Blockchain
Coachella Is Selling Lifetime Music Festival Passes As NFTs
It was only a matter of time: Coachella has officially hopped on the NFT train. Via a partnership FTX US, a massive collection of 11,010 NFTs is slated to hit Coachella’s environmentally friendly marketplace on the Solana blockchain this Friday, February 4th, at 10AM PT (1PM ET). The drop’s crown jewel is the “Coachella Keys Collection,” which consists of 10 NFTs that grant each owner lifetime access to the fabled music and arts festival. Each of these unique collectibles also unlock specific luxury experiences for the 2022 fest, like prime viewing access at the electronic dance music-focused Sahara Tent to a private party on the Coachella grounds. Naturally, there’s also an “Infinity Key” offering its owner a combination of lifetime gu...
Gamestop partners with Immutable X for NFT marketplace, announces $100M grant for creators
On Thursday, iconic brick-and-mortar video game retailer GameStop announced a partnership with layer-2 nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, Ethereum (ETH) scaling solution Immutable X to develop GameStop’s upcoming NFT marketplace. GameStop will utilize Immutable’s technology for trading and minting NFTs. We’re thrilled to announce that @Immutable is taking another leap forward in the gaming & blockchain industry by partnering w/ @GameStop to power their NFT Marketplace: https://t.co/Tase31CBt3 Continue for more… pic.twitter.com/8v6Titg3kq — Immutable | $IMX (@Immutable) February 3, 2022 Immutable developers claim that the new NFT marketplace will be 100% carbon neutral with no gas fees. In addition, both Immutable and GameStop will launch a $100 million grant program denominated i...
HitPiece Wanted to Make an NFT for Every Song — Only Its Founders Forgot to Ask Artists First
Over the last couple days, a beta version of a new platform called HitPiece has sparked outrage and confusion throughout the music industry after artists and their teams began finding NFTs of their songs posted on the marketplace without their permission. The NFTs were listed as “available for auction” or as “live” auctions under individual song titles with corresponding album artwork, and while they were characterized as “music NFTs” they did not appear to contain audio. HitPiece’s mission, according to the company’s pitch deck, is to make a “1 of 1 NFT for every song,” allowing “USD and Crypto for payment.” The company launched in December, but it wasn’t until Tuesday that people began to really take notice that it was listing NFTs for artists ranging from XXXTentacion to John Lennon to ...
$5 wrench attacks appear to be on the rise in the crypto community
Normally, the only way to access one’s crypto funds is through their private key, which, thanks to advances in cryptography, would take nothing less than an advanced futuristic quantum computer to decipher. That said, mafias and gangs have managed to think outside the box. Instead of wasting their efforts on breaking the underlying cryptography, they’ve turned their attention to targeting crypto owners, themselves. A $5 wrench attack is when someone finds out you have a lot of crypto and physically attacks or threatens you for your private keys. On Wednesday, at least eight men, including a police officer, were arrested in the city of Pimpri-Chinchwad, India, for allegedly kidnapping a crypto trader and demanding ransom. The arrested officer, Constable Dilip Tukaram Khandare, r...
Artists Are Blasting an NFT Auction Platform After Their Music Appeared Without Their Knowledge
A controversial NFT marketplace has drawn the ire of many in the music industry and creator economy at large. Legions of musicians are taking to social media to condemn HitPiece, a platform allegedly minting and selling music NFTs without artists’ knowledge. According to HitPiece’s website, the marketplace “lets fans collect NFTs of your favorite songs.” However, it’s unclear whether or not the company has acquired the rights to the songs and gone through the necessary channels to publicly list them on its platform. Per its website, HitPiece also claims to remit a royalty to artists whose music NFTs are purchased or sold, but suggests the rights-holder must create an account to receive payments. “Each time an artist’s NFT is purchased or sold, a royalty ...
First cross-chain governance proposal passes on Aave
On Monday, the first cross-chain governance proposal passed on decentralized finance, or DeFi, borrowing and lending platform Aave (AAVE). According to DeFi Llama, the amount of total value locked on Aave is approximately $12 billion. As told by its developers, a proposal executed on Aave, which is built on the Ethereum (ETH) network, was sent to the Polygon (MATIC) FxPortal. The mechanism then read the Ethereum data and passed it for validation on the Polygon network. Afterward, the Aave cross-chain governance bridge contract received this data, decoded it and queued the action, pending a timelock for finalization. The development team wrote: The Aave cross-chain governance bridge is built in a generic way to be easily adapted to operate with any chain that supports the EVM [Et...
