German intelligence service launches dog-themed NFTs to fetch cyber talent

June 22, 2023 Coin Telegraph

bnd

Nearly 1,000 NFTs have been put on Ethereum by Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service in its quest to recruit blockchain talent for the agency.

Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), has launched a dog-themed nonfungible token (NFT) collection with an on-chain treasure hunt aimed at recruiting cyber talent.

Earlier in June, the Federal Intelligence Service launched its “Dogs of BND” collection — 999 dog NFTs inspired by BND’s guard and security dogs as well as “different intelligence roles.”

According to the BND’s website, the NFTs are only collectible by finding a character string that it posted on Instagram and which points to an Ethereum address. The cyber talent would need to use that information to find the collection and be eligible to mint an NFT.

*A Twitter user shared an image posted on BND’s Instagram and rhetorically asked if the NFTs are taxpayer-funded. Source: Twitter*

On June 19, the BND spoke to the German crypto outlet BTC-Echo; the agency said it created the collection and challenge to try to find cybersecurity talent.

Twelve of the NFTs aren’t up for grabs in the collection yet. The BND said its planning more difficult challenges in the future with these tokens as the prize.

BTC-Echo reported the BND was considering a smart contact hacking challenge.

Since the collection has received more attention, the floor price and trading volumes of the NFTs have skyrocketed.

Between June 21 and June 22, the floor price jumped from 0.000001 Ether (ETH) to 0.052 ETH, worth about $100.

Despite the significant jump in value, the liquidity on the collection is still quite low. On June 21, the collection saw a total volume of around 1 ETH, which suggests only around 20 or so NFTs were sold by collectors.

NFT Creator: ‘Holy shit, I’ve seen that!’ — Coldie’s Snoop Dogg, Vitalik and McAfee NFTs

NFT aggregator Blur eyes 30% price pump by March amid airdrop euphoria

February 21, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin

BLUR price is also forming a Doji candlestick pattern on its four-hour chart, hinting at a bullish reversal ahead.

Blur (BLUR) could rise by up to 30% by March 2023 owing to a mix of technical and fundamental factors.

Blur airdrop hype

Blur is a nonfungible token (NFT) aggregator that indexes digital art listings across various base marketplaces like LooksRare and OpenSea. In doing so, the aggregator allows users to trade across all NFTs marketplaces via a single interface.

Since its launch in October 2022, Blur has become the leading NFT aggregator, accounting for 40%-60% of the daily NFT trading volume, according to data tracked by Messari.

*Blur versus other NFT marketplaces' volumes. Source: Messari*

The period has also witnessed the Blur team "airdropping" free BLUR tokens to users who have traded Ethereum-based NFTs in the past six months. On Feb. 15, Blur officially launched its native token of the same name, allowing airdrop recipients to trade it for fiat money and other crypto assets.

According to Dune Analytics, Blue has airdropped 360 million tokens across its users. Interestingly, users have claimed nearly 339 million BLUR tokens in the first six days of the launch against the 60-day deadline.

Typically, traders dump airdropped tokens early to secure an instant profit. Nonetheless, BLUR's price remains approximately 25% higher than its market debut price of $0.88, suggesting that most traders have decided to hold it longer.

One reason could be the Blue team's intention to conduct another airdrop in the coming months. The news coincides with Blur's total-value-locked (TVL) metric reaching a record high of 76,490 ETH, according to Defi Llama.

*Blur TVL performance. Source: Defi Llama*

"Blur airdrop reminds me of the Uniswap airdrop," noted independent market analyst Nekoz, adding:

"Early sellers sold for a ps5. Diamond hand sellers sold it for 5 figures. Imo if you don’t need the funds, just chill with it. It will be the number 1 NFT platform."

BLUR price Doji reversal

BLUR price technicals are also hinting at a bullish scenario being more likely.

