Sportswear manufacturer Nike announced the acquisition of virtual sneakers and collectibles brand RTFKT. Nike becomes the biggest U.S.-based athletic products manufacturer through this partnership to join the metaverse bandwagon. A Cointelegraph report from Nov. 02 highlighted Nike's submission of requests for patenting the words — namesake, swoosh logo and just do it — for use online and in online virtual worlds." The filing was accompanied by two new job postings for virtual material designers, signaling the company's intent to enter the metaverse. However, the new RTFKT acquisition confirms Nike’s interest in delving into the metaverse ecosystem: RTFKT is now a …

Few people can influence major change in the world on their own merit. However, there is a small group who can – the billionaires. Taken together, this elite group has trillions of dollars put into real estate, tax havens and other investments. Sadly, this amount of money, unfathomable to most, is rarely being allocated where it is needed most. With estimates suggesting $6 billion could solve world hunger or $10 billion could fully fund the UN program for refugees, there is potential for funds to be allocated more strategically to solve these growing concerns. Unfortunately, with little movement in the …

Solana, the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is leading on-chain development charts despite a recent denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. As per Santiment data, Solana surpassed the daily GitHub submission rates of Polkadot and Cardano to become the leading blockchain over the past month. The number of daily GitHub submissions for Solana reached 90 between Nov. 12 and Dec. 13, followed by Polkadot at 76, and Cardano at 65. The surge in on-chain development activity for Solana comes in the wake of a recent DDoS attack on Dec. 9 that slowed down the network considerably. The fifth-largest blockchain managed to mitigate the …

The fan token market has been growing in value this year, surging around $157 million in terms of total market capitalization since June. According to data from major fan token website FanMarketCap, the market cap of all fan tokens is estimated to amount to slightly over $417 million at the time of writing. This is almost 60.4% up from the overall value of $260 million recorded in mid-June 2021, as Cointelegraph previously reported. The fan token market’s daily trading volume amounts to $270.2 million at publishing time. According to FanTokenStats, some of the most-valued fan tokens include Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) …

Cointelegraph has had a lot of NFT related news this week from pop culture to sports and gaming. Below is a roundup of stories you don't want to miss. Pepsi and VaynerNFT team up Pepsi launched their Mic Drop genesis NFT collection made up of 1,893 generative style NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. The number commemorates the year Pepsi was born. Consumers will only have to pay gas fees, and to ensure more manageable fees, Pepsi implemented a waitlist process from now until December 14. In homage to the brand’s history, the design of the NFTs are grounded in variations …

Even those who don’t consider themselves in the know when it comes to cryptocurrency aren’t blind to the talk around NFTs and the rising prices of related digital currencies like Ethereum (ETH). The concept of digital art and other collectibles has taken over the economy, providing artists with an opportunity to be compensated for their endeavors and collectors to grow their collection in a digital format rather than a physical one. As a result, NFTs are now more than talk and have accounted for $2.5 billion in sales over the first quarter of 2021 alone. But, some believe that this …

How can a securities-specific blockchain accelerate adoption? A successful securities-specific blockchain fills all gaps in the current Ethereum architecture by providing efficiency, automation and transparency. Aligning a functioning blockchain with the needs of modern capital markets will require solutions to governance, identity, compliance, confidentiality and settlement. To address these gaps, Polymath has spearheaded the creation of Polymesh, an institutional-grade, public, permissioned blockchain built specifically for regulated assets. In practice, the platform aims to address these five challenges by: Requiring users to validate their identity with a verified service provider when they are initially onboarded Automating the compliance of assets in …

Reddit has launched a waitlist for the upcoming site-wide expansion of its Ethereum-based ‘Community Points’ token rewards program, as well as a dedicated website. The social media platform, which runs on upvotes that earn users' karma scores, first dabbled in crypto token rewards in Dec 2019, when it launched Ethereum-based token rewards called “Donuts” in the r/Ethtrader subreddit. In May 2020, the platform expanded the reward program to the r/Cryptocurrency subreddit with “Moons,” and r/FortniteBR with “Bricks” on an Ethereum testnet. Now, the program will be rolled out as an opt-in feature for subreddits across the entire platform. Similar to …

Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) may have been a distraction from the COVID-19 pandemic, but now they are all the rage and a very key piece to pop culture. Each NFT exists as a one-of-a-kind asset minted on the blockchain, each being scarce in quantity and often high in value. While these assets may exist as collector’s items for holders to show off, they also act as a ticket into a fun and exciting community, where users can earn real rewards as they interact on an online medium. The thing is, many limit their imagination to only think of an NFT as …

Ben McKenzie, the actor known for his roles on TV shows including Gotham and The OC, is speaking out against public figures endorsing projects in the crypto space without seemingly disparaging the technology itself. Working with The New Republic staff writer Jacob Silverman, McKenzie made waves in early October after penning a Slate piece with his partner titled “Celebrity Crypto Shilling Is a Moral Disaster.” The duo called attention to Kim Kardashian’s Instagram account promoting the token EthereumMax (EMAX) in early June, a project whose price gained 116,000% in just one week before shedding more than 99% of its value, …

In 2010, if someone had told you that Internet memes, digital artwork and Twitter avatars would sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, would you have believed them? Well, these are nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, in a nutshell. NFTs are driving blockchains toward uncharted territory on the backs of cute kitties and pixelated punks. What may appear to be a shroud of speculation over pointless collectibles is actually the clouded horizon of fintech innovation. NFTs represent a turning point. Blockchain technology is now being used to represent assets beyond the chain. In order to understand the thriving and intriguing world …

After many months without travel, the 20-month COVID-19 travel ban was finally lifted to the United States, affecting all non-U.S. citizens from over 30 countries. With countries slowly reopening, travel has once again become top of mind to the world, with expectations that more and more countries will begin loosening their restrictions in response to the actions of the U.S. Unfortunately, with a rising number of people looking to travel again, prices are following closely behind. Gas prices, airfare and hotels are all reaching new heights as travelers and vacationers try to snatch up whatever is available. Unfortunately, for many, …