Young Monday: Bill Murray, GTA, and the strange case of the +800% UST Classic pump

Bill Murray’s NFT extravagances, crypto gossip about GTA 6, USTC’s suspicious pump

The first week of July in the crypto world began with some rumours about the possible crypto capabilities of the new Grand Theft Auto (GTA) edition. There is still nothing certain about the video game that has been in development since the beginning of the year, but a rumour was enough to make fans curious. From a classic video game, we move on to a movie star! The actor Bill Murray has made collectable NFTs to tell some of the absurd stories and events of his life and career. In the past few days, you may also have noticed that the price of USTC, the defunct stablecoin of the Terra ecosystem (LUNA), has soared. What happened? Find out in this edition of Young Monday, with the week’s most interesting news from the crypto world! Spoiler: all that glitters is not gold!

Will GTA 6 be a play-to-earn?

The blockchain gaming industry is giving us truly extraordinary projects and gameplay, and by now all the major blockchains, from Avalanche to Solana, have their own crypto games. The play-to-earn model is also fascinating the off-chain gaming industry. In this regard, rumours have been leaked in recent days by alleged insiders from Rockstar Games about the upcoming release of the new Grand Theft Auto volume. According to the rumours, the sixth GTA video game will be available in 2024 (more than ten years after the last release) with the introduction of a cryptocurrency payment system. Earlier this year Rockstar Games announced that GTA 6 was in development, but the release date and the new crypto feature are still to be confirmed. However, open world fans are already itching to find out if the new GTA will be a play-to-earn and how involved it will be with the crypto world.

Bill Murray celebrates his crazy career with collectable NFTs

An unconventional autobiography of an equally unconventional artist will be available on the 15th of July. The life and career of Bill Murray (71) will be told through 100 stories in NFT format. You may know Bill Murray for his filmography, from playing Professor Venkman in Ghostbusters to being the favourite face of Wes Anderson. Moreover,his artistic life is full of incredible stories and anecdotes that go beyond his acting talents. The NFTs of ‘The Bill Murray 1,000′ collection are also designed to tell all those little stories and details that feed the personality of an artist of his calibre, such as his mania for stealing crisps from strangers’ packets or his passion for gatecrashing weddings. Murray made the non-fungible tokens together with his son and the startup Project Venkman (a platform on Acala, one of Polkadot’s parachains) named after the most famous character Murray played. Each NFT is based on a single original painting by artist David Grizzle, to which backgrounds, unique decorations and the actor’s life story have been added. The first NFTs in the collection will be for sale on the 15th of July with a price floor of 1.5 ETH. The remainder will be released later this year.

Why is the price of UST Classic pumping?

Over the past few days, you may have noticed that UST Classic, the failed algorithmic stablecoin of the Terra ecosystem, is showing signs of life after the loss of its dollar peg and the collapse of the entire blockchain structure. In fact, the price of USTC has risen 800% in a single week. Apparently the growth is unjustified, so what is happening to USTC? Some speak of the return of the living dead, others of zombie stablecoins, is USTC really hovering between life and death? Actually, it would seem not. Although at the same time LUNC, the original version of LUNA, is enjoying a sudden rise (from a market cap of $388 million to $922 million between 26 and 29 June), this is not a real revival of Do Kwon’s project. The price increase, according to some financial analysis groups, is only due to users looking to make money from a possible USTC and LUNC push. However, the underlying technology is dead, USTC has failed to achieve its goal of offering a stable, digital version of the dollar, which is why Terra’s comeback seems rather unlikely.

Solana and the crypto smartphone

Our tech news of the week comes from Solana! The Proof-of-Stake blockchain that promises super-fast and low-cost transactions has announced that in 2023 it will release Saga, an Android smartphone designed to facilitate access to and use of Web3 services. With Saga, you will be able to easily manage wallets, dapp, NFT, all from your mobile phone. Saga will also have competitive specifications in terms of screen, memory and camera. According to Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana, the way people approach the crypto world could be revolutionised by this new model of smartphone that aims to solve the usability problems of decentralised products. Solana wants to bring crypto into everyone’s pockets!

Buy SOL on Young Platform

Buy now