Facebook announces $50M investment fund tasked with developing its virtual metaverse

September 28, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Facebook announces M investment fund tasked with developing its virtual metaverse

Facebook has slated $50 million to be spent over the next two years through its XR Programs and Research fund.

Facebook has announced it will allocate $50 million to a two-year fund tasked with beginning work on realizing the firm’s vision for a virtual metaverse.

A Sept. 27 announcement articulates Facebook’s roadmap for building its metaverse, with the funding slated to back “global research and program partners” looking to build out the platform in addition to internal research.

The metaverse won’t be built overnight by a single company. We’ll collaborate with policymakers, experts and industry partners to bring this to life,” emphasized the announcement.

The Metaverse will allow people to interact with one another, digital objects and the physical world through their avatar in a virtual environment. Funding will be disbursed through Facebook’s XR Programs and Research Fund.

Rumors of Facebook's plan to build out a virtual metaverse began circulating in June, with the firm announcing the formation of an executive team tasked with overseeing the project the following month.

In its latest announcement, Facebook asserts that its metaverse “is not necessarily about spending more time online — it’s about making the time you do spend online more meaningful.”

Despite the $50 million investment fund, Facebook believes it will take more than a decade until a comprehensive version of its metaverse will be live and featuring a wide array of products and services.

To ensure its metaverse is deployed in a way that is ethical and inclusive, Facebook has also partnered with multiple universities and non-profit organizations representing minority groups, including Women In Immersive Tech, Africa No Filter, The University of Hong Kong, and the National University of Singapore.

As Facebook moves to mobilize capital to begin developing its metaverse, crypto developers have already made strides in building out decentralized and interoperable metaverses of their own.

Decentraland’s open-world metaverse comprises a decentralized community-owned virtual world built on the Ethereum blockchain. Users can build 3D environments, create avatars, or showcase a range of digital content which can be monetized.

Similarly, the Sandbox is an NFT-powered game in which players can buy digital plots of land and create gaming experiences on top of them to share with other users.

Law Decoded: Hodling like a state

September 13, 2021 Coin Telegraph

bitcoin regulation

El Salvador's effects, Coinbase's woes, and the digital euro's prospects.

Too much is happening in the realm of crypto policy and regulation to leave the biggest developments of each week without a roundup and at least some conceptual reflection. Starting today, we are getting back to decoding crypto law and everything around it that is worth decoding.

Who’s next to follow El Salvador?

Eyeballs galore will be pinned to the great Salvadoran experiment from now on. People with PhDs in economics and applied statistics within central banks and research institutes will chase every accessible data point that could be remotely helpful in making sense of the effects of Bitcoin’s adoption as legal tender.

Obviously, not many nation states are poised to follow suit in the foreseeable future, but there are plenty lessons to be learned for states on every step of the global financial food chain.

While the way various jurisdictions process the precedent of El Salvador heavily depends on where they stand in the incumbent monetary order, it has surely spurred virtually everyone’s thinking on crypto regulation and CBDC deployment, and legalizing cryptocurrency payments.

Regulators behaving sketchy

Much of Coinbase’s chagrin seems to boil down to the fact that the SEC’s scrutiny fell on them rather than competitors who’d had similar lending products operating for months. There is case to be made, however, that for the industry it could be a good thing if the precedent-setting clash on the matter of crypto lending programs takes place between the SEC and Coinbase.

Diem struggles, digital euro doing fine

Facebook reportedly continues the lobbying effort to advance its longstanding plan of launching a private stablecoin, Diem. The effort, however, faces powerful opposition among officials in Treasury and Congress.

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Novi-FT? Facebook’s NFT support may not drive crypto adoption

September 11, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Adoption

Facebook is exploring NFT-functionality in its Novi–Diem ecosystem, but how will the technological solution measure up to existing platforms?

Nonfungible tokens (NFT) have enjoyed quick adoption across the entertainment, media and sports space as the biggest brands, companies and individuals look to gain first-mover advantage in creating their own digital collectibles.

