USA News Group – Shortly after Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) changed its corporate name to Meta Platforms, Inc. (NEO: FACE), cryptocurrency investors saw the rebranding as a sign of growing acceptance of the metaverse trend. This coincided with a rising interest in altcoins and meme coins such as Dogecoin (DOGE) and its dog-faced competitor Shiba Inu (SHIB) saw sharp rallies, causing Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD) Markets, Inc. (NASDAQ: HOOD) to field questions about when they’ll add more of these coins to its trading platform. As the two dogs duke it out, Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) Global, Inc. (NASDAQ-NMS: COIN) already now supports Shiba Inu, and Hello Pal International Inc. (CSE: HP (NYSE:HPQ)) (OTC: HLLPF) has primary exposure to mining DOGE. Meanwhile popular theater chain AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC) Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AMC) is officially already accepting DOGE and is considering accepting SHIB as well.
Despite having the same breed of dog as their respective avatars, DOGE and SHIB are quite different. DOGE is a coin, not a token, meaning it has its own chain that enable it to be mined. Whereas SHIB is a token, existing on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain. One of the biggest differences between the two is supply, where SHIB has one quadrillion in supply, whereas DOGE has a current supply of ~132 billion.
Busy creating new DOGE coins, is Hello Pal International Inc. (CSE: HP) (OTC: HLLPF), which in October announced they’re in the process of upgrading their Litecoin/Dogecoin mining rigs to the latest Antminer L7 Model.
"Dogecoin, often referred to as 'the people's coin', is being rapidly accepted and adopted internationally," says Hello Pal Founder and Chief Executive Officer, KL Wong.
"We remain committed to our crypto mining strategy and the implementation of cryptocurrency within our social platform, so this upgrade will help us achieve this goal." The company sold 4,500 of its existing Antminer L3+ mining rigs for a consideration of USDT 2.1 million (approximately CAD$2.67 million). Using those proceeds, Hello Pal purchased 100 units of Antminer L7 mining rigs, which are the latest Litecoin/Dogecoin mining rigs to be released by Bitmain. L7 mining rigs have a hashrate of 9500 MH/s, which is 19x more than that of the existing L3+ and is one of the most profitable mining rig in the world currently on the market.
Apart from the increased mining power, these miners require less maintenance, making them easier to house in mining facilities due to the reduced space it will require compared to the electricity fees received by the mining facilities. These advantages also mean that Hello Pal will have a lot more flexibility in terms of where its mining rigs can be housed.
Once mined, trading platforms such as Robinhood Markets , Inc. (NASDAQ: HOOD) and Coinbase Global , Inc. (NASDAQ-NMS: COIN) will give new investors and users access to new supplies.
A social media campaign asking “When #shiba?” targeted Robinhood specifically.
"Our customers want new coins," said Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev cautiously on an investor call.
"[But] we're having to carefully evaluate whether we can add new coins in a way that's safe for customers and in line with regulatory requirements." Meanwhile, the trading platform is offering free DOGE along with Bitcoin (BTC) and ETH through a sweepstakes partnership with fast-food giant Burger King.
"Crypto is fun. It's also deeply technical. Finding ways to make it more accessible, to break down that emotional barrier for people getting involved in the market, is something that we're constantly prioritizing," Christine Brown, Robinhood Crypto COO, told Yahoo Finance.
Unfortunately for users of Coinbase Global, Inc. (COIN) who wanted to join in on the Shiba Inu rally, the cryptocurrency exchange providers went offline, leaving traders unable to sell their holdings.
Users were quite unimpressed, as it took Coinbase too long for the fix to come, as the price of Shiba Inu had already plummeted by the time the issue was resolved. However, when online, Coinbase users can trade SHIB, unlike current users of Robinhood.
Despite its challenges, Shiba Inu officially went on to surpass Dogecoin in market value, hitting $40 billion.
Already accepting Dogecoin, popular “meme stock” AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AMC) has floated the idea of also accepting SHIBA as well.
"As you know, you can now purchase AMC gift cards using cryptocurrency, and our IT group is writing code so that soon we can accept online payments in bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin, and dogecoin among others," wrote AMC CEO Adam Aron.
"Should we strive to take shiba inu too?" Phrased as a poll, the CEO received an overwhelming positive response close to 90% in favor of the movie theater chain accepting it.
Earlier in October, Aron announced:
"As we work to accept online crypto payments, now you can buy AMC Theatres digital gift cards (up to $200 per day) with dogecoin and other cryptocurrency using a Bitpay Wallet. Accepted on our website, mobile app, and in theatres." The crypto market is still feeling the effects of the announcement of Facebook changing its name to Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB). So far, many early adopters of the virtual worlds in the Metaverse aren’t impressed.
"They are essentially trying to build what many of us have been building for years but rebrand it as their own," said Ryan Kappel, an American who for more than two years has hosted meet-ups in different metaverses.
"I think Facebook has made this early name change to essentially secure the new trademark legally as soon as possible as more brands become interested," said UK-based crypto investor Pranksy, who said he first bought virtual world real estate around early 2020.
Meanwhile, the announcement from Meta caused another currency to surge, namely one called Decentraland (MANA), which quickly hit an all-time high of $4.16 on Saturday, according to CoinMarketCap data, up 400% from where it was trading shortly after Facebook announced it was changing its name to Meta.
"[It] brings together our apps and technologies under one new company brand," said Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg with the name change announcement.
"Meta's focus will be to bring the metaverse to life and help people connect, find communities and grow businesses."
Information provided by FinancialNewsMedia.
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