The team behind the design of NBA Houston Rockets player John Wall’s nonfungible token may have ripped off one of the backgrounds directly from the popular online game Fortnite. Wall first announced he planned to release a line of “Baby Baller” nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, on Tuesday to raise $100,000 for charity and the “Ballers community.” However, once he posted a preview of the tokenized artwork on Twitter, social media users were quick to notice that the background appeared to be lifted from Fortnite. The image, available on eason 5 of Fortnite from Epic Games, shows a basketball court adjacent …

Animoca Brands, a nonfungible token (NFT) game developer, has announced a substantial investment in the NFT platform Bondly. According to a release issued on Friday, Animoca will own a majority stake in Bondly following the investment. Commenting on the rationale behind its investment in Bondly, Animoca chairman and co-founder Yat Siu told Cointelegraph: “We acquired a majority stake in Bondly because it will significantly assist us to drive true digital ownership via NFTs, and we see this as crucial to the future of gaming and the emergence of the open metaverse.” As part of the investment, Bondly’s NFT technology, including …

The auction of Yuga Labs’ 101 Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection has smashed through expectations with a winning bid of $24.39 million. The auction closed on Friday and was hosted by the prestigious auction house Sotheby’s, which had estimated earlier that the collection would fetch between $12 million and $18 million. The bundle of nonfungibles consists of 101 Bored Apes and three M1 and three M2 “mutant serum” NFTs. When a Bored Ape token is combined with an M1 or M2 serum, it enables the holder to mint a new Mutant Ape NFT that keeps the same traits of …

Blockchain gamification platform DeFi Land has secured $4.1 million in investments to launch a new decentralized finance game on Solana, further highlighting the growing ecosystem surrounding SOL. The investment round had participation from over 40 investors, including some of the biggest names in blockchain venture capital. Animoca Brands, Alameda Research, Jump Capital, NGC Ventures, Solana Foundation and Gate.io were among the major investors involved. DeFi Land operates as an agriculture simulation game designed to gamify all aspects of decentralized finance. The goal is to create educational solutions for users looking to explore DeFi or other alternative finance solutions. The platform …

Crypto Gaming United, a startup aiming to build a global community of nonfungible token (NFT)-focused play-to-earn gamers, has raised $5 million in an oversubscribed seed funding round. A Sept. 8 announcement notes the round was led by famed Australian venture capitalist Mark Carnegie and Chrono.tech CEO Sergei Sergienko — with the pair having co-founded the crypto-focused asset manager MHC Digital Finance. Australian investment managers Shaw and Partners and Blockchain Assets also participated in the round. Crypto Gaming United was established in August of this year and has already attracted more than 1,500 members and has a waiting list of almost …

Three-time NBA champion Stephen Curry has snapped up a Bored Ape Yacht Club nonfungible token (NFT) for 55 Ether (ETH) worth around $206,000 at the time of publication. The Golden State Warriors star purchased an NFT depicting an ape with blue fur wearing a plaid suit on Saturday. Curry’s wallet on OpenSea shows a collection of 20 NFTs, including a 5.69-ETH ($21,000) purchase of Bored Ape Kennel Club NFT on Saturday as well. To the surprise of other collectors, Curry has since been active in the Bored Ape discord group and even changed his Twitter profile picture to display his …

Larva Labs, the team behind the outrageously popular nonfungible token (NFT) project CryptoPunks, has penned a deal with Hollywood agents United Talent Agency (UTA). According to a Tuesday article from the Hollywood Reporter, UTA will represent Larva Labs for intellectual property (IP) deals in TV, film, video games, licensing and publishing. Two other NFT projects from Larva Labs, Meebits and Autoglyphs, will also be represented by UTA. CryptoPunks was launched back in 2017 and is one of the first NFT projects created on Ethereum. The IP-related deal with UTA marks a significant milestone for Larva Labs, as it is one …

The world of nonfungible tokens and blockchain gaming has seen immense growth and progress towards mainstream adoption in 2021. Recently, the movement picked up steam as an array of celebrities and internet influencers jumped on the hype train by purchasing premium digital collectibles. One project that has quickly risen in value over the past two months as details about its ongoing development trickle to the public is Illuvium (ILV), an open-world fantasy battle game built on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain. Data from CoinGecko shows that after hitting a low of $29.32 on June 22, the price of ILV skyrocketed 1,765% …

NFTs are in Vogue Readers of the high-end fashion magazine Vogue Singapore will be able to fight for a chance to purchase two tokenized front cover images. The front cover of Vogue’s September issue will feature QR codes allowing readers to sign up for an auction of two one-of-a-kind “virtual-only covers.” While Vogue has revealed that the auction will take place in September, the publication has yet to reveal the exact date of the auction. "Triumphant Awakening," the first of the animated covers up for auction, depicts a gold statuette in front of a blue planet encircled by a rising …

Amid the enormous success of crypto-powered game Axie Infinity in the Philippines, the local Department of Finance has made clear that it wants a cut of profits generated by playing Axie and other play-to-earn games. An August 23 report from Inquirer cites Philippine Finance Undersecretary Antonette Tionko as clarifying that any profits gleaned through play-to-earn games are subject to income tax. “Cryptocurrency is an asset, so it’s already taxable in the Philippines [...] whoever earns currency from it, it’s income you should report it,” she said. While the official asserted that that play-to-earn gains “are subject to income tax,” Tionko …

Bybit has secured new contracts with esports organizations Astralis and Alliance that will see the cryptocurrency exchange expand its footprint in the video game industry. Bybit will have its logo featured on gaming jerseys and twitch.tv streams as part of a broader strategic initiative targeting more expansive player engagements, carbon neutrality initiatives and financial education programs, the exchange announced Monday. Ben Zhou, co-founder and CEO of Bybit, said his company “is in it for the long run,” referring to esports. He believes there is a “special connection” between the esports and cryptocurrency communities for their high degree of competitiveness and …

Mike Tyson bites the ear off NFTs Boxing legend Mike Tyson has dropped a series of tokenized collectibles on the heavyweight champion platform of the nonfungible token (NFT) world, OpenSea. The 55-year-old collaborated with digital artist Cory Van Lew to launch the “Mike Tyson NFT Collection,” which consists of 11 one-of-one NFTs up for auction and six open-edition NFTs that range from 50 to 250 copies. The collection was released earlier on Friday. The NFTs depict neon-colored illustrations of iconic moments from Tyson’s career, such as knockouts, championship wins and the notorious “ear-biting” escapade. At the time of writing, there …