As the hype surrounding play-to-earn (P2E) games and platforms began to dwindle in early 2022, Web3 participants began to emphasize the need for games to be more “fun” and less finance-oriented. In the most recent episode of NFT Steez, Alyssa Expósito and Ray Salmond spoke with Aron Beireschmitt, the CEO of Laguna games and founder of Crypto Unicorns, about the sustainability of P2E-focused blockchain games. For Beireschmitt, the evolution from a play-to-earn to a play-and-earn model suggests that there is still experimentation and maturation to be seen for these games. “Nothing has changed about making games,” says Beireschmitt, but with …

The music industry continues to find inventive ways to integrate decentralized technology into new releases to benefit both artists and their fans. Electronic dance music (EDM) artist R3HAB and blockchain-based music community anotherblock released a single on Aug. 19 with the idea of “democratizing music rights.” The nonfungible token (NFT) included in the drop allows holders to earn royalties based on streaming popularity. The single, “Weekend on a Tuesday,” debuted bundled with an exclusive NFT. Each of the 250 NFTs available entitles the holder to a 0.02% share in the streaming revenue. Anotherblock’s platform provides a value tracking tool so …

The majority of 4,653 active Ethereum (ETH) nodes are in the hands of centralized web providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), which could “expose Ethereum to central points of failure,” according to crypto analytics platform Messari. An Aug.15 post shows that three major cloud providers account for 69% of hosted nodes on the Ethereum Mainnet, with over 50% of that coming from Amazon Web Services (AWS), over 15% from Hetzner and 4.1% from OVH. Figures from Ethernodes additionally show that Oracle (4.1%), Alibaba (3.9%) and Google (3.5%) also provide web hosting services on Ethereum. While the distribution of cloud service …

The United States' move to sanction the open-source code that makes up the Tornado Cash privacy protocol may be shocking, but it’s not surprising. America has been tightening her grip over the global financial system for decades, ostensibly to cut down on bad behavior, but also to project power abroad. Economic sanctions, like the ones enforced by the aptly named Office of Foreign Assets Control, are a powerful weapon. The agency’s website states that it “enforces economic and trade sanctions based on U.S. foreign policy and national security goals.” It does this to fight drug dealers, terrorists, and “other threats …

What are the disadvantages of CeDeFi? Currently, CeDeFi’s main downside is the high learning curve associated with its protocols because of their complexity. The concept is still young, and more intuitive and user-friendly interfaces are bound to emerge over time. CeDeFi also relies heavily on Ethereum, given that most CeDeFi protocols are still built on the Ethereum blockchain. If Ethereum fails, CeDeFi will likely fail as well. However, this risk is mitigated by the fact that other blockchains are beginning to adopt CeDeFi protocols. Another disadvantage of CeDeFi is that it’s still relatively new and unproven. While the sector has …

EOS rose approximately 20% to reach $1.66 on Aug. 17 and was on track to log its best daily performance since May 2021. Initially, the EOS rally came in the wake of its positive correlation with top-ranking cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), which gained over 2% and 3.75%, respectively. But the upside move was also driven by a flurry of uplifting updates emerging from the EOS ecosystem. EOS incentive program launch On Aug. 14, the EOS Network Foundation (ENF), a not-for-profit organization that oversees the growth and development of the EOS blockchain, opened registrations for its upcoming "Yield+" …

The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued sanctions against Tornado Cash this month, marking its first action against a decentralized finance (DeFi) mixer in what may prove to be a watershed moment for DeFi regulation. A lack of response and regulatory preparation from the industry is perhaps unsurprising of a mindset honed outside the rule of law. Yet, the potential of DeFi is threatened if its leaders do not face the reality that regulation in this space will only increase. Taking steps to work with regulators is now the only way forward. On Aug. 8, OFAC targeted …

Protecting user data and private keys is crucial as Web3 advances. Yet, the number of hacks that have occurred within the Web3 space in 2022 alone has been monumental, proving that additional security measures, along with greater forms of decentralization, are still required. As this becomes obvious, a number of organizations have started leveraging multiparty computation, or MPC, to ensure privacy and confidentiality for Web3 platforms. MPC is a cryptographic protocol that utilizes an algorithm across multiple parties. Andrew Masanto, co-founder of Nillion – a Web3 startup specializing in decentralized computation – told Cointelegraph that MPC is unique because no …

Solana released its first ever, ‘Validator Health Report’ which revealed information on its network operators. According to the report the network has over 1,900 block-producing nodes with nearly 1,688 (88.14%) of those run by independent entities. Solana says the health and strength of its validators is critical to long-term health of the ecosystem. Previously, the network has faced backlash for both a lack of decentralization and expensive validator hardware. Though this new report highlights the 3,400 validators across six different continents. 9/ Distribution across geographies is important. Resilient blockchains continue operating through all types of global events. Here's how stake …

The Metaverse has become one of the biggest buzzwords of the year as a number of brands, companies and even countries begin to explore virtual worlds to conduct business. Even though Metaverse development is still underway, a recent report from the technology research and advisory firm Technavio found that the Metaverse will hit a market share value of $50.37 billion by the year 2026. Another report predicts that the growth of the Metaverse will be driven by e-commerce, which is expected to reach a market share of $60.47 billion by the year 2026. E-commerce across social media platforms is also …

The Taiwanese Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) plans to implement decentralized technology into its web portal in an effort against cyberattacks. InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) is a Web3 technology that government officials will employ for decentralized file sharing. IPFS identifies content through file hashes, which allows files stored by multiple parties to be found anywhere and can be accessed by simple HTTP. This development comes after the controversial visit of United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, despite warnings from mainland China. Since the visit, government websites have faced multiple attacks sourced from the mainland. This includes a distributed …

The excitement surrounding blockchain technology is palpable, but it's been coupled with growing concerns about the impact that mining has on the environment. But some crypto projects are tackling these climate fears head-on — with Algorand positioning itself as a high-performance, decentralized network that achieves sustainability without sacrificing speed, scale, or security. Built as a blockchain with very low energy use, those behind this platform have started a foundation that aims to highlight why blockchains must be eco-friendly — all while offering a lasting solution that's carbon negative, fast, scalable and secure. The vision? To prove that our financial futures …