“The Market Report” with Cointelegraph is live right now. On this week’s show, Cointelegraph’s resident experts discuss the social tokens you should be keeping a close eye on. But first, market expert Marcel Pechman carefully examines the Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) markets. Are the current market conditions bullish or bearish? What is the outlook for the next few months? Pechman is here to break it down. Next up: the main event. Join Cointelegraph analysts Benton Yaun, Jordan Finneseth and Sam Bourgi as each makes his case for the top social token. First up, we have Bourgi with his pick of STEEM, the native token of the Steem social blockchain network, which rewards users for content creation. Its aim is to give back value to content creators who contribute on the platform. Although is ...
The United States Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced Friday that it was sanctioning cryptocurrency mixer Blender.io for its role in laundering proceeds from the hacking of Axie Infinity’s Ronin Bridge. North Korean state-sponsored hackers Lazarus Group have been identified as the perpetrators of the attack. Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said in a statement: “Today, for the first time ever, Treasury is sanctioning a virtual currency mixer. […] We are taking action against illicit financial activity by the DPRK and will not allow state-sponsored thievery and its money-laundering enablers to go unanswered.” Under the sanctions, all Blender.io property in the United States or in the possession of...
Blockchain games are set to overtake decentralized finance (DeFi) as the number one contributor to decentralized application (DApp) activity in terms of uniquely active wallets. A new 18-page report by DappRadar surveys the nascent ecosystem behind this rise. Although still dwarfed by the traditional gaming industry, blockchain games, sometimes dubbed GameFi, have seen an early spurt of exponential growth, according to the report’s data. “The evolution of blockchain games” report, which discusses play-to-earn (P2E) as a new paradigm for gaming, is available on the Cointelegraph Report Terminal to purchase. It details how the play-to-earn model gained traction in the COVID-19 pandemic when players from emerging economies were seeking new sources of income. In Q2 of 2021, which was not...
Epic Games, the video game publisher behind the popular PC and console game Fortnite, announced a $2 billion funding round with plans to accelerate the company’s vision to make its mark in the Metaverse. The deal, which is still subject to customary regulatory approvals, would bring Epic’s equity valuation to $31.5 billion. This round includes a respective $1 billion investment from existing investor Sony Group Corporation and from KIRKBI, the holding company behind the LEGO Group. Sony, the company behind PlayStation consoles, also invested $200 million into Epic in April 2021. According to a statement, the three partners plan to combine expertise and technologies to influence the future of entertainment and digital play by developing new virtual production initiatives and digi...
Crypto games that combine play-to-earn (P2E) and nonfungible token (NFT) mechanics found a huge boost in 2021, thanks to the success of Axie Infinity and metaverse hype. However, playability still remains a major problem, as most crypto games focus on tokenomics rather than providing a fun and enjoyable gaming experience. Apart from the earning aspect, they often offer nothing special compared to traditional PC or console video games, where players can find interesting plots, nice visual effects and addictive gameplay. Axie Infinity has become known for its repetitive gameplay, known among gamers as “grinding,” while The Sandbox and Decentraland don’t really provide attractive graphics. There is one worth the attention out of the many games out there, which actually isn’t reall...
Blockchain games have been quite popular among crypto enthusiasts for a long time because they use cryptocurrency as an in-game tool. In these kinds of games, blockchain technology is used to secure the absolute ownership of game items, represented by tokens. For example, by purchasing an in-game nonfungible token (NFT), a player can be sure that he possesses a truly rare item that can be stored and controlled outside the game. This ownership provides a completely new player-driven economy where players can create their own unique content. However, crypto games are still far from the legacy PC or console games in terms of quality and gameplay, perhaps because the world is still cautious about the blockchain technology itself and is not ready to integrate it into the multi-billion dollar in...
GameStop has confirmed its integration with Loopring (LRC), an Ethereum Layer 2 zkRollup protocol designed for powering decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges, into their highly anticipated NFT marketplace. Adam Browman, Loopring’s Head of Growth, announced on Medium on Wednesday that the beta version of GameStop’s marketplace had gone live. The future of #NFTs are here + they’re powered by #Ethereum‘s second layer Loopring L2 x @GameStop Power to the players.Power to the creatorsPower to the collectors.#L222https://t.co/0gdvKLivfp — Loopring☠️ (@loopringorg) March 23, 2022 According to Browman, GameStop, in partnership with Loopring L2, aims to provide “fast, cheap and secure” access to digital ownership for the masses. Th...
“The Market Report” with Cointelegraph is live right now. On this week’s show, Cointelegraph’s resident experts discuss which Terra-based coins you should be looking out for in 2022. But first, market expert Marcel Pechman carefully examines the Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) markets. Are the current market conditions bullish or bearish? What is the outlook for the next few months? Pechman is here to break it down. Next up, the main event. Join Cointelegraph analysts Benton Yaun, Jordan Finneseth and Sam Bourgi as they debate which Terra-based coin has the most explosive potential. Will it be Bourgi’s pick of StarTerra, which capitalizes on blockchains’ biggest trends — play-to-earn, nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and staking — basically combining multiple multibillion-dollar industri...
The blockchain and cryptocurrency rave is not ending anytime soon. And as more people are being introduced to revolutionary technologies in the digital space, new improvements upon these technologies are also being introduced. In the last couple of years, the DeFi and NFT industries have experienced immense levels of growth and, currently, metaverses and Web3 are the technologies making the digital space light up. It is not yet clear where these disruptive technologies will lead us, but we are sure that there will be much value up for grabs. At the convergence of Web3 and NFTs lie many platforms looking to leverage technology and infrastructure to make the NFT ecosystem more decentralized, structured and community-driven. Using both social building and governance, the decentralized a...
Crypto markets are taking a beating but there are still a few standout performers even during this week’s volatility. One sector that has managed to rise above the noise are NFT-related altcoins and GameFi tokens. Top gainers in the collectible and NFT sector. Source: CoinMarketCap Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and CoinMarket Cap shows that three notable gainers over the past 48-hours were Voxies (VOXEL), Smooth Love Potion (SLP) and MyNeighborAlice (ALICE). Voxie Tactics launches its marketplace VOXEL is the native utility currency of Voxie Tactics, a free-to-play, 3-dimensional, role-playing game that combines the classic look of the popular tactical games of the 1990s and 2000s with modern game mechanics. Data from TradingView shows that after hitting a low of $0.90 on Feb. ...