NFTs
Sia Says She’s Behind Popular Snoop Dogg-Affiliated NFT Twitter Account
Sia has come out… as an avid NFT collector. On Tuesday (March 8), the singer-songwriter revealed that she’s behind the NFT Twitter handle @BiancaMedici69, which trades and discusses NFTs with over 13,000 followers. The account owner had been teasing their identity for several days, tweeting on Monday, “It’s been a joy quietly collecting NFTs this last year supporting other artists & causes. And oh what fun being a secret Medici. But I think it may bring more attention to these artists & causes if I went ‘public.’ So Tuesday at 2pm PT, I will dox & reveal my true identity.” Sia revealed her involvement with a tweet from her official account on Tuesday which read, “I am @BiancaMedici69.” Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news I am @BiancaMed...
DeFi detective alleges this ‘suspicious’ smart contract code may put dozens of projects at risk
According to famed decentralized finance (DeFi) detective Zachxbt, 31 nonfungible token (NFT) projects may be at risk due to “suspicious code.” In a lengthy Twitter thread published Tuesday, the DeFi detective first raised the issue of NFT project Thestarlab, which was allegedly compromised for 197.175 Ether (ETH), worth $580,325 at the time of publication. Zachxbt quoted fellow blockchain investigator MouseDev, who came to the following conclusion after reviewing the code behind Thestarlab: “The smart contract [for this project] can never truly be renounced or transferred—only an additional owner. The original deployer will always be considered the owner. This means if they still have the private key of the deployer, they can pull the money, even though...
NFT infrastructure startup Rarify raises $10M from Pantera Capital
NFT infrastructure startup Rarify has raised $10 million in Series A funding from Pantera Capital at a valuation of $100 million. The backing from Pantera Capital appears significant as the company is one of the top venture capital firms in crypto. One of Rarify’s primary offerings is an NFT-commerce-focused application programming interface (APIs) that enables firms to launch and integrate user-friendly marketplaces in their platforms. The API also allows minting and porting NFTs between different blockchains. Speaking with Forbes on March 3, Rarify co-founder Revas Tsivtsivadze stated that the company aims to simplify NFT buying and selling similarly to “how Square made it super easy to accept payments.” Tsivtsivadze highlighted the check-out process of marketplaces such as OpenSea, whic...
Monthly NFT buyers dip below 800K as searches ‘fall off a cliff’
The unique number of NFT buyers in February dipped below 800,000 for the first time since October, and search volume for nonfungibles also dropped significantly. According to data from CryptoSlam, there were 796,009 NFT buyers on secondary markets in Feb. (down 12% compared to Jan.) that accounted for roughly $2.6 billion worth of sales (down 40% on the month before). A caveat to that however, is that January was a massive month for NFTs which may suggest the decreases in February are simply part of a relatively healthy pullback. January saw a record number of unique secondary NFT buyers at 904,13 and OpenSea also posted record sales volume in January totaling around $5 billion before pulling back to around $3 billion last month. Looking at Google Trends, however, it appears that global ke...
The Ledger: How Big Is the Potential Music NFT Market?
The Ledger is a weekly newsletter about the economics of the music business sent to Billboard Pro subscribers. An abbreviated version of the newsletter is published online. It seems everybody is getting — or wants to get — in on the NFT business. It’s reminiscent of the late ’90s when companies rushed to launch websites because, well, there was money to be made and everybody else was doing it. Many companies stumbled out of the gate, but the internet turned out to be a pretty good business opportunity. The jury is still out on NFTs but there’s obvious potential. It’s no surprise that people spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on digital tokens that confer rights to anything from digital art to fan club-like perks. Some fans spend dearly to support their favorite artists. And with NFTs, ...
Crypto community rallies with Ukraine as local NFT artists’ works sell out
It appears that crypto enthusiasts worldwide are rallying in support of Ukrainians during the difficult times. According to reports, Bitcoin (BTC) donations to Come Back Alive, a non-governmental organization helping Ukraine’s military efforts, received $3 million in BTC in a single donation on Friday. Users also took to social media to ask the country’s Ministry of Defense to accept crypto donations, such as Tether (USDT). At the same time, the founder of Ukraine’s Kuna exchange created a crypto fund to assist charities in the country. Everyone! Thank you for all the support and donations! The current plan is separated into 3 parts to involve as many as possible 1) direct donations (aimed at individuals)2) NFT Auction (via telegram & Opensea) 3) Project %...