On the four-hour chart, BLUR has painted a Doji pattern at the end of its short-term correction phase. That is confirmed by the four-hour candlestick with almost the same open and close levels, and extreme bearish and bullish wicks.

The Doji shows indecisiveness among traders about the next market bias. But coupled with Blur's other technical indicators, namely its short-term support level of around $1 and a neutral relative strength index (RSI), it appears the Doji may result in a bullish reversal in the coming weeks.

*BLUR/USD four-hour price chart. Source: TradingView*

In other words, BLUR price may bounce from its $1-support level to eye an interim rally toward $1.21, which has served as resistance and support in recent sessions. Moreover, an extended run-up can push the price to $1.39, orBLUR's recent peak, by March 2023.

Bearish arguments

Despite solid fundamentals, BLUR's price can see an extended correction below its $1-support level, per the technical setup shared by analyst Altcoin Sherpa.

The chartist maintains his short-term bullish bias for BLUR, but anticipates its price to fall toward $0.94 first, saying that it "should provide a solid bounce."

*BLUR/USD hourly price chart. Source: TradingView, Altcoin Sherpa*

He also argues that BLUR's market bias will take cues from how Bitcoin (BTC) performs in the coming sessions.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Nifty News: Yuga in doghouse over Kennel Club logo, NFT marketplace wars rage on and more

February 20, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Azuki

The logo for a popular Yuga Labs NFT collection is being changed after it was seemingly ripped off from a follow-along children's drawing creator.

New logo slated for Yuga’s dog-themed NFT collection

The logo for the Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC) from nonfungible token (NFT) conglomerate Yuga Labs is getting a refresh after recently surfaced allegations of intellectual property theft.

Yuga co-founder, Greg Solano, more widely known as “Garga” tweeted on Feb. 18 that the BAKC logo would be changing and the project would “debut the new logo soon.”

Saw the claims today about the BAKC logo. This was news to us and we're still investigating the situation. Have reached out to the freelancer we hired for that design and Easy Drawing Guides. We’ll be changing the logo and updating it on our site / ask marketplaces to change as… https://t.co/OwtflDXehz
— Garga.eth (Greg Solano) (@CryptoGarga) February 18, 2023

Yuga has been in the doghouse over its trademarked logo as it looks remarkably similar to the finished product of a follow-along drawing guide made for children by a company called Easy Drawing Guides.

Easy Drawing Guides released a wolf skull drawing guide on April 5, 2021, a little over two months prior to BAKC’s June 17, 2021 launch. The firm has asserted its intellectual property rights over the drawing.

Thanks for bringing this up @Jdotcolombo. @yugalabs doesn't have a license to the wolf skull drawing. The intellectual property rights for the drawing belong to Easy Drawing Guides as it's our original drawing and protected by our Terms and Conditions.
— Easy Drawing Guides (@easydrawinguide) February 17, 2023

Solano said the whole debacle “was news to us,” adding Yuga was “still investigating the situation” and had contacted Easy Drawing Guides and the freelance artist contracted for the design.

Blurred lines: NFT marketplace wars surge sales

NFT sales over the past seven days have skyrocketed amid a battle for domination between OpenSea and its rival Blur — with the two sparring over fees and creator royalties.

According to data from NFT aggregator CryptoSlam, NFT sales volume has increased over 101% in the past week compared to the week prior and has hit over $524 million transacted in the last seven days at the time of writing.

*Seven-day data shows fewer NFTs are selling for higher prices as NFT transactions have slightly declined while sales volume and buyers have increased. Source:* *CryptoSlam!*

One of the key factors in the rise was Blur’s token airdrop on Feb. 14 giving users the incentive to farm the drop by using the platform.

Blur has remained the dominant marketplace in terms of trading volume since the start of the year and has dominated OpenSea in that regard.

Analytics from DappRadar show the trend continuing over the past week — with Blur seeing nearly $400 million in volume compared to OpenSea’s $105 million.

