Despite announcing it would cut its staff by roughly 5% in June and the recent market downturn, cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com has continued to move forward with an agreement to rebrand the Los Angeles-based venue formerly known as the Staples Center. In a Monday tweet, Crypto.com released an artist’s rendering of some of the changes it planned to implement at the iconic arena, in a reported “multimillion-dollar campaign” before many major sports teams begin playing later in 2022. Some of the renovations included new jumbo screens and concession stands, as well as a terrace overlooking the downtown Los Angeles area. The …

The rise of Web3 has paved the way for new business models that could shape the next phase of the internet. For instance, nonfungible tokens (NFTs) will play a large part in the open metaverse as the underlying assets people interact with. Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are also coming to fruition to allow for community governance within virtual environments. The growth of Web3 has essentially allowed NFTs and DAOs to flourish. For example, recent data from DeepDAO — a DAO stats platform — shows that DAOs have experienced 130-times growth over the last year, reaching a market capitalization of $24.8 …

The NFL officially announced Wednesday that each fan who attends Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles on Feb. 13 will receive a unique customized NFT. The NFT will feature their unique section, row, and seat to commemorate the game day and Super Bowl’s return to Los Angeles for the first time in almost 30 years. According to the announcement, Super Bowl LVI provided the NFL with a special opportunity to offer NFTs at the event as a tool to engage and celebrate with fans. Robert Gallo, senior vice president at the NFL’s club business development, noted that the club started …

Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, has reportedly made a multi-million-dollar real estate purchase at the end of 2021. Armstrong bought a $133 million Los Angeles property from Japanese entrepreneur Hideki Tomita in December, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing anonymous people familiar with the matter. According to the WSJ, Tomita originally purchased the real estate for $85 million in 2018. The new deal allegedly marks the biggest home purchase ever completed in the L.A. area. Prior to being sold to Tomita, the Bel-Air estate was formerly owned by Ellen Bronfman …

Cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com has inked another deal to expand its brand recognition in the United States with the professional women’s sports team Angel City Football Club. In a Tuesday announcement, Crypto.com said it had partnered with the Los Angeles soccer team in an effort to increase awareness and access to crypto, blockchain, and Web 3.0 among Angelenos, soccer fans, and the athletes themselves. The exchange said it plans to continue looking for “unique and impactful ways” to invest in LA, with the partnership aimed at encouraging “financial education, independence, and financial empowerment” for women. “Given the speed with which Web3 …

Odell Beckham Jr., wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams football team, has said he will be taking all of his $4.25 million National Football League salary in Bitcoin. In a Nov. 22 post to his Twitter account, Beckham said he would be partnering with Cash App to take his next NFL salary in Bitcoin (BTC). National Insider reporter Ian Rapoport said earlier this month that Beckham would be earning a $750,000 base salary on top of a $500,000 signing bonus in addition to $3 million in other incentives, totaling $4.25 million for the 2021 season. It's a NEW ERA …

Residents of Los Angeles, sports fans, and social media personalities are making light of Crypto.com’s agreement to rename the city’s Staples Center for its own marketing purposes. The Staples Center, a multi-purpose arena that has been home to the Los Angeles Clippers, Lakers and other major sports franchises for years, is scheduled to be renamed as the Crypto.com Arena starting on Dec. 25. This follows a $700 million agreement with the platform to hold the naming rights for 20 years. However, since its opening in 1999, the venue has always been called the Staples Center, and fans don’t seem to …

A piece of interactive art by Micah Johnson, a former Major League Baseball player turned nonfungible-token artist, will spend the next month exhibited on a giant electronic billboard in Los Angeles. Micah Johnson’s “ˈsä-v(ə-)rən-tē” (pronounced “sovereignty”) was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and features two African American boys hoping to fulfill their dream of becoming astronauts. This is represented by a spacesuit behind a closed door. Each year on the boys’ birthdays, they move closer to the gradually opening door, depending on the amount of Bitcoin (BTC) donations made by holders of a nonfungible token version of the …