With crops being grown indoors under controlled environments, a selling point used by multiple vertical farms is that they can grow crops anywhere – even in the heart of a city. This has led to proponents of the industry envisioning “smart cities”, where vertical farms in city skyscrapers help feed the urban population. While this is achievable in principle, the truth is that the choice of location for vertical farming is much more involved and intricate than it may appear from these claims alone. Choosing an ideal location can be one of the most important factors in determining the success of a vertical farm.

Some vertical farms may choose to set up their facilities in pre-existing facilities, such as abandoned warehouses. In these cases, identifying the suitability of the venue is the first point of consideration: vertical farms are very energy intensive, and it is important to ensure the facilities chosen can support these energy loads. In addition, the ergonomics of the facility is also important; should the layout not be given proper consideration, this can impede workers and decrease worker efficiency. As labor costs are typically among the largest sources of expenditure for a vertical farm, improving labor efficiency to reduce these costs is of paramount importance.

While growing crops in the center of a city may seem ideal, the reality is that this may be counterproductive. Obtaining and maintaining such a location is expensive and can contribute significantly to the operating expenditure of a vertical farm while presenting logistical challenges in distributing produce; the “last mile” of food distribution is often the hardest. Having a farm right next to the consumers themselves may also be less ideal than instead choosing a location near food distribution centers, as this allows for more efficient delivery of produce. As distribution centers are typically located on the outskirts of cities, the cost of land is also much cheaper. This is the approach chosen by UK-based Jones Food Company, which chose Scunthorpe as a location for its vertical farm – this is a relatively low-cost location located near food distribution centers and a network of motorways that can reach many consumers in a day, even if it isn’t right in the middle of the capital city. Vertical farms should carefully consider their place in the supply chain before establishing a base.

On a larger scale, vertical farms may prove more profitable in different geographical regions. Vertical farms can reduce water usage significantly over conventional agriculture, and the high degree of control over the growing environment allows them to grow crops in extreme climates – where such crops may otherwise be unable to grow. In return, vertical farms demand more energy to carry out growing operations. To maximize their potential, vertical farms would ideally be located in regions of water scarcity, such as Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, or in areas with extreme climates, such as in Scandinavian countries, where the low amounts of sunlight and high costs of regulating greenhouse environments single out vertical farms as an optimal solution. The amount of agricultural land available is also an important factor – regions looking to increase food security and reduce reliance on imports while facing challenges in acquiring sufficient agricultural land would find vertical farms to be ideal. A particularly prominent example of such a country is Singapore, which has demonstrated much interest in vertical farming over the last few years.

Beyond the considerations of water scarcity and temperature, the general availability of fresh produce and the distribution networks of given countries should also be considered. Vertical farms use the added freshness and higher quality of their crops as a primary selling point, but these are typically offset by higher prices. Should there already be a large supply of high-quality produce available at lower costs, vertical farms will find it hard to distinguish their own produce and may struggle to establish a significant market share. The converse would also be true; should a country lack easy access to fresh produce, vertical farms are expected to see much demand for their produce. An example of such a region would be the Middle East: leafy greens typically travel several thousand miles to reach stores, resulting in consumers facing high prices and low-quality products. The high price of conventionally farmed leafy greens, alongside government subsidies, makes it easier for vertically farmed produce to approach price parity while providing much fresher, higher-quality products.

While the choice of location is an important consideration, it is only one of many others that must be given proper thought. Only through proper optimization of growing operations to improve efficiency and reduce costs can vertical farms reach their true potential. In the IDTechEx report, “Vertical Farming 2022-2032”, many further important factors for consideration are discussed in detail, and the future of vertical farming is evaluated through 10-year market forecasts.

The post Research Finds Location Is Key to Success of Vertical Farms appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Spend to Earn

Customer loyalty is the key to any successful business. Loyalty leaders growing their revenue roughly 2.5x as fast as competitors and peers lacking loyalty. A loyal customer is someone who is willing to stick with a product or service through thick and thin. They are also more likely to recommend a product or service to their friends and family.

An essential tool for building customer loyalty is to offer a rewards program. In fact, according to Bond, the average consumer belongs to 14.8 loyalty programs and is engaged in 6.7 of them. Rewards programs engage customers and give them an incentive to keep coming back and refer new business. They also serve as an analytical tool providing businesses a way to track their customers’ behavior and preferences. 

There are many different types of rewards programs, but the best ones share some common features. They are easy to use, offer a variety of rewards, and allow businesses to customize the program to fit their needs. A bold player in the space with a distinguished vision, Numi3, provides a novel rewards platform for modern businesses that understand the importance of customer loyalty and are looking to differentiate themselves.  

Brand loyalty the Numi3 way

Numi3 is a crypto-agnostic Web3 rewards SaaS platform that offers a unique solution for small to medium businesses looking to offer exceptional customer loyalty programs. For businesses, Numi3 boasts a full suite solution that is well thought out and executed using the latest technologies to provide:

• easy onboarding and integration
• secure and reliable infrastructure, and
• the lowest fees on the market.

Businesses can create reward campaigns, referral programs, or giveaways to reward their customers. Numi also provides the ability to validate and process crypto rewards transactions in real-time. So this means you can earn crypto at the checkout of your grocery store. This technology is considered feasible for future use cases to process crypto transactions in real-time. This is where a consumer pays a business for a product in crypto and the payment is validated immediately.