OpenSea has recently spun up a comeback campaign and has slashed its platform fee to zero, enacted optional creator royalties and more lenient blocks on other marketplaces.

‘Fat-finger’ blunder costs NFT trader thousands of dollars

The pseudonymous NFT collector known as “Franklin” has made a "fat-finger" mistake bidding on a collection, which saw him accidentally bidding more than 21 times the floor price of an NFT.

On Feb. 19, Franklin owned up to the bungled purchase, which saw him buy an NFT from the Azuki project’s BEANZ collection for 35 ETH — or around $60,000 at the time — despite the floor price being around 1.7 ETH, or $2,800.

As you may already know, I placed a fat-finger collection offer of 35 ETH on Beanz. I meant to type a much lower bid with a quantity of 35, but I instead bid 35 ETH for 1 purchase (floor of like 1.73 ETH at the time). It got accepted before I could cancel.

Oops.

I’ll be okay.
— Franklin (@franklinisbored) February 19, 2023

He said he “placed a fat-finger collection offer” on the BEANZ collection but was actually meant to input a “much lower bid with a quantity of 35.”

“I instead bid 35 ETH for 1 purchase [...] It got accepted before I could cancel. Oops. I’ll be okay.” Franklin tweeted.

It however appears that Franklin was the owner of Bean #10626 for only a short time as just two hours after the blundered purchase it was sold for just 1.77 WETH — an equivalent loss of nearly $56,000.

Free mint Starbucks NFTs now fetching high prices

An initially free NFT collection launched by the global cafe chain Starbucks is now seeing NFTs inexplicitly list for thousands of dollars just two months after the initial mint.

The Starbucks Odyssey Polygon NFT collection is a rewards program launched in December 2022, still in closed beta. Only four “drops” have been released amassing a total volume of $148,000, the first of which is a 5,000-strong “stamp” titled Holiday Cheer Edition 1 Stamp.

The owners of the collection initially received the NFTs for free and, despite the low trading volume, now ask for around $2,000 for one token on Nifty Gateway.

*The first NFT drop from Starbucks is currently asking a minimum price of $2,000. Source:* *Nifty Gateway*

The collection on its own makes up $117,000, or around 80% of the total collections sales volume.

Being the first drop, the NFT could be seen as more special to certain collectors. Starbucks has also said rewards on its NFTs will range from NFT holder-only merch, invites to exclusive events and maybe a trip to a Costa Rican coffee farm.

Meanwhile, the other drops are seeing much lower floor prices, with another 5,000-strong drop going as low as $100, while a 30,000-strong drop is nearly half that at just $59.

Other Nifty News

KnownOrigin, the NFT marketplace from eBay, is launching no-code required creator smart contracts so artists can split earnings and earn royalties as co-creators on collections. A beta release has been tested for the last few weeks with 84 contracts deployed and 250 editions of NFTs minted.

The Web3-friendly Neal Mohan was appointed as the new chief of YouTube, his previous tentative plans for the platform included the potential for creators to tokenize videos, photos, art and experiences to bring them additional revenue streams.

Bitcoin Ordinals creator looks for fix after first instance of shock porn

February 2, 2023 Coin Telegraph

btc nfts

A rather unsavory image made it to the front page of the Ordinals website for 30 minutes before it was hidden, however, the image itself is immutable.

Only days after the launch of the Bitcoin (BTC)-based Ordinals protocol, its creator had to deal with their first shock pornographic image, which has been inscribed into the blockchain.

On Feb. 2 at around 12:15 am UTC, an unsavory image known as “goatse” was inscribed onto the Bitcoin blockchain via the Ordinals protocol.

It featured on inscription 668 and was live on the Ordinals’ front page for roughly half an hour before the image was removed. It still exists on the blockchain but is not able to be viewed using the Ordinals website.

Ordinals creator Casey Rodarmor told Cointelegraph he acted quickly to remove the image from the Ordinals website but admitted there isn’t much that can be done to stop future instances given the nature of the protocol.

