Despite a broader downturn in related markets, multinational corporations don’t appear to have slowed down on their trademark applications covering Web3, crypto, nonfungible tokens (NFTs), and the Metaverse. The month of February — now drawing to a close — saw the likes of General Motors and Lacoste, and Walmart making their territory with Web3-related trademark applications. January was an even busier month. One of the latest NFT-related filings involved automotive giant General Motors, which filed for two new trademark applications on Feb. 16 covering its Chevrolet and Cadillac brands. According to the filing, the firm is interested in downloadable digital …

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) creators Yuga Labs has announced a new NFT collection on Bitcoin dubbed “TwelveFold.” The move was announced via Twitter on Feb. 28, with Yuga Labs unveiling 300 tokenized computer generated artworks as part of the TwelveFold collection that will go up for auction later this week. Introducing TwelveFold. A limited edition collection of 300 generative pieces, inscribed on satoshis on the Bitcoin blockchain.https://t.co/aFWEIhzqcI pic.twitter.com/PjWABKKBr4 — Yuga Labs (@yugalabs) February 27, 2023 In an accompanying blog post, Yuga Labs explained the concept behind the collection is based on mathematics, time and the Bitcoin blockchain. “TwelveFold is …

A whopping 80% of American adults believe the financial system favors those with “powerful interests,” while 20% currently own cryptocurrency — a new survey has revealed. Commissioned by crypto exchange Coinbase, the February online survey of more than 2,000 American adults found that 80% of respondents said the “global financial system unfairly favors powerful interests,” while 67% have called for “major changes” or a “complete overhaul” of the financial system. The survey was conducted by business intelligence firm Morning Consult and was aimed at examining the perception of the global financial system and how United States adults and crypto investors …

Smart accounts, enabled by the launch of the new ERC-4337 standard, are now available on Ethereum and are expected to help mainstream adoption by finally making crypto user friendly. Ethereum Foundation security researcher Yoav Weiss made the surprise announcement at WalletCon in Denver that the core contracts for ERC-4337 — known by blockchain developers as “account abstraction” — have passed an audit by Open Zeppelin and will be made available on every Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible network including Polygon, Optimism, Arbitrum, BNB Smart Chain, Avalanche and Gnosis Chain. New users will no longer need to learn about complicated seed …

Cryptocurrency venture capital conglomerate Digital Currency Group (DCG) has reported losses of over $1 billion in 2022 due largely to the contagion relating tocollapse of crypto hedge fund, Three Arrows Capital (3AC). DCG reportedly lost $1.1 billion last year, according to its Q4 2022 investor report, and said the results “reflect the impact of the Three Arrow Capital default upon Genesis” along with the “negative impact” from falling crypto prices. Genesis is the lending arm of DCG, the firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late January. Genesis is 3AC’s largest creditor as the company loaned the now-bankrupt hedge fund …

Robinhood Markets has confirmed that it had received an investigative subpoena from the United States Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) over its digital asset business' crypto listings, custody and platform operations. In a 10-K filing, the brokerage said it received the investigative subpoena in December shortly after crypto exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy in November, and after "several other major cryptocurrency trading venues and lending platforms earlier in 2022," including Three Arrows Capital, Voyager Digital Holdings and Celsius Network. The investigative subpoena was in relation to its cryptocurrency listings and custody services, which they said came in response to the crypto …

The United Kingdom’s bank regulator, the Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA), will propose rules for issuing and holding digital assets, Bank of England (BOE) executive director of the Prudential Policy Directorate Vicky Saporta said in a speech at the bank Feb. 27. The rules will be developed with consideration for Basel III rules and the Financial Services and Markets (FSM) bill now being considered by the Parliament. The FSM bill, which had its second reading in the House of Lords in January, would give the PRA the new secondary objective of facilitating U.K. international economic growth. To this end, Saporta said, …

Bitcoin (BTC) price broke above $25,000 on Feb. 21, accruing a 53% year-to-date gain at the time, it made sense to expect the rally to continue after U.S. retail sales data from the previous week vastly surpassed the market consensus. This fuelled investors' hope for a soft landing and the possible aversion of a recession in the U.S. economy. The apex of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s strategy success would be increasing interest rates and scaling back its $9 trillion balance sheet reduction without significatively damaging the economy. If that miracle happens, the outcome would benefit risk assets, including stocks, commodities …

Last week was relatively calm regarding enforcement news but brought some peculiar local developments in regulation. United States Representative Tom Emmer introduced legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives that could prevent the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC). According to the Minnesota lawmaker, the bill could prohibit the Fed from issuing a digital dollar “directly to anyone,” bar the central bank from implementing monetary policy based on a CBDC, and require transparency for projects related to a digital dollar. The Canadian Securities Administrators published a notice describing new commitments it expects from crypto asset trading …

Bitcoin (BTC) and the United States equities markets are trying to start the week on a positive note but some analysts are skeptical about the short-term prospects of the markets. According to Bloomberg Intelligence senior macro strategist Mike McGlone, Bitcoin will face significant resistance at $25,000. McGlone believes that it “may be a while before buy-and-hold types gain the upper hand.” It also looks like Bitcoin whales, unique entities owning 1,000 Bitcoin or more, are also not convinced of the recovery in the crypto markets. According to Glassnode, Bitcoin whale numbers have fallen to 1,663, which is well below the …

Blockchain Founders Fund, a venture capital fund supporting the adoption of Web3 and blockchain technology, has announced the close of a $75 million fundraising round from companies such as Polygon, Ripple, Octava, NEO Global Capital, Appworks, GSR, LD Capital, Metavest Capital and others, such as Sebastien Borget, chief operating officer of The Sandbox. According to the announcement, the fund will focus on supporting high-potential early-stage pre-seed and seed projects that encourage the mass adoption of Web3 and blockchain technology. The fund has already invested in over 100 startups, including Altered State Machine, Splinterlands, GRID, Krayon and Magna. In an interview …

Blur, a NFT marketplace, has seen its trading volumes and total sell-side liquidity skyrocket since conducting an airdrop on Feb. 14, 2023. The reason for the spike could be the start of season 2 airdrops, where 10% of BLUR token’s total supply will be distributed to certain users based on their activity. The team allocated 12% toward an early user airdrop in the first season that ran from the marketplace’s gated launch in March 2022 to February 2023. Blur has made a significant dent in OpenSea’s position as the leading marketplace. Analytics from data scientist Hildobby shows that Blur is …