An Atlanta woman says a popular US bank abruptly froze her account and refused to let her cash out, leaving her to fend for herself. Shelley Camp says Green Dot locked her out of her bank account out of nowhere for “unusual activity,” reports the ABC-affiliated news station WSB-TV. Camp says she was out of […]
The post Billion-Dollar Bank Abruptly Freezes Woman’s Account and Refuses To Return Funds, Forcing Her To Rely on Family and Friends for Survival: Report appeared first on The Daily Hodl.
Cointelegraph analyst and writer Marcel Pechman explains how and why the U.S. Treasury is quickly running out of cash, and what that means for Bitcoin and the crypto market.
Macro Markets, hosted by crypto analyst Marcel Pechman, airs every Friday on the Cointelegraph Markets & Research YouTube channel and explains complex concepts in layperson’s terms, focusing on the cause and effect of traditional financial events on day-to-day crypto activity.
The latest Macro Markets show discusses the impact of the United States debt crisis as the government quickly runs out of money, a billionaire’s investor alert for an incoming economic bubble burst, and why Walmart’s better-than-expected earnings are a warning sign for investors.
According to Pechman, the government has incentives to show desperation and scare the general public into pressuring Congress to approve another increase to the debt ceiling. The risks of a government shutdown and subsequent default exist, which could lead to a wave of bankruptcies and stock market crashes as people rush to liquidate assets for cash.
In such a “black swan” scenario, Bitcoin (BTC) could face a 40% to 80% drop in a couple of days, according to Pechman. But there’s a catch: why would investors keep huge cash positions after the dust settles? As soon as the government raises the debt and issues more money, it’s instantly diluted.
Next, Pechman discusses billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller’s warnings of the “biggest and probably broadest asset bubble.” Stanley believes that what we’re seeing right now in terms of unemployment, delinquency rates and corporate earnings is completely masqueraded by artificially low interest rates.
Lastly, Pechman debates Walmart raising its full-year outlook as first-quarter sales top expectations. According to Walmart’s CEO, the consumer discretionary sector is not doing well. The sector’s performance is quite the opposite, with higher incomes moving away from more expensive stores and moving to low-cost retailers.
Pechman explains that such news should initially concern Bitcoin and crypto investors since the younger audience is highly relevant to demand. Therefore, as Drukenmiller said, be prepared for unbelievable opportunities ahead.
If you are looking for exclusive and valuable content provided by leading crypto analysts and experts, make sure to subscribe to the Cointelegraph Markets & Research YouTube channel. Join us at Macro Markets every Friday.
Walmart’s global chief technology officer has revealed crypto’s role in the retail giant’s future. “Crypto will become an important part of how customers transact,” the executive said. “We want to make sure that we make it as friction free for customers to be able to transact.” Executive Discusses Crypto in Walmart’s Future Walmart Global Chief […]
Walmart’s global chief technology officer says crypto assets and the metaverse will disrupt payment methods and improve product discovery for the retail giant. In a new interview at Yahoo Finance’s All Markets Summit, Suresh Kumar, Walmart’s global chief technology officer and chief development officer, says the future of retail includes crypto transactions for both real […]
The post Walmart CTO Says Crypto and Metaverse Will Disrupt Retail Payment Methods appeared first on The Daily Hodl.
Flipkart, the Walmart-backed Indian e-commerce giant, has launched a pilot to allow its customers to experience making purchases in a metaverse environment. The company announced the launch of its own metaverse, called Flipverse, in which several brands will be able to offer their own shopping experiences. Flipkart to Launch Flipverse: A Metaverse of Purchases Flipkart, […]
Suresh Kumar suggested that crypto will become an important payment tool across the Metaverse and social media, as these areas will be a major way customers discover new products.
Walmart’s global chief technology officer (CTO) Suresh Kumar has tipped cryptocurrency to become a "major" area of disruption, particularly in how customers pay for virtual and physical goods in the future.
Speaking at the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit on Oct. 17, Kumar outlined Walmart’s positive stance on digital assets, noting that “crypto will become an important part of how customers transact” for both physical and virtual goods.
“I think that there are three major areas of disruption. Crypto falls in sort of the middle of it,” he said, explaining that “the way in which customers are getting inspired and discovering products” is changing.
Kumar also suggested that a significant amount of customers will be marketed to through the Metaverse and live streams on social media apps, and that crypto could be an important payment option in these kinds of areas.
“When you specifically talk about crypto, it is going to be about discovery of products, whether it is physical or virtual inside, either the Metaverse or upfront, and then how people transact.”
Such may explain Walmart’s recent foray into the Roblox Metaverse, launching Walmart Land in late September. The company is hosting a range of virtual experiences there such as games, a DJ booth and Ferris wheel, while also offering virtual merchandise products called “verch” for users’ avatars.
NFTs and crypto are not integrated with the Roblox metaverse at this stage, however Walmart has previously indicated in patent filings from January that it could look to create digital currencies, tokens and NFTs in the Metaverse space sometime in the future.