These have come in myriad forms, and much like blockchain technology was touted to be pliable to any industry’s needs and problems, the imagination is the only limit when it comes to NFTs that are being created and traded around the world.

Social media has made people more connected than ever before, and these various platforms have played a role in the introduction and proliferation of NFTs among distinct audiences.

However, industry-leading behemoths like Facebook and Twitter have not quite onboarded blockchain technology into the inner fabric of their underlying systems. Users can post about exciting new NFT launchings, but the end-user cannot buy or trade these items without clicking on a link taking them to whichever platform the digital collectible is based on.

Facebook, in particular, has been subject to plenty of regulatory scrutiny over the past two years, as its planned cryptocurrency wallet and native token and global payment system had far-ranging implications for the financial space. Given its estimated 2.9 billion user base, the social media giant could well disrupt how hundreds of millions of people transact with each other every day.

As its Novi wallet and Diem cryptocurrency edge closer to an official launch, the company has not been oblivious to the popularity of NFTs. Facebook Financial head David Marcus admitted as much in August, saying its Novi wallet is in a prime position to help its users with NFT support.

NFTs are growing in popularity, and social media platforms like Facebook are moving quickly to stay abreast of the burgeoning space. What remains to be seen is what a Facebook-powered NFT would look like and if the company’s move into the sector will be mutually beneficial for the social media giant and the crypto industry.

Integration is inevitable

There seems to be a consensus among industry participants that the integration of NFTs and social media platforms is just a matter of time. María Paula Fernandez, adviser to the Golem Network’s board of directors, told Cointelegraph there are both positives and negatives to this eventuality:

“I am uncomfortable with the idea of Facebook jumping into NFTs, NFT marketplaces are, for the most part, transactional and profit-driven. I would be more concerned about other web3 applications integrating with Facebook.”

Markus Bopp, chief training officer and founder of NFT multichain infrastructure platform Unifty, also weighed in on the subject, telling Cointelegraph that the burgeoning space could have some interesting use cases for social media platforms.

Going above and beyond the trade of digital collectibles, Bopp believes that the functionality of NFTs could provide the solution to some vexing problems for various social media platforms, like proof of identity and the need for verification:

“An NFT based system could remedy this with little effort, and combine with profile picture as well. But identity proof is only one small possibility. What NFTs are really good at is gamification and value-added ownership. Social media entities will be able to use these powerful tools to investigate literally thousands of new possibilities.”

With the integration of NFTs into social media platforms expected to become a reality, the next consideration is if this will have a fundamental effect on the adoption of the wider cryptocurrency space and blockchain innovations.

Bopp believes that the reach of the biggest social media platforms will be crucial in driving the use of cryptocurrencies, especially when the functionality becomes seamless: “The user experience for crypto mass adoption needs to be at a level where the user doesn't even need to know they are interfacing with a blockchain.”

Fernandez offered an alternative take as she highlighted the hardships faced by Facebook when its plans for Diem, initially branded as Libra, were intercepted by various regulators. In that space of time, NFTs have made their way into widespread use: “Facebook already tried and failed to integrate cryptocurrency, and nonetheless, crypto, blockchain, and NFTs have gone mainstream without it.” She added: “We are building an industry that does not need Facebook to develop platforms that reach mainstream audiences across all corners of the world.”

What would Facebook-integrated NFTs look like?

The Libra Foundation is continuing its march toward the launch of the Novi wallet and Diem cryptocurrency, and barring major regulatory enforcement, the platform should introduce Facebook’s user base to a native digital wallet that will initially offer stablecoins representing sovereign currencies like the United States dollar, pound and euro.

It’s not yet clear if and when the Diem wallet would incorporate support for the likes of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). This means that its own NFT platform is likely to be integrated directly into the Diem blockchain. Interoperability with decentralized tokens like ETH may not be supported, necessitating its own NFT ecosystem that plugs into the Novi wallet.

