Welcome to the Netcoins weekly news roundup. 

We have an exciting batch of news stories this week, highlighting the growth of both the cryptocurrency and the NFT space.

A Solana-based NFT sold for over $2.5 million Canadian this week, making it the most expensive NFT to be sold on the Solana blockchain platform.

Solana isn’t the only news item rocking the world of NFTs. Total volume across all projects in the space reached over $13.4 billion Canadian in the third quarter of this year. With all of that volume, it makes sense that a company called Toonz is launching as a  design lab that integrates services related to NFTs for creators, collectors and anyone else interested in the space.

Details on all of that and more coming right up in this week’s edition of the news.

Solana NFT Sells for Over $2.5 Million

An NFT from SolanaMonkeyBusiness has just sold for over $2.5 million Canadian, making it the most volume Solana-based NFT to date. 

The NFT, SolMonkey #1335, is the rarest NFT within 5,000 minted on the Solana blockchain collection. The rarity of the NFT comes down to the traits of the NFT, with a jewelled crown (only 0.02% of SolMonkeys have this trait), orange jacket (1.06%), and a complete skeleton body (2.42%). 

With the first Solana-based NFT selling over $1.25 million just three weeks ago, it is clear that the Ethereum blockchain is not the only game in town.

Bitcoin Miners Making Over $50 Million Daily

Since the Bitcoin network’s halving in May 2020, miners’ daily block rewards have increased by a staggering 488%.

Directly following the Bitcoin blockchain’s halving on May 11, 2020, miners’ revenue was just over $8.5 million Canadian but has jumped considerably, sitting just above $50 million Canadian. 

However, the current values are still lower than the over $75 million Canadian peak seen before China’s crackdown on the mining industry.

This increase is 185% higher than those awarded to miners after the 2020 halving, which amounted to about $17 million Canadian per day. 

NFT Sales Surpass $13.4 Billion in Q3

The sale volumes of NFTs have hit over $13.4 billion Canadian in the third quarter of 2021, more than eight times larger than those seen in the previous quarter. The third quarter’s figures are up from $1.6 billion Canadian in quarter two and $1.5 billion Canadian in quarter one. 

OpenSea, one of the largest NFT marketplace, hit sales volumes over $4.2 billion in August alone. NFT sales were just as strong in September, even with the falter of global stock markets. 

The increasing price of NFTs, whether through videos, images, collectibles, or other digital items, continues to grow with little sign of slowing down.

Shiba Inu Crypto Shoots 30% Higher

As Bitcoin continues to rise, hovering around the $70,000 Canadian mark, Shiba Inu now becomes the 12th most valuable cryptocurrency. 

This meme-based token has seen a 391% rise in just a week, sitting at around  $0.000043 Canadian, pushing the currency’s market cap to nearly $18 billion for the first time. 

The Shiba Inu token started rising on October 3rd, following a tweet made by Elon Musk. Within the tweet was a picture of Musk’s dog, which is a Shiba Inu named Floki.

Both Bitcoin and Shiba Inu are seeing massive growth recently, while the price of Ethereum (27.3% increase) and Dogecoin (26.3% increase) have also significantly increased. Overall, the cryptocurrency space is seeing healthy growth despite China’s recent ban. 

Toonz Media Group Launches Fully Integrated NFT Design Lab

Toonz Media Group and GuardianLink are launching Toonz NFT Labs, the world’s first integrated NFT design lab. The design lab specializes in state-of-the-art NFTs for custom-made digital assets. It provides integrated services for artists, creators, collectors, and more to create curated digital assets and NFTs.

Toonz NFT Labs will be involved in the creative and technology behind the NFT generation, asset designs, and smart contract generation.

Over 1,000 designers and technologists will be involved in the NFT lab, offering services like 2D character design, 3D design and modelling, digital asset development with smart contract attributes, creative storyboarding and conceptualization, and much more. 

The company will also offer intellectual property partnerships for movie, television, and game properties, among others. 

That concludes this week’s news. Sign up today for a free account with Netcoins, Canada’s most trusted cryptocurrency exchange.