In this week’s newsletter, read about how Justin Bieber, along with other celebrities, was called out to disclose their connections to nonfungible token (NFT) firms. Check out the market performance of blue chip NFTs and how NFT games have an advantage over traditional gaming business models. In other news, learn about how OpenSea is implementing new ways to combat NFT theft. And check out how experts feel about carbon offset NFTs that aim to help the environment. Justin Bieber, Paris Hilton among 19 celebs called out for shilling NFTs Consumer watchdog Truth in Advertising called out 19 celebrities, including Justin …

Manchester United Fan Token (MUFC) is a dead coin and not related to the sports franchise, but one Elon Musk tweet was enough to revive it on Aug. 17. Also, I’m buying Manchester United ur welcome — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 17, 2022 Fake Man U token pumps after Elon Musk's tweet To clarify, MUFC is not an official Manchester United crypto token. It came to life in August 2021 after a team of programmers, who said to be hardcore fans of the Manchester United, falsely claimed that holding MUFC would give them influence on the football club's decisions. The …

Play-to-earn (P2E) blockchain-based games gathered investors’ attention in late 2021, with Axie Infinity leading the pack with over 2 million active users. In P2E games, players are awarded tokens or nonfungible token assets (NFTs) as they progress throughout the game. These digital assets can be sold using marketplaces and cryptocurrency exchanges, generating income in a decentralized manner. However, there is a large discrepancy between P2E and traditional PC and console gaming experiences. In that sense, crypto games are a couple of decades behind due to the restrictions imposed by blockchain technology. Yes, most crypto games lack a decent user experience …

Polygon’s VP of Global Business Development for gaming Urvit Goel believes games that integrate nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have a natural edge on traditional games that don’t allow users to sell their in-game items. Goel spoke candidly with Cointelegraph in Seoul last week about Polygon’s (MATIC) push toward helping NFT games proliferate and why game publishers in South Korea like Neowiz and Nexon are diving headfirst into the space. One of the main arguments Goel made is that the traditional business model that NFT games are competing against may be inherently weaker. In traditional gaming, users typically buy in-game items with …

South Korea's most popular metaverse blockchain Klaytn is set to benefit from deeper liquidity and improved token swaps through a new partnership with decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol 1inch Network. Klaytn has enjoyed success in South Korea as the country continues to see prolific nonfungible token (NFT) and GameFi use. Klaytn is a product of tech behemoth Kakao - which commands a user base of some 52 million people that use its flagship KakaoTalk application and suite of software products. Klaytn derived its proprietary blockchain technology off the Ethereum Virtual Machine and powers various play-to-earn and AAA games, NFT marketplaces and …

South Korea is considered the fourth biggest gaming market and one of the biggest blockchain adopters. However, the country has banned play-to-earn (P2E) blockchain games due to the crypto integration. The new pro-crypto president Yoon Suk-yeol had hinted at lifting the ban, but the government yet to showed any significant effort. Anthony Yoon, managing partner of blockchain investment and accelerator firm ROK Capital, in an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph, said that GameFi is a natural fit for Korean game publishers. Yoon shed light on the current state of GameFi in the country and how game studios are approaching blockchain integration …

Sky Mavis, the firm behind Play-to-Earn (P2E) heavyweight Axie Infinity is looking to “double down” in South Korea and ramp up adoption despite the regulatory hurdles. Speaking with Cointelegraph at the Korea Blockchain Week on Aug. 9 (local time), Sky Mavis co-founder and growth lead Jeffrey Zirlin stated that despite the domestic ban on P2E games still being in place, the “Korean market is one of the most important gaming markets in the world, and we have tons of players in South Korea.” Zirlin added that the company is currently looking at ways to tailor the Axie Infinity game to …

Despite a backlash from a vocal part of the gaming community, a new survey has revealed one-third of gamers have expressed interest in using crypto in the Metaverse. And, more gamers than not believe that the Metaverse will have a positive impact on gaming. The survey was published on Wednesday by institutional software developer Globant. It was conducted by YouGov and polled 1,000 adult PC, console and/or mobile gamers last month, with 34% of respondents indicating an interest in conducting crypto transactions in Metaverse. The concept of play-to-earn (P2E) in the Metaverse is also relatively well received by gamers, with …

GameStop’s new nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace took home roughly $44,500 from transaction fees in the first 24 hours after it launched via a public beta on Monday. GameStop NFT reportedly generated around $1.98 million worth of NFT sales on its first full day of business. As the platform charges a 2.25% fee on NFT sales, this equates to roughly $44,500 worth of fees. While that sum may seem underwhelming, considering it would represent just 0.27% of GameStop’s daily revenue for 2021, it depends on the perspective. According to gaming news outlet Kotaku, GameStop had 4,816 stores across the U.S. at …

Bear markets are always tough, but one of the positives is they clear the clutter and this allows legitimate projects to stand out. While most investors are focused on the latest centralized finance (CeFi) and decentralized finances (DeFi) scandal, the blockchain gaming sector has quietly weathered the storm better than other niches of the market. As shown on the chart above, all sectors of the market have experienced a noticeable decline in active users, but the gaming sector has proven to be the most resilient at retaining users as the bear market intensified. Transactions continue to rise Further proof of …

Gaming giant GameStop launched its own nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace on Monday. The new NFT marketplace intends to deliver low fees and high speeds. Users of the marketplace can buy, sell, trade and create NFTs. The marketplace features functionality to enable users to view statistics for NFTs, and educational material is also provided. Educational content includes everything from NFT basics to how to connect a wallet to the marketplace is covered. It’s a noncustodial Ethereum layer 2-based application, and users can connect to the marketplace using the GameStop Wallet or other Ethereum-compatible wallets. Cointelegraph reported in May regarding the GameStop …

In the most recent episode, Comic-Con legend, Gareb Shamus discusses how he has used storytelling to build engagement and a “maker world” that grows and strengthens communities. What started off as a newsletter about comics, founder Gareb Shamus’ passion project, ultimately became known to the world as a magazine titled Wizard. According to Shamus, Wizard was the outlet in which he could “create a voice” and share with his friends the things he had discovered that excited him. Shamus touched on the importance of building elements of engagement and not limiting creativity within communities to further “unite them around what …