RTFKT, a digital fashion and collectibles firm owned by Nike, unveiled what it said is the first native web3 sneaker. Dubbed “Cryptokicks iRL,” the shoes have advanced features such ...
Tag: Metaverse & NFT
Warner Music Group and Polygon team up on virtual vinyl platform
Polygon and Warner Music Group have teamed up with e-commerce platform LGND.io to roll out a multi-year web3 music program that will allow users to play digital vinyl on-the-go. The platform, c...
GameStop begins a ‘big’ round of layoffs
GameStop joins Meta, Coinbase, and a slew of other companies working on web3 initiatives in cutting its employee headcount this year. Daniel Williams, a Lead Software Engineer at GameStop, said...
Aave acquires web3 social gaming app Sonar to expand Lens Protocol
Aave Companies acquired Sonar, a mobile social gaming app that supports NFT-based avatars, in an effort to expand Lens Protocol for identity across web3 consumer products. Sonar co-founder Ben S...
‘Metaverse’ snubbed as Word of the Year in favor of ‘goblin mode’
A term for the slovenly and lazy among us beat out the metaverse for Oxford’s Word of the Year in a landslide vote. “Goblin mode,” which refers to a “a type of behavior which is unap...
The Web3 Fantasy Sports Phenomenon
December 5, 2022, 10:30AM EST • 6 min read Quick Take Sorare is a fantasy sport platform powered by NFTs. As part of its strategic expansion, Sorare extended its product scope to additional sports, no...
OpenSea sees Art Basel bright spots in gaming, storytelling
Seated inside a trendy new hotel in Miami’s Wynwood arts and entertainment district on a sunny and warm December afternoon, OpenSea VP of product Shiva Rajaraman said he had come to town to take...
Has removing royalties paid off for Magic Eden?
While November has been a rough month for a lot of people with the fall of FTX reverberating around the crypto space, most NFT and gaming firms have so far been spared the brunt of the fallout. ...
Tezos draws Art Basel Miami collectors with ‘generative’ NFT minting
Serious art collectors known to frequent the opening day of the Art Basel Miami Beach fair had the ability to take something home completely for free on Tuesday — a “generative” NFT minted...
OpenSea announces support of NFT collections built on BNB Chain
Top NFT marketplace OpenSea will now support digital assets built on the BNB Chain blockchain, the company announced. OpenSea took to Twitter to share that by listing non-fungible tokens built o...
Miami’s mayor says he’s still taking paycheck in bitcoin
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said that he’s still taking his paycheck in bitcoin despite the ongoing market volatility. “I just bought some yesterday,” he said at a press briefin...
The Block’s guide for the crazy web3 week ahead in Miami
Miami’s busiest week of the year is about to unfold, with the global jet set due to storm the city just after Thanksgiving for seven straight days of nonstop art and parties anchored by the Art ...
What’s next for metaverse post-crypto winter? Q&A with CAA’s Joanna Popper
As a kid growing up in Chicago, some of CAA’s Chief Metaverse Officer Joanna Popper’s earliest experiences with digital worlds came from playing arcade classics like Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man. Now...
‘Vincent Van Dough’ launches new NFT gallery: Exclusive
A prolific NFT collector who goes by the pseudonym “Vincent Van Dough (VVD)” has launched a new NFT gallery called Art of This Millennium. AOTM is opening today with 32 artists featured in...
Saudi shock sinks Argentinian fan token, The Saudi’s NFT collection soars 2,000% in volume
Argentina’s shock loss to Saudi Arabia today was heard around the world and even spilled over into crypto. The Argentina fan token offered through partnerships with Socios crashed 23% ove...
WME talent agency signs Valfré, artist part of Instagram’s NFT push: Exclusive
Powerhouse Hollywood talent agency WME is once again showing its faith in web3’s future potential by adding contemporary artist Ilse Valfré to its roster, The Block learned exclusively. Valfré, ...
The Uncoupling of Generative Art NFTs
November 21, 2022, 10:43AM EST • 9 min read Quick Take Generative art NFTs have defied the downward spiral of the broader NFT market in recent months. Art Blocks full curated sets have become the holy...
Nifty Apes and Double Protocol
November 17, 2022, 9:51AM EST • 6 min read Quick Take Searching for Alpha is a series that summarizes under-the-radar protocols that The Block Research team finds interesting. This week’s findings wi...
Brevan Howard Digital co-leads $4.8 million round for NFT fraud detection startup Yakoa
Yakoa, a California-based NFT fraud detection startup, has raised $4.8 million in a seed funding round. Brevan Howard Digital, Volt Capital and Collab+Currency co-led the round, with Uniswap La...
FTX Collapse Largely Spares NFT Treasuries
November 15, 2022, 10:15AM EST • 3 min read Quick Take Rapid Insights provide a deeper analysis of the current crypto landscape in a timely fashion. In the aftermath of the FTX collapse, the impact of...
NFT royalties: The story so far
NFT royalties, once the reigning recurring fee to benefit creators, have been sent to the gallows. This year marked a race to the bottom among marketplaces to remove royalties and cut NFT trading cos...
Star Atlas cash runway sliced in half by FTX catastrophe
Solana-based gaming metaverse Star Atlas saw its cash runway cut in half after the collapse of crypto exchange FTX, its CEO said on Twitter. Star Atlas is the latest crypto company to be affecte...
Animoca Brands exposes balance sheet after SBF’s empire collapses
Venture firm and software company Animoca Brands released key figures of its balance sheet, revealing some exposure to Sam Bankman-Fried’s collapsed exchange. The new information about An...
Roblox misses on revenue, reports wider than expected loss in Q3
Roblox reported a big miss on revenue, posting sales of $517.7 million for the third quarter compared to the average analyst estimate of $692 million, and reported a wider than expected loss in the pe...
Meta’s Zuckerberg blames himself for company’s missteps, initiates layoffs: WSJ
Beleaguered Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told hundreds of executives that plans to lay off employees would begin tomorrow, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the matter...
OpenSea Retaliates Against Royalty Circumvention
November 8, 2022, 1:06PM EST • 5 min read Quick Take Rapid Insights provide a deeper analysis of the current crypto landscape in a timely fashion. On Saturday, OpenSea announced the launch of an on-ch...
Yuga Labs suggest allowlist to help maintain royalties upon sale
Wylie Aronow and the other co-founders of Yuga Labs have suggested a way for upholding NFT royalties for new smart contracts. They suggest doing this through an allowlist which would check the w...
a16z-backed startup Flowcarbon launches carbon-offsetting NFT project
Flowcarbon, a blockchain startup co-created by WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann, will launch an NFT project that uses a majority of its proceeds to buy carbon offsets. Dubbed Flow3rs, the project...
Doodles CEO says brand is ‘ready to grow up,’ aims for Disney-level brand recognition
Ask Doodles new CEO Julian Holguin what he envisions for his upstart NFT brand, and he boasts of his company aspiring to challenge entertainment giants such as Disney, Amazon or Netflix. Doodles...