Global Cannabis Applications Corp. (CSE:APP)
GCAC develops technologies that benefit the medical cannabis ecosystem by helping cultivators control and optimize product lifecycle to improve the consumer experience and create better patient outcomes.
To say that investing has changed is an understatement. While old school diehards may still call up their brokers every time they want to trade, the new generation of investors is taking a markedly different approach.
Online trading platforms like Robinhood have revolutionized investing, bringing simple to use trading tools to millions of younger, tech-savvy investors who may have otherwise been unable or indifferent to growing their portfolios.
However, with this technological leap into the world of stock and crypto trading has come a new phenomenon: the gamification of investing.
Many of these newer platforms were designed with younger investors in mind, and they have done an outstanding job making complex financial assets easy to trade. Young retail investors have taken trading platforms like Robinhood from a fintech start-up to a $40 billion company.
While critics argue that the platform has made trading too simple, with its game-like interface, Robinhood contends that this is just the way Millennials and Gen-Z prefer to trade. And trade they are. According to a recent report featured in The New York Times, Robinhood investors trade 40 times more than investors on other online trading platforms.
However, the so-called gamification of online trading has led to some unintended side effects.
According to a recent survey from the consumer finance website MagnifyMoney, 59% of Gen-Z traders admit buying or selling an investment while intoxicated. This compared to 32% of all US investors and only 9% of investors over 57. Overall, 66% of Americans admit to making impulse investment decisions, with many later regretting them.
The accessibility of online trading platforms has made this type of investing more common, but why are younger investors seemingly more affected?
Addiction treatment provider Addiction Center, which specializes in drug, alcohol, and behavioural addictions, points to the gamification of trading platforms like Robinhood as a likely factor.
Social media, online trading forums, and amplified new coverage have been driving fear of missing out (FOMO) investing for younger, newer, and less experienced traders. Combined with emotionally charged investing on gamified trading platforms and slews of young traders still flush with stimulus cash, you have all the ingredients you need for meme mania investing.
The stock market continues to reach new record highs, surging over 100% since March 2020. Retail investors are ploughing money into the markets at rates not seen since 2014, cashing in on everything from GameStop (GME) and AMC to cryptocurrencies and NFTs.
The price of Bitcoin has nearly doubled this year to $49,571. However, the cryptocurrency briefly hit $64,000 during a trading frenzy in April, which saw even meme token Dogecoin surge over 300%.
Aware that they are rapidly losing influence with young, tech-savvy traders, traditional financial firms like Fidelity are attempting to lure in Gen-Z investors with edgy TikTok videos and youth-targeted marketing campaigns.
In their latest offering, the US fund manager compares mutual funds to burritos, encouraging investors to diversity rather than invest all their funds in “guac.”
However, it may be too little too late for traditional intermediaries as young investors instead flock to trending digital assets, preferring to get their investing advice from social media, their own research, and friends.
And where does the next big digital investment opportunity lie? Many venture capitalists and investors are betting on NFTs.
The market for NFTs – non-fungible tokens – has exploded in popularity over the last year. NFT sales have surged to over $2.5 billion for the first half of 2021, with everything from original artwork and graphics to sports memorabilia and Tweets being tokenized and sold.
Renowned artist Beeple has been responsible for some of the most noteworthy NFT sales, recently selling a collage entitled Everydays: The First 5000 Days for US$69 million. However, NFT art fans are also rapidly buying up pixelated art character Cyberpunks, video game avatars, and other tradeable collectables.
In a recent NFT auction, Fortune Magazine sold out of a limited-edition release of 256 copies of its August/September 2021 cover “Crypto vs. Wall Street” in minutes, raising US$1.3 million.
While some crypto-curious investors are still hesitant about the long-term value of NFTs, supporters argue that NFTs are fundamentally changing how people experience art, and they are here to stay.
A non-fungible token, or NFT, represents the ownership of an inimitable, irreplaceable digital asset. Non-fungible essentially means unique. Where a Bitcoin is fungible – trade one Bitcoin for another and you have an identical asset – NFTs are non-interchangeable. You can trade NFTs, but you’ll be left with a new, one-of-a-kind digital asset.
On the technical end, most NFTs are created on the Ethereum blockchain. Like Bitcoin, Ethereum is a cryptocurrency; however, unlike the Bitcoin blockchain, the Ethereum platform supports the development, buying, selling, and trading of NFTs.
However, with the rapid rise in popularity of NFTs, other blockchains are joining the race, implementing their own versions of NFTs.
In a move to capitalize on the booming NFT market, blockchain pioneer and leading medical cannabis chain-of-custody compliance and data platform Global Cannabis Applications Corp. (CSE:APP) (CNSX:APP.CN) (FSE:2FA) (OTC:FUAPF) announced an NFT giveaway. Everyone who holds GCAC tokens on the record date of August 31, 2021, at 9 am Eastern Time, will be Airdroped a unique NFT.
According to the Company, the upcoming one-off NFT Airdrop will feature exclusive artwork representing the worlds of cannabis and blockchain truths. All GCAC token holders will receive a unique NFT.
“We are blockchain – and want to showcase how our blockchain not only maintains the truth of our cannabis products, but it also allows Efixii users, and our SaaS grower community, to join the NFT revolution.” Brad Moore, GCAC CEO, stated. “Using the Efixii Ethereum blockchain, users can publish creative works for the whole world to see. And, just like the awesome artwork in this one-off NFT airdrop for GCAC token holders, the Efixii blockchain community can offer their art for sale on the biggest NFT marketplaces in the world like OpenSea, Rarible or Mintable.”
Launched in April on Ethereum, the GCAC marketing token has already gathered 300 holders. The token entitles holders to a pro-rata share of quarterly revenues and can be purchased by anyone with Ethereum or Binance Smart Chain blockchain wallets on either Uniswap or PancakeSwap,
On the record date, each GCAC token holder will automatically be assigned a unique NFT artwork on the Efixii blockchain. The NFTs will be available for export immediately to any public marketplace should holders want to sell or trade their NFT. The artwork is transferred to GCAC holders with full commercial copyright and without any future-sale royalty payments back to the creator. It really is gifted, in full, to the loyal GCAC community of token holders.
Disclaimer: The company described in this article is a customer of NAI Interactive Ltd. This material is for informational purposes only and is not intended as a recommendation or offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any securities or financial instruments, or for transactions involving any financial instrument or trading strategy.