On the customer-end, attractive features of the loyalty program include earning crypto rewards as determined by the offered rewards program. Numi3’s user-centric solution helps businesses cater to the 79% of Americans that say they are more likely to join a rewards program that doesn’t require them to carry a physical card.

The user-friendly and navigable interface offered by Numi3 allows the utilization of crypto rewards to be simple. Apart from providing a seamless experience, the platform adopts a high level of security with several layers of defense. There is also a dedicated team of security professionals who understand the intricacies of keeping digital assets secure. Numi3 provides a simplistic journey for users regardless of previous experience with cryptocurrencies.

With large-scale Web3 adoption, businesses need to grow together with their users and increase their engagement in a maturing market. Seamless implementation will allow businesses to launch an innovative reward program without the headache associated with creating novel solutions from scratch. 

Staked rewards

Another special feature Numi3 will offer to businesses is their state-of-the-art crypto wallet solution, allowing consumers to stake, save, or withdraw their rewards.

Staking their rewards will allow users to earn rewards for holding their tokens over a set period of time, as chosen by the business, giving them even more of an incentive to spend money to add to their compounding pool of points. Additionally, implemented QR code systems prevent connectivity or network service providers from ever being an issue when registering purchases during the point of sale.

The combination of several differentiators could be a game-changer for businesses looking to increase customer engagement and prevent frustrations associated with the previous generation reward programs.

Future of brand loyalty programs

The customer loyalty market is anticipated to increase four-fold by the year 2028, with most growth projected to be led by loyalty management companies implementing and integrating advanced technologies (Fortune Business Insights). Key players are introducing personalized features, demonstrating the opportune moment for Numi3 to build their market. 

Emerging trends in the reward program market include customer willingness to engage with brand loyalty programs. Bond says 95% of consumers prefer loyalty programs using emerging technology like chatbots, AI, VR, and smart devices. Additionally, 75% of consumers say they would engage more with loyalty programs they can easily access from a smartphone. (Source: Code Broker)

Inefficiencies and inconveniences riddle the current state of brand loyalty programs on both, the business and customer end. Considering that over 90% of companies have a loyalty program, there is a major opportunity to improve the reward landscape. (Source: Accenture)

Customers are unable to keep track of and transfer rewards across different platforms. Simultaneously, businesses are not seeing their reward programs benefiting them to the fullest extent. Numi3 offers a refreshing solution for businesses and customers in both revenue and user satisfaction.

There are still a lot of uncharted waters in how cryptocurrency can play a more major role in everyday lives. Consumers are starting to understand this economic landscape better. Incentivizing their participation is a step closer to pushing cryptocurrency to the economic forefront.

The post Web3 Brand Loyalty Programs Will Funnel Millions of New Users to Crypto appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Spree3d has delivered the first Hyperreal Avatar Platform called MyDubble allowing users to create and share their avatar adventures as hyperreal videos. Their first mobile app built on the platform, MyDubble, targets the fashion industry and offers an entirely new way to experience lifelike fashion. Creating your first MyDubble video is as easy as 1-2-3. 1) scan to create your dubble 2) pick your fashion 3) pick your scene. That’s all it takes to see yourself in a fantastical fashion video, starring your dubble.

By digitizing humans, apparel, and experiences, MyDubble also offers a unique metaverse building opportunity for partners. Rapidly propagate fandoms with hyperreal doubles that can instantly experience your fashion as content in their personalized videos. A “dubbled” fan base offers a radically new engagement and merchandise opportunity. We spoke with Eric Rubin, Chief Operating Officer at Spree3D about the new app.

GRIT DAILY: What motivated you to join the Spree3D team and what excited you most about this technology and business?

I come from a background in technology platforms, largely in business development roles. There were two things that got me excited about the Spree opportunity 1) being on the leading edge of a paradigm shift- metaverse/W3. I’ve been fortunate to have been on the leading edge of several paradigm shifts in computing- web platforms in the mid-’90s, and an early mover in SaaS and Cloud computing in the early 2000s. 2) The Business development opportunities of onboarding partners into this paradigm shift are boundless.

GRIT DAILY: Why did Spree3D choose to debut MyDubble as its first project? What were some of the challenges involved in bringing this project to fruition?

Starting with the challenges: We have solved a very complicated technology problem- the auto-creation of a lifelike digital version of you (which we call your dubble), that can exist in fantastical experiences. To do this we had to blend competencies in machine learning, 3D, apparel virtualization, and CGI- into a single pipeline. We have pulled together a rock star team, with technology leaders from Disney, Dreamworks, Pixar, Blizzard Entertainment, and Apple.

GRIT DAILY: Why did you choose to focus on hyper-real versus animated avatars? What are the current capabilities of the app?

The idea for the app came from one of our founders, Lisa Park, a very talented fashion designer. Her vision was to allow anyone to see themselves in beautiful fashion, breaking down all of the barriers to access. To deliver this vision we rooted our technology in photoreal avatars with lifelike animation. However, this is just a foundation as digital gives you the opportunity to blend fantastical with IRL experiences. Hyperreal experiences give your digital-self superpowers – garments have fluid colorways, dubbles are not constrained by gravity, etc. This is extremely important, as it gives creators entirely new ways to express their fashion, and themselves- starting with the foundation of IRL experiences and then layering it with the limitless fantastical elements that digital allows.

The simplest way to think about our first app, MyDubble, is that it allows users to create avatar movies that star your personalized avatar (your dubble). In three simple steps, you can create your first hyperreal fashion movie 1) scan yourself from your phone to create your dubble 2) pick your garment from a catalog of digital fashion, and 3) pick your scene from a catalog of fantastical scenes. Start to finish is under 5 minutes, and the output is a 15-second fantasy video.