He is at least working on a solution to stop the images appearing on the Ordinals website.

The image, known as “goatse,” depicts a man manipulating his anus. Due to its shock value, it’s often used to trick internet users.

Rodamor said for the moment, that there was no way to hide certain inscriptions on the Ordinals’ website without manual input.

“The explorer has a config file that can be used to hide certain inscriptions, so we decided that was not very pleasant to look at,” he said. “We added it to that config file and now the server does not return that inscription and will not return that content.”

Ordinals has a simplistic website with every new inscription appearing on its home page.

While Rodarmor plans to have a “very liberal content policy” where people will “certainly” be able to inscribe pornographic images, he would like to censor them until he finds a way to automatically keep them off the first page, such as creating a separate space for them on the website.

*Recent inscriptions on the Ordinals site show users are inscribing images of Pepe the Frog, a cartoon internet meme. Sou:* *Ordinals*

Critics of blockchain technology have concerns that its immutable nature could be used to forever host illegal or grotesque media, while others argue its censorship resistance should be viewed as a key feature.

Asked if he was concerned about the criticism Ordinals may receive for censoring certain images, Rodarmor responded:

“The inscription is still on the chain and if you run your own copy of Ordinal — which everybody is free to do — it will not have that config file and you will see the gaping butthole if that is what you so desire.”

He added his site is just one instance of the block explorer and hopes others create more where they can “implement their own moderation policies according to their tastes.”

Rodarmor said it’s only the second time he’s censored a pornographic image. He believes the technical difficulty and cost of inscribing an image onto the BTC network have reduced the instances of such trolling attempts.

Ordinals launched on Jan. 21 and immediately divided the crypto community with arguments on whether it was good for the Bitcoin ecosystem.

The protocol works by inscribing satoshis — the native currency of the Bitcoin network — with content such as images to make NFT-like structures that can be transferred.

The cost of inscribing a satoshi can cost tens of dollars in comparison to a regular network transaction that ranges from a few cents to a few dollars.

Nifty News: Fake Pokémon NFT game spreads malware, ‘Jai Ho’ singer to launch metaverse and more

January 9, 2023 Coin Telegraph

A.R. rahman

Software used to access computers remotely has been inserted in a phishing website fronting as an NFT card game for the popular Pokémon franchise.

Hackers hide malware in fake NFT game

A phishing website purporting to offer a Pokémon-branded nonfungible token (NFT) card game has been spreading malware to unsuspecting gamers, a cybersecurity firm has warned.

The website, which at the time of writing was still online, also claims to offer an NFT marketplace, with a link to buy tokens and even an area to stake NFTs all based on the popular Japanese media franchise.

However, an arm of the South Korean cybersecurity firm AhnLab, warned the public about website on Jan. 6, noting that instead of downloading the game, users were actually downloading a remote access tool — allowing hackers to take control of their device.

*A screenshot of the phishing website, the “Play on PC” link at the bottom of the image downloads the malware.*

The tool, known NetSupport Manager would allow the attackers to not only remotely control the computer's mouse and keyboard but also access the system’s file management and history along with executing commands allowing them to install additional malware, the firm warned.

The public has been advised to only purchase or download applications from official websites and not open attachments in suspicious emails.

The composer behind ‘Jai Ho’ to spin up metaverse

Allah Rakha Rahman, the Indian composer and singer known for the Grammy Award-winning song Jai Ho is launching his own metaverse platform for artists and their music.

Rahman tweeted on Jan. 6 that his “Katraar” metaverse “is one step closer to launching” along with a video of him explaining the upcoming platform which will use “decentralized technology” according to its website.

I’m excited to announce today - KATRAAR, the #metaverse platform currently in development, is one step closer to launching. And I look forward to sharing this journey with you all.

