Decentral Block Post

OpenSea, the world's largest nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace, has witnessed a substantial drop in daily volumes as fears about a potential market bubble grow.

OpenSea volume plummets to yearly lows

Notably, the marketplace processed nearly $5 million worth of NFT transactions on Aug. 28 — approximately 99% lower than its record high of $405.75 million on May 1, according to DappRadar.

The massive declines in daily volumes coincided with equally drastic drops in OpenSea users and their transactions, suggesting that the value and interest in the blockchain-based collectibles have diminished in the recent months.

That is further visible in the falling floor prices — the minimum amount one is ready to pay for an NFT — of leading digital collectible projects.

For instance, the floor price of the Bored Ape Yacht Club has dropped by 53% to 72.5 ETH on Aug. 28 versus a high of 153.7 ETH on May 1. 

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse took to Twitter to deny recent explosive claims made by Crypto Leaks, an online publication focusing on corruption and fraud-related news in the crypto ecosystem.

Crypto Leaks published a report on Friday containing a series of short videos from an unknown source. The report claimed that Ava Labs formed a secret pact with the law firm to use the American legal system “gangster style” to “attack and harm crypto organizations."

The same report also alleged that Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse funded a law firm to target competitor firms. The report claimed Roche, who founded Roche Freedman, was earlier working with Boies Schiller Flexner, a firm that was representing Ripple in its lawsuit against the United States Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC).

Roche allegedly approached Garlinghouse to invest in a law firm that would target competitor crypto firms with lawsuits quite similar to what Ripple was facing at the time. And Kyle claimed that Garlinhouse agreed to his proposal.

“For whatever reasons Brad Garlinghouse invested in Kyle Roche and supported him on his current path, it certainly didn't save him from the SEC.”

Blockchain developer Cardano represents the crypto space with a top spot in a new report on global brand intimacy. Cardano ranks 26 among 600 brands and holds the top spot in the crypto industry, according to a report released by brand relations agency MBLM.

According to the report, brand intimacy refers to the emotional connections brands are able to create with their user base and audience. MBLM utilized artificial intelligence (AI) and big data to understand consumer relationships with some of the world’s leading brands, including Disney, Tesla and Apple.

Across 19 industries analyzed, crypto was among the top 10 perform, with Cardano in the lead, followed by Bitcoin as a brand at #30. Whereas crypto brands such as Uniswap and Solana took #261 and #265, respectively.

In comparison to last year, the surveyors said Cardano is not only a new entry but the highest ranked in crypto and the highest performing financial services brand in the study.

In a statement to Cointelegraph, Charles Hoskinson, the co-founder of Cardano, said the company was born of a simple belief that everyone is equal and should live in a fair society. Cardano works towards this through decentralization and merit, he added.

Bitcoin (BTC) heads into the first week of September on a rocky road downhill after United States markets’ Jackson Hole rout.

After the U.S. Federal Reserve reinforced hawkish comments on the inflation outlook, risk assets sold off across the board, and crypto is still reeling from the aftermath.

A fairly nonvolatile weekend did little to improve the mood, and BTC price action has returned to focus on areas below $20,000.

In so doing, multiple weeks of upside have effectively disappeared, and in turn, traders and analysts expect a retest of the macro lows seen in June this year.

While all is now quiet regarding the Fed until the September rate hike decision, there is still plenty of room for upset as geopolitical uncertainty and inflation persist, the latter still increasing in Europe.