GRIT DAILY: Where do you see the future of this technology going for Spree3D? What are some general AR/VR predictions you have for the industry in the next 5 years?

I’m not an AR expert, however, our platform agenda in the near term is to allow dubbles to exist in multiple environments. Currently, we virtualize users to exist in our video creation environment. To accomplish this requires a state-of-the-art W3 technology stack. A dubble, however, is a blended 3D object, so existing in AR environments with interactive experiences is an obvious future capability for us.

If you add virtualized humans to the metaverse stack in your question, there are obvious beachheads for our platform. At the surface we have a simple value proposition to the industry- our platform automates social content creation around your brand via a movie maker for personalized avatar experiences.

Our initial target is fashion, and metaverse platforms can revolutionize the fashion industry. We provide an entirely new way for brands to engage with digital natives. We can boost a brand partner’s social content, by virtualizing physical garments that then become content in avatar movies. So customers can now have a digital-first experience with a brand’s apparel in a novel social content platform. We can also boost promotions with digital f/x added to apparel as well as the user. For example, a garment could have virtual textures that morph, without losing the essence of the foundational garment.

This also allows partners to boost sustainability initiatives with pure digital collections. For example, we can convert carbon burning “wear once” trends (e.g. wardrobing) into a green marketing promotion.

All of these initiatives, by the way, require photorealism as the foundation to be effective.

The next phase for us is to move into adjacent markets. Simply put, our sausage machine allows users to create any personalized hyperreal experience. So sports is another potential beachhead. For example, your avatar could star in a hyperreal NBA video with insane slam dunks.

Finally, the next level of value to brands and creators is in community building around your brand with the automatic creation of digital fandoms. Dubbles eliminate any friction in activating your brand. Where it gets really interesting is that your fans are encouraged to create social content featuring your brand. So we enable a viral flywheel with engageable content.

GRIT DAILY: Where can our readers go to learn more about Spree3D and MyDubble?

We are just coming out of stealth mode, and have started an early access program, accessible from our website mydubble.io. The best way to learn about us is to explore our app, which we will be continually updating with new content as we get close to general availability.

The post Eric Rubin, COO of Spree3D, Discusses MyDubble, the first Hyperreal Avatar Platform appeared first on Grit Daily News.

With every bull market, however, there are bear prognosticators who bet on the price of lithium to decline with the market heading into balance or even over-supply.  As a battery metals veteran, my viewpoint of “hold your horses, Wall Street” is echoed by many lithium analysts and experts who believe that battery metal market fundamentals shed light on a variety of pressing reasons why a lithium surplus marketplace with dramatically reduced prices is not on the horizon.

Industry veterans are joined by a number of analysts and other experts, including Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, a leading research firm that covers green energy minerals.  Its recent report titled, “Lithium oversupply?  Not likely – five main reasons why” offers a convincing rebuttal to the flawed thesis that lithium supplies are, in fact, elastic.

How Fast Can Miners Move from Discovery to Production?

What lithium ‘bears’ do not understand is that while lithium may be present in a number of different forms globally, the processes involved in economically extracting and producing battery-grade lithium are extremely challenging. It can take up to a decade to discover a deposit, develop it, build a mine and extract and refine battery grade lithium. Even in China, where permitting is typically easier and lithium production is often fast-tracked, this is proving to be the case.

The process of turning lithium into the chemicals that power batteries is not easy.  Also, refining raw lithium into high-purity lithium carbonite, which is of sufficient quality for batteries, involves complicated metallurgical processing methods and is very time consuming.  

Ensuring Environmental Responsibility

While the production of the lightweight metal lithium is essential to technology to drive the shift to the new clean energy paradigm, certain processes associated with some forms of lithium production or refining are environmentally damaging.  In addition, with the primary sources of lithium being hard rock deposits and salar brines, lithium processing through conventional methods such as evaporation ponds are inefficient, with lithium extraction rates often less than 50%.

Pollution, significant high-water usage and land use permitting are other challenges that lithium miners face.  So, as EV makers are looking for long-term lithium suppliers, they should be mindful to ensure that their upstream suppliers are committed to environmentally sustainable mining practices. This is already happening, with some EV makers actively seeking out sustainable lithium miners.  However, with the domination of China in the global supply of refined battery products, including lithium, it’s not always possible to ensure best environmental practices are being adopted. Not only is it critically important that we develop domestic lithium supplies in North America, but also that we put sustainability and environmental best practices to the fore.

Fortunately, two major organizations, Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance and Responsible Minerals Initiative, have established the necessary guidelines to act as a gold standard for all sustainably mined materials.

Is Low Quality Chinese Lithium a Global Supply Fix?

Some lithium ‘bears’ point to China to account for a future oversupply of lithium.  Benchmark Mineral Intelligence is emphatic that China cannot ramp-up output significantly to create an over-supply. Here’s the crux of Benchmark’s argument as stated in its lithium report. “Known domestic Chinese spodumene and other hard-rock resources are low quality, a key reason why there has been an increasing reliance by Chinese converters on Australia for supply instead. China’s deposits of lepidolite may have the potential to help bridge the deficit in coming years, but are unlikely to lead to oversupply.”

According to Benchmark, “the lithium market will start to balance over the next few years” but believes it is unlikely that “marginal, unconventional feedstock will fill the deficit” and “unlikely that demand will weaken significantly.”

