After eradicating crypto trading and mining in the country, the Chinese government’s next concern lies with the growing scams around the metaverse projects. The Chinese Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued a risk warning for the common public against fraudulent metaverse projects. The notice highlighted how the buzz around metaverse had made it a primary target of scammers and fraudsters illegally raising money in the name of such projects and robbing people of their hard-earned money. The official warning highlighted four different ways in which fraudsters are illicitly making profits using metaverse as the premise of their fraud. The first …

The largest bank in the US, JPMorgan, has taken a massive step into the Metaverse, opening a virtual lounge in the popular blockchain-based world Decentraland after it labelled the sector as a “$1 trillion opportunity.” Visitors to the lounge, situated in Decentraland’s Metajuku mall, are greeted by a roaming tiger and a digital portrait of Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan. If players walk upstairs, they can watch an executive’s presentation on the economics of cryptocurrency. The “onyx lounge”, named after JPMorgan’s in-house blockchain payments system was unveiled alongside a report from the bank, detailing the types of business opportunities …

Anime and Animoca Brands Blockchain gaming and Metaverse company Animoca Brands has launched a strategic subsidiary in Japan after raising $10 million in seed funding. The new subsidiary, named Animoca Brands KK, plans on expanding popular Japanese content into NFTs, the Metaverse, and fungible tokens through Web3 applications. The content includes anime such as My Hero Academia and Dragon Ball, games, art, sports, and others. Funds for this latest expansion were raised in a $10 million seed round led by Japanese investment firm MCP Asset Management’s MCP IPX One Fund. Animoca Brands co-founder and executive chairman Yat Siu told Cointelegraph …

The New York Stock Exchange, or NYSE, has filed a trademark application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, on Feb 10 to register the name “NYSE” for several blockchains and crypto related products and services. The goods specified include virtual reality and augmented reality software, nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, and online marketplaces. According to the application, the financial exchange would be able to provide “downloadable virtual goods” for NFTs and digital collectibles, as well as "authentication of data in the field on NFTs using blockchain technology." This is not the NYSE's first foray into NFTs or …

This week on “The Market Report,” we jump right into our main event. Join Cointelegraph analysts Benton Yaun, Jordan Finneseth, Sam Bourgi and Ornella Hernández as they debate each other on the top metaverse projects on the market. First up, we’ve got Bourgi’s pick of Wilder World, which allows you to interact with its immersive 3D world via nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and is also based on the massively popular Unreal Engine 5. Following Bourgi, we have The Market Report first-timer Hernández, who has decided to go with Boson Portal, which aims to revolutionize metaverse commerce. Will its high-profile partners such …

Venture capital funding in the cryptocurrency market is showing no signs of slowing, as major investors continue to back promising startups in niche industries spanning the metaverse, nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and GameFi. Cointelegraph’s new series, VC Roundup, provides a rundown of some of the biggest funding stories of the past few weeks. To stay informed on the latest developments from the world of blockchain business, be sure to register for our Crypto Biz newsletter, which is delivered to your inbox every Thursday. Animoca Brands leads NFT3 raise Web3 identity network NFT3 raised $7.5 million in seed investments to continue building …

Mark Zuckerberg might claim the Metaverse is the future — but in the eyes of others, the future has already begun. Science fiction author Neal Stephenson coined the term “Metaverse” back in his 1994 novel, Snow Crash. Within the pages, the main character, Hiro Protagonist, navigates through the virtual world. Since 2003, millions have also worked, played and socialized in the Metaverse within the online Second Life world. While the game, with a heyday in the first decade of the 2000s and featuring some blocky graphics is a far cry from the modern Metaverse vision laid out by companies like …

Analyzing the aggregate cryptocurrency market performance over the past 7 days could give investors the impression that the total market capitalization grew by a mere 4% to $2.03 trillion, but this data is heavily impacted by the top 5 coins, which happen to include two stablecoins. Excluding Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB) and stablecoins reflects a 9.3% market capitalization increase to $418 billion from $382 billion on Feb 4. This explains why so many of the top-80 altcoins hiked 25% or more while very few presented a negative performance. Gala Games (GALA) announced on Feb. 9 a partnership …

An experience-to-earn (E2E) nonfungible token (NFT) ecosystem rewards people on-chain for doing everyday activities, bringing new forms of value creation to everyone. This was previously reserved for invested gamers in play-to-earn (P2E) worlds. While P2E has experienced a record-breaking year ($4.5 billion in-game NFT sales, according to the recent DappRadar report), most blockchain games still rely on some level of skill such as battling, breeding or collecting strategy that attracts gamers with the downtime, temerity and sometimes some starting funds to invest — prerequisites that can put off any non-gamer from entering NFTs to earn. In contrast, experience-to-earn aims to …

Metaverse startup Portals has raised fresh funds to finance its browser-based metaverse that allows people to enter without virtual reality (VR) equipment. Portals co-founder Adam Gomez told Cointelegraph that a browser-based platform lowers the barrier to enter metaverse for many people. Simply clicking a link would allow users to enter the metaverse or someone else's space. He added that users shouldn't have to get a VR headset or a gaming PC to enter or shape the metaverse. Powered by Solana blockchain, Portals metaverse works on a web browser such as Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge. It allows people to build …

Experts say that China’s corner of the Metaverse is likely to evolve very differently to other international markets and that decentralized infrastructure may not be part of the game plan. The Sino Metaverse seems likely to repeat what happened with the web. When the internet first went mainstream in the 1990s, many people theorized that it might accelerate democracy in China. NewZoo’s 2021 trend report “Intro to the Metaverse” claimed that the Communist nation’s distaste for decentralization won’t necessarily deter it from participating in the Metaverse, but the experience may be very different, similar to the way the internet looks …

YouTube is looking at NFT integrations to provide new methods for creators to engage with fans and develop additional revenue streams. The news comes just a few weeks after YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki hinted that the platform can use Web3 “as a source of inspiration” for growth and possibly adopt NFTs on the website. In a Feb. 10 blog post, YouTube's Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan outlined a long list of new products, tools and features that the firm intends to roll out in 2022, with Web3 tech, blockchain, NFTs and the Metaverse all getting mentioned. Mohan stated that YouTube …