➡️ https://t.co/1XP04zo0Lr @HBAR_foundation @MyQyuki #NFTs #Web3 pic.twitter.com/Un0fGSzxdl
— A.R.Rahman (@arrahman) January 6, 2023

In the video, Rahman said his vision for the platform was to “bring in new talents, technologies, and [...] direct revenue for artists,” with one revenue stream seemingly the integration of NFTs.

“Right now we are working with the HBAR Foundation to do many cool things, one is bringing a lot of NFTs.”

The HBAR Foundation is a not-for-profit independent organization of distributed ledger firm, Hedera Hashgraph, the creator of the ledger and cryptocurrency Hedera (HBAR).

Rahman added there’s also “an undisclosed project based on virtual beings” but did not provide further details.

2023’s first week of NFT sales jump 26%

Post-Christmas blues appears to have worn off, at least for the NFT market, with sales volume jumping nearly 26% in the first week of 2023, compared to the prior week.

According to data from market metrics aggregator Cryptoslam, in the seven days ended Jan. 7, NFT sales volume was over $211.4 million with around 1.2 million NFTs transacted between over 400,000 buyers.

The number of buyers increased by 17% on the week but transactions only grew by just over 2.5%.

Ethereum-based NFTs remained popular, with sales on the blockchain up nearly 26%.

The top three collections for the week were similarly Ethereum-native with the Yuga Labs’ Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) in first place seeing nearly $19 million traded, up nearly 50% in terms of volume.

The Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) collection was second, with a volume increase of 80% to hit $14 million sales volume. Azuki was third with a 132% volume surge seeing $12.7 million in sales.

Every frame of feature-length film minted as an NFT

The producers of the 2022 thriller film, The Rideshare Killer have released nearly 120,000 unique NFTs in what they’ve dubbed the “first ‘every frame minted’ (EFM) film.”

Exactly 119,170 NFTs each representing one frame of the 83-minute long film shot in 24 frames per second were minted on the Polygon (MATIC) blockchain according to a Jan. 5 release.

The film’s producer, Tony Greenberg, said he believed NFTs “will change the independent film landscape” as they offer a “potentially appreciating collectible” to fans and a “sustainable revenue source for artists.”

Ashley Scott Meyers talks about the new film The Rideshare Killer #screenwriting #scriptchat https://t.co/xxPujOoRxJ pic.twitter.com/S6d9io3Sko
— Ashley Meyers (@ashleymeyers) December 29, 2022

The film may have to rely on its NFT sales to break even if its reviews are anything to go by.

It currently has a rating of 4/10 across eight reviews on the online film database and review website IMDb with one critic saying the movie “should never have been made.”

Other Nifty News

YouTuber and sports beverage merchant Logan Paul has U-turned on his threat to sue Stephen "Coffeezilla" Findeisen for defamation over allegations by Findeisen that purported Paul’s NFT project “CryptoZoo” was a scam.

NFT marketplace SuperRare has gutted 30% of its staff as it “over-hired” during the crypto bull market according to its CEO John Crain. He added the company was “facing headwinds” likely due to the ongoing crypto winter.

Magic Eden to refund users after 25 fake NFTs sold due to exploit

January 5, 2023 Coin Telegraph

ABC

Over two dozen fake NFTs were sold on the Magic Eden marketplace over a 24-hour period due to a "massive exploit" on the platform.

Nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace Magic Eden has pledged to refund all users who were duped into purchasing fake NFTs on its website as a result of an exploit.

In a Jan. 4 statement, the company said a bug in its newly deployed "activity indexer" for its Snappy Marketplace and Pro Trade tools essentially allowed fake NFTs to skirt verification and get listed alongside genuine NFT collections.

Magic Eden said the exploit led to 25 fraudulent NFTs sold across four collections in the last 24 hours but is currently confirming whether additional NFTs were affected beyond the last day.

Two of the affected projects were the high-priced and popular Solana-based collections ABC and y00ts.

Do not buy these @y00tsNFT on @MagicEden, they are fake!

