Holpop News

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Microchip and Science Act, which provides grants and incentives to the semiconductor industry and encourages research. Notably, the law also creates a blockchain and cryptocurrency specialist position in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).
According to the document, the U.S. will invest $280 billion in technology ventures, $52 billion in grants and incentives for U.S. semiconductor manufacturers that face stiff competition from China, and $170 billion in research incentives.
The law document also includes a section creating a specialist position to “advise the president on issues related to blockchain and cryptocurrencies.”

Changpeng Zhao, head of the Binance exchange, said that the fall of the crypto market was caused by a sharp influx of speculators.
“To be frank, I think a little reset is helpful. Cryptocurrency has attracted a number of non-believers. They’re probably just speculators; it shouldn’t be happening on a large scale. When it happens on a large scale, it means the market is overheated and there will certainly be a correction after a while. Usually markets fluctuate both ways. So, crypto markets should only attract the faithful, should only attract people who understand the technology, understand how to use it, and so on,” he said.
According to Zhao, the Terra heist has cleared the market of weak hands and is very beneficial for the long-term prospects of the industry, as those who remain are likely to contribute to the overall growth of the crypto ecosystem.
“The Terra/LUNA collapse hurt a lot of people, but it also weeded out a lot of the weak players in the industry. In fact, I think the industry is much healthier now than it was six months or nine months ago when bitcoin was worth $68,000. We see now that the people who are creating the applications are staying in the industry. Investors in the industry now have a long-term perspective,” he concluded.

The Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web (FFDW) announced that it will support an initiative by Harvard University’s Library Innovation Lab (LIL) called “Democratizing Open Knowledge.”
With the foundation’s support, the lab plans to explore decentralized technologies that can preserve digital information.
According to the institutions statement, the goal of the initiative is to help libraries share knowledge through the Filecoin network and interplanetary file system (IPFS).
“FFDW’s mission is to preserve humanity’s most important information. This collaboration will allow the Innovation Lab to explore how decentralized technologies can address the real challenges of preserving critical data, and we are very pleased to support the open knowledge democratization program,” said Chief FFDW’s Martha Belcher
Filecoin is an open-source blockchain created by Protocol Labs and built on top of the IPFS distributed network.
In late May, Protocol Labs said it was working with Maryland defense contractor and aerospace company Lockheed Martin to implement the concept of decentralized data storage in space.

The Aave DAO management organization behind the Aave protocol has voted to create a native GHO steablecoin.

Users wishing to create GHO can do so by providing any of the tokens accepted as collateral on the platform.
In addition to collateral, these deposits will also generate income. In turn, the protocol will charge interest on loans in GHO stabelcoins taken out by borrowers.
Aave said that GHO will function as an overcollateralized stabelcoin. This means that the value of the deposited cryptocurrency will exceed the number of GHO tokens minted.
Curve Finance also previously announced plans to create its own stablecoin.

The supply of Patek Philippe and Rolex luxury watches has increased in the used market after weeks of decline in the digital asset market. This was reported by Bloomberg.
According to watch retailer Chrono24, the availability of the prestigious Rolex Daytona and Patek Nautilus 5711A models has increased.
Chrono24 noted that the recent decline in cryptocurrency prices has directly impacted the prices of these brands.
Earlier, the rise in the cryptocurrency market created a new class of luxury buyers, leading to unprecedented price increases for models from Rolex, Audemars Piguet and Patek.
Throughout the pandemic, resale prices of luxury watches began to rise steadily, peaking between March and April 2022. However, between May 3 and July 8, the luxury watch price index dropped from $23,000 to less than $20,000.
Moreover, Chrono24 recorded that trading volumes on the platform, which connects dealers or individual sellers with buyers, increased by more than 50% in the first half of the year.
The company confirmed that the drop in the digital asset market has significantly increased the supply of luxury watches in the secondary market.

Toy manufacturer Funko is partnering with media company Paramount to release an NFT collection based on the Avatar Legends universe.
Standard tokens will cost $9.99 and premium tokens will cost $29.99.
The company will issue a total of 625,000 NFTs.
Collectible tokens will be issued on the Wax blockchain.

Iran’s Ministry of Energy has changed some rules for cryptocurrency miners to make it easier for them to access renewable energy sources.
The recently issued decree exempts miners from the obligation to use their own power generation capacity and allows them to buy electricity from renewable sources across the country through the national grid.
Until now, miners could only sign contracts with renewable power plants from the same province.

The new legislation also provides a price reduction for miners to buy such electricity.

Students at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology will soon be able to attend classes and interact with classmates in the metaconsciousness.
The university will build virtual campuses that will be part of the MetaHKUST project. The project aims to eventually combine the entire physical and virtual experience at the university.

The first phase will install the physical infrastructure, including virtual classrooms, sensors, cameras and visualization tools. The university will then scan the physical campuses in Hong Kong and Guangzhou to build their replicas in the metaclassical universe.
Later, students and faculty will be able to create their own avatars, NFTs and tokens for use in the virtual university. In addition, students will also be able to get diplomas in the form of NFTs.
There is, however, a second aspect of the project that has to do with the convergence of the university’s two campuses. Travel between China and Hong Kong remains severely restricted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Thanks to MetaHKUST initiatives, students will be able to join the lectures and events taking place at both campuses.

KuCoin cryptocurrency exchange CEO Johnny Liu said he is launching an “Anti-FUD Foundation” that will advocate for user education and provide knowledge about what FUD is and how to tell the difference.
FUD literally means “fear, uncertainty and doubt.” It is a communication tactic used to make people perceive something negatively, usually by deliberately misinforming or instilling fear.
The Foundation will motivate and encourage industry leaders and influencers who provide accurate information to their audiences and help their subscribers avoid FUD information.
In addition, the Foundation will monitor and prosecute individuals who “willfully disseminate FUD.”
“FUD proliferation and panic are detrimental to projects, users and the industry. These actions should be prosecuted,” explained Liu.

Liu said that people who spread rumors should be held accountable for their words because they can affect the market and noted that Web3 will help qualitatively combat this.

A local Bitcoin Valley bitcoin hub was opened in the tourist town of Santa Lucia, Honduras, with the goal of creating a circular bitcoin economy and increasing the flow of tourists to the region by promoting the adoption of the first cryptocurrency in local stores.
“Bitcoin adoption will allow us to open up another market and attract more customers. We have to globalize. We can’t close ourselves off from technology and we can’t stay behind when other countries are already doing it,” said Santa Lucia tourist business owner Cesar Andino.
According to Reuters, the project is a collaboration between Blockchain Honduras, the cryptocurrency exchange Coincaex, Honduras University of Technology and Santa Lucia.
About 60 businesses whose owners have been trained to use bitcoins will also participate in the launch of the project.