Benchmark’s view on spot prices for lithium concludes that, “end-users can only absorb so much cost pass through before it has an unsustainable impact on their electric vehicle ambitions.  However, the spot market price in China does not represent the true price of lithium in the market, and is often not the true price being paid by western battery majors. In these markets we expect to see a gradual ramp up in contract deals being settled with increasingly flexible, and more frequent, pricing mechanisms.”

Upstream Investment in Mining is Vital to Meet Rising Demand

It is important to encourage upstream investment in mining; particularly as there is still not enough upstream investment to meet current and future demands for lithium.  Some financial analysts predict global demand of 1.2 million metric tons of lithium carbonite by 2025, but the reality is that even this level of demand growth is likely to be well off the mark.  To my mind, the better way to measure the true pulse of the marketplace and what packs the most punch are the announcements from major lithium producers with Albemarle and Ganfeng Lithium each expecting demand of around 1.5 to 1.6 million metric tons of lithium carbonate in the same time-frame.

As for American Lithium, we are focused on aiding the shift to the new energy paradigm through the continued development of our TLC lithium claystone project in the richly mineralized Esmeralda lithium district in Nevada, which is within three hours’ drive of the Tesla giga-factory. We are also continuing to advance our high-purity, hard-rock Falchani lithium  project in southeastern Peru. This project has demonstrated the ability to precipitate battery-grade lithium carbonate without the need for additional refining. A robust preliminary economic assessment, that was published in 2020 and is now being upgraded, also suggest the prospect of low-operating costs.

All of this speaks to the fact that American Lithium intends to be a key part of upstream lithium development in the Americas.

Lithium Whisperer is the Marketplace

It is important to listen to the market place to gauge lithium supply status.  Consider the following statistics.  First of all, global EV sales doubled in February 2022 reports Inside EVs on April 6, 2022.  Or that the spot price of one metric ton of lithium carbonate (LCE) rose from $6,750 in September 2000 to a recent high of $78,000 USD. By 2025, automakers will have spent $365 billion USD building EV and HEV production facilities, reports Bloomberg Energy Finance.

As lithium scarcity grows, BloombergNEF forecasts prices of lithium carbonate and hydroxide — the main lithium chemicals used in battery production — to continue to go skyward until 2030 due to anticipated supply deficits.

“As the market wrestles between long-term supply security to fuel the lithium-ion economy, and increasingly market-led pricing mechanisms to incentivize supply growth, the era of lithium market volatility is likely just beginning,” Benchmark surmises.

Mission Critical: Urgency for ‘Made in America’ Lithium

The quest for EV manufacturers, (as well as other industrial and military users,) to secure access to high grade lithium is intense. So, too, is the need to ensure supply chain security.  To this end, the United States and other countries are looking to untangle their clean energy supply chains from China which is currently the leading producer of lithium-ion batteries.

As such, there is an urgency to secure long-term supplies from geopolitically-safe, lithium-rich countries such as the United States, Canada, and Peru. The conflict in Ukraine is a stark reminder of what happens when the supply of energy and other critical commodities is “in the hands” of unstable or unfriendly regimes. Accordingly, the US has a heightened need to source as much sustainable, “home-made” lithium and other critical minerals as quickly as possible, particularly given the fact that lithium mining in the US is currently estimated to account for less than 1% of the lithium mined annually across the world.

The post Lithium Oversupply?  Hold Your Horses appeared first on Grit Daily News.

While the topic of crypto regulation has been constantly present over the past years, it is pressed even further every time investors face a bear market. More often than not, coverage of the topic will talk about the necessity for clearer regulation to prevent crashes and collapses like the one Terra experienced. The fact that a clear regulatory framework is needed for crypto to become safer and reach adoption, is undeniable. However… Who should design is not as clear.

Back in March, the Cryptocurrency ecosystem rejoiced when news came about President Biden signing an executive order that would see federal agencies cooperate to regulate cryptocurrency. The order, according to the administration, was designed to “lead and shape financial innovation to promote prosperity, prevent abuse, and advance democratic values”.

Unfortunately, the order itself is reflective of a major issue that has plagued the cryptocurrency space since 2008 by limiting crypto to the role of a financial tool. Blockchain technology, which is the backbone of crypto and other technologies like NFTs and Web3, is only referred to 4 times in the almost 5600 words long order. The only time the term was used in regards to regulation was to request the addressing of blockchain’s environmental impact.

The attempt to regulate cryptocurrencies without considering the larger role they play as part of complex digital ecosystems shouldn’t be surprising. Governments around the world have proven themselves to be unable to understand the technology and keep up with it. Examples of this include Senator Ted Stevens’s infamous “series of tubes” metaphor when referring to the Internet or questions asked by lawmakers during Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai’s Senate hearings.

With cryptocurrency being an essential part of blockchain technology, understanding the implications of regulations beyond the financial realm is essential. This is not only in the tech industry and consumers’ best interests but also in the government’s. As efforts to launch a CBDC and rein in big tech gain momentum, the government could find an important ally in blockchain with the development of Web3 and other decentralized technologies. 

Nasdaq’s Global Markets Reporter Jill Malandrino and CFTC’s former Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo sat with Linqto’s Chief Strategy Officer Karim Nurani to talk about “Government and Its Relationship to Crypto”. The panel, which took place during Grit Daily House at Consensus 2022, covered topics ranging from how crypto falls under a category of its own to the role a CBDC would play on the national economy.

If you missed the chance to attend Grit Daily House in person and want to hear what these panelists have to say about this topic, worry not. You will be able to watch the panel in the video below and find our other panels on Grit Daily’s official YouTube Channel.