“We want to make sure that we make it as friction free for customers to be able to transact, and to be able to buy, and how they are able to derive value out of it. And that is where-- I think a lot of the disruption is going to start happening in terms of different payment methods, different payment options,” he said.
Related: Facebook is on a quest to destroy the Metaverse and Web3
The multinational retail giant has been rumored to have been working on rolling out crypto payment support for a while, but so far only false alarms have arisen such as the fake deal with Litecoin (LTC) that was announced via a dubious press release from September last year.
As it stands, there were around 200 Bitcoin (BTC) ATMs installed at Walmart stores across the U.S. in October 2021, with plans at the time to expand that number to 8,000 at an unspecified time in the future.
In recent times, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and their physical counterparts have started to debut at well known retail stores and luxury boutiques. On October 4, the NFT project called Veefriends revealed that the team is launching its limited edition series of collectible characters exclusively at Macy’s and Toys”R”Us. Veefriends holds the 20th position in terms […]
Walmart has entered the metaverse with the launch of Walmart Land and Walmart’s Universe of Play on Roblox. The metaverse gaming platform has 52.2 million daily active users and 11.3 billion engagement hours. “Our customers are spending loads of time there,” said a Walmart executive. Walmart Entering the Metaverse U.S. retail giant Walmart announced Monday […]
Specifications on Zilliqa’s "user-friendly" console are yet to be revealed, but a prototype design resembling an Xbox console has been released.
Blockchain company Zilliqa is launching a Web3 focused console with a cryptocurrency wallet and mining capabilities, along with featuring gaming titles from the company.
On Sept. 23, prototype images were released showing an array of ports including HDMI, Ethernet and USB connections, although full hardware specifications and the price of the unit remain guarded. The console itself looks similar to something from Xbox, but has two green panels on the top.
The #Zilliqa gaming console seems to be taking a page form the OG Xbox playbook by putting letter into the hardware design.$ZIL #web3 #playtoearn pic.twitter.com/mln1kiUrwD
— ChaseRaz (@ChaseRaz) September 22, 2022
Zilliqa has said the console is geared toward user-friendliness and similar to conventional gaming titles will incentivize users to complete gaming missions, quests and tasks to mine its native token ZIL as a reward.
Beta testing on the console starts in October, with units expected to be available for pre-order in the first quarter of 2023. Zilliqa is a layer-1 blockchain designed for creating smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps), it has 15 gaming projects according to its website.
In July Web3 gaming startup Polium announced its similar console, “Polium One”, supporting gaming non-fungible tokens (NFT) across eight blockchains, although the Polium One isn’t set for release until Q3 2024.
Pop culture brand Funko has partnered with entertainment company Warner Bros. to offer bundled physical and NFT collectables exclusively through American retail giant Walmart.
The bundle includes a physical comic book cover and Funko figurine for DC Comics “The Brave and the Bold,” known amongst fans for introducing the concept of the popular “Justice League” superhero team, along with a matching Funko “Digital Pop!” NFT.
The collection is limited to 30,000 units and will debut during Walmart’s Collector Con in October, the NFTs will mint on the WAX blockchain.
Funko has continued to expand the NFT counterpart of its flagship “Pop!” figurine line which started in Aug. 2021 with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles collection. Funko CEO Andrew Perlmutter has stated the company is creating NFTs to meet demand from younger collectors who value digital goods and assets.
Web3 software company Chain has become the official blockchain and Web3 sponsor of the National Football League (NFL) team New England Patriots, professional soccer team New England Revolution and both team's home ground, Gillette Stadium.
Related: NFTs ‘biggest on-ramp’ to crypto in Central, Southern Asia and Oceania: Report
Chain has partnered in a multi-year deal with Kraft Sports + Entertainment, the owner of both professional teams and the stadium, to develop what it calls “state-of-the-art Web3 experiences” using Chain’s product suite, but didn’t provide exact details on its plans.
Chain CEO Deepak Thapliyal did state however that the company is aiming to “build cutting edge experiences for stadium visitors” as part of Chain’s product lineup includes support for NFTs.
Filings shared by trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis show singer Christina Aguilera has filed trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for multiple NFT, Metaverse and crypto related products.
The filings reveal plans for the star to create audio, video and music files “authenticated by NFTs” along with “blockchain based non-fungible assets” such as virtual avatars, clothing, beauty products, other virtual merchandise and “crypto collectibles.”
Part of the application also mentions Aguilera providing musical performances, concerts and games “in the Metaverse and other virtual environments.”
NFT marketplace OpenSea announced the implementation of OpenRarity on Sept. 22, a protocol that provides verifiable rarity calculations for NFTs within its platform. The protocol uses a transparent mathematical approach to calculating rarity.
Web3 tech firm nameless is set to launch an NFT software product that enables developers to test their NFT smart contracts on fully private test nets.
Funko has teamed up with the multinational retail corporation Walmart and the American film and entertainment studio Warner Bros. to bring digital collectibles to the retail space, the pop culture collectibles firm announced on Wednesday. According to Funko, the digital collectible offering is consumer friendly as fans can purchase the non-fungible token (NFT) and physical […]