The lack of a wide choice of high-quality products is what has so far prevented crypto gaming from gaining traction among mainstream users, according to Robby Yung, CEO of Animoca Brands. One of the newest and most promising crypto sectors, GameFi or blockchain-backed gaming, allows videogame players to earn monetary rewards and take ownership of items within games. Despite the sector’s enormous potential, the number of products available in the field is still not enough to attract mainstream users, pointed out Yung in a latest Cointelegraph research panel on VC investing. Drawing an example from the history of mobile gaming, …

This week NFT Steez met with Cryptoys founder Will Weinraub to discuss the current role of play and toys in regard to their integration with nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and Web3 as a whole. Weinraub believes that the act of play is “not restricted to children” and believes that as adults, “we still crave the element of play throughout life.” According to Weinraub, through the development of technology, “play has evolved.” NFTs, especially in gaming, have highlighted this layer of ownership through play. Weinraub and Cryptoys theorize that “adults are just looking for ways to feel like kids again.” Keeping the …

Genesis Global, a prominent crypto lender, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York on Jan. 20, becoming the latest company to declare bankruptcy in the wake of FTX's collapse. However, the focus of the crypto community has shifted towards other crypto firms that had exposure to the lending firm. One report suggested that a total of nine crypto firms had various exposures to Genesis, including the likes of Germini, Bybit, VanEck, Decentraland and a few others. Bybit CEO Ben Zhou was quick to respond to the reports and clarified that Bybit indeed had $150 million exposure to the …

Several crypto industry commentators have laid skepticism on FTX CEO John Ray’s vision to potentially reboot the crypto exchange, citing trust issues and “second-class” treatment of customers as some reasons why users may not “feel safe to go back.” Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried tweeted on Jan. 20 praising John Ray for looking at a reboot of FTX, suggesting it is the best move for its customers. I'm glad Mr. Ray is finally paying lip service to turning the exchange back on after months of squashing such efforts! I'm still waiting for him to finally admit FTX US is solvent …

The thing about the future, where robotic super traders battle over micromovements in stock price, is that it’s already here. With access to algorithmic trading bots a click away, we could be seeing the fall of human investors and the triumph of artificial intelligence. Algorithmic trading bots are programmed to buy and sell when they detect preprogrammed conditions and can execute pretty much any trading strategy. They have been used by professional traders for two decades, and these firms have taken them into the crypto markets too. Now, a new crop of accessible crypto trading tools has hit the market, …

Moonstone Bank, a rural Washington state bank that received an estimated $11.5 million investment from FTX’s sister company, Alameda Research, has announced today that it will be exiting the crypto space and returning to its "original mission" as a community bank. In a statement released by the bank — now known as Farmington State Bank — on Jan. 19, it cited that the change in strategy comes as a result of “recent events in the crypto assets industry and the changing regulatory environment surrounding crypto asset businesses.” As part of the bank’s initiative to "return to its roots," it shared …

The total crypto market capitalization soared by 29.4% in two weeks, although Bitcoin's (BTC) price stabilized near $21,000 on Jan. 19. As a result, it became increasingly difficult to justify that the 5-month-long bearish trend still prevails after the $930 billion total crypto channel top has been breached. Still, the psychological $1 trillion resistance remains strong. The move possibly reflects investors becoming more optimistic about risk assets after weaker than expected inflation metrics signaled that United States Federal Reserve interest rate hikes strategy should ease throughout 2023. However, Klaas Knot, who serves as the governor of the Dutch central bank, …

If the foreign exchange market starts using DeFi protocols instead of the current centralized systems, the cost of remittances could be reduced by “as much as 80%,” according to a Jan. 19 paper jointly published by researchers at Circle and Uniswap. On-chain foreign exchange (FX) is a new model of global value exchange that offers a faster, cheaper, and more efficient alternative for cross-border payments. Our recent research paper with @circle has it all https://t.co/NGniRo8yrp — Uniswap Labs (@Uniswap) January 19, 2023 The paper, titled “On-chain Foreign Exchange and Cross-border Payments,” was written by Uniswap Data Scientist Austin Adams, Circle …

According to local news outlet News1, Busan, South Korea will establish a decentralized digital commodities exchange. Officials said the platform is scheduled to start operations this year and will support local cultural content via digital assets. “Taking advantage of the strengths of Busan, such as the Busan International Film Festival, G-Star; [the exchange] will include tokenization of intellectual property rights in the film and game fields, as well as gold, precious metals, agricultural and livestock products, ships, real estate, etc.” As told by the Busan Digital Asset Exchange Establishment Promotion Committee, the plan involves coordinating domestic financial companies and digital …

As the Web3 space continues to grow and evolve, there are now several defined aspects that users tend to affiliate it with. Whether one likes to use crypto for payments or is interested in hunting down the latest NFT collectible, the crypto space is rapidly diversifying what it can offer users. Regardless of the sub-sector, Web3 continues to onboard new users. According to the latest DappRadar industry report, the number of unique active wallets that connected to a blockchain-based application on a daily basis rose significantly in 2022. While in 2021, the blockchain industry saw an average daily wallet count …

Avalanche (AVAX) came into the spotlight early at the beginning of 2023 by adding its blockchain support to Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud. However, empirical and on-chain analysis suggests that Avalanche’s price surge is likely due to a broader cryptocurrency market pump which will likely end with the rest of the market. Is Avalanche’s Amazon news exaggerated? While integration with the world’s largest blockchain service is a positive step for Avalanche, the hype around its implications might be exaggerated. The evidence lies in a similar move that Avalanche’s team made in December 2022. Avalanche’s team established a deal with Alibaba’s …

Bitcoin (BTC) price has held above $20,700 for 4 days, fueling bulls' hope for another leg up to $23,000 or even $25,000. Behind the optimistic move was a decline in inflationary pressure, confirmed by the December 2022 wholesale prices for goods on Jan. 18. The United States producer price index, which measures final demand prices across hundreds of categories also declined 0.5% versus the previous month. Eurozone inflation also came in at 9.2% year-on-year in December 2022, marking the second consecutive decline from October's 10.7% record high. A milder-than-expected winter reduced the risk of a gas shortages and softened energy …