Bopp agreed that the Novi crypto wallet and Diem currency would be an important part in powering NFT support since “Adoption at this level will be fantastic for the crypto space,” but that there would likely be some trade-offs for users and varying implications for the wider space:

“Facebook is likely to put their own spin on NFTs, as they have done with most things. We should expect an ownership compromise, as they attempt to corral the tech for their user base alone. This will probably work for them to a great extent, but at the same time it will drive discovery of more open and decentralized sources.”

In assuming that Facebook-powered NFTs will be powered by the Novi wallet and Diem cryptocurrency, Fernandez doesn’t see the centralized ecosystem measuring up to the likes of the Ethereum blockchain, which gave birth to smart contract functionality and decentralized application development: “There’s communities, games, customizable smart contracts that give the NFT properties, ecosystems built around certain NFTs, financial instruments like fractionalized ownership and liquidity pools. I don’t see Facebook capable of topping this.”

Crypto community key to NFT popularity

The reality of a Facebook user being able to buy an NFT that pops up on their feed is some way off, given that a launch date for Novi and Diem is still not set in stone due to ongoing regulatory considerations in different jurisdictions.

At the same time, decentralized NFT marketplaces are thriving, powered by the very communities that built the infrastructure and trade the tokens that power their ecosystems. Fernandez offered a poignant parting thought, telling Cointelegraph that Facebook doesn’t have a community around it that is comparable to one like that of Ethereum:

“NFTs are not only cultural objects or collectibles — they are financial instruments. The Ethereum community has mastered the art of building financial instruments and has now integrated NFTs within these. Facebook can sell a bunch of jpegs all it wants, but it’s no competition if its transaction layer is not on Ethereum.”

Diem struggling to win over officials in Washington despite rebranding efforts

September 10, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Diem’s push to launch stablecoins and a global payment system might suffer from the seemingly brewing anti-crypto sentiment among key U.S. policymakers.

Facebook’s ambitious digital currency payment project Diem is yet to get off the ground despite concerted attempts to win over financial regulators.

According to The Washington Post on Friday, Diem is facing difficulties smoothening regulatory wrinkles with senior policymakers in the Biden administration.

Even with the full weight of Facebook’s significant lobbying power in Washington, the digital currency project is yet to get off the ground.

Reports indicate that David Marcus, Facebook Financial (F2) head, met with regulators in Washington earlier in September. According to anonymous sources reportedly present at the meeting, Marcus argued for the importance of crypto in broadening access to financial products while highlighting the benefits of Diem’s payment app Novi.

Diem representatives quoted by The Washington Post say regulators are pleased with some of the design changes made by the project. Indeed, Diem has gone through significant alterations to its original mandate published back in 2019.

Originally christened Libra, the Facebook-backed endeavor was initially designed to be a global payment system that included a “Facebook Coin” backed by a basket of fiat currencies.

In the Diem paradigm, the project is looking to launch individual fiat-pegged digital currencies, beginning with a U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin. Diem has also sought to address regulatory fears concerning money laundering.

However, feelers from Washington say key policymakers like Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and several members of Congress are against privately issued stablecoins. Indeed, Senator Elizabeth Warren recently referred to crypto as the new shadow bank while expressing concerns over stablecoins.

For Diem and other private stablecoin projects, the growing concern over crypto within the context of money market funds outside of the legacy banking system framework might constitute significant regulatory problems.

Meanwhile, legacy finance stakeholders continue to push for accelerated central bank digital currency, or CBDC, development.

’30for30′ Bitcoin Solidarity With El Salvador Trend Tries to Convince People to Buy $30 in BTC Tomorrow

September 6, 2021 Bitcoin.com

How the Bitcoin model can solve the social media dilemma

September 6, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin

Decentralized social media platform built on the Bitcoin model puts privacy first in its new messenger that can send crypto.

Social media platforms are constantly under fire for their lack of total end-to-end encryption, existing privacy policies and censorship – but a blockchain-based solution might spell the end to an era of centralized social media dominance.

