Marketplace
GameStop to drop crypto efforts as Q3 losses near $95M
Gaming retailer GameStop says it will no longer focus any efforts on cryptocurrencies, after amounting $94.7 million in net losses in the third quarter and laying off staff from its digital assets department. On a Dec. 7 earnings call GameStop CEO, Matt Furlong, said it “proactively minimized exposure to cryptocurrency” over the year and “does not currently hold a material balance of any token,” adding: “Although we continue to believe there is long-term potential for digital assets in the gaming world, we have not and will not risk meaningful stockholder capital in this space.” Earlier this year the company said it was looking at crypto, along with nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and Web3 applications, as avenues for growth calling these spaces “increasingly relevant for gamers of the fut...
Magic Eden follows OpenSea with NFT royalty enforcement tool
Magic Eden, a Solana-based nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace, has become the latest platform to release a tool allowing creators to enforce royalties on their collections. It follows the announcement of a similar tool from rival NFT marketplace OpenSea in early November. According to a Dec. 1 statement, the open-source royalty enforcement tool is built on top of Solana’s SPL token standard and is called the Open Creator Protocol (OCP). This will allow royalty enforcement for new collections that opt-in to the standard starting Dec. 2. Lu previously floated the idea of NFTs designed to enforce royalties at Solana’s Breakpoint 2022 conference on Nov. 5, citing the need for NFT creators to have a “sustained revenue model.” Creators who use OCP will also be able to ban marketplaces tha...
OpenSea Seaport Protocol onboards creators and NFT holders on BNB Chain
Crypto collectibles and nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea announced plans to integrate BNB Chain on Seaport Protocol by the end of Q4 2022. The integration will allow users to buy, list and trade BNB Chain NFTs on the OpenSea marketplace. BNB Chain was built by Binance to operate as a Web3-focused blockchain network powered by the exchange’s in-house token, Binance Coin (BNB). BNB Chain’s integration into OpenSea’s Seaport Protocol aims to provide BNB Chain creators with multiple creator payouts, real-time payouts and collection management, among others. Sharing insights into the move, Gwendolyn Regina, Investment Director at BNB Chain, revealed her intent to deliver better experiences to NFT creators and users. She added: “The integration will bring a large number of...
ApeCoin geo-blocks US stakers, two Apes sell for $1M each, marketplace launched
United States-based ApeCoin (APE) holders could miss out on staking rewards after the U.S. was added to a list of regions geo-blocked from using an upcoming APE staking service. Blockchain infrastructure company Horizen Labs, which is building the site on behalf of the ApeCoin decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), revealed the news in a Nov. 24 update regarding ApeStake.io on Twitter, saying “unfortunately, in today’s regulatory environment, we had no good alternative.” Ape Staking Update: Big thanks to the talented community devs for their helpful improvements. Bug Bounty AIP delayed us a bit, so we shortened the pre-deposit period by a week to keep our original 12/12 go-live. Alternate front-end sites going live. See card. pic.twitter.com/mgmP7X3SwQ — Horizen Labs (@HorizenLabs) N...
Industry exec explains why NFT fraud protection falls on brand and not marketplaces
Nonfungible token (NFT) marketplaces should commit to combat fraudulent NFTs, but brands are far more responsible for protecting NFT investors, according to one industry executive. Brands that issue NFTs should be taking the first step to protecting themselves and potential investors from fraud, BrandShield CEO Yoav Keren said in an interview with Cointelegraph on Oct. 12. According to Keren, it’s more straightforward for a brand to recognize NFTs that were not released by the company itself rather than marketplaces like OpenSea or Rarible. NFT marketplaces usually have fewer insights into which brands are creating NFTs when they are launching and other details, the CEO noted. Although marketplaces should not be negligent of the reality of NFT fraud, it’s still a must for brands to keep th...
GameStop ‘Falling Man’ NFT saga shows people’s power at its finest
A recent nonfungible token (NFT) listing on Gamestop’s marketplace became the center of controversy in the NFT world. The listing received heavy backlash from the community prompting the marketplace to take action within a day, showing how a community can come together to reverse the wrong. The NFT in question, titled “Falling Man,” showed a man in a space suit falling downwards. The NFT in question had quite a resemblance to the infamous 9/11 photo of a man falling to his death that since has become a defining moment of the deadly attacks. Many believed the NFT was mimicking the 9/11 victim and also infringed on the copyright of the image taken by original photojournalist Richard Drew. In another discussion on the meme stock subreddit GME_Meltdown, a user pointed out that the figure in th...