Monster Energy files NFT and metaverse trademark applications
According to recent filings with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Monster Energy has four pending trademark applications related to the nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and metaverse realms. The first trademark application consists of downloadable virtual goods comprised of, but not limited to, beverages, food, supplements, sports, gaming, music, and apparel. According to the filing, such downloadable multimedia assets will be “authenticated by NFTs.” Also included in the application are computer programs facilitating blockchain data interactions. The second filing consists of retail store and online retail store services authenticated by NFTs, as well as an “online marketplace for buyers and sellers of virtual goods.” Similarly, the third...
After Rocky Launch, HitPiece Is Trying to Recruit Artists to the Platform
After sparking music industry outrage over a plan to auction an NFT for every song in the world — without first securing rights holders’ permission — NFT platform HitPiece now reaching out to artists’ teams in hopes of forging official partnerships. Co-founder Rory Felton also tells Billboard the company has hired Gary Greenstein of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati “to represent the company in discussions with rights owners and to advise HitPiece on legal matters.” After HitPiece’s beta launch in caught the industry’s attention in February for pulling artwork and other information off of Spotify without artists’ permission, the backlash caused Felton’s company to pull its site offline. Days later, the RIAA — on behalf of the major labels — threatened a lawsuit against HitPiece and...
Harmony launches Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT Passport
On Friday, blockchain platform Harmony — whose mainnet runs on the Ethereum network, claiming to have two-second transaction finality and fees 1,000 times lower than Ethereum — announced the launch of its Bored Ape Yacht Club Passport. The Passport enables users to import proof of their apes into DeFi Kingdoms, a play-to-earn game built on the Harmony blockchain with over 120,000 monthly active users. During its initial stages, Ape holders will be able to validate and display their assets in the game across multiple blockchains when they connect their MetaMask wallet to DeFi Kingdoms. The infancy of cross-chain technology means that funds could be at risk when bridging across chains, as the biggest decentralized finance hack thus far this year showed. However, as stated by its develop...
Universal Music Group Partners With Curio for Future NFT Projects
Universal Music Group and NFT platform Curio will partner together on future NFT projects from UMG’s labels, subsidiaries and artists worldwide, the companies announced Thursday (Feb. 17). Curio, which has released over 75,000 NFTs since last February, will launch its first project through the agreement with Capitol Records artist Calum Scott in March. “With Curio, our labels will have a secure and dedicated platform to host these premium projects and provide new opportunities for collectors and fans from around the world to acquire unique pieces, inspired by their favorite artists and labels,” said Michael Nash, UMG executive vp digital strategy, in a statement. “UMG is focused on developing new opportunities in this space that place our artists and labels at the forefront, working to ens...
CryptoPunks community reacts to the ongoing copyright battle between v1 and v2
During its initial release, 10,000 CryptoPunks were sold and made it to the secondary market before users discovered a critical smart contract exploit that made it possible for Punks’ buyers to withdraw their Ether (ETH) post-purchase. As a result, creator Larva Labs withdrew recognition of the v1 collection, fixed the exploit and released the v2 Punks collection we have now. Though, they’ve also sent mixed messages about the collection by selling off dozens of their own V1 Punks. The battle over the copyright of the CryptoPunks v1 collection is heating up as the images recently gained in market value, with Larva Labs filing a DMCA take-down notice to OpenSea and members of the v1 community striking back with their own. To complicate the matter, Larva Labs purposefully coded th...
YouTube sees ‘incredible potential’ in NFT video sales despite backlash threat
YouTube is looking at NFT integrations to provide new methods for creators to engage with fans and develop additional revenue streams. The news comes just a few weeks after YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki hinted that the platform can use Web3 “as a source of inspiration” for growth and possibly adopt NFTs on the website. In a Feb. 10 blog post, YouTube’s Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan outlined a long list of new products, tools and features that the firm intends to roll out in 2022, with Web3 tech, blockchain, NFTs and the Metaverse all getting mentioned. Mohan stated that YouTube is actively seeking out new ways to provide additional support and options for its two million partnered creators after receiving feedback from the community. After referencing that creators often struggle wit...
