NFTs & DeFi 🗓

2023-04-13 10:25:07 Former Bitcoin Core Developer Says NFT Market Is ‘Pleasantly Down to Earth’ Again

The hype once driving the popularity of non-fungible tokens (NFT) may have finally settled, said Jeff Garzik, a former Bitcoin core developer and co-founder of software development company Bloq. “I call the [NFT] market ‘pleasantly down to Earth,’” Garzik, who is also the founder of Web3 focused entertainment company NextCypher Productions, told CoinDesk TV’s “First Mover” on Tuesday. While still nowhere near the volumes of last year, things have been picking up with NFTs. According to a report from online store for decentralized applications (dapp) DappRadar, the NFT market had a 137% increase in trading volume during the first quarter of this year. Despite a slight decrease of over 15% during March, the ecosystem reached $4.7 billion in total value for the first quarter. Garzik said that a lot of the NFT hype appears to have finally “burned off,” and users now are looking for NFTs that can provide real utility, something that users can engage with and that will attract their attention.

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2023-04-13 04:25:05 Companies Behind Azuki NFTs and LINE FRIENDS Characters Join Forces For Web3 Expansion

Chiru Labs, the Web3 company behind non-fungible token (NFT) collections Azuki and BEANZ, and IPX, the parent company of the popular character collection LINE FRIENDS, has announced a strategic partnership today to create new opportunities for their brands and fans. The two companies will collaborate on content, merchandise, retail distribution, real-life activations. IPX has grown from LINE FRIENDS, which originated as stickers within the LINE messaging app, into an innovative intellectual property (IP) brand and has partnered with companies such as Starbucks, Netflix and McDonalds as well as K-Pop band BTS. To celebrate the partnership, a billboard above the LINE FRIENDS store in Times Square will show an animation of some of the LINE FRIENDS characters during NFT.NYC this week. Chiru Labs is best known for its anime-inspired NFT collection Azuki, which has netted 470,994 ETH in trading volume since its launch in Jan. 2022.

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2023-04-12 20:31:02 Bentley, NVIDIA See the Future of Metaverse Digital Twins

Lori Hufford, Bentley Systems vice president of engineering collaboration, recently spoke about the metaverse and its potential uses for infrastructure design at NVIDIA’s GTC developer conference March 23, offering some insights on where its potential lies. Hufford said that while the metaverse is still a work in progress, the standards needed for deploying it in infrastructure projects are already emerging. Bentley’s LumenRT was the first engineering application built on NVIDIA Omniverse, a platform for building shared metaverse environments for complex models. Brigantium Engineering used LumenRT on the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor in France, with Oculus VR headsets to view federated models from 35 countries and even more suppliers. Richard Kerris, vice president of the Omniverse platform at NVIDIA, said the company’s aim is to enhance existing workflows for infrastructure construction. Having engineering data in cloud-based platforms like iTwin will help the transition to immersive.

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2023-04-12 16:25:00 Shiba Inu's Metaverse Will Partially Open by 2023-End, Developers Say

The Metaverse, a project that expands the utility of the shiba inu (SHIB) ecosystem, is being pegged to open by December this year, Shiba Inu developers said in an update on Monday. “While all development takes time, the MV team is confident that by the end of 2023 users will have the opportunity to explore some of the areas in this fantastic world, build, design, play, and develop within it,” developers said Monday. SHIB: The Metaverse will feature 100,595 plots of land that will be minted by users. Landowners can generate passive income from their plots, collect in-game resources and generate rewards. Additionally, the developers plan to introduce a way to earn and ensure players have a personal space where they can build and manage their projects. In the metaverse, users can create their own avatars – fashioned as humanoid dogs – to explore, visit and interact with lands and contribute to the in-game economy. “However, it should be noted that not all areas of the Metaverse will be fully completed as it is an ongoing project,” the developers added.

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2023-04-12 10:25:00 Fidelity International Launches Metaverse Experience, Developed by TerraZero Technologies

TerraZero Technologies, Inc. ("TerraZero"), a technologies products and services firm and in-house creative studio, in collaboration with Fidelity International ("Fidelity") has completed and deployed a 64-parcel activation to the Decentraland Metaverse, marking Fidelity's first major step into the Metaverse and Web3 together. The new Metaverse experience within Decentraland aims to encourage financial literacy and educate. Brandon F. Johnson, Co-COO and Chief Experience Officer at TerraZero sees these virtual environments as technologies which can intervene where more attention is needed, "Fidelity International is bringing financial literacy to young people, creating opportunity for equity and equality for future generations. This experience and those which follow will serve as a global point of entry for people who want to set themselves up for success. This is a genuine instance of intervention where modern education models have lacked for decades. If we're going to truly change the world for the better, let's democratize access to resources which can help people succeed not just tomorrow, but for their entire lives."

