I have often given myself VR sickness, something which surprised me, as a virtual reality veteran! I have been using a wide variety of headsets since January 2017, and I am usually able to be in VR for two hours at a time!

I discussed this at the first meeting of the University of Manitoba VR/AR/MR/XR Group (a new group I helped organize, for U of M faculty, staff, and students working in virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, extended reality, spatial computing—and whatever other umbrella term they come up with next!), and the head of the computer science department told me that, in his opinion, part of the problem is that many newer app developers don’t put the same amount of care and attention into designing affordances that the earliest VR apps had. He has a good point.

In other words, some VR/AR developers are just throwing stuff together using the new and improved content creation tools, without really doing proper testing. I do think that there is some merit in this idea, based on my own experience over the past two weeks. So I am finding that I am having to take breaks from all my VR/AR activity until the nausea passes. And it has reminded me that I definitely need to keep VR sickness top of mind when giving demos!

Along with off-the-shelf apps (educational and non-gaming, although some apps might have a gamification component) from both the Quest store (for the Meta Quest 3) and the Steam store (for the Vive Pro 2), I am also including in my menus some examples of educational worlds which people have created in various social VR platforms. Some examples are the NASA Apollo moon-landing exhibit in Sansar, The Universe microscopic-to-macroscopic experience in Resonite, and the Ancient Athens Acropolis and Agora worlds, which have been moved from AltspaceVR to VRChat. There’s a lot of content out there! I want Libraries staff to be able to experience as much of it as possible, to get a sense of the possibilities of this technology. (Right now, I am focused on free apps and experiences, but eventually I will have a budget to purchase software.)

So, I have been extremely busy, and sometimes I do feel a bit overwhelmed. Quite often, when I come home from work, the last thing I want to do is sit in front of a computer, and especially put on another virtual reality headset! So my trusty Valve Index, with the Knuckles controllers, is quietly collecting dust on my computer desk at home.

So I apologize for the lack of blog posts lately, but as you can see, I’m trying to keep a lot of plates spinning at the moment! I am going to have to put this blog on the back burner for the foreseeable future. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

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