Bitcoin hits all-time high; Lotte World opens in metaverse

Transcript

Bitcoin is shooting for the stars, will it keep going or land on the moon?

Welcome to The Daily Forkast, October 21, 2021. I’m Angie Lau, Editor-in-Chief of Forkast.News, covering all things blockchain.

Bitcoin hit an all time high of just over US$67,000 Wednesday evening, Asia time and that’s seen the wider crypto market on a roll right now, we’re going to take a look at what’s driving that surge and a whole lot more coming up.

Let’s get you up to speed from Asia to the world.

First up, after keeping the industry in suspense for the last week, Bitcoin finally hit a new all time high of US$ 67,276, according to data from CoinGecko.

The price leapt over 5% in just three hours to hit the highest it has traded since April, just before the mid-year crash saw the entire market plunge.

Forkast.News Lachlan Keller takes a look at what that means for the wider crypto market.

Bitcoin wasn’t the only cryptocurrency to surge, Ethereum and other altcoins followed closely, with Ethereum breaking the US$4,000 mark. It was hovering around US$4,150 Thursday afternoon Asia time – that’s around US$200 below its all time high.

One expert told Forkast.News Bitcoin’s upward trend is set to continue.

“If you look at the way Bitcoin has performed or behaved after you break all-time highs. Typically it goes a lot higher real quick. So it’s not like maybe in traditional assets where you’ve just edged above all time highs and then you retrace. Typically, a lot of people are bullish and thinking we’re due for another leg up, another ramp up. I expect prices to keep on going up.”

D’Anethan says the launch of the Bitcoin futures ETFs has helped drive the price up, but with inflation picking up, a lot of people are also looking at Bitcoin for a hedge.

He also says that within the industry, the chatter is that the focus is cycling towards Ethereum.

“The next bet is – will we have an Ethereum ETF basically, so you can see that sophisticated traders are already starting to transition to another asset, a new trade that might have more upside, more potential.”

D’Anethan says he’s seeing evidence of that in the derivative space, with options on ETH getting a bit more bullish, and he believes that will ultimately benefit altcoins, too.

For Forkast.News, I’m Lachlan Keller.

Meanwhile, more of the world, despite Covid quarantines and strict travel rules, are opening up thanks to the digital revolution. It’s happening right here in Asia.

Fancy visiting Korea’s Lotte World, but can’t wait for the border to fully reopen? Why not head there virtually? Lotte World is one of the largest and the most beloved theme parks in Korea, and now it’s opening a metaverse version.

Forkast.News Danny Park has more

Located in Seoul, South Korea, the Lotte World amusement park is visited by eight million people each year. Now, Lotte World is bringing Magic Island, the outdoor section of the park, to the Zepeto metaverse.

Upon entering the Lotte World Map on Zepeto, users can experience the theme park’s classic attractions such as the landmark Magic Castle and thrill rides, Gyro Drop and the Atlantis Adventure roller coaster.

As the park is also popular in Korea for its Halloween events, the opening of the of the Zepeto Lotte World will be Halloween themed with zombified avatars roaming around the map, welcoming visitors.

Lotte World says it expects the virtual theme park to be the new hot spot for millennials and Generation Z users and plans to utilize its contents to diversify its businesses.

Meanwhile, Zepeto, Korea’s metaverse platform created by internet giant Naver, has 200 million users globally. It’s especially popular with teenagers and has diversified its content through collaboration with Disney, Gucci, Hello Kitty and more.

For Forkast.News, I’m Danny Park.

And finally, the metaverse is definitely a hot topic today. Hong Kong-based metaverse, blockchain gaming and NFT company Animoca Brands has closed a US$65 million funding round, at a pre-money valuation of 2.2 billion dollars.

The gaming unicorn’s latest capital raise follows an investment round of almost US$138.88 million earlier this year. Yes, that’s a lot of eights. Of course, you know, it’s a very auspicious number for this region.

Animoca says this fresh capital will be used to fund acquisitions, product development and licenses for popular intellectual property. Animoca’s blockchain game projects include Revv Racing, F1 Delta and The Sandbox.

Investors in this round include Ubisoft Entertainment, Sequoia China, Liberty City Ventures and Token Bay Capital.

Blockchain gaming and NFTs have seen phenomenal growth this year, with DappRadar’s Q3 2021 industry reports saying that Axie Infinity became the most traded NFT collection ever, with its historical trading volume surpassing – get this US$2 billion.

The metaverse is nowhere and everywhere, and it’s taking itself to the bank.

And that’s The Daily Forkast from our vantage point right here in Asia. Hit like, hit subscribe, hit that bell to get alerted to our next latest, greatest, newest video.

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For more, visit Forkast.News. I’m Editor-in-Chief Angie Lau. Until the next time.