In many ways, social media is a vital component of daily life for both businesses and the average consumer. Today, these platforms connect individuals with their desired type of content based on their own inputs. This streamlined feed being served to users leading them to the businesses waiting at the end, should be the perfect scenario. However, when it comes to distributing the rewards, the results are often incredibly skewed.

Algorithms constantly change to create new sources of revenue for the platform while disenfranchising users. Moreover, building these algorithms involves collecting mass amounts of data from individual users. Often, this can be just as invasive as it is effective.

Meanwhile, a complete right to freedom of speech is absent in most centralized platforms. By merely referring to the fine print in its Terms of Use, platforms can opt to police and censor comments from users.

The most crucial aspect of all is, perhaps, the need for encryption on platforms. Although most major social messaging platforms claim to have end-to-end encryption in place, they often require users to connect with a phone number. This compromises a user’s right to complete privacy.

Across platforms, these inherent problems come down to the fact that social media is by and large centralized. However, a blockchain run by equal nodes, just like any decentralized cryptocurrency, could fix this.

The Bitcoin model

A decentralized social media platform built on the Bitcoin model would put the end user back in charge of ensuring their right to privacy and eliminating these obstacles. Aside from the obvious benefits of economic decentralization, where equal value is shared between node holders and creators, a blockchain-based solution could even enhance usability.

Essentially, users can log in with their private keys and immediately pull in all the personalized settings from the blockchain. Users can then post content, vote for its quality, promote it and subscribe to creators.

The Bastyon network, recently rebranded from Pocketnet, is one such decentralized social network modeled on Bitcoin. However, although its codebase is loosely derived from Bitcoin, Bastyon uses a Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithm.

Creators of content are typically pseudonymous users identified by their public keys and information they choose to reveal about themselves.

Meanwhile, nodes maintain the blockchain and respond to RPC socket calls from the front end. Only if they perform these services, will they be rewarded.

Encryption and direct crypto transfers

Bastyon recently released a decentralized peer-to-peer encrypted messenger – a private messenger that is not connected to a user’s phone number. The blockchain provides a ledger that allows for an exchange of encryption keys to establish secure asynchronous channels.

In this way, all one-on-one conversations have end-to-end encryption by default, and so too do any images sent or received through the chat. As an added layer of privacy, message history is only stored for seven days.

Users will also be able to directly transfer the platform's native crypto token Pocketcoin (PKOIN) through the platform. In order to obtain PKOIN, users can trade up to 19 crypto tokens, including BTC, ETH and DOGE, on several exchanges.

Bastyon’s interface isn’t limited to one particular geography either. The platform is available in a plethora of different languages such as English, German, Mandarin, Korean, French and Russian.

According to Bastyon, virtually all of the power and wealth in the current internet landscape is concentrated in the hands of a few. The decentralized social network aims to solve this by bringing the foundations of Bitcoin to the world of internet platforms.

“Users keep jumping into centralized apps and then those platforms betray them once they become big. Bitcoin provides a blueprint for all decentralized apps, and Bastyon is really the Bitcoin of social networks,” said the project’s founder Daniel Satchkov.

Bastyon messenger is available at bastyon.com, as an Android app and a desktop app

Disclaimer. Cointelegraph does not endorse any content or product on this page. While we aim at providing you all important information that we could obtain, readers should do their own research before taking any actions related to the company and carry full responsibility for their decisions, nor this article can be considered as an investment advice.

Coinbase Hires Its First-Ever Chief Marketing Officer As Crypto Industry Enters ‘Critical Juncture’

August 27, 2021 The Daily Hodl

Cointelegraph Consulting: Going down the Metaverse

August 27, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The metaverse allows people to interact with one another, digital objects, and the physical world through their avatar in a virtual environment.

As NFT sales appear reanimated after a nearly two-month dry spell from its apex in May, a particular NFT application is gaining popularity more than ever: Metaverses. Metaverses have gained its fair share of media attention lately, with big moves coming from companies like Facebook and Epic games. However, not everyone -- even those who have been in crypto for a long time -- has caught on to what metaverses are despite the hype. But as more companies, celebrities, and artists venture into the space, it has become another domain that deserves some thorough consideration.

