Cryptocurrency
Saudi Arabia looks to blockchain gaming and Web3 to diversify economy
Saudi Arabia has ramped up its economic diversification efforts driven by its ambitious Vision 2030.
In a bid to diversify its economy away from a dependence on oil, the kingdom has embraced emerging technologies, such as blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI), and tapped into booming markets like gaming.
But while the country has yet to leave a significant mark in the global game and AI development, the ripples of its investments in the gaming sector could extend far beyond — at least, that’s what Web3 experts say.
“Based on our work and communications that we have, Saudi [Arabia] is very, very interested in Web3,” Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu told Cointelegraph.
Given the kingdom’s partnerships with entities such as The Sandbox and even Animoca, Siu sees that there’s an effort from Saudi to venture into the new iteration of the internet. The executive said:
“I think Saudi [Arabia] understands the principle that Web3 gaming or blockchain gaming — the one that we actually prove the owner assets — is going to be the future of gaming.”
Thanks to the interest of its young, tech-savvy population, Saudi Arabia, along with the United Arab Emirates, is driving the growth of the Middle East’s gaming market. According to a Boston Consulting Group report, the kingdom represents 45% of the sector in the region, with a value of more than $1.8 billion. It also boasts one of the largest game revenues in the area, according to game content studio Allcorrect.
In 2017, the kingdom established the Saudi Esports Federation to regulate and develop the country’s gaming industry.
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Bloomberg reported in April that Saudi Arabia, through its Public Investment Fund, invested $38 billion in the sector as it looks to become a global gaming hub.
Although the Saudi government understands the “high-level concept” of Web3, its potential, and how it can align with esports — where teams can own stakes in games they play — Siu said it remains unclear what its integrations to gaming would be due to the absence of clear rules on cryptocurrency and other virtual assets:
“Cryptocurrency is something that is still to be explored. It’s being investigated. I think [Saudi Arabia is] quite forward about how to deal with it. But they haven’t come up with anything yet.”
“In places like Hong Kong, Japan and the UAE, there’s much more clarity as to what you can do with crypto and Web3. You can map out a strategy,” Siu added.
While it remains to be seen what Saudi Arabia’s Web3 gaming applications would look like, Siu noted that the kingdom is looking at other markets and learning.
“That’s why they’re talking to us. Because they want to know what the best practices are and how they can learn,” the executive explained. “There are very few places in the world that we’ve seen such a hunger and desire to sort of be at the cutting edge.”
“You can feel sort of the desire to have progress and to lead in Saudi Arabia. I think that’s kind of unique,” Siu added.
How gaming can spur Web3 adoption
While pushback from the traditional gaming community and developers persists, Siu claims a successful conversion of users into Web3, whether it’s in gaming or not, should come with financial literacy.
“You can’t really be a true Web3 user if you don’t have at least a certain level of financial literacy that goes above and beyond having a bank account,” Siu said.
The Animoca co-founder claimed that most Web2 users are not capital investors because they’re mostly labor people compared to Web3 people who understand investing.
“What we found is that the path to Web3 mass adoption isn’t giving [Web2 users] just a wallet. That’s actually the easiest part. The harder part is how to make them aware that what they now have is an asset that has potential value, and it could do things and has different network effects that need to be maintained as real value.”
Meanwhile, Mythical Games CEO John Linden told Cointelegraph that he already sees Web3 adoption in the gaming sector, albeit at a slower pace.
“I think we’re seeing some [adoption] already. We’re seeing people that they’re introducing the [Web3] concept. They do understand the concept of buying and selling assets,” Linden said.
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The gaming industry veteran pointed out that Web3 should enhance user experience and not just give them the means to generate income:
“[Web3 gaming developers] have to focus on new game models. When you start doing that, it introduces creator economy, digital supply chain, ownership of guilds and the ability to come up with your own theory within the game itself.”
“Those are principles I think gamers will attach to,” Linden added.
The Mythical Games CEO projects that the Web3 gaming segment could onboard 50 to 100 million players in the next two years, with their own titles targeting 10 million by the end of 2023.
Cryptocurrency
Ripple Price Analysis: Can XRP Skyrocket to $2 by the Year’s End?
Ripple’s recent price action underscores significant bullish momentum as buyers continue to dominate the market.
Despite a potential brief consolidation phase, XRP is steadily approaching another coveted milestone of $2, with the prospect of achieving tapping that target by the year’s end growing.
XRP Analysis
By Shayan
The Weekly Chart
The weekly chart reveals Ripple’s remarkable trends, marked by a significant sell-off following the SEC lawsuit, during which the price plummeted to $0.28, a staggering 85% decline. This phase was followed by an extended period of low-volatility consolidation.
Eventually, buyers returned with vigor, driving the price through key resistance levels, including the pivotal $1.3 mark. Ripple’s subsequent impulsive surge highlights strong buying interest, pushing the cryptocurrency closer to a local peak of $1.9.
As the price approaches this critical level, bullish sentiment remains robust, but caution is warranted due to the overbought condition reflected in the RSI indicator. A brief consolidation or correction may precede upward momentum, with $1.3 as the primary support during any potential pullback.
