This is the #54th edition of the "Week through Adrian's Lenses" weekly Hive and crypto news roundup.
Let's see what we have for this week.
Week on Hive
19 of 30 tracked posts made it to this week's issue of the "Week on Hive" roundup.
In the Spotlight
After a long wait and enough technical difficulties, the first LeoAds revenue was distributed mainly to active LEO stakeholders last night (my time). There were evergreen content rewards distributed too, but for now, the lion's share is made up primarily of skaholders rewards. I don't think we can always make a direct correlation between the amount of staked LEO one has and the distributed rewards, because due to the activity requirement, some LEO stakes (for some periods) may not count for the distribution. Here are some details shared before the actual distribution happened.
Something to note is that LeoAds distributions come in the staked form, unlike LEO author and curation rewards.
Governance / Development / Dapps
Keychain 3.0 Beta: New Design, Swap Fee, Progress Update
Keychain now has a 3.0 beta version which comes with a new design, a light/dark theme, a way to re-order accounts, but also a 0.75% swap fee to start lowering the dependency on DHF funding. About them and other details in their update.
VSC's Year 2023 in Review
The VSC team put together a post describing their accomplishments on developing their implementation of a smart contracts platform on Hive (now in a proof-of-concept testnet phase), to which later the focus to build a decentralized Bitcoin-Hive bridge was added, and a demo and proof of concept for the Bitcoin to Hive wrapping mechanism, which was presented in November. They also mention their contribution to proposing an improvement to the multisig accounts on Hive core.
Khal's Vision for LeoPremium
In a recent post, Khal talks about his vision for LeoPremium. Check it out!
Marketing / Awareness / Branding
Value Plan: 2023 Quantitative Review and Q1 2024 Proposal
The Value Plan team published their quantitative review of last year, outlining a few high-level regional and scope shifts that are intended for 2024 compared to 2023, as well as what were the followed performance goals.
Although the qualitative report and the end-of-year report aren't ready yet for 2023, the team already created the proposal for the Value Plan funding for Q1.
With the Monte Carlo Rallye about to begin, I understand why early funding is important, even if the reports are not fully published.
Monte Carlo Rallye Preview
Speaking of the Monte Carlo Rallye, that's how our team gets ready for it. That's the racing team. But the marketing team is getting ready too.
WOO-Style Influencer Marketing
I can't say I am or was a wrestling fan, but I can notice the tight connection of the WOO game with the wrestling world and that former/current personalities from that entertainment industry show up and get seen on and around Hive, and maybe bring their fans too.
SpendHBD Initiative
3Speak has launched an initiative to spend HBD and write and share about it. Their team will curate and tip content that respects the rules of their initiative daily.
They also announced the 10 authors they supported for voting and talking about the Freechain film.
Games
Holozing Updates
POSH-based ZING claimdrop approaching the end. Soft deadline: end of January.
Acid is answering in a post about how could ZING bring more value to Hive.
Who wants to capture some talking birds on Holozing? I guess it depends on how nagging they are, right? Lol!
Let's also take a look at the healing gloves and the capturing devices and ammo. They look so futuristic!
Rising Star Wants a Redesign...
... and has launched a contest to see who comes up with the best idea. 25m STARBITS up for grabs, if a winner is selected.
Rise of the Pixels - Beta Update
Looks like the team added a couple of major updates in this iteration. Among them, adding rewards to the testing phase, but from my understanding, they are not tradable. Games will generate ratings and AI-written reviews. About these and other details in their post.
Meetings / Events / Communities
Full List of Businesses Accepting HBD in Sucre
The @hivesucre team put together a post with all their "allies" accepting HBD, their type of service, and their physical address. Their Hive username and photo aren't forgotten either.
Week in the Crypto World
Is the Downward Pressure on Bitcoin Not Over?
This is an interesting analysis saying it will continue, and it is caused by arbitragers on GBTC Trust who had no intention to move to an ETF after approval, only to hunt the drop of the fund's discount to its NAV. I'm curious how this plays out. It's not like the other ETF managers dislike the situation with a bleeding Grayscale and the possibility to buy Bitcoin at a discount.
BUSD at the End
Only about two weeks until both the issuer Paxos and Binance will stop support for BUSD, after which it will be an unbacked token with no one behind. If you still have any of them, no matter where or in which form (on BSC or other blockchains as wrapped tokens), you should get rid of them. That includes SWAP.BUSD on Hive-Engine, which will become withdraw-only from January 30 onward (you can't deposit more BUSD on Hive-Engine). There is no guarantee it will remain pegged from February going forward. In fact, it is more likely it won't than that it will.