Yahoo has announced a series of Metaverse and nonfungible token- (NFT)-related activities in Hong Kong, a day after Meta Platforms outlined its own metaverse plans for the region. Yahoo, a United States-based internet media company, revealed that it will host a series of virtual events and concerts for Hong Kong residents in the Decentraland metaverse. According to Lorraine Cheung, head of audience of Yahoo Hong Kong, the company sees the Metaverse as an attractive alternative for Hong Kong residents looking to engage in social activities while pandemic restrictions remain in force. On June 9, a nationwide mandate was introduced requiring …

When people began communicating with one another over a wired communication system, the internet, not long ago, it ushered in a revolution in the rate of user acceptance of the technology involved. Users could converse more readily anywhere and anytime when wired technology gave way to mobile technology. For example, smartphones are now bringing a flood of other services to the Metaverse. The Metaverse is a three-dimensional virtual place that works as a metaphor for the real-world . The term “metaverse” is derived from "meta" (beyond) and "universe." In this article, we will discuss the MetaPay project and how to …

A number of social gatherings have started to take place in the Metaverse as companies across the globe begin to understand the value that virtual interactive environments can have for consumers. It shouldn’t come as a surprise then that Pride Month — a month-long celebration held in June to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall Riots — will be celebrated in various metaverse environments this year. Pride in the Metaverse creates open access Akbar Hamid, co-founder of People of Crypto Lab (POC) — an innovation hub dedicated to increasing diversity and representation in Web3 — told Cointelegraph that the Metaverse is an …

While Meta has not yet launched its metaverse project, Bitcoin SV (BSV) association president Jimmy Nguyen thinks that it would be better for the firm to store user data on a public blockchain. In a Cointelegraph interview, Nguyen shared that a global and interoperable metaverse ecosystem would mean that individual data will be stored within a public blockchain. If Meta employs this method, Nguyen noted that Meta could become an interface that connects a blockchain to companies' metaverse apps. This will allow other metaverses to access user data once users give their consent. The BSV president said that: “I hope …

Social media giant Facebook's parent company, Meta, may be planning to launch a payments platform with support for cryptocurrency. According to records submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, on May 13, Meta filed five applications for its namesake to be used in a platform called Meta Pay. The filings included Meta’s name for use in a “online social networking service for investors allowing financial trades and exchange of digital currency, virtual currency, cryptocurrency, digital and blockchain assets, digitized assets, digital tokens, crypto tokens and utility tokens.” Meta Platforms Inc. (i.e. Facebook) has filed 5 new …

As the world accelerates towards a decentralized future, Fireblocks, a digital assets custody platform, announced the launch of their new Web3 Engine to help foster the development of the Web3 ecosystem. The company announced on Tuesday that the dedicated Web3 engine includes a set of tools for developers to create products and services in decentralized finance (DeFi), GameFi and nonfungible tokens (NFTs). Fireblocks has also opened up a world of decentralized apps (DApps), exchanges, NFT marketplaces and more for alternative asset managers and capital market participants. "Web3 is the future," said Michael Shaulov, CEO of Fireblocks, adding that "we’ve already …

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the company is starting to test digital collectibles on photo and video sharing platform Instagram this week, signaling a move toward adding nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. In an interview with Impact Theory’s Tom Bilyeu published to Facebook on Monday, Zuckerberg said the move was the first step toward allowing creators and collectors to display NFTs on other apps under Meta’s control, including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Facebook. According to the CEO, Meta is planning to “bring similar functionality to Facebook soon” and is working on “augmented reality NFTs” for Instagram as well. The move …

As the Fair Data Society puts it, we are laborers in the data economy. Our personal data — basically, the digital blueprint of our lives — gets collected by platforms we interact with, most often in a non-transparent way. At best, it is used to improve our user experience. At worst, our privacy gets breached, monetized and even weaponized against us. It all started with the emergence and growth of the user-generated web, as seemingly free social media networks, search engines and companies saw a new opportunity of profiting and went into the business of gathering, storing, analyzing and selling …

In his monthly crypto tech column, Israeli serial entrepreneur Ariel Shapira covers emerging technologies within the crypto, decentralized finance (DeFi) and blockchain space, as well as their roles in shaping the economy of the 21st century. With the news that Meta plans to take a nearly 50% cut of virtual asset sales in Horizon Worlds, it will not be surprising if independent artists and content creators turn away from the Metaverse entirely. Or at least from its Meta rendition, no matter how excited the company might be about the creator economy. It’s one thing to pay this much when the …

Lawyers for Dfinity Foundation, a Switzerland-based nonprofit behind the Internet Computer blockchain, have filed a lawsuit against Facebook’s parent company Meta for trademark infringement over its infinity logo. In a Friday court filing with the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Dfinity’s legal team claimed Meta Platforms was registering the use of its logo, which also uses the mathematical symbol for the concept of infinity, “in some of the same or similar areas in which Dfinity has already obtained registration for its mark.” According to the blockchain firm, Meta filed an application with the U.S. Patent …

Meta Platforms Inc., formerly known as Facebook Inc., posted its Q1 2022 earnings on Wednesday, with its Metaverse-focused Reality Labs division posting increased losses. The Reality Labs division — formerly known as Facebook’s Oculus division — has been spending increasing sums of capital on developing virtual reality and metaverse-related products, posting a $2.9 billion loss for Q1 2022. That’s 61% more than its $1.8 billion loss in Q1 2021. Overall Reality Labs revenue came in above expectations, seeing $695 million in revenue during the first quarter of this year from the sales of things like virtual reality (VR) headsets and …

In his monthly crypto tech column, Israeli serial entrepreneur Ariel Shapira covers emerging technologies within the crypto, decentralized finance (DeFi) and blockchain space, as well as their roles in shaping the economy of the 21st century. The impending Metaverse dominates crypto headlines as analysts almost obsessively race to predict what innovations the new digital world will bring. Facebook’s rebranding to Meta seems to be the tip of the iceberg, as Microsoft — and some other Big Tech companies — announce their plans to integrate into the Metaverse. The hype around the Metaverse is only natural. There’s no question the humans …