🌋 Polygon's Hermez testnet release: another player in the Ethereum rollup race

🌋  Polygon's Hermez testnet release: another player in the Ethereum rollup race 🥽 The Metaverse: a place where users aren't? 🤯 Crypto investors in Portugal brace for 28% tax in 2023

GM, vEmpions! Our motto here today is: "Work for the future, not for the present" We all know that the best way to secure our future is to work hard now, right? No one ever said that life was fair, and if you want to succeed you have to put in the hours. So what are you doing? There's no time to waste, the future is calling. And it needs you to be at your best. So get to it!

Now for the topics we've got today:

🌋  Polygon's Hermez testnet release: another player in the Ethereum rollup race 

🥽 The Metaverse: a place where users aren't? 

🤯 Crypto investors in Portugal brace for 28% tax in 2023

Polygon's Hermez testnet release: another player in the Ethereum rollup race

Polygon keeps on truckin'! The race for a dominant Ethereum Layer 2 solution is in full swing, and Polygon throws its hat in the ring with a public testnet for Hermez.

Acquired last year for a whopping $250 million, Hermez is Polygon's yet another solution to Ethereum's scalability issues. DeFi protocols Aave and Uniswap will be launching on the testnet, so there's bound to be some action.

Hermez uses ZK-Rollups to improve upon the typical Layer 2 scaling solution. This means that developers can create Zero Knowledge (ZK) applications using the industry standard coding language Solidity.

If you're not familiar with the zero-knowledge proofs, the term refers to the fact that transactions can be verified without being publicly visible. This allows for greater privacy and security for users of the applications built on Hermez.

Polygon is confident that Hermez will be the go-to Layer 2 solution for Ethereum. With Aave and Uniswap on board, it's off to a good start. Polygon has also stated that all applications, tools, and user wallets built on its Polygon PoS network will work on Hermez.

"What's the point of having more L2 solutions? Don't we already have enough?" some  might ask - well, the more the merrier, we say. Competition is healthy and it will only result in better products for users in the end. But there's one big question that remains: can Polygon actually pull this off? The jury is still out, but they certainly got the resources and the partnerships to give it a good try.

The Metaverse FUD: why we shouldn't believe it

Everyone's taking their turn fudding the metaverse this week, saying that no one is actually using it. Take recent claims by some bloggers and news websites saying that Decentraland, the largest metaverse platform by market cap, only has 379 daily active users. To prove it, they cited data from DappRadar. DappRadar is a tool that provides insights into decentralized applications, it defines active users as "a number of unique wallet addresses interacting with a particular Dapp’s smart contracts." Sandbox, another popular metaverse platform, apparently has 616 daily active users. And then there's STEPN, a play2earn platform that allows users to earn rewards for walking. It's the smallest metaverse platform by market cap, and it allegedly only has *one* daily active user, which is just pathetic.

But should we believe the haters? Let's take a closer look.

First, it's important to understand that the metric being used to measure DAU (daily active users) was probably flawed. DappRadar only counts users who have interacted with the platform via an external wallet like MetaMask. This means that anyone who didn't interact with the platform using an external wallet wouldn't be counted as an active user, even if they were actively using the platform. This is a pretty big flaw.

Decentraland posted on Twitter that "better data" can be found at DCL Metrics, this data showed that there were 56,700 monthly active users in September. Only 1074 of those users actually interacted with Decentraland's smart contracts.  This means that only 5% of active users actually interact with the smart contract side of the platform.

Sandbox also refuted data suggesting its platform has a low number of DAUs, stating on Twitter that it has 201,000 Monthly Active Users. Sandbox's data comes from a mix of internal and external sources including google analytics, third party dapps, and game developers.

So while we all can agree that the metaverse needs to be more than just a place to make money least we want it to end up like one of those old forgotten MMOs, it is silly to claim that the metaverse is not being used. And it is even sillier to use flawed data to back up those claims.

Crypto investors in Portugal brace for 28% tax in 2023

Portugal is set to introduce a 28% tax on cryptocurrency gains in 2023, according to reports. This move by the authorities will come as a surprise to many crypto investors who have been enjoying tax-free gains up until now.

However, it should be noted that the new tax regime will only apply to gains made on cryptocurrencies held for less than 12 months. Those who hold their digital assets for longer than a year will still be exempt from paying taxes on their gains. 

So you can call it a non-HODLers tax, if you will. The law makers have also proposed a 10% tax on free crypto transactions, which could include airdrops. Another 4% tax was proposed on crypto broker commissions. The budget is still subject to parliamentary approval before it can pass into law.

Portugal has long enjoyed a reputation as one of the most crypto-friendly countries in Europe, thanks to its flexible legislation. This latest move, however, is likely to dampen the enthusiasm of many investors. Critics of the new tax regime say that it will discourage short-term investing in the country and lead to an exodus of crypto investors to more tax-friendly jurisdictions.

But at the end of the day, it's the government's prerogative to do what they feel is best for their revenue stream. Or at least, that's what they'll tell you.