The metaverse is a network of virtual environments in which people can interact with each other, digital objects, and the physical world through their avatar. While definitions of the metaverse vary, they orbit around technologies including VR, AR, digital twins, and blockchain. Herman Narula, CEO of Improbable, describes the metaverse as “something more than a game but less than the real world. The metaverse is to virtual worlds as a website is to the internet."

Metaverse bandwagon

For weeks, Mark Zuckerberg has been beating the drum for metaverses. The Facebook founder views virtual worlds as the next iteration of human interaction online. Zuckerberg sees Facebook transitioning from a social media firm with a set of connected applications to a metaverse company with a set of interconnected experiences. And its recent move to introduce Horizon Workrooms is a step in that direction. It’s also in a prime spot to run after its metaverse objectives since it has invested heavily in VR technology for several years.

Another one bursting onto the scene is game and software developer Epic Games. Epic Games, of course, already has something to show for when it comes to metaverses with the successful virtual concerts of Ariana Grande, Travis Scott, and Marshmello that was held inside its flagship game, Fortnite. And the $1 billion in funding that it received in April with an additional $200 million deal from Sony Group will help it pursue long-term growth opportunities with metaverses, especially as it is already remodeling the future of live events.

Why the metaverse?

The metaverse offers a vastly unique experience for everyone. It's a way for artists to connect with fans more interactively and perhaps individually, which is a step up from the live stream format delivered by artists like Post Malone, Dua Lipa, Gorillaz, and many others when the pandemic struck in 2020.

On the other hand, Facebook's Horizon Workroom is geared towards replacing boring Zoom call meetings with a more interactive environment, a virtual conference room, if you will, for remote workers. Others also see a wide variety of applications that metaverse is going to be useful for. Education systems, for one, can benefit by allowing students, particularly in the medical field, for simulation training as opposed to just a one-way communication where teachers merely deliver the lessons to the students.

Metaverses and NFTs

The tie-in between metaverses and nonfungible tokens (NFTs) comes from NFTs’ capability of adding a certificate of ownership or authenticity to the assets belonging to the digital world. Projects like Decentraland, The Sandbox, Landemic, CryptoVoxels, and SuperWorld involve acquiring a piece of this digital asset, which is primarily virtual land. NFTs help in verifying its uniqueness, and even its provenance.

For instance, Decentraland is based on the Ethereum blockchain and uses ERC-721 tokens called LAND to facilitate trading plots of virtual lands called parcels. This makes each land distinct and helps users establish ownership of a piece of the entire Decentraland real estate. This is built on its consensus layer, which maintains a ledger that tracks the ownership of each parcel.

LAND tokens enable owners to do various things within their digital real estate, like hosting games or experiences, organizing contests and events, or even renting it. The same concept applies to The Sandbox, the second-largest metaverse NFT project in terms of sales to Decentraland.

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Metaverses and cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrencies play the medium of exchange within the metaverse, allowing users to exchange virtual goods. The two metaverses mentioned above enable players to transact using cryptocurrencies. Decentraland’s ERC-20 based token, MANNA, is the legal tender for users to purchase plots of digital land and SAND tokens for The Sandbox. Such coins also give users the opportunity to participate in its development.

Users can use MANNA tokens to vote on policy updates, land auctions, and subsidies for new developments on Decentraland, while users can use SAND tokens for more or less the same purpose. Moreover, cryptocurrencies can further open up the possibility of transacting goods from different games or metaverses on interoperable marketplaces.

Growth of Metaverses

At this stage, metaverses haven’t reached their full potential, and companies are just beginning to explore the ways they could penetrate the space. Facebook and Epic games are just the two most recent examples of big names jumping on the bandwagon. However, companies like Microsoft and Amazon are also getting in on the act. Amazon, in particular, is developing a virtual “Amazon mall” where users can shop and interact with the products they want to buy. But whether or not these are going to support NFTs is still uncertain and maybe even unlikely.

Nonetheless, NFT sales from metaverses are gradually gaining a strong foothold against other categories. In the second quarter, its weekly sales topped $8 million at one point.

Source: Nonfungible.com

Total sales from 2017 to August 2021 amounted to $138 million, which is enough to take a 6.77% share of NFT sales by category. This puts the Metaverse NFT category at third place in NFT sales behind digital collectibles and artwork.

Source: Nonfungible.com

And as more and more well-known personalities and big companies take part in the trend, the numbers could very well improve before the end of the year. The growth of metaverses and NFTs, in general, is unprecedented, especially in 2021. Sales of NFTs in the metaverse are already up by 428% from 2020 and averaged 149% growth in the past four years. If this explosive growth keeps the same pace, it would not be hard to see sales breach the $120-million mark by early 2022.

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Coinbase hires former Facebook exec as chief marketing officer

August 26, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Business

The new executive said she hopes to "introduce millions more people to the benefits of crypto."

Kate Rouch will be joining major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase after more than 11 years in various positions at Facebook.

In a Thursday blog post, Coinbase chief operating officer Emilie Choi said the company had hired Rouch as its new chief marketing officer, responsible for overseeing the exchange’s global brand, as well as product and performance marketing. Until recently, she was the global head of brand and product marketing at social media giant Facebook, but now aims “to bring millions more people into the cryptoeconomy.”

“I am so inspired by what I’ve learned about crypto, and the vast ecosystem it is helping to usher forth,” said Rouch. “I can’t wait to get started helping to introduce millions more people to the benefits of crypto.”

The addition of Rouch comes as Coinbase continues to make staffing changes in 2021. Earlier this year, the exchange announced that a former member of the White House National Security Council, Faryar Shirzad, would become its chief policy officer. The firm also plans to expand its operations in India with the hiring of former Google Pay engineering lead Pankaj Gupta.

During Rouch’s time at Facebook, the number of monthly active users grew from 500 million to roughly 3 billion globally. Coinbase reported it had 8.8 million monthly transacting users as of June 30, 2021 with 56 million customers total, and seemingly wants to rely on Rouch’s experience to continue to grow.

Forget Lambos, NFTs are the new crypto status symbol

August 26, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Budweiser

NFTs continue to dominate the crypto conversation, with PNGs on social media profile pictures becoming the new hype.

Not so many years ago, Lamborghinis were the main “flex” for crypto “moon-boys” as token prices reached astronomic valuations. Several high-profile cryptocurrency proponents made it a habit of arriving at conferences behind the wheels of exotic supercars and “when Lambo” was a popular refrain in the industry.

These days, nonfungible tokens (NFT) are arguably the main topic of conversation in the crypto space, and ownership of expensive PNGs to be displayed on social media profile pictures is the new status symbol for the “cryptorati.”

Tweeting on Thursday, Chinese crypto journalist Colin Wu reported that internet bigwigs in the country are among some of the latest to join the NFT hype. Cai Wensheng, founder of smartphone maker and photo touch-up app Meitu, has reportedly purchased CryptoPunk #8236 for 125 Ether (ETH) — about $387,000.

Indeed, CryptoPunks, perhaps the most popular NFT collection in the market, has been gaining even greater popularity even outside the crypto space. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, card payments giant Visa recently purchased CryptoPunk #7610 for about $150,000.

Budweiser also recently purchased a $120,000 fan art as well as the Beer.eth domain in what appears to be a growing appeal for NFTs. Social media giant Facebook has also said that is “definitely looking” at NFTs as part of the development of its crypto wallet product, Novi.

As of mid-August, popular NFT marketplace OpenSea recorded an over 76,000% year-to-date increase in trading volume amid the current NFT hype. Play-to-earn NFT games like Axie Infinity are on a tear in terms of metrics such as internet traffic and governance token price.

Warnings of a possible bubble for NFTs are also beginning to make the rounds, with critics saying the current hype is unsustainable. On the other side of the argument, proponents say NFTs could be to Web 3.0 what social media and e-commerce have been for Web 2.0.

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