The 4-Hour Chart
The 4-hour timeframe reflects Ripple’s breakout dynamics in greater detail. Upon encountering resistance at the $1.3 zone, the asset entered a consolidation phase, forming a sideways triangle pattern. This setup allowed the RSI to retreat from overbought levels and settle at equilibrium. Eventually, XRP surged, breaking out of the triangle’s upper boundary, signaling a bullish continuation.
Ripple managed to reclaim the $1.3 threshold and advance toward $2. While the bullish momentum is evident, a bearish divergence between the price and RSI hints at possible exhaustion. Furthermore, the presence of supply near the $1.9 resistance zone increases the likelihood of a consolidation phase in the near term. This temporary pause could allow the market to stabilize before XRP attempts to achieve new highs.
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Cryptocurrency
XLM Rally Continues With 485% Monthly Surge, BTC Cools Off to $98K (Weekend Watch)
Bitcoin’s inability to overcome the coveted $100,000 milestone on Friday and Saturday has resulted in a minor price decline to around $98,000 as of now.
Several altcoins, such as XRP and DOGE, have plummeted as well in the past day, but others, like TON, DOT, and XLM, have charted double-digit surges.
BTC Calms to $98K
BTC traded at around $90,000 at the start of the business week but quickly started to gain traction and exploded above the previous all-time high of $93,800 by the middle of it. This came amid the growing impressive net inflows toward the spot Bitcoin ETFs in the States.
The cryptocurrency’s rally continued in the following days and peaked on Friday. At the time, the asset came just inches away from touching $100,000 but was stopped at about $99,800 on most exchanges.
Thus, it failed to reach that line for the first time ever, even though the community was anticipating and predicting it. Since then, BTC has lost some traction and has retraced by around two grand to $98,000 now.
Still, it’s 7.2% up on the week, which places its market cap at $1.940 trillion on CG. Its dominance over the alts, though, has declined further to 55.5%, which brought speculations about a potential altcoin season.
XLM’s Show
Many larger-cap alts like ADA, XRP, and DOGE charted notable gains yesterday, but have retraced heavily today. ADA is down by 3% to under $1.05, XRP has slumped by over 6% to under $1.45, and DOGE has plummeted by 7.5% to $0.43.
In contrast, TON and DOT have soared by 11% and 17%, respectively, to $6.25 and $8.9. XLM, though, has stolen the show once again by skyrocketing by 29%. Stellar’s native token has added more than 480% in the past month and now trades above $0.56.
The total crypto market cap has shed about $50 billion since yesterday’s peak but still stands close to $3.5 trillion on CG.
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Disclaimer: Information found on CryptoPotato is those of writers quoted. It does not represent the opinions of CryptoPotato on whether to buy, sell, or hold any investments. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use provided information at your own risk. See Disclaimer for more information.
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Cryptocurrency
Weekly ETF Recap: All Green Days for Bitcoin, But Not for Ethereum
The US-based spot Bitcoin ETFs enjoyed a highly positive week, with every trading day ending with net inflows of millions and even billions of dollars.
In stark contrast, the Ethereum counterparties ended the same five-day trading period deep in red territory.
Over $3B Enter BTC ETFs Weekly
It has been nothing short of a spectacular run for BTC’s price as well as the inflows in the spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US after Donald Trump’s decisive victory in the 2024 presidential elections. The past trading week was no different, although it started somewhat sluggishly on Monday with a modest $254.8 million in inflows.
However, things picked up on Tuesday with $829.5 million, another $773.4 million on Wednesday, and $490.3 million on Friday. Oh, let’s not forget the whopping $1.005,1 billion on Thursday. This puts the total for the week at $3.353,1 billion, according to Farside.
Expectedly, BlackRock’s IBIT, the world’s largest Bitcoin ETF, was at the forefront of these substantial inflows most days. IBIT attracted over $500 million on three separate occasions – Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Thus, its total AUM has skyrocketed to well over $31 billion.
Fidelity’s FBTC also saw some impressive inflows of $256.1 million on Tuesday and just over $300 million on Thursday. Ark Invest’s ARKB had its best day on Tuesday, with $267.3 million in net inflows.
Within this highly positive week for the ETFs, BTC’s price shot up from around $90,000 on Monday to $99,825 (on Bitstamp) on Friday, thus coming less than $200 away from the six-figure territory.
ETH ETFs Suffer
The spot Ethereum ETFs also had quite impressive several trading days after the US elections, marking their best week yet in the period from November 11 to November 15. However, there were some warning signs at the end of the week, which only intensified in the following days.
In fact, the ETH ETFs ended almost every day in the past trading week in the red, with outflows of $39.1 million on Monday, $81.3 million on Tuesday, $30.3 million on Wednesday, and $9 million on Thursday. The funds managed to break this negative streak, which actually extended to six consecutive days in the red, including the previous Thursday and Friday, on November 22.
They attracted $91.3 million, with BlackRock’s ETHA leading the pack with $99.7 million, while Grayscale’s ETHE and ETH were in the red with $18.6 million and $0.6 million, respectively.
Overall, the ETH funds ended the week with net outflows of $68.4 million. Nevertheless, ETH’s price is up by just over 10% in the past week and sits above $3,400.
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