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2023-04-12 04:25:00 Floki Launches Easter Event in Valhalla NFT GameFi Metaverse

Happy Easter celebrations from Floki to all Valhalla Non-Fungible Token (NFT) GameFi players! The protocol is rewarding users for their efforts in the PlayToEarn (P2E) game. Floki shared a tweet with users on April 8, urging Valhalla enthusiasts to prepare their Veras for the big event on April 10. According to the information from the MemeFi platform, users stand a chance to earn from a prize pool of $30,000. Valhalla is Floki’s P2E product, featuring A-level blockchain gaming mechanics. The game comprises on-chain gaming interactions and NFTs that users can upgrade. Veras are in-game characters that players utilize to earn FLOKI tokens while playing the game. Players can communicate and encounter one another with their Veras in the Valhalla metaverse. Floki Inu began with a tweet from Elon Musk. When the billionaire announced he would name his Shiba Inu puppy Floki, it created a deluge of ‘Floki’ dogcoins. The most successful of these is Floki Inu. Floki Inu is currently the market's third most popular meme token, behind Dogecoin and Shiba Inu. It is backed by a community of committed enthusiasts and a strong marketing campaign.

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2023-04-11 20:31:20 World Metaverse Council is strategic partner for Riyadh event

The World Metaverse Council is a strategic partner for the upcoming Metaverse Discovery event in Riyadh, a groundbreaking gathering that will take participants on an immersive journey into the Metaverse. To be hosted at the Crowne Plaza RDC Hotel on June 8, the event will also celebrate the innovative contributions of organisations across the globe to the development of the Metaverse. Chris Fountain, CEO of the organising committee for Metaverse Discovery and the World Metaverse Awards, commented: “The Metaverse opens up a world of limitless possibilities. As increasing numbers of organisations are embarking on their own Metaverse journeys, new standards of excellence are continually being set. We believe now is the time to recognise and reward excellence within the Metaverse space and are excited to celebrate the best in global digital talent through the inaugural edition of the World Metaverse Awards in Riyadh.”. The Metaverse Discovery conference and World Metaverse Awards will be presented in association with the World Metaverse.

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2023-04-11 16:14:02 NFT dealing platform LooksRare might reduce its trading fees to 0.5%

LooksRare, a Non-Fungible tokens (NFTs) market, announced on April 6, 2023, that it has developed its existing version by including new features and reducing its cost by 75%, stated Cointelegraph. As reported by Cointelegraph, LooksRare initially charged two percent per trade, which now had been reduced to 0.5%. It is expected that it will be allowing its users to save about 30% on gas fees by including gas-efficient contracts. Sources revealed now the sellers will receive Ether rather than using wrapped Ether (WETH) and the use of smart contracts might allow bulk selling and buying of orders. It is believed now that users can buy an NFT with one wallet and send it through another, added Cointelegraph. Furthermore, it is expected that the new features of LooksRare may create a challenge for its competitors such as Blur and OpenSea, Cointelegraph concluded. Sources revealed now the sellers will receive Ether rather than using wrapped Ether (WETH) and the use of smart contracts might allow bulk selling and buying of orders. It is believed now that users can buy an NFT.

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2023-04-11 10:14:02 NFT Aggregator Market Heats up as OpenSea Pro Overtakes Blur

Having lost its title as the world’s most popular NFT marketplace to Blur in February, Opensea has launched a major counteroffensive. When using the relaunched aggregator, users are able to browse listings from over 170 NFT marketplaces, including OpenSea. It also equips them with aggregated cross-market data and a suite of tools. Designed to help collectors and traders optimize how they buy and sell NFTs. Significantly for OpenSea, the recent relaunch appears to have been well received by the community. Two key metrics of platform use — daily active users and new wallets created — spiked significantly throughout the week. From a 54.8% share of all NFT aggregator users on Monday, by Saturday, Blur’s share had declined to 27.%. Meanwhile, OpenSea Pro saw its daily user base surge from 18% to 57% of aggregator users in the same time period. The Drop is a way to reward Gem’s early adopters. Anyone who bought an NFT on Gem before March or the end of March is able to claim a free Gemesis NFT between April 4 and May 4.

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2023-04-11 03:14:02 President of Ukraine Signs First-Ever NFT in the Country to Support its Military

According to a recent tweet from Iryna K, a Web3 Community Builder, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the Republic of Ukraine has signed the first Non-Fungible Token (NFT) in Ukraine. The approved NFT goes by the name UACatsDivision. The heroic cats of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are being honored through the UACatsDivision, the first-ever national NFT collection created in collaboration with the Ukrainian government. The Ukrainian government has invested in this NFT collection to support its military and armed forces. The proceeds from the sale of the NFTs will be used to purchase weapons and assist the country’s armed forces. This investment aims to bolster the nation’s security and ensure its military is well-equipped to defend against potential threats. Investing in this collection underscores the government’s commitment to strengthening the nation’s defense capabilities and supporting its military personnel. Ukraine’s foray into NFTs is the latest example of governments turning to digital assets to finance their operations.

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