Cryptocurrency

How blockchain technology and DeFi could help solve the housing crisis

Published

2 years ago

July 6, 2023

The prices of houses are sky-high all around the world, and homebuyers are feeling the pain. While affording a home has never been more difficult for many people, the ability to raise funds to construct new homes has never been easier, thanks to decentralized finance (DeFi). The newly launched Home Construction Collective is attempting to leverage blockchain’s coordination and fundraising potential in an effort to fund the construction of, and therefore increase the supply of, affordable homes.

On Episode 14 of The Agenda podcast, hosts Jonathan DeYoung and Ray Salmond speak with Home Construction Collective co-founders Isaac Lidsky and Erich Wasserman about the housing crisis and how blockchain technology may offer a solution.

Unpacking the housing crisis

According to Lidsky and Wasserman, the housing crisis is not truly a crisis of prices — instead, it’s a supply crisis. “We have systematically underproduced homes for decades,” Lidsky said. “Depending on what estimates you look at, we’re short between 4.5 million to 7 million homes today.” Exacerbating this problem is that more and more homes are being built specifically to be rented out rather than sold to prospective homeowners.

The lack of affordable homes has profoundly impacted the net worth of younger generations. “Home ownership is usually the biggest investment that people make in their lifetimes,” said Wasserman. “It’s the gateway to financial access. Homeowners have a staggering 40 times the net worth of renters.”

Lidsky added: “In their 40s, the baby boomers accounted for 21% of all wealth. In their 40s, Gen Xers, it had dropped to 2%. And for us millennials, we’re at 4.8%, with Mark Zuckerberg alone representing 2% of that 4.8%. And those are the horrendous numbers.”

Using DeFi to incentivize starter home construction

Home Construction Collective is focused on financing the construction of “starter homes,” or homes that first-time buyers can afford, which Lidsky reported are in incredibly short supply. “The more of them we can put on the market, the more affordable they’ll become,” he posited.

To help achieve this goal, the project fractionalizes the investment process, allowing people from around the world to invest in the construction of a new home and profit once it sells. Wasserman broke down the project’s mission in this regard:

“The problem we’re trying to solve and the thing we’re trying to do is to broaden investor access to these assets, which have been the, really, exclusive domain of regional banks and private lenders. And we’d submit they’ve not done a terribly good job over the last decades in keeping up with demand.”

Lidsky and Wasserman also co-founded a protocol called Rigor, which uses blockchain to streamline the construction supply chain and payment process. Lidsky said that by using Rigor, the cost of manufacturing the homes financed by Home Construction Collective is reduced:

“In the background, we’re also, at the pace of innovation in Web3, moving smartly to sort of further develop our tools ultimately to bring down the cost to produce these homes, bring down the cost in cycle times and in dollars. And so it’s a powerful one-two punch.”

To hear more from Lidsky and Wasserman’s conversation with The Agenda, listen to the full episode on Cointelegraph’s Podcasts page, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And don’t forget to check out Cointelegraph’s full lineup of other shows!

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This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Cryptocurrency

ChainGPT and Cronos Announce Strategic NFT Partnership to Power Scalable AI Solutions

Published

10 hours ago

April 10, 2025

[PRESS RELEASE – Dubai, United Arab Emirates, April 10th, 2025]

ChainGPT, a pioneer in blockchain AI solutions, announced a partnership with Cronos, the premier EVM-compatible blockchain built for scalability, interoperability, and next-generation decentralized applications.

This collaboration marks a pivotal step in ChainGPT’s mission to revolutionize the NFT space through advanced AI tools. By integrating with Cronos’ high-performance blockchain network, ChainGPT will enhance its AI NFT Generator to support scalable, low-cost, and interoperable NFTs like never before.

Cronos, built using the Cosmos SDK and leveraging the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol, is designed for seamless cross-chain connectivity. With native EVM compatibility, Cronos makes it easy for Ethereum-based dApps to deploy on a faster, more efficient Layer 1 blockchain.

Through this partnership, ChainGPT users will now benefit from:

Fast, low-cost NFT minting powered by Cronos
AI-driven NFT creation with seamless interoperability
Enhanced scalability for Web3 developers and creators

“Cronos provides the infrastructure to take our AI NFT tools to the next level. This partnership brings powerful blockchain performance to creators who rely on our platform to innovate with AI. It perfectly matches cutting-edge AI with a world-class decentralized network.” said Ilan Rakhmanov, Founder of ChainGPT and CEO of ChainGPT Software

The integration unlocks new capabilities for developers and artists alike. Users can now mint interoperable, AI-generated NFTs on a scalable chain with just a few simple prompts. Cronos’ ecosystem supports the end-to-end process from creation and trading to utilization and governance, making it a vital partner in the continued expansion of ChainGPT’s Web3 offerings.

“We’re excited to collaborate with ChainGPT to bring AI-generated NFTs to the Cronos ecosystem. As demand grows for smarter and more scalable NFT solutions, this partnership represents a significant step forward. It allows our users to take advantages of AI technology to generate NFT to increase community engagement.” by Emily Sit, Ecosystem Development at Cronos

As both ecosystems grow, this partnership signals a long-term commitment to expanding the boundaries of what’s possible with AI and blockchain. Users can now explore the ChainGPT AI NFT Generator on Cronos and join the movement toward faster, smarter, and more accessible Web3 tools.