The post Catch Me if You Can: Government and Its Relationship to Crypto. appeared first on Grit Daily News.

As reported by The Wall Street Journal, new lithium extraction technologies are attracting attention as these “methods “could help increase supplies, while attracting investors for their potential to speed up production and reduce the environmental impact compared with most current lithium-extraction methods, but none are, so far, proven at commercial scale.”

How is Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) defined?

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) states: “DLE technologies can be broadly grouped into three main categories: absorption using porous materials that enable lithium bonding, ion exchange, and solvent extraction.

Scaling up any of these techniques to full production capability remains a challenging task. For example, developing a solid material that bonds with just lithium is a huge challenge in geothermal brine that contains many minerals and metals at high temperatures and pressures. Successful DLE implementation will depend on expanding innovation and creating new technologies.”

“It’s such a game changer. There are huge opportunities,” U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told an energy conference in April 2022 about DLE.

In March 2022, One World Lithium announced the signing a licensing agreement with the US Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory division for a patent developed by the NETL for selectively recovering lithium from solutions of mixed metallic ions.

The DOE patent is an advanced direct lithium extraction (DLE) process for the extraction of lithium from natural brines, rapidly generating a pure lithium carbonate. The method uses unique carbon dioxide injection mixing techniques to quantitatively precipitate lithium carbonate from brines. This process requires no solvent, electrodes, membranes, or sorbents, but only uses carbon dioxide which can be sourced from industrial sources, waste or exhaust gas streams or, even, ambient air. It significantly reduces capital and operating costs, process time, energy requirements, and, paradoxically, overall carbon dioxide emissions.

The process can be fully deployable and operational at the brine source, eliminating the need to evaporate the brines and/or transport brine concentrates to a chemical processing facility to form and purify lithium carbonate. Deployment of this technology will reduce dependence on foreign lithium sources.

Many DLE Technologies Tap Significant Water Supplies

A major automobile manufacturer is relying on DLE technology to supply a lithium from the Salton Sea region of California. which purportedly “uses 10 tonnes of water for every tonne of lithium produced.”

By way of background,most of thelithium extraction processes use a lot of water —approximately 500,000 gallons per metric ton of lithium produced. Mining can consume the majority of a region’s fresh water, which negatively impacts the community and reduces the number of locations that are feasible. Lithium extraction technologies also have the potential for toxic chemicals to leak from the evaporation pools, or membrane filters, into the water supply. This includes hydrochloric acid, which may be created in the processing of lithium, and waste products that are filtered out of the brine.

While current extraction methods yield about 40% to 50% of the lithium present in a mined or brine resource, processes using DLE can extract 75% to 90%.

As The Wall Street Journal reported “many DLE technologies that work well in the laboratory often run into trouble in the field. Many of the technologies would likely still require large amounts of water and power to run the devices on a large scale.”

One World Lithium Inc.’s license agreement with the US Department of Energy and its National Energy Technology Laboratories (NETL) is focused on profitably separating high-purity lithium carbonate from a brine. The DOE patent is an advanced direct lithium extraction (DLE) process for the extraction of lithium from natural brines, rapidly generating a pure lithium carbonate. The method uses a unique multi-step high pressure/temperature application of carbon dioxide injection-mixing to ultimately directly and selectively precipitate lithium carbonate from brines. One World’s DLE technology competes favorably vs. competitors as:

• The process requires no solvent, electrodes, membrane, or sorbents and only uses carbon dioxide which can be sourced commercially or from industrial waste streams or ambient air.

• It significantly reduces capital and operation costs, process time, energy requirements, and, paradoxically, overall carbon dioxide emissions.

• The process can be fully operational at the brine source, eliminating transportation of brine derived solids to a chemical processing facility to form pure lithium carbonate. Deployment of this technology will reduce dependence on foreign lithium sources.

The stakes are high for DLE to be successful. The US Energy Department reports that at least 70% of U.S. lithium deposits are held in brine reserves. DLE could produce lithium in areas where open-pit mines face strong opposition. If a successful DLE technology is created, miners will increase global lithium production with a footprint significantly smaller than evaporation ponds or open-pit mines.

The post Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) Crucial as ‘Driving’ Force for Electric Vehicles appeared first on Grit Daily News.

“The failure rate of Alzheimer’s disease drug development has remained unchanged for decades — with 99 percent of trials showing no difference between the drug and placebo. This figure is especially high, considering the ever-growing number of drug candidates in the pipeline,” reports Being Patient.

The last year has been riddled with disappointments in AD drug development with Biogen reporting a fraction of estimated sales for its FDA-approved AD treatment, Aduhelm.

Aduhelm did not manage to garner the support of most physicians that treat Alzheimer’s patients who report that the monoclonal antibody fails to appreciably slow cognitive decline. Medicare, after much debate, released a national policy in April 2022 “for coverage of aducanumab (brand name Aduhelm) and any future monoclonal antibodies directed against amyloid approved by the FDA with an indication for use in treating Alzheimer’s disease.”

Hypotheses Abound for AD Treatment

A main stumbling block to finding a treatment for Alzheimer’s is that researchers have been unable to determine why Alzheimer’s occurs in the first place. There remain countless hypotheses about what causes neurodegeneration in the brain leading to AD.  Most of the initiatives are focused on a single approach which has produced little, if any convincing results.