Community of Remixers: How Audius’ Platform Is Driving Remix Culture In Dance Music
This feature was co-authored by Lev Kotia, Nakul Sharma and Bayleigh Bogan. As the streaming landscape competition continues to get more competitive between the likes of Spotify, Apple, Amazon and others, finding competitive advantages to drive paid subscribers has never been more complex. Despite a crowded landscape, some platforms have carved out a unique place for themselves in the world of music streaming that creates a focused and unique value proposition for creators and fans. One such platform is Audius, which uses blockchain technology to offer clarity and transparency for artists. Through Audius’ disruptive platform, artists can upload their music and have an immutable record of owning that content. If the content is misused, musicians can easily prove ownership of the intell...
Internet Computer plans to roll out BTC and ETH integrations by year-end
The Internet Computer has released a roadmap for 2022 and beyond, indicating plans to roll out integrations with Bitcoin and Ethereum by the end of the year. The Internet Computer is a public blockchain and protocol that allows developers to install smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps) directly on the blockchain. It was incubated and launched in May 2021 after years of development by Dfinity — a nonprofit based in Zurich. The #ICP #BTC integration will prompt a new wave of DeFi applications built to leverage the world’s largest cryptocurrency. Full story:https://t.co/kexreQTw20 pic.twitter.com/bQkKdel7r5 — DFINITY Foundation (@dfinity) January 27, 2022 The direct Bitcoin integration will be launched as part of Dfinity’s “Chromium Satoshi Release,” which is planned for Q1 ...
From cash to crypto: The Cantillon effect vs. the Nakamoto effect
Bitcoin introduces the world to the Cantillon effect 2.0, often known as the Nakamoto effect. Those who live closer to the truth can receive value creation benefits in a Bitcoin world, rather than being rewarded for privilege, status or geography. The issue of why we need Bitcoin (BTC) is a prevalent one these days, but most people’s responses leave them shaking their heads and declaring it to be either a Ponzi scheme or money for criminals. This conclusion falls short of describing how Bitcoin has the potential to address the systemic inequity and corruption that plague our present monetary system. Miners contributing to the Bitcoin network’s security are rewarded with new Bitcoin and fees based on how much protection they give, referred to as the Nakamoto effect. In...
Why is my Bitcoin transaction unconfirmed?
Transaction costs are calculated based on the transaction’s data volume and network congestion. As a block can only hold 4 MB of data, the number of transactions that can be executed in one block is limited. Therefore, more block data is required for a larger transaction. As a result, more significant transactions are usually charged on a per-byte basis. When you use a BTC wallet to send a transaction, the wallet will typically provide you with the option to choose your Bitcoin fee rate. This charge will be determined in satoshis per unit of data (there are 100,000,000 satoshis in one Bitcoin) consumed on the blockchain by your transaction, abbreviated as sats/vByte. This rate will then be multiplied by the size of your transaction to get the total fee you’ll pay. If you want y...
Users flock to Curve amid lack of stablecoin liquidity on major DEXs
In a Tweet posted by user @cryptotutor Friday, a screenshot appears to show a 27% spread between stablecoin Magic Internet Money (MIM) and USD Coin (USDC) trading pair on decentralized exchange, or DEX, Uniswap (UNI). Both have a theoretical peg of 1:1 against the U.S. Dollar. “Magic Internet Money,” joked cryptotutor, as he attempted to swap approximately $1 million in MIM but received a quote for only 728.6k USDC. Others quickly took to social media to complain as well. In another screenshot, user @DeFiDownsin allegedly received a quote to swap $984k worth of MIM for just 4,173 in USDT on SushiSwap (SUSHI). Swapping $1M in $MIM gives $730K in $USDC on Uniswap ‘Magic Internet Money’ pic.twitter.com/CKowe6dwJR — Tutor (@cryptotutor) January 27, 2022 Curve, a popular...
LeBron James Foundation partners with Crypto.com to promote Web3 awareness
The students taking part in the foundation’s I PROMISE program will have access to resources to help them learn about Web3 and other technologies The partnership is not only focused on Akron kids but also their families as part of the values the Foundation holds dear Crypto.com has teamed up with 4x NBA Finals MVP LeBron James in a philanthropic pursuit in the latter’s home area, as per a Friday report on Akron Beacon Journal. Through the partnership, blockchain and Web3 modules will be integrated into training offered to kids under the LeBron James Family Foundation’s I PROMISE program “Building on a strong basis of educational empowerment, the partnership will give students and families connected to the I PROMISE program access to the tools and educational ...
