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Nifty News: Royalty-enforcing NFTs a ‘new asset class,’ South Korea buys NFTs with CBDC, and more

The CEO of NFT marketplace Magic Eden said NFT creators “need a sustained revenue model” and with “no way” of currently enforcing royalties a “new asset class” could emerge to enforce them.

Royalty enforcing NFTs to be a ‘new asset class’: Magic Eden CEO

Jack Lu, the CEO of Solana-based nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace Magic Eden has floated the idea of NFTs designed to enforce royalties.

Lu said in an address at Solana’s Breakpoint 2022 conference on Nov. 5 that these NFTs could “give rise to a new asset class” as the space grapples with the debate around opt-in royalties.

He added that “creators need a sustained revenue model” and while royalties were one of those models there is “no way” to enforce them with the “current design” but added there are “many new innovations that could be made available to them.”

Lu noted that over the past months, Magic Eden had spoken to “dozens, if not 100” NFT creators across differing NFT use case and that they found their needs “actually are very, very divergent.”

“There is a real opportunity to give rise to a new asset class, and this asset class will have special properties but also have special trade-offs. So it could enforce royalties at a technological high technological level.”

Those “trade-offs” would mean NFT creators would have “some level of control” Lu explained but added in the talks Magic Eden had with creators and holders that they were “willing to accept some of these trade-offs” in order to ensure that they could bring their business models to fruition.

According to Lu, Magic Eden is set to launch an asset “next week” that can enforce royalties in partnership with Cardinal, a protocol enabling NFT conditional ownership and the privacy-oriented browser Brave.

Jack Lu at Solana Breakpoint conference. Source: YouTube

South Korea tests buying NFTs with CBDC

The Bank of Korea (BOK) — South Korea’s central bank — has reportedly tested buying NFTs with its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) according to a Nov. 7 report from Yonhap News.

The BOK said it had completed a simulation and research project carried out over the past ten months since Aug. 2021, creating a simulated environment for its CBDC using distributed ledger technology (DLT).

The project tested the usual functions needed for a digital currency, including issuing, transacting and remittances using the digital won, while the report also noted that “the process of purchasing NFTs with CBDCs was also implemented.”

It’s reported that this process was done through the simulated environment and a “digital asset system” built using differing DLT platforms with smart contract functionality, without going into further detail.

The BOK also tested the possibility of applying Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) to strengthen the protection of personal information. ZKP protocols can be used for forms of digital identities with some iterations using NFTs as a digital ID solution, although it's unknown if the NFTs transacted in the project were related to digital identities.

South Korea has stated its plan to allow its citizens access to blockchain-powered digital IDs in 2024 that could be used in finance, healthcare, taxes, and transportation.

TinyTap NFTs sell out giving over $100K to teachers

An NFT project by Animoca Brands in conjunction with its subsidiary TinyTap has seen six NFTs featuring a children’s educational course sell at auction for a total of around 138 Ether (ETH) — around $228,000, Animoca said on Nov. 7.

The project was created as a way for educators to create content and receive a share of revenues when their course is purchased and used by learners according to Animoca.

The six teachers who created the courses were given a 50% cut of thes sale of the NFT, generating them around $111,000 in ETH, while the teachers will also receive a 10% ongoing share of revenue by their course.

The teachers, courses, and sale price of the six NFTs sold at auction. Image: Animoca Brands

Animoca calls the NFTs “Publisher NFTs” with each representing co-publishing rights to a course — which is a bundle of education-based games on a specific subject created by a teacher.

The NFT owner is expected to promote their course and share the revenue and is entitled to keep up to 80% of future revenue generated by their own marketing and publishing of the course.

Trademark filings show Rolex is timing a Metaverse play

Rolex isn’t wasting any time gearing up to launch a Web3 play with trademark filings showing the luxury watch brand is ready to tick over into the Metaverse.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) filings shared by trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis on Twitter show Rolex is ticking off a list of crypto and NFT-related trademarks to protect its brand across virtual realms.

The filings suggest Rolex wants to offer NFTs, crypto wallets, crypto transactions and hints at a potential metaverse as it wishes to provide an “online space for buyers and sellers” and hold “virtual interactive auctions” although time will tell what type of online space Rolex may build.

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Companies are showing a big appetite for trademark applications as crypto, Web3, and related filings have soared in 2022, reaching 4,708 at the end of October compared to the 3,547 filed in all of 2021.

Related: NFTs still in ‘great demand’ as unique traders rise 18% in Oct: DappRadar

The Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the COVID-19 breakout, has reportedly axed its NFT plans aimed to boost its economy ruined by the pandemic amid increasing regulatory uncertainty on crypto and Web3 technologies in the country.