The theory that has gained the most attention from Big Pharma over the past 15 years attributes the build-up of a protein, called amyloid-β, in the brain as the cause of neurodegeneration. This is the hypothesis behind Biogen’s recently approved Aduhelm. But clinical trials have not meaningfully demonstrated that these therapeutics slow memory loss or cognitive decline and the product has been a commercial failure. Other pharmaceutical companies in the amyloid-β camp include Eli Lilly with donanemab and Biogen/Eisai with lecanemab.

Another completely different approach revolved around a large study that linked gum disease (gingivitis) to dementia/Alzheimer’s. Dr. Doug Brown, Director of Research and Development at Alzheimer’s Society, said, “It’s unclear, however, whether this is cause or effect – if the gum disease is triggering the faster decline of dementia, or vice versa.” Unfortunately for Alzheimer’s patients, the recent clinical trial was not successful, and it seems unlikely there will be any further studies in the area.

Today’s treatments for AD are limited and unsatisfactory. They simply address symptoms to temporarily improve cognition in some patients. But these treatments, including Aduhelm, only provide minor, temporary benefit at best.

Market Potential High for Effective AD Treatment

Quite simply, there is a substantial need for a drug that either stops progression of this debilitating disease or repairs the damage that it wreaks on the nervous system.

The 6,000,000 AD patients in the United States, with 900,000 new patients each year, represent a market potential of over $300 billion. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, AD and other dementias cost $355 billion in 2021, and potentially could reach $1.1 trillion in 2050.

Sky High Market Value for Hope

After the Aducanumab was approved by the FDA, Biogen’s stock price increased 38.3% on the day, adding $16.5 billion to the company’s market value. Eli Lilly saw its stock add $18.6 billion in market cap as it had a similar amyloid-β ‘buster’ drug candidate. Clinical-stage biotech Cassava Sciences’ stock price soared in 2021 upon releasing strong results in clinical studies for its Alzheimer’s drug, Simufilam.

While these stocks did not remain in the stratosphere, mainly because they were unable to fulfill their promise, it is clear that investors, and the general public – many of whom have Alzheimer’s in their family – are seeking both a much-needed treatment as well as likely the most valuable drug in history.

First-in-Class Neuroreparative Drug

While everyone knows that the nervous system is a complex system that controls thought, movement, senses, etc., everyone believes that the nervous system cannot repair itself. But what if that belief is completely wrong?

Now there is promise of a drug development effort that is taking a completely different approach – not trying to cure the disease but actually repair the damage.

Originally developed to treat spinal cord injury, NVG-291 was invented by Dr. Jerry Silver, Professor of Neurosciences at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio. However, it soon became apparent that NV-291 was actually healing nervous system damage at a biologically fundamental level. Dr. Silver’s drug discovery is now well into its Phase I clinical trial and is on the cusp of Phase II clinical trials for repairing spinal cord injury as well as neurodegenerative conditions including multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease.

What differentiates NVG-291 from other drugs in development is that it leverages multiple innate mechanisms for repairing damage to the nervous system, while similar efforts focus on a single approach. As Alzheimer’s disease is a complex condition, likely caused by multiple factors; a systemic approach to treating the disease is an important distinction.

I joined NervGen in November 2019 with over 30 years of commercial and development experience in biotech and pharma, and have worked on the development of over 10 products that are now FDA or EMA approved. In all that time I have never had quite the same “come to Jesus” moment as when I first met with Dr. Silver to review his animal model data (you can see highlights on this video), it was truly amazing and inspirational listening to Dr. Silver explain the data in an exciting and enthusiastic way.

Remarkably, in one of a number of positive preclinical studies, over 50% of the animals recovered almost fully from a very severe spinal cord injury. When NervGen exclusively licensed the technology from Case Western Reserve University, it was clear that the technology was truly revolutionary. If the results observed in the animal studies translated to humans, it would redefine therapy for nervous system damage and have broad and far-reaching implications.

NervGen’s drug is able to achieve this approach by enabling the body’s own repair mechanisms to promote nervous system repair. Injury or disease to the central nervous system results in multifaceted cellular and molecular responses. One such response, the glial scar, is a structural formation of reactive glia (cells) around an area of severe tissue damage. The purpose of the scar is to encapsulate the site of the injury to prevent further damage and begin the healing process, but it ultimately inhibits the body’s reparative mechanisms. Dr. Silver discovered that a constituent of these scars, a glycoprotein called chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan (“CSPG”), is a major inhibitor of the body’s natural ability to regrow and regenerate the central nervous system.

NervGen’s drug simply counteracts this inhibition. Multiple studies with animal models for several diseases and medical conditions have shown that treatment with NVG-291 resulted in the repair of damaged nerves and improvement in function. These studies demonstrated that NVG-291 promoted multiple repair mechanisms including enhanced plasticity, (where surviving nerves take on additional function), axon regeneration and remyelination (the repair of the protective coating of the nerves) and enhanced recovery of functions such as walking, bladder control, vision, learning and memory.

“There are two additional mechanisms that we have seen in our studies with NVG-291 that could be very important in the treatment of Alzheimer’s,” says Dr. Jerry Silver. “First, there is the reduction of inflammation in the immune cells of the brain. Second, there is the promotion of autophagy, which is a cellular cleaning mechanism that is necessary for healthy neurons.”

“Except for the aforementioned Aduhelm, which has marginal efficacy, the currently approved Alzheimer’s drugs merely address symptoms, whereas NVG-291 acts at a more fundamental level to allow the normal repair mechanisms to kick into gear to create a favourable environment for nerves to grow and create entirely new nerve connections,” says Dr. Silver.