OpenSea lays off 20% of its staff, citing ‘crypto winter’
Nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea announced mass layoffs on Thursday, joining other crypto companies in reducing headcount during one of the most volatile periods in the industry’s history. Co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer took to Twitter Thursday afternoon to disclose that his company was laying off up to 20% of its staff. In a long message conveyed to employees, Finzer blamed “an unprecedented combination of crypto winter and broad macroeconomic instability” for the layoffs. Today is a hard day for OpenSea, as we’re letting go of ~20% of our team. Here’s the note I shared with our team earlier this morning: pic.twitter.com/E5k6gIegH7 — Devin Finzer (dfinzer.eth) (@dfinzer) July 14, 2022 “[W]e need to prepare the company for the possibility of a prolonged downtu...
Mastercard to allow 2.9B cardholders to make direct NFT purchases
International payment processing giant Mastercard is expanding its payment network for nonfungible token (NFT) markets and Web3. The financial service provider announced that it has been working on expanding their payment networks to NFTs over the past year. The firm has partnered with a number of leading NFT marketplaces to allow 2.9 billion cardholders to directly make NFT purchases without buying crypto first. Currently, users need to buy crypto to bid on and buy NFTs. However, with the latest Mastercard partnership, billions of cardholders can now bypass the process of buying a transferring crypto to NFT marketplaces. The firm said: “These integrations are designed to make crypto more accessible and help the NFT ecosystem keep growing, innovating and bringing in more fans.” Mastercard ...
OpenSea launches ‘Seaport’ marketplace protocol allowing NFT bartering
Nonfungible token marketplace OpenSea has announced the launch of a Web3 marketplace protocol for “safely and efficiently buying and selling NFTs.” In a Friday blog post, OpenSea said the marketplace protocol, dubbed Seaport, will give users the option to obtain NFTs by offering assets other than just payment tokens like Ether (ETH). According to the platform, a user “can agree to supply a number of ETH / ERC20 / ERC721 / ERC1155 items” in exchange for an NFT, implying bartering a combination of tokens as a method of payment. In addition, SeaPort users can specify which criteria — e.g. certain traits on NFT artwork or pieces part of a collection — they want when making offers. The platform will also support tipping, as long as the amount does not exceed that of the original offer. “OpenSea...
Crypto Bahamas: Attendees talk the future of NFTs
The crypto community headed to Nassau in the Bahamas this week for the inaugural Crypto Bahamas conference. Like most conferences, panels fill up the agenda and on Wednesday the topics at Crypto Bahamas ranged from NFTs to crypto in sports and to asset allocation in Web3. During one particular conversation, titled Evolution of NFTs: Culture, Utility and Regulation, panelists had some insightful musings on the NFT market. To put the Crypto Bahamas conference into context, Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange FTX moved its headquarters from Hong Kong to the Bahamas in Sept. 2021. It recently inked a multi-year partnership with Anthony Scaramucci’s investment firm SkyBridge Capital, and its events arm SkyBridge Alternatives, or SALT. They jointly presented the conferenc...
Crypto Bahamas: Attendees talk the future of NFTs
The crypto community headed to Nassau in the Bahamas this week for the inaugural Crypto Bahamas conference. Like most conferences, panels fill up the agenda and on Wednesday the topics at Crypto Bahamas ranged from NFTs to crypto in sports and to asset allocation in Web3. During one particular conversation, titled Evolution of NFTs: Culture, Utility and Regulation, panelists had some insightful musings on the NFT market. To put the Crypto Bahamas conference into context, Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange FTX moved its headquarters from Hong Kong to the Bahamas in Sept. 2021. It recently inked a multi-year partnership with Anthony Scaramucci’s investment firm SkyBridge Capital, and its events arm SkyBridge Alternatives, or SALT. They jointly presented the conferenc...
ESPN and Tom Brady’s Autograph ink multi-year NFT deal
ESPN and Autograph, the nonfungible token (NFT) platform co-founded by Tom Brady, announced a multi-year partnership on Wednesday that kicks off with a documentary release and an NFT collection. A 10-part ESPN+ documentary series called “Man in the Arena: Tom Brady” chronicles the milestones of the NFL legend’s career through a psychological and emotional lens. The docuseries is produced by Religion of Sports, a media company in which Brady is also a co-founder. Autograph and Religion of Sports designed the “Man in the Arena: Tom Brady Collection” to be ESPN’s first series of NFT collectibles. Dropping at the same time on Wednesday, the documentary is available to subscribers across the Disney streaming bundle — ESPN+, Hulu and Disney+ while the NFT collec...
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