Basically, every single collection is fake on Magiceden, a massive exploit is happening ongoing.

High-value NFTs are suffering the most, as attackers choose to exploit higher-value NFTs first. pic.twitter.com/35RYHOKVxd
— HGE.SOL ‍♂️ (@HGESOL) January 4, 2023

The NFT platform said it has rectified the issue by temporarily disabling both tools and eliminating the “entry points” that allowed unverified NFTs to get through.

It also asked users to perform a “hard refresh” to ensure the unverified listings no longer show up on their browser session and shut down the purchase of unverified NFTs as a precaution.

“Magic Eden is safe for trading and we will refund all the users who mistakenly bought unverified NFTs specifically due to this issue,” it wrote.

Earlier today, unverified NFTs were being shown as part of verified collections on ME. In the last day, impact was contained to 25 unverified NFTs sold in 4 collections.

We've resolved the issue and will refund those affected. Now, no one can buy unverified NFTs on ME.
— Magic Eden (@MagicEden) January 4, 2023

Magic Eden first raised the alarm over the fraudulent NFTs in a Twitter post on Jan. 4, citing community reports that people were able to buy fake ABC NFTs. At the time, it said it added “verification layers” in an attempt to resolve the issue.

After the announcement, Twitter users continued to sound the alarm on fake y00ts NFTs pervading the platform. A screenshot from ABC creator “HGE” showed at least two sales worth 100 Solana (SOL) each, a total amount of around $2,600.

DeGods, the creator of y00ts, also tweeted to its followers that there was an exploit on Magic Eden that allowed unverified NFTs to be listed as part of the collection.

There is currently an exploit on Magic Eden allowing for unverified NFT’s to be listed as part of the collection

You can verify if an NFT is part of the collection on our explore page linked below

If it’s not in our explorer, it’s not our NFThttps://t.co/c4HKIJJD1n
— DeGods III (@DeGodsNFT) January 4, 2023

The latest exploit is now the second incident that users of Magic Eden has had to go through this week.

On Jan. 3, the marketplace was littered with pornographic images and images from the television series The Big Bang Theory.

Magic Eden said a third-party image hosting provider was “compromised” leading to the “unsavory images” and assured users their NFTs were safe.

Cointelegraph contacted Magic Eden for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Apple to allow third-party app stores in windfall for NFTs and crypto

December 14, 2022 Coin Telegraph

App Store

In a win for crypto app developers, incoming EU laws will force Apple to permit alternative app stores and apps without the need to go through its App Store.

Tech giant Apple is gearing up to permit third-party app stores on its devices to comply with new anti-monopolistic requirements from the European Union (EU), which could be seen as a huge win for crypto and NFT app developers, at least in Europe.

Under the new rules, European customers would be able to download alternative app marketplaces outside of Apple’s proprietary App Store, thus allowing them to download apps that skirt Apple’s 30% commissions and app restrictions according to a Dec. 13 Bloomberg report citing those familiar with the matter.

Currently, Apple has stringent rules for NFT apps that practically force users to go through in-app purchases subject to Apple’s 30% commission, while apps are not permitted to support cryptocurrency payments.

Apple’s enforcement of its rule led to a block of Coinbase’s self-custody wallet app update on Dec. 1 as Apple wanted to “collect 30% of the gas fee” through in-app purchases, something that is “clearly not possible” according to Coinbase.

It then claimed Apple wanted the wallet to disable NFT transactions if they couldn’t be done through its in-app purchase system.

Alex Salnikov, co-founder of NFT marketplace Rarible tweeted on Dec. 13 in response to the news that a “crypto app store” could be built and would be a “great candidate” for a venture capital-backed startup.

Apple’s move to open its ecosystem is in response to the EU’s Digital Markets Act aiming to regulate so-called “gatekeepers” and ensure platforms behave fairly with part of the measures allowing “third parties to inter-operate with the gatekeeper’s own services.”

It will be applicable starting May 2023 with businesses needing to fully comply by 2024.

Apple hasn’t decided if it will comply with a part of the Act allowing developers to install alternative payment systems within apps that don’t involve Apple. if it does comply, it could open up payment systems that allow cryptocurrencies.

Under consideration by the tech giant is mandating security requirements for software outside of its store, such as verification from Apple, in a bid to protect users against unsafe apps.

The changes to Apple’s closed ecosystem would apply only within the EU, other regions would need to pass similar laws such as the proposed Open App Markets Act in the United States Congress from Senators Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal.

GameStop to drop crypto efforts as Q3 losses near $95M

December 9, 2022 Coin Telegraph

GameStop to drop crypto efforts as Q3 losses near M

Coin Telegraph

The gaming company has stopped its cryptocurrency-related focuses but is seemingly still pushing ahead with its NFT and blockchain plans.

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 future."

Going forward it will shift focus to collectibles, gaming and pre-owned items.

Its moves in the NFT space are still seemingly going ahead as it says its “also pursuing, and plan to continue to pursue, other business and strategic initiatives associated with digital assets and blockchain technology,” according to a Dec. 7 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Cointelegraph contacted GameStop to confirm that it would continue efforts on its NFT marketplace but did not receive a response.

GameStop has pushed numerous Web3-related products, the most recent being its NFT marketplace that went live on ImmutableX, an Ethereum layer-2 blockchain, on Oct. 31 following a July public beta.

Prior to its NFT marketplace, in May the company launched a beta self-custody crypto wallet and beta NFT marketplace on Loopring in March, Loopring is another Ethereum-based layer-2 protocol.

It also partnered with the now bankrupt crypto exchange FTX US in September aimed at bringing more customers to crypto and working together on e-commerce and online marketing initiatives. It ended ties with the exchange on Nov. 11 soon after it filed for bankruptcy.

It’s Q3 losses slightly narrowed compared to the second quarter however, which saw losses of $108.7 million. It’s also a year-on-year improvement for GameStop, which posted a $105.4 million loss in Q3 2021.

Staff cuts reportedly hit crypto department

On Dec. 5 GameStop cut multiple staff in its third round of layoffs for 2022 which Furlong confirmed in the earnings call.

Earlier reports suggested that the team working on the company's blockchain and NFT projects was the most impacted, however, Furlong did not specify where the staff cuts were concentrated during the call.

Earlier posts from people claiming to be former employees have shed some light. Daniel Williams, lead software engineer at GameStop wrote in a Dec. 5 LinkedIn post:

“Another big round of layoffs from GameStop currently in progress… E-commerce Product and Engineers... Lots of them.”

Other posts from those claiming to be affected by the cuts also appeared on LinkedIn at the time. Brandon Jenniges, a former iOS and blockchain engineer posted he “had a great time getting a deep dive into Ethereum and learning about many new things in the crypto space.”

“I and the rest of the mobile team were let go,” wrote former developer Christopher Fields.

In July, the company terminated its CFO Michael Recupero and a number of staff at its video game-focused magazine Game Informer.

Magic Eden follows OpenSea with NFT royalty enforcement tool

December 2, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The open-source Open Creator Protocol of the NFT marketplace will enforce NFT creator royalties for new collections that opt-in to the 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 that have not enforced royalties on their collections. Magic Eden will still maintain optional royalties on its platform for collections that do not adopt OCP.

2/ Solana’s community has been waiting for a resolution on royalties.

When we went to optional royalties mid Oct, we said we hoped to soon return to a royalty respecting world. However, royalties needed protection at the protocol level to be truly defensible.
— Magic Eden (@MagicEden) December 1, 2022

In a Dec. 1 Twitter thread, Magic Eden said it “can't retroactively apply OCP to existing collections,” telling creators they will have to conduct “burn [and] re-mints” where the NFTs are sent to an unrecoverable wallet address and re-issued by the collection.

"We have been in active conversations with multiple ecosystem partners to identify solutions for creators in a timely manner,” Lu said in the statement. He added the marketplace's intention with OCP was to “immediately support royalties” for new collections while it coordinates with other partners for more solutions.

An additional feature of the protocol touted by Magic Eden is the ability for creators to introduce dynamic royalties — that could reduce the value of royalties of buyers who pay higher prices — and customizable token transferability which could see, for example, NFTs limited to a number of trades or be subject to a trade freeze for a set period of time.

Magic Eden moved to an optional royalties model in October allowing buyers the option to set the royalties they wish to contribute to projects, which split opinions in Twitter’s NFT community.

The OCP tool follows a similar on-chain tool launched in early November by OpenSea that restricted NFT sales to only marketplaces enforcing royalties.

Magic Eden created a similar royalty enforcement tool, MetaShield, in partnership with peer marketplace and aggregator Coral Cube in September before its move to optional royalties.

Argentina’s fan token sinks 31% after World Cup loss against Saudi Arabia

November 23, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Algorand

The price of soccer fan tokens, designed for fan engagement, is seemingly impacted by the on-field performance of teams.

Argentina’s shock 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia in the opening match of the FIFA World Cup has plummeted the price of the Argentine Football Association Fan Token (ARG), in line with the hopes of the nation’s die-hard soccer fans.

With the ARG token priced at $7.21 at kick-off, the poor performance by the Lionel Messi-led soccer team saw the token’s price fall 31% to $4.96 by the end of the match before rising to $5.22 at the time of writing, according to data from Coingecko.

By contrast, the floor price of "The Saudis," a Saudi Arabian-themed nonfungible token (NFT) collection unrelated to the soccer team, skyrocketed 52.6% from 0.196 Ether (ETH) to 0.3 ETH over the same time before cooling off to a price of 0.225 ETH, around $250.

The collection's sales volume also spiked 990% over the last 24 hours, closing in on 24.5 ETH as per OpenSea data.

Despite the built-up hype for the FIFA World Cup, which officially kicked off on Nov. 20, cryptocurrency research firm Delphi Digital noted that the fan engagement platform Socios' native token Chiliz (CHZ), in addition to other soccer-based tokens representing participating nations, has also cooled off considerably over the last few days:

Football Fan Tokens have cratered over the past 3 days as the FIFA World Cup 2022 Begins:

Chilis / $CHZ: -21%
Argentina / $ARG: -17%
Portugal / $POR: -17%
Brazil / $BFT: -21%
Spain / $SNFT: -31%
Peru / $FPFT: -26%

The index (FOOTBALL) is down 21% over the period. pic.twitter.com/y7tb72R3Et
— Delphi Digital (@Delphi_Digital) November 21, 2022

CHZ is an ERC-20 token native on Socios, a blockchain-powered fan engagement platform that has been one of the largest contributors to the sports-fan token boom.

Many of the soccer–based tokens run on Socios, which has partnerships with some of the largest soccer clubs in the world, includi Barcelona F.C., Paris Saint-Germain F.C., and Manchester City F.C.

While the tokens don’t represent ownership in teams, the token allows buyers to vote in some decisions made by sponsoring teams in addition to enabling access to some rewards.

Popularity for fan-based tokens in the sporting industry has surged lately too, with token sales volumes often increasing more than 250% month-on-month since Jan. 2022.

Some appear to have viewed the tokens as an indirect way to bet on the success of such teams, despite them not being designed for that purpose.

The tokens are also impacted by factors other than the on-field success of soccer teams, such as the regular ebbs and flows of crypto markets and breaking news events.

An example is the recent FTX collapse sending the price of CHZ falling by nearly 40% since the reports of the exchange’s liquidity issues and proceeding bankruptcy.

In May, smart contract platform Algorand became the first official blockchain-based sponsor for the FIFA World Cup, which is set to wrap up on Dec. 18.

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