Furthermore, by promoting these natural repair mechanisms, NVG-291 will possibly treat both acute nervous system damage (spinal cord injury, peripheral nerve injury, traumatic brain injury, and stroke) and neurodegenerative diseases (multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and Parkinson’s).

As there are currently no therapies approved that enable nervous system repair, NVG-291 has the potential to be truly disruptive. So, the stakes are especially high for NervGen in our bid to create a breakthrough blockbuster drug.

The post Alzheimer’s Breakthrough: A Disruptive Systemic Approach Is Poised To Demonstrate Value appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Most of the conversation around the metaverse has centered around digital land grabs. Yet, the sustainability and long-term view of the metaverse and ownership in Web 3.0 have largely been ignored. ATLAS EARTH is working to change that by allowing players to build real value in the virtual world by creating a virtuous cycle between the real and virtual worlds.

How does it work exactly? 

Founded by marketing and mobile gaming expert Sami Khan, ATLAS EARTH is the first game of its kind. Players can purchase virtual real estate with the in-game currency ATLAS BUCKS as a location-based game. But they can only do it where they are in real life, within 100 yards. Players then get cash back of about $.05 per parcel of land owned and can supercharge their entire real estate empire by up to 30 times by watching in-app ads. You can also buy ATLAS BUCKS in the Appstore or Google Play.

Players can become the Mayor, Governor, or President of their City, State, or Country by owning the most land in real-world geographic locations, such as Austin, Texas. These titles are broadcasted to everyone playing the game in their respective geography. So, for example, the Governor of Texas will be seen by everyone playing the game in Texas.

Ultimately, ATLAS: EARTH is the only virtual real estate project that is mobile-first and location-based. So we’re not talking about real estate displayed on a map where you can zoom wherever you want. Instead, players can only buy land where they are physically standing, validated by their mobile device. 

Furthermore, ATLAS: EARTH is the only metaverse where players can earn land credits by shopping at real-world merchant partners. Using ATLAS BUCKS, players can shop at national partners and earn atlas bucks for every dollar they spend. So, for example, spending $10 at SONIC will earn you 10 atlas bucks as well, which you can use towards more land.

So far, many metaverse products have been lands that exist somewhere in the “ether” and left up to the trust of the DAO that more land will never be minted. When land is tied to the real world, that land is limited—as is the case with ATLAS: EARTH. 

“Our mission is to create a system that allows players to earn value while holding their property,” said CEO and co-founder Sami Khan. “Most people already feel a connection with their city, state, or country,” “They also feel a connection to the real-world locations that they utilize in their daily lives, such as their homes. So we felt that ATLAS: EARTH was a perfect way to create.”

Khan added, “In short, ATLAS: EARTH desires to move the metaverse space forward by creating a more proper analog to real-world real estate—to gain value as you hold the properties, not only when you attempt to sell them for a profit.”

The post Augmented Reality Game Bringing Real Value to Virtual Real Estate With a Cash Back Model appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Parcl—the blockchain-based real estate platform that allows users to invest in a digital square foot of physical real estate in the most desirable neighborhoods—announced a $7.5M strategic funding round. That includes new investors, including Fifth Wall (the firm’s first venture into web3) and JAWS, the family office of Barry Sternlicht. 

With this funding, it’s clear investors see a major opportunity in this new form of real estate. But how does it work exactly? 

Parcl is introducing a new type of real estate investing, which before the advent of web3 and blockchain technology, was not possible until now. The platform enables users to trade the value of general areas such as neighborhoods or cities, effectively gaining exposure to multiple real estate markets at once without the burdens of owning or transacting hard assets. While homeownership rates are at 20-year record lows, the dream of homeownership is out of reach for many. The company hopes to find a way to deliver real estate to all, especially those who are currently locked out of the market, through its new investment model. 

No minimum investment is required. It offers immediate liquidity and carries low transaction fees. Basically, users can trade neighborhoods just like they trade Bitcoin or other crypto assets.

Now, the new funding will help accelerate growth over the next few months. Earlier this year, they held their first testnet (over 70,000 unique visitors and over 300,000 on-chain transactions on Solana’s devnet). In addition, they launched the Homeowners Association (HOA) NFT, a collection of 7,777 unique NFTs inspired by four cities where they are launching new markets, such as Miami and Phoenix.

“As we work towards our goal of providing everyone in the world with the opportunity to invest in real estate, key partnerships across the industry will be critical to our success and that of our users,” said Trevor Bacon, Parcl Co-Founder and CEO. “We’re thrilled to have the support of leading proptech and data-centric VC firms as we utilize blockchain technology and web3 to reimagine real estate investing.”

Dan Wenhold, Partner at Fifth Wall, added, “Our investment illustrates our confidence that Parcl’s platform makes real estate investing more accessible to all. We’re thrilled to partner with the Parcl team as they democratize real estate investing.”

The latest strategic financing round comes after Parcl’s $4.1M Series Seed round that closed in late 2021. Archetype led it with other funding from Dragonfly Capital, ParaFi, and Shima Capital, among others. The first round was used to build out Parcl’s team, beta product, and marketing goals. Since receiving that initial investment, the company hired more than 10 new team members.

The post Blockchain-Based Real Estate Investment Platform Raises $7.5M in New Funding appeared first on Grit Daily News.

The talks from Crypto School were situated under the psychedelic mushroom sculptures of Papaya Playa’s sandy beachside courtyard. Speakers were approachable, spiritual and profound, educating noobs and enthusiasts alike on best practices for acquiring crypto, NFTs, wallet safety measures and what not to do along your crypto journey.