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Nifty News: IHOP bamboozles crypto users with ‘NFT,’ Logan Paul’s NFT falls to $10 and more

The YouTube star’s huge loss on his NFT has been bumped up by a measly bid after he shared how much it had dropped in value since his purchase last year.

American restaurant chain International House of Pancakes (IHOP) piqued the curiosity of Twitter users last week when it announced it would be “jumping on the bandwagon” and dropping its own ”NFT.” As it has turned out, its new “NFT” is neither nonfungible nor a token. 

The pancake chain’s initial announcement on Oct. 6, made to sound like it was entering Web3 with a nonfungible token (NFT) drop, was met with a mixed response.

One Web3 supporter said, ”kudos to IHOP for having the courage to be on the leading edge and innovating for the future,” while others threatened to unfollow the restaurant’s Twitter account. 

However, when the food chain finally revealed its “NFT” on Oct. 10, it turned out it was in fact the chain’s “New French Toast” menu item, adding it is “Thick, Fluffy and extremely fungible.“

Twitter users shared a laugh over the chain’s devious ploy to sell more toast, though one Crypto Twitter commented that “they’re missing out on an opportunity to be a part of history” and getting “iHop.eth early.”

Logan Paul’s $600K NFT falls to $10

An NFT purchased for 188 Ether (ETH) at the cost of $623,000 in 2021 by American YouTuber Logan Paul saw a dramatic loss in value to only $10 by the end of September but has since a small price bump after it trended on social media.

Paul’s on-paper loss of over $600,000 on his 0N1 Force K4M-1 #03 NFT has been public knowledge for months, but after the YouTuber shared a post on his Snapchat on Sept. 27 talking about it, several Twitter users picked up the story resulting in more attention for the NFT.

Now, the token has a bid of 1.5 ETH on NFT marketplace OpenSea, around $1,900 at the time of writing.

Paul isn’t the only one feeling the pinch after the crypto market took a sharp fall in May.

NFT trading volume has plunged 98% from the $6.2 billion witnessed around the end of January to $114.4 million today.

Crypto trademark applications rise

Data shared by trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis on Twitter shows so far this year, 4,618 United States trademark applications have been filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademarks Office (USPTO) related to the Metaverse and virtual goods or services, with 367 of those taking place in September.

Crypto related trademark applications by month. Source: Mike Kondoudis

Notable filings for the month include the car brand Ford filing 19 trademarks for all its major models of trucks, cars, and vans to be represented in an NFT as virtual vehicles.

Whiskey manufacturer Jack Daniel’s filed a new trademark application on Sept. 19 for NFT-authenticated media, virtual beverages, barware, clothing and digital collectibles.

Media brand Viacom International filed two trademarks for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on Sept. 12 to expand the brand into NFT-backed media, crypto collectibles and crypto-collectible transfer software, while Paramount Pictures filed two trademarks for their Mean Girls brand on Sept. 12 for similar applications.

Binance set Guinness World Record for the largest crypto lesson

Crypto exchange Binance teamed up with Mexico-based agency the Talent Network to break a Guinness World Record for the largest cryptocurrency lesson in the world during an Oct. 7 class at Blockchain Land, Nuevo León, Mexico.

While only 289 people attended the 50-minute class held by Binance, it was enough to break the record.

Carolina Carnelli, head of marketing at Binance in Latin America, instructed the attendees on crypto and Web3, how they can contribute to the freedom of money and financial inclusion around the world and the benefits of blockchain.

The lesson also featured a remote presentation from Changpeng Zhao, Binance’s founder and CEO.

The hybrid event combined in-person and online attendees, but online participants did not count toward the total for the record.

The Talent Network has two previous records already, for the world’s largest robotics class in 2018 and the world's largest software class in 2019.

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Ethereum blockchain-based metaverse projects Decentraland and Sandbox hit back at reports suggesting low daily user activity on their platforms, claiming the data used was based on a “misinformed” metric.

The anonymous creator of decentralized finance (DeFi) project aggregator DefiLlama, 0xngmi, announced on Twitter that their smart contract code for a novel NFT borrowing and lending protocol dubbed LlamaLend is near completion. The protocol aims to solve the problem of NFT holders needing to obtain liquidity when holding their digital collectibles and primarily targets small collections.

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McDonald’s Trademark Filings Hint at Fast Food Giant’s Intent to Produce Metaverse Restaurants

McDonald’s Trademark Filings Hint at Fast Food Giant’s Intent to Produce Metaverse RestaurantsFollowing a slew of well known brands filing trademarks for metaverse related products and virtual goods, the American fast food firm founded in 1940, McDonald’s, has filed for ten trademark applications that describe plans to offer virtual restaurants and other digital-based products. 10 McDonald’s Trademark Filings Discovered Mention Digital-Based Products Like Food and Beverages, Operable […]

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