Metaverse definitions are widely disputed. So it’s not surprising that most of the world is confused. Is there just one digital world or are there many? Will the metaverse supplement the real world or will it be the physical world supplementing the digital one? Unfortunately, despite so many questions circulating about the metaverse, looking at the current landscape of projects going live will provide few answers. At present, many projects are looking at metaverse hype, in general, as an opportunity to attract users into their online community with short-term incentives like money-making opportunities and flashy digital collectibles. Therefore, despite users …

The nascent longevity industry focuses on the research and implementation of solutions and technologies to extend the lifespan of human beings — making people live healthier, longer lives. Longevity is not yet considered an official medical term, and aging is not officially considered a disease but a natural occurrence in every living thing. However, some biologists, researchers and practicing doctors believe this approach should change, and they are striving to discover the mechanisms of aging in humans. In doing so, they are creating age clocks by defining biomarkers for measuring biological age, exploring the best lifestyle habits and natural supplements, …

Amid the FTX and crypto market chaos, Cathie Wood-led Ark Investments has increased its Coinbase (COIN) holdings with a purchase of 237,675 COIN shares worth about $12.1 million on Nov. 9. Of the 237,675 COIN shares, Ark Investment Management added 207,527 shares to its ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), 22,416 shares to its ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW), and another 7,732 shares to its ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF). The tech-focused investment firm’s purchase came after Coinbase stated in response to FTX’s liquidity crisis that it has “minimal exposure” to the now cash-strapped cryptocurrency trading platform with only $15 million …

When I worked for Riot Games as its head of player acquisition in the European Union, I learned about player onboarding and long-term retention. Both are crucial to the success of gamer acquisition. I’ve seen the mechanics of user retention in gaming, and what I’ve learned is that most cryptocurrency games today lack the mechanics to keep players interested for even a short period of time. Why haven’t more top-tier games introduced real-world rewards into their games? These are the titles where 99.9% of gamers are not professional esports athletes and enjoy no monetary rewards for the thousands of hours …

NFT marketplace OpenSea has announced it will continue to enforce royalties across all collections going forward, following outcry from creators earlier this week for considering otherwise. On Nov. 7 OpenSea announced they were launching an on-chain tool allowing creators to enforce royalties for any new collections on the platform, but stopped short of offering the same to existing collections. At the time, the marketplace said it would be considering options ranging from enforcing off-chain fees for “some subsets of collections,” to “allowing optional creator fees,” to “collaborating with other on-chain enforcement options for creators.” The announcement saw significant pushback from …

Like many people, I was originally dubious of Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter given his historic tendency to make bold promises but later back away. That said, there is merit to his idea of adding a subscription layer to Twitter and using it to both improve curation and diversify away from advertising. If you believe in the core values of crypto, you should believe in it. To see why, we need to revisit the basics of Bitcoin (BTC). Most people focus their attention on the coin, but the more remarkable thing about Satoshi Nakamoto’s invention was the design of the …

While many nonfungible token (NFT) projects continue to suffer losses due to the bear market, a number of organizations have begun using NFTs to solve real-world problems. In particular, NFTs for subscription/membership-based models, or loyalty programs, are gaining traction. This point was highlighted in Forrester’s 2023 NFT and metaverse predications report, which notes: “Brands will pivot from ‘cool’ non-fungible tokens (NFTs) towards loyalty. In 2023, brands will shift their focus to NFTs linked to loyalty, brand experience, and deepening customer relationships.” Indeed, NFT use cases such as these are being implemented today. For example, Starbucks recently announced an NFT-based loyalty …

This year, Oct. 31 marked the 14th anniversary of the issuance of one of this century’s most consequential white papers — Satoshi Nakamoto’s “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.” Its 2008 publication set off a “revolution in finance” and “heralded a new era for money, one that did not derive its value from governmental edict but rather from technological proficiency and ingenuity,” as NYDIG celebrated in its Nov. 4 newsletter. Many aren’t aware, though, that Satoshi’s nine-page white paper was met with some skepticism initially, even among the cypherpunk community where it first surfaced. This reluctance may be understandable since …

Countries failing to adhere to anti-money laundering (AML) guidelines for cryptocurrencies could find themselves added to the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF's) “grey list." According to a Nov. 7 report from Al Jazeera, sources say the global financial watchdog is planning to conduct annual checks to ensure countries are enforcing AML and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) rules on crypto providers. The grey list refers to the list of countries the FATF deems as “Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring." The FATF says countries on this list have committed to resolving "strategic deficiencies" within agreed timeframes and are thus subject to increased monitoring. It …

According to a new post by blockchain security firm SlowMist on Nov. 7, it appears that the last week’s token exploit affecting GameFi project Gala Games resulted from a public leak of applicable security keys on GitHub. As told by SlowMist, pNetwork, the cross-chain interoperability bridge used by Gala Games on the BNB Smart Chain, had three privileged roles in its smart contract pGALA. “The Admin role is used to manage upgrades and changes to the Admin address of the proxy contract. The DEFAULT_ADMIN_ROLE role is used to manage various privileged roles in the logic (eg: MINTER_ROLE ), and the …

The number of companies filing trademarks for nonfungible tokens (NFTs), metaverse-related virtual goods and services, and cryptocurrencies has grown rapidly in 2022. According to data compiled by licensed trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis, the number of trademark applications filed for digital currencies, as well as their related goods and services, has reached 4,708 as of the end of October 2022 — surpassing the total number filed in 2021 (3,547). Thru October, 4708 US trademark apps have been filed for digital/cryptocurrencies + related goods/services Jan: 481 Feb: 541 Mar: 612 Apr: 589 May: 561 June: 461 July: 416 Aug: 345 Sep: 378 …

Nonfungible (NFT) marketplace OpenSea appears to have taken a position in the NFT royalties debate — launching a new "on-chain" tool helping creators enforce royalties. The NFT marketplace, which according to CoinGecko commands 66% of the market share in NFT marketplaces been relatively silent on the issue of royalties and enforcement while others in the space have been implementing their own strategies over the last few months. In a Nov. 6 blog post, OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer noted that in marketplaces where fees are optional, they’ve “watched the voluntary creator fee payment rate dwindle to less than 20%”, while in …