Conscious Crypto

Conscious crypto is a vibe unique to Tulum that mixes spirituality, a mindset of abundance, self-reliance, personal expression, and a conscious relationship with money into a perfect barefoot luxury blend that has permeated its way into the psyche of the fest.

Embodied by the Ascended Trader, Crypto Love Ninja, and Tulum Crypto Club Founders, barefoot luxury promises a lifestyle abundant in time and freedom, over visible material wealth.

Education goes Hand in Hand with Crypto

In order to create a decentralized world, we must onboard more people into crypto. Even in a bear market, we can see that crypto can be a path to wealth and financial independence. With so many countries adopting bitcoin as a national tender it is easy to see that the current dip crypto is a buying opportunity. But that’s what someone who has already drunk the kool-aid would say. 

The Women Taking the Lead in Web3 panel featured a group of strong badass chingonas that are making waves in the web3 world sharing their journeys and lessons.

Miroslava Pineda Landa, is a serial entrepreneur and CEO of Fractional Class Mexico. Miroslava and her team are advancing fractional ownership of high end real-estate through the blockchain, having developed their own marketplace, smart contracts and wallets to offer democratized real estate investment opportunities to the public.

Francesca Martina, crypto enthusiast and founder of More Women in Crypto, believes that a decentralized way of life using blockchain can create new social and financial systems that benefit those traditional financial systems often leave behind. The organization has a mission to drive the adoption of crypto, offer mentorship opportunities, and bring exposure and visibility to women in blockchain.

Steph Ferrera is a Mexican entrepreneur, artist, community leader and cofounder of More Women In Crypto. Steph is passionate about encouraging mass adoption of decentralized systems and believes women have a powerful role to play in DEFI. Her experience as an ecologist and regeneration warrior has helped her bridge her passions into utility for Regen Tulum and as part of the team that is bringing Tulum Coin to market.

Karen Sieves is digital and traditional business designer, specializing in blockchain, NFT, and metaverse strategy development. Karen has been building projects in the blockchain and Web3 since 2017 and believes that these technologies are integral and essential to all modern and successful businesses. Her current projects such as MetaInvestors.eth are focused on education, web3 adoption and marketplace growth.

NFTs to Save the Planet

Another insightful and inspiring panel, NFTs to Save the Planet was headlined by Charlie Graham, CoFounder of Nemus and Pinche Chucho of Petgaseritos collection from Petgas. Both collections are on a mission to save the planet through Web3. 

Nemus´ model is the creation of NFTs that correlate to actual Amazon Rainforest land held in trust. The mint raise goes to the protection of this land, approximately the size of the island of Barbados or 41,000 hectares with plans to continue to expand the protected land acquired as well as sustainably develop the land with indigenous populations. Nemus is the first to use many innovations in both its planned game mechanics as well as how it is currently crowdsourcing its lore and getting its Guardians involved in the building and creation process. Nemus is building a ¨greenprint¨ for how to use Web3 as a model for conservation and inspiring a movement of similar projects that are using NFTs to bring awareness to and to save precious ecosystems like the Amazon.

Petgaseritos is the brainchild of Pinche Chucho, also known as Chucho Escoto Faces, Cofounder of Petgas.mx, a Mexican company that is bringing a new innovation to market that transforms plastic into clean fuels. The Petgaseritos go on adventures IRL (in real life) and around the metaverse incentivizing “plastic mining” through beach cleanups and other plastic collection initiatives which tie into the Petgas mission of shared responsibility where we all take part in saving the earth and de-plastifying the planet. Petgas NFT collections such as Petgaseritos will offer actual Petgas plant revenues as passive income opportunities and other drops of unlockable content. Petgaseritos and Petgas coin are two of the planned NFT collection launches it is planning as part of its web3 and corporate innovation strategy.

The XibablaNFT takes inspiration from Nemus´ Greenprint for Conservation. The 10,000 NFT planned collection will present the 10,000 square meters of stalactite and stalagmite filled cavern that is the most important cavern in the Mayan World.

A beautiful jewelbox of nature’s artwork, it hosts thousands of natural formations that have been forming since the meteorite that hit the earth and caused the Ice age killing the dinosaurs. It has one formation that is over 500,000 years old. The NFT project is meant to continue the work of the family that has been taking care of the cenote and restoring it to its current state and beauty. 

NFT Boutique at the Beach Holographic Experience

The NFT Boutique brought its holographic experience to the beach at Papaya Playa featuring new upcoming collections

such as the House of Panther, existing house collections Cosmic Cats 420, Petgaseritos, and also new partner collections currently for sale and minting such as The Eye of Soluminati, and Plantiver.se a collection of NFTs made by the plants themselves!

Plantiver.se is giving plants autonomy and a voice so that they can be active participants in the metaverse as well as our real world! The project attaches sensor to different plants and let their state control what art gets made. In this way, the plants have created beautiful images from a moment in their life, making them unique, collectible records and reminders of the powers and talents of the natural world we live in.

Tulum Crypto Fest brought the Tuluminati barefoot luxury beach vibes and showed the world why Tulum is the cultural center of Web3. A huge thanks to fest organizers, Tulum Crypto Fest, Like Group, Nazieh Fazli and Peiman Fazli of Coworking Tulum, and Feel the Fruit.

The post Tulum Crypto Fest: It’s a Wrap! appeared first on Grit Daily News.