web3
Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui to issue soulbound tokens to explore Web3
The Japanese financial group Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMBC) is moving to explore the benefits of Web3 by issuing soulbond tokens (SBTs). Proposed by Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin, SBTs refer to digital identity tokens that represent the characteristics or reputation of a person or entity, or a “soul.” Such tokens are non-transferable and are designed for the decentralized society and Web3. SMBC officially announced on Dec. 8 an initiative focused on the practical use of SBTs in partnership with the digital asset firm HashPort. The companies plan to conduct research on SBTs to find out their practical uses for communities, jobs, knowledge sharing services and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). According to SMBC, the development could specifically be useful for individ...
Animoca creates billion-dollar metaverse fund for developers
The GameFi champion and metaverse developer Animoca Brands has a billion-dollar fund in its plans, according to a report from Nikkei Asia on Nov. 30. Animoca Brands’ co-founder Yat Siu said in an interview that the fund could potentially have up to $2 billion dollars to allot to mid to late-stage startups with a metaverse focus. The fund and the exact amount available to developers have yet to be finalized. Cointelegraph reached out to Animoca Brands for a comment, to which the company confirmed that the fund is “in the works.” According to the interview with Siu there will be no geographical restrictions for those to receive funding and the primary focus will be “everything on digital property rights.” He also said the funds are intended to speak to a more mature developmental atmos...
Warner Records’ Web3 Label Sold 5,555 NFTs in 7 Minutes. Now It Wants to Share IP Rights With Fans
What happens when you let 5,555 music fans make decisions at a major label? Warner Records is about to find out through its new Web3 imprint Probably a Label. After selling out a collection of NFT access-passes, the holders will now gather in a Discord server to help develop artists together, share the credits of any future awards such as a Grammy, and ultimately offer intellectual property rights in some of the projects to NFT holders. The experiment is a collaboration between Warner Records UK and Web3 brand Probably Nothing, whose debut NFT collection fetched $500k in seven minutes in October. Each NFT comes with different rarity and label roles (4,000 scouts, 1,500 managers and 55 label heads), allowing holders to vote on certain decisions. The rarest — and most expensive, currently at...
Blockchain-based fintech company prepares to enter $500B freight settlement market
The world is quick to blame inflation for the rising prices at grocery stores and retailers. This was the #1 political issue for recent Election Day voters in the United States. For example, media sources recently reported poll data that 85% of Americans could not afford to spend $200 on a Thanksgiving meal in November 2022, and only 25% could afford $100. However, few recognize inflation is only part of the problem. Higher costs for products and services are also directly attributable to settlement fees paid by transportation providers who are forced to take out the equivalent of payday loans against their freight invoices. Shipper payment terms in the transportation industry are known to be egregious, and most transportation carriers cannot afford to wait 30–180 days to get paid. Wh...
Separating Web3 facts from fiction: Report
The term Web3 is often used as shorthand to discuss the new phase of the internet. It describes leaving the era of centralized social media and massive e-commerce platforms and arriving at a utopia of user-controlled data. Web3, in a colloquial sense, is simply an umbrella marketing term that means anything crypto-adjacent. To offer clarity on this topic, the Cointelegraph Research team has released a new report detailing the nature of the real Web3. These key insights are invaluable for investors to understand to separate facts from fundamental misconceptions. The blockchain web and the decentralized web Cointelegraph Research’s “Web3: Marketing Buzz or Tech Revolution?” makes a clear distinction between the “blockchain web,” which is the integration of blockchain technology into th...
Banks still show interest in digital assets and DeFi amid market chaos
The cryptocurrency sector is the Wild Wild West in comparison to traditional finance, yet a number of banks are showing interest in digital assets and decentralized finance (DeFi). This year in particular has been notable for banks exploring digital assets. Most recently, JPMorgan demonstrated how DeFi can be used to improve cross-border transactions. This came shortly after BNY Mellon — America’s oldest bank — announced the launch of its Digital Asset Custody Platform, which allows select institutional clients to hold and transfer Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). The Clearing House, a United States banking association and payments company, stated on Nov. 3 that banks “should be no less able to engage in digital-asset-related activities than nonbanks.” Banks aware of potential While ba...
