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Hey Waivly Crew! 🌊 Shopify is launching an NFT beta program that will allow creators to mind and sell their NFTs. Russia’s Central Bank might be planning to introduce a ban on investing in cryptocurrency.

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This Waivly edition is brought to you in partnership with Lloyd, the career copilot platform that gives you personalised career coaching advice, and keeps you accountable to your career goals by giving you friendly and expert guidance, helping you achieve them in record time. Try it for free here.

Shopify launches NFT Beta Program

Shopify is officially getting into the NFT market, after its CEO Tobias “Tobi” Lütke announced on Twitter that the company has launched an NFT Beta Program.

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With Shopify’s new NFT program, you can now mint and sell NFTs on popular networks including Ethereum, Polygon, Near, and Flow. Everything is done within Shopify, with the freedom to accept credit cards, Shopify Payments, Shop Pay, and of course, cryptocurrency.

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Unlike the majority of NFT marketplaces, Shopify allows you to create branded experiences, such as offering memberships to your community, connecting your NFTs to exclusive content or products, and more.

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For now, only U.S.-based merchants can apply to join the beta program, but eventually, it will likely become available to creators in other countries.

Unreleased Whitney Houston demo sells for $1M at NFT auction

An unreleased Whitney Houston demo recorded when she was 17-years-old has sold for $1 million during an NFT auction.

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Earlier this month OneOf, a green NFT platform built for music lovers, announced that the full-length record would be auctioned during its two-day immersive art, music, and NFT experience during Miami Art Week.

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The winning bidder, who paid $999,999 on Tuesday, now has access to the never-before-heard full-length demo in the OneOfVault, along with digital artwork and videos created by breakout 17-year-old artist Diana Sinclair.

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The collection also included a large set of NFTs that included images and videos from the beginning of Houston’s career. All proceeds from the sales will go towards the Whitney E. Houston Foundation, a non-profit organization that cares for problems such as homelessness, children with cancer and AIDS, and other issues.

The Waves

🖼️ Twitch Co-Founder Justin Kan launching gaming NFT marketplace

👀 Adidas is launching its first NFT collection

🎙️ Spotify acquires company that turns radio shows Into podcasts

📱 Apple is reportedly going to make more of its own chips

Crypto Special

Bitcoin-Backed Mortgages are coming to the US and Canada

This week Crypto lending firm Ledn raised $70 million in funding and announced a new bitcoin-backed mortgage product.

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The round was led by Dan Tapiero's 10T Holdings, along with Golden Tree Asset Management, Raptor Group, and FJ Labs, and all previous investors.

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Ledn will use the funding to launch a new bitcoin-backed mortgage product, which will allow clients to borrow to buy a home with an equal amount of bitcoin and property collateral as part of the mortgage loan.

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"Most people that hold extensive wealth in bitcoin still can't utilize their assets to qualify for a mortgage at a bank," said Adam Reeds, co-founder, and CEO of Ledn. "That is why we are launching this product, in order to provide access to key financial products for those who choose to invest outside the mainstream of legacy banks."

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The Bitcoin Mortgage product is currently in pilot mode and is expected to be made more available in the US and Canada in early 2022. Ledn says there is currently a waitlist for the product, and by the end of Q1 2022, the firm is targeting over $100 million in bitcoin-backed mortgage originations.

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Russian central bank seeks ban on crypto investment

According to Reuters, the Russian central bank wants to ban investments in cryptocurrencies in Russia, citing risks to financial stability and the exploding volume of transactions.

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The ban would prevent all transactions without forcing current holders to divest their portfolios. Authorities in Russia have been against cryptocurrency for a while, claiming that it can be used for money laundering and financing terrorism.

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Last month at an investment forum in Moscow, President Vladimir Putin shared his opinion on cryptocurrency, stating that it "bears high risks."

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However, Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the Duma (Russian Parliament) Committee on Financial Markets, gave a statement during a press conference yesterday about the possibility of a ban:

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“There exists a very tough approach about the complete prohibition of cryptocurrencies, such as acquisition or ownership. There [also] exists an approach where there must be appropriate crypto exchanges, where everything is legalized, transparent, and understandable to regulatory bodies. It would be easier for the Federal Tax Service of Russia to tax such [exchange] transactions.”

Own and secure your crypto

If you’re into cryptocurrency and own crypto assets, you need a secure place to store your coins and tokens. You probably already know that you shouldn’t store your crypto on an exchange due to potential hacks, not being solely in control of your crypto’s private keys, and for other reasons, and so a hardware wallet is the way to go and the best option to protect your private keys, therefore, you should make the move to a Ledger wallet.

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Ledger wallets are an extremely secure and premium way to secure, manage, and grow your crypto assets with their Bluetooth-enabled hardware wallets, and easy-to-use app which lets you manage your portfolio on the go. They let you manage multiple assets, buy, sell, grow, and exchange crypto, gain financial freedom by you being in full control and ownership of your private keys, and so much more.

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The wallets are really simple to setup, and to move your crypto over to, so there’s no reason not to secure your assets and take control of your cryptocurrency now and get yourself a Ledger device. You can manage 1800+ coins and tokens directly in the Ledger Live app once you’ve got your device up and running, so you’ll always have your entire portfolio covered.

Share The Wave

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