To get started with AI-powered NFTs, users can visit: https://nft.chaingpt.org/

About Cronos

Cronos is a leading blockchain network built for speed, efficiency, and interoperability. Despite being a Layer 1 chain built with the Cosmos SDK, Cronos prides itself on being highly interoperable. This is thanks to its unique Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol. This protocol supports DeFi, NFTs, and Web3 applications, bringing a number of different use cases to Cosmos.

About ChainGPT

Incepted in 2023, ChainGPT is a leading provider of AI-powered tools for the blockchain and Web3 industries. It emerged as a project to bridge the gap between blockchain technology and AI, creating innovative solutions for the Web3 ecosystem. Leveraging advanced AI techniques, ChainGPT enhances blockchain functionality with its tools and applications, including SDKs and APIs for automated smart contract generation, a Web3 AI chatbot, an NFT generator, and an IDO launchpad. With established partnerships and collaborations with industry leaders such as Google, Nvidia, and BNB Chain, ChainGPT continues to pioneer efficient and user-friendly AI solutions in the blockchain space.

As a relatively young but rapidly growing project, ChainGPT’s mission is to revolutionize the intersection of blockchain and AI, with a vision to unlock the potential of autonomous AI agents in Web3.

Users can learn more at: https://www.chaingpt.org/

General Resources:

CGPT DAO | AI NFT Generator | Staking | Blog

Community and Social Media:

For Media Queries

Richa | richa@chaingpt.org & Sharon | sharon@chaingpt.org

️To learn more about ChainGPT, users can visit the official ChainGPT.org website

️For all inquiries, users can contact support@chaingpt.org

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Cryptocurrency

XRP Soars 10% to $2, BTC Gains Over $6K After Tariff Pause (Market Watch)

Published

10 hours ago

April 10, 2025

The trade war continues to impact the cryptocurrency market hard, but this time in a more positive way as BTC jumped to over $83,000 yesterday after the tariff pause for almost all countries.

The altcoins are also well in the green, with XRP leading the charge from the larger caps.

BTC Skyrockets

It has been a wild ride in the crypto industry lately, prompted by Trump’s continuous moves on the macro scene. It all began last Wednesday during the so-called ‘Liberation Day’ when he imposed a 10% tax essentially on the entire world, while countries like these in the EU and China got even bigger percentages.

While some retaliated, Trump became even more aggressive and increased the Chinese tariffs to 104% and then 125% yesterday. At the same time, he paused for 90 days the taxes against all other countries.

All of this news brought massive volatility to crypto. Just from this Monday, BTC’s price had dropped to and below $75,000 on a couple of occasions, with the latest example coming yesterday. However, the aforementioned pause served as a propeller for immediate gains and bitcoin skyrocketed by almost nine grand from bottom to the top.

It tapped $83,500 earlier but couldn’t continue north. As of now, it remains above $81,000 after a small correction. Its market cap has soared to $1.620 trillion on CG, and its dominance over the alts is well above 60%.

Alts Now in Green

The altcoins went on a similar rollercoaster with massive declines and rebounds. The past 12 hours or so have been a lot more positive. XRP leads the pack from the bigger ones, as its price has neared $2 after a 10% daily surge.

Cryptocurrency Market Overview. Source: QuantifyCrypto

Ethereum has jumped back to $1,600 after charting a multi-year low earlier this week. Other impressive gainers over the past day include SOL, DOGE, ADA, TRX, LINK, AVAX, SUI, and SHIB.

The total crypto market cap has added over $100 billion and is close to $2.7 trillion on CG.

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Cryptocurrency charts by TradingView.

Cryptocurrency

Important Ripple v. SEC Lawsuit Update Coming on April 16?

Published

10 hours ago

April 10, 2025

TL;DR

The XRP army is awaiting developments on April 16, when Ripple’s appellate brief is due.
Legal expert Fred Rispoli suggests there’s a 90% chance of a settlement or withdrawal notice.

The Official End is Near?

The Ripple community celebrated the supposed end of the lengthy lawsuit against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last month when CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the agency had dropped its appeal against the company.

However, the regulator has remained silent on the matter, raising the question of whether the case has truly reached its conclusion.

The US attorney Fred Rispoli expects to see something happening on that front on April 16 or before. The date marks Ripple’s scheduled appellate brief.

The legal expert believes there is a minor 10% possibility that the firm files the document, while the chance of a notice of settlement/withdrawal is set at 90%.

Rispoli also claimed that Ripple made the announcement about the dropped appeal without written assurances from the SEC.

“Nothing official has been done yet to effectuate the public announcement,” he added.

The Latest Confrontation

A filing from Justin W. Keener became the recent bone of contention between Ripple and the SEC.

The court document was submitted at the start of April and represents “an emergency request” to Judge Analisa Torres to “present decisive evidence in favor of the defendants and in favor of liberty for the American people.”

It remains unclear how the information aids Ripple, but it hints at ties to investment contracts Keener has collected. Meanwhile, the agency recently sued him for acting as an unregistered penny stock dealer, leading to a $10 million penalty.

Earlier this week, the Commission opposed the “emergency request” for three important reasons. It claimed that the District Court had no jurisdiction over the filing since the case had already been transferred to the Second Circuit and argued that Keener failed to file the correct motion to intervene.

Furthermore, the SEC labeled the request “unnecessary,” asserting that Ripple is capable of deciding for itself whether the evidence could benefit its case.

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