Last week, 55,000 parcels of “virtual land” were sold on the Ethereum blockchain for more than $300 million, the largest nonfungible token (NFT) mint ever. It wasn’t without controversy. In return for shelling out close to $6,000, a purchaser received an Otherdeed NFT, which authenticates that buyer’s ownership of a patch of digital real estate in developer Yuga Labs’ new Otherside game environment. What can you do with a plot of virtual ground? Well, you can develop your own online games on it or build a digital art gallery, among other things. Moreover, you might expect a lot of online …

There’s been a tremendous amount of hype and misinformation about nonfungible tokens (NFTs) since they appeared on the scene in 2014, particularly since the total market for them passed $24 billion. You can’t open a news feed without an article about nonfungible tokens popping up. These inevitably contain the obligatory “An NFT is a” paragraph for newcomers… and for readers who’ve consumed a dozen similar articles but still don’t get it. If you’re among the latter, you’ve come to the right place. NFTs really can be important and useful, and they’re evolving to become more so. But NFT evangelists and …

Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) nip in the bud several issues concerning their centralized counterparts such as concentration of liquidity in the hands of a few players, compromise of funds in case of a security breach, closed control structure and more. One issue, however, that has refused to subside is front-running. Unscrupulous players are still finding ways to defraud unsuspecting traders. If you have received less than expected when placing a trade on a DEX, there is a pretty good chance of you getting hit by front runners. These bad actors exploit the automated market maker (AMM) model to make profits at …

Coinbase, one of the largest crypto exchanges by volume, opened its beta nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace to the public on Wednesday, with on-chain data showing a maximum of 150 total transactions on the day and a $75,000 volume. The transactions captured by Dune Analytics show the total amount which took place through the 0x Protocol, the infrastructure behind Coinbase’s marketplace. While not all transactions are guaranteed to be from Coinbase since 0x announced its support for NFTs in January, it has yet to announce any other partners apart from Coinbase. The number pales into insignificance compared to expectations arising from …

The Crocodile Minter Australia Zoo, the famous animal sanctuary owned by Terri Irwin, the widow of Steve Irwin or the crocodile hunter, has launched a nonfungible token (NFT) project called “Wildlife Warriors.” Wildlife Warriors is also the name of a nonprofit organization founded by the Irwins in 2002 which focuses on the protection of injured, threatened or endangered wildlife. All profits from the NFT sales will be donated to the Australia Zoo and Wild Warriors conservation efforts. The NFT collection is a part of the 20th-anniversary celebration of the Australia Zoo, and users can now sign up for the allow …

The Italian high-end fashion label Gucci has announced it will begin accepting cryptocurrency payments by the end of the month in five of its United States stores, with plans to extend the service to all of its 111 stores in North America. Gucci will accept 12 cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ether (ETH), Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC), Litecoin (LTC), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Dogecoin (DOGE) and five U.S. dollar stablecoins, according to Vogue Business. Customers paying with crypto in-store at the pilot locations in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta and Las Vegas will be sent an email with a …

An article in the Wall Street Journal has claimed sales of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) are “flatlining” — in the same week that the top five collections alone accounted for more than $1 billion in primary and secondary sales. The article cited data from NFT market analysis platform Nonfungible suggesting the number of NFT sales has fallen by 92% since an all-time high in September 2021. Wallets active in the Ethereum NFT market were also said to have declined by 88% since a high in November 2021. “The NFT market is collapsing,” the article concluded. However, on-chain data from Dune Analytics’ …

The Market Report with Cointelegraph is live right now. On this week’s show, Cointelegraph’s resident experts discuss what they believe are the top three most bullish coins one should take a closer look at. But first, market expert Marcel Pechman carefully examines the Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) markets. Are the current market conditions bullish or bearish? What is the outlook for the next few months? Pechman is here to break it down. Next up: the main event. Join Cointelegraph analysts Benton Yaun, Jordan Finneseth and Sam Bourgi as each makes his case for the most bullish cryptocurrency right now. …

The Empire State made two appearances on the regulatory stage last week, and neither was entirely reassuring. On April 25, bill S8839 was proposed in the New York State (NYS) Senate that would criminalize “rug pulls” and other crypto frauds, while two days later, the state’s Assembly passed a ban on non-green Bitcoin (BTC) mining. The first event was met with some ire from industry representatives, while the second drew negative reviews, too. However, this may have been more of a reflex response given that the “ban” was temporary and principally aimed at energy providers. The fraud bill, sponsored by …

Decentralized finance (DeFi) is changing how people interact with money in a way that makes the financial realm more accessible and secure. Under the traditional model, users can find themselves subject to rules implemented on short notice, which at times have erased millions or billions of dollars from their fortunes. For this reason, the next major technology revolution is being led by a move away from large tech players toward a community-led alternative. Supporting this revolution is ApeSwap, a platform positioned as being among the most connected DeFi hubs available today. Recently, ApeSwap has added a new NFT-based financial product …

Although nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have been a part of the cryptocurrency market since 2014, interest and adoption has risen rapidly over the last two years. At their height in August 2021, the total trading volume of NFTs rose to over $5 billion, kickstarting what briefly came to be to known as “NFT Summer.” According to a report by CoinGecko, the NFT market is now expected to move more than $800 billion in the coming two years. The report, which mostly utilized investors from Asia and the Pacific, highlighted that of 871 respondents, around 72% of them already own at least …

Mishi Choudhary, the legal director of the Software Freedom Law Center, supported the efforts of some United States lawmakers to develop an electronic version of the U.S. dollar. In written testimony for a Thursday hearing of the House Financial Services Committee on digital wallets, Choudhary said the United States needed “a currency or electronic token that is equivalent in functionality to cash, offers all of its benefits including anonymity, privacy, autonomy, no transaction fee and addresses all of its flaws.” Her description suggested a token with many of the benefits of a central bank digital currency and cryptocurrencies but without …