Royal Launches Marketplace to Buy and Sell Music Rights
Imagine a platform where fans can buy and sell streaming rights from the music they love, as easily as buying a stock on an investing site like Robinhood. This is the vision of Web3 music platform Royal, which today announces a music rights marketplace. Founded by DJ and producer Justin Blau, Royal launched in January 2022 with high-profile NFT drops from Nas, Diplo and The Chainsmokers. The platform allows fans and investors to earn a percentage of streaming royalties alongside the artists. Thus far, the platform says it has paid out $100,000 to holders. After proving the concept works, Blau says Royal is growing into its bigger vision. “The drops were very much a beta,” he tells Billboard. “We needed to show that you could actually pay out royalties in an efficient manner on chain … The ...
Island nation turns to metaverse to preserve its disappearing heritage
In the South Pacific, the island nation of Tuvalu decided to turn to Web3 technology in order to make sure its culture and society are preserved in the future. On Nov. 15 the country’s foreign minister, Simon Kofe, told the COP27 climate summit that it is looking for alternative ways to protect the county’s heritage against rising sea levels brought on by climate change. One of those ways is through recreating itself in the metaverse. As highlighted by Minister Hon @Simon_Kofe in his speech to leaders at #COP27 we have had to act. As rising sea levels threaten to submerge our home we have made a radical plan for the survival of our nation. Visit https://t.co/AKOS8iul64 Save #Tuvalu. Save the world. pic.twitter.com/P8HMkwz4i7 — Tuvalu Ministry of Foreign Affairs (@Tuvalu_MJCFA) Novemb...
Solana unveils Google partnership, smartphones, Web3 store at Breakpoint
During the ecosystem’s annual gathering at Breakpoint 2022 in Libson, Solana made a series of launch announcements as it prepares to go mainstream. Cointelegraph’s ground team — present during the conference — shared insights into Solana’s roadmap, which includes the launching of smartphones, decentralized application (DApp) stores and a partnership with Google Cloud, among others. Good morning from @SolanaConf Come say hi if you see us with our Cointelegraph merch Follow this thread to get more updates you on this lovely event! pic.twitter.com/4m2jNaTSNS — Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) November 5, 2022 Solana Breakpoint, a four-day conference scheduled from Nov. 4 to Nov. 7, attracted 13,000 people in just one of the four venues it’s being held simultaneously. QR Code giveaways and GeoNF...
Future of Web3 security with Immunefi and Brave CEOs: The Bug House 2022
Celebrating the myriads of accomplishments earned by the crypto ecosystem, Immunefi, Electric Capital, Bitscale Capital and MA Family together hosted The Bug House — a party for bringing together the global Web3 community. In a panel hosted by Cointelegraph, editor-in-chief Kristina Lucrezia Cornèr sat with Mitchell Amador, founder and CEO at Immunefi, and Brendan Eich, founder and CEO of Brave browser, to discuss the evolution of Web3 and its future trajectory. (From left to right) Kristina Cornèr, Mitchell Amador and Brendan Eich during The Bug House. Source: Cointelegraph “There’s a lot of Web2 in Web3. That’s a problem right now,” began Eich when asked about the ongoing Web2 to Web3 transition. From using trusted servers to sub-custody wallets, Amador believed that such Web2 site...
Web3 Foundation makes bold claim to SEC: ‘DOT is not a security. It is merely software’
The entity supporting research and development of Polkadot as well as overseeing fundraising efforts for the blockchain has argued that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission should not consider the DOT token a security under its regulatory purview. In a Nov. 4 blog post, the Web3 Foundation Team’s chief legal officer Daniel Schoenberger said Polkadot’s native token (DOT) had “morphed” and was “software” rather than a security. Schoenberger said the claim was “consistent with the views” it had shared with the SEC following discussions it began in November 2019. “While the Polkadot vision had not contemplated that the blockchain’s native token would be a security, we understood that the SEC’s view was likely to be that the to-be-delivered token would be a security, at least at...
NFTs bridge music communities across genres and blockchain ecosystems
Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) are stepping into the next wave of Web3 with utility capabilities and community building at the forefront. A new collection from the Mint NFT marketplace and metaverse entertainment platform Animal Concerts does this across the musical genre spectrum, as well as blockchain networks. The collection, “A Hard Working Man,” features the crypto-savvy hip-hop star Snoop Dogg in combination with country music icons Billy Ray Cyrus and the Avila Brothers. The collection features highlight physi-digital experiences with digital artwork, as well as in-person concert perks. Unbothered, building, and trudging through the NFT bear market like: pic.twitter.com/nPNLNswYG8 — A Hard Working Man NFT Collection (@AHWM_NFT) October 29, 2022 Colin Fitzpatrick, the founder and CE...
