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After the NBA Top Shot, Dapper Labs Reveals Plans For The Next NFT Marketplace

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Dapper Labs, a $2.6 billion Vancouver-based startup best known for creating NBA Top Shot and CryptoKitties, famous marketplaces for tokenized digital collectibles, announced a collaboration with Genies, a celebrity-driven avatar technology company, to create a new marketplace on Dapper Labs’ Flow blockchain.

The new platform, dubbed “Genies Marketplace,” aims to be the “Amazon of Digital Wearable NFTs,” allowing celebrities and, eventually, all platform users to build and sell digital wearable NFT collections for their avatars, or digital alter-egos. Users will be able to unlock exclusive wearables by completing tasks on a regular basis in Genies. The beta version is expected to be released in the third quarter by Dapper Labs and Genies. The deal’s financial details were kept under wraps.

Genies collaborated with celebrities such as Rihanna, Shawn Mendes, and Cardi B to take on Snapchat-owned Bitmoji, which has popularized sticker-like cartoon avatars, or customized emojis, commonly used through social media channels. These celebrities have used their personalized avatars as alternate ways to communicate with their fans, revealing new song drops or collaborations. Justin Bieber, for example, used a Genies avatar version of himself to support his relationship with Amazon Music. Genies claims to have a market share of 99 percent for celebrity avatars.

“It was awesome to see how much hype there was around the digital avatar experience,” Shawn Mendes, whose avatar digital wearable NFTs hit the market earlier this year, said in a joint statement with his manager Andrew Gertler. The Genies marketplace will now make the experience “available to all of Shawn’s fans by enabling them to connect with and customize their Genies as well as trade in digital products and wearables in a completely unique way.” Mendes was also an early believer in Genies.

The California-based startup, which was founded in 2017, has raised nearly $50 million in funding from investors such as Alexis Ohanian’s Initialized Capital Management and Andreessen Horowitz, and is now valued at $120 million, according to data platform PitchBook. Genies revealed in October that its avatar-creation technology had been integrated into Gucