Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend, but unfortunately, the billion-dollar diamond industry is rife with scandal and fraud. There have been a number of cases where lab-grown diamonds have been graded as natural diamonds. An example of this was seen last year when the International Gemological Institute analyzed and graded a 6.18ct lab-grown diamond, which was previously claimed to be a natural diamond on its Gemological Institute of America (GIA) report. It was also reported in 2005 that the Gemological Institute of America — which is one of the most trusted sources for evaluating gemstone quality — was accepting …

Over the last year, venture capitalists poured more than $4.6 billion into infrastructure and projects related to nonfungible tokens (NFTs). This infrastructure now needs users. They will come when people understand that they can apply these NFTs not just for speculative purposes but to design and structure their everyday activities. For these, they don’t need NFTs — they need to sort their lives out. And, decentralized catalogs are there to help them do it. We can think about an NFT as a book someone owns, and this ownership is recorded on the blockchain. But what we’re actually missing is the …

There is no denying that nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have taken a hit in recent months. Market conditions have plunged, scams and hacks are frequent, and there is an increasing number of low-quality projects, pushing many to question the value of NFTs and their place in Web3 altogether. Over the last crypto cycle, NFT market conditions have been largely correlated to and reliant upon the general crypto market. As technology and digital assets soared in valuation, it became easier for individuals and investors to justify speculating on the nascent NFT asset class — often paying exorbitant premiums with the conviction that …

Web3 has become the most sought-after investment sector of 2022, as use cases for nonfungible tokens (NFTs), the Metaverse and other blockchain applications come to fruition. Therefore, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that different segments of the publishing industry have begun to use Web3 technologies to transform traditional models. For example, the textbook publishing giant Pearson recently announced plans to use NFTs to track digital textbook sales to capture revenue lost on the secondary market. Time magazine, which was founded 99 years ago, has also been using NFTs to create new revenue streams, along with a sense of community …

In an effort to democratize access to nonfungible tokens, art collections and other digital assets of value for the masses, Bitwise Asset Management launched its new index fund on Dec. 16. As per the announcement, the Bitwise Blue-Chip NFT Index Fund is designed to allow accredited investors to invest in major nonfungible tokens and art collections. The NFT industry has exploded in 2021. Retailers throughout the world purchased millions of dollars worth of CryptoPunks, drawing institutional and accredited investors. In the third quarter of 2021, NFT trading volumes surpassed $10 billion for the first time. The crypto firm stated that …

On Nov. 2, crypto trading and payments firm Crypto.com revealed the release of the first authorized UFC nonfungible token. According to the news release, the UFC's new NFT series will include digital collectibles such as fight night paintings, event posters, championship belts, fighter personas and avatars. On Nov. 4, the collection of NFTs known as “UFC 268 Packs” will be made available. The upcoming bout “UFC 268: Usman vs. Covington 2” will be represented by this event's fight posters and belt designs. The NFTs will be accessible for purchase to fans “while supplies last.” According to Cointelegraph in July, the …

Nonfungible token (NFT) investors have poured $7 million into a Dutch auction that sold 50 tokens conferring ownership over digital artworks that will not be minted until December. Tyler Hobbs, the artist behind the popular NFT series “Fidenza,” will launch 100 one-a-kind digital artworks in his latest collection “Incomplete Control” at the New York City-based Bright Moments gallery from Dec. 9 to Dec. 13. On Friday, Hobbs’ fans contributed 1,800 Ether (ETH) (worth more than $7 million) in exchange for 50 of 100 “Golden Tokens” that grant its holder ownership rights to one of the artworks slated to be minted …

For decades, art galleries and museum exhibitions around the world have facilitated the presence of cultural education, social interaction and visual moments of awe. Michelangelo’s “Sistine Chapel,” Georgia O’Keeffe’s “Black Iris III” and Picasso’s “Weeping Woman” have all inspired generations of art lovers in their own pursuits of life — creative or otherwise. However, since the turn of the century — grossly impacted by seismic shifts in digital behaviors, economic uncertainties and enduring complaints of exclusivity — art galleries have seemingly depreciated in societal appeal. A piece by Arts Professional in late 2017 exposed the decline in visitor numbers to …

A physical showroom for nonfungible tokens is set to open in Riga, Latvia, where NFTs of street art from around the globe will be put on display. The gallery is being launched by Kiwie 1001, an NFT project born from the Latvian street art collective of the same name. Submissions are open to anyone who wishes to enter, and pieces can be submitted via the project’s Discord channel. Winning pieces will be voted on by the Kiwie 1001 community and will be presented in the Riga gallery when it opens in June. Street art and NFTs might seem like a …

Copyright infringement in the online world has been an issue ever since the internet entered our lives. With a copy-and-paste culture, it’s never been easier to pass off a funny tweet as one’s own, upload unauthorized versions of chart-topping songs, and repurpose jaw-dropping photographs and videos. Now that nonfungible tokens have entered into the arena, a whole host of new issues have emerged. Opportunists are now tokenizing artwork without consent, and in some cases, artists haven’t realized their pieces have been plagiarized until the NFTs have been bought and sold. One attorney recently told Vice that, while creators do have …

Non-fungible token marketplace Nifty Gateway hosted an auction that saw a single NFT artwork sell for $777,777 after a last-second bid doubled the price. On Dec. 14, Nifty tweeted that the “savage” bid of $777,777 had been entered with only a single second left to go in the auction. The artwork was the last to be sold from “The Complete MF Collection” that was auctioned that day, with the token featuring each of the collection’s 20 individual digital artworks in a single NFT. The artworks were inspired by technology, nature, and Star Wars, and created by pseudonymous artist “Beeple.” NFT …