In the United States, congressional candidates are now selling non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to help finance their campaigns in the midterm elections in a clear move toward embracing the cryptocurrency world.

The Associated Press news agency is launching a non-fungible token marketplace for collectors to purchase photographs taken during the agency’s 175-year history. It’s set to be built by blockchain tech firm Xooa, with the NFTs being minted on the Polygon blockchain.

An upstart NFT platform called LooksRare has gone live claiming to be a community-focused marketplace that will develop features based on user demand. The marketplace has explained it indexes all NFTs on Ethereum so they can be traded straightaway.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Congressional Candidates Sell NFTs to Fund Campaigns
• Associated Press to Launch Polygon-Based Photography NFT Marketplace
• NFT Marketplace LooksRare Launches With Vampire Attack on OpenSea
• How to Stake Solana

Congressional Candidates Sell NFTs to Fund Campaigns

In the United States, congressional candidates are now selling non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to help finance their campaigns in the midterm elections in a clear move toward embracing the cryptocurrency world.

Democrat Shrina Kurani, an engineer running for a House seat in California and Republican Blake Masters, eyeing the Senate in Arizona, have both offered NFTs as incentives for donors. Kurani, in an interview, said that “NFTs are our campaign merchandise.”

Kurani has distributed NFTs to campaign donors through the SolSea marketplace. Before her offer expired at the end of December, she raised $6,610 and gave out less than a dozen tokens. Masters, on the other hand, raised $575,000 by promising to give donors tokens with cover art for a book about startup companies he wrote.

The Federal Election Commission first approved cryptocurrency contributions to campaigns nearly eight years ago, but since then only about a dozen campaign committees received crypto donations. Fundraising experts have noted both committees and donors tend to be wary of new technology because of strict campaign finance rules.

Associated Press to Launch Polygon-Based Photography NFT Marketplace

The Associated Press news agency is launching a non-fungible token marketplace for collectors to purchase photographs taken during the agency’s 175-year history. It’s set to be built by blockchain tech firm Xooa, with the NFTs being minted on the Polygon blockchain.

An initial collection will be released over several weeks starting on January 31, with subjects ranging from space, climate and war to spotlights of specific AP photographers. Each NFT will contain specific metadata including  the time, date, location, equipment, and technical settings used for the photograph.

The marketplace is set to support secondary market transactions and purchases using credit card payments along with cryptocurrencies. Proceeds will reportedly go back toward funding the AP’s journalism.

Last June, it’s worth noting, CNN launched the Vault on the Flow blockchain, an NFT collection of the top moments from its 41-year history.

NFT Marketplace LooksRare Launches With Vampire Attack on OpenSea

An upstart NFT platform called LooksRare has gone live claiming to be a community-focused marketplace that will develop features based on user demand. The marketplace has explained it indexes all NFTs on Ethereum so they can be traded straightaway.

LooksRare is centred around its LOOKS token. The marketplace is looking to attract influential NFT users who have already used rival marketplace OpenSea by letting these users claim LOOKS tokens for free. Anyone who traded more than 3 ETH on OpenSea between June 16 and December 16 can claim tokens.

Effectively, LooksRare is launching with a so-called “vampire attack” on OpenSea, as it’s using tokens to poach the pre-existing user base of the project. LooksRare is the second major attempt at a vampire attack on OpenSea, with the first one being the Infinity marketplace.

The marketplace charges a 2% fee on all trades, which are handed out to LOOKS token stakers. When someone buys and sells NFTs on the platform they also receive LOOKS tokens.

How to Stake Solana

Solana (SOL) is a decentralized, web-scale blockchain that aims to become “an open, fair, censorship-resistant global marketplace.” It has been dubbed an ‘Ethereum killer’ by various sources due to its scalability which allows it to process up to 50,000 TPS.

The Solana network uses a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism that relies on validators to secure the blockchain. A validator is similar to a Bitcoin or Ethereum miner as they are responsible for processing incoming transactions and can vote to decide on which blocks are appended to the blockchain. Validators play a key role in maintaining and securing the Solana network.

On the Solana blockchain, not all votes are weighted equally. The more Solana you have staked, the more valuable your vote is. Validators with less stake have less weight in determining a vote outcome, and validators with no stake cannot influence the outcome of a vote at all.

In decentralized networks like Solana, anyone can become a validator if they desire. Naturally, some bad actors will try to take advantage of this system by running a validator to manipulate the network for their own benefit - e.g. submitting fraudulent or incorrect transactions.

Find out how to stake Solana using our guide below.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

Build your project with CoinDesk Data

Terms | Privacy

13 Charles II St, SW1Y 4QU

London, UK

This email may include advertisements by third parties. None of the advertised or promoted products and services have been verified or approved by us and this email is not any endorsement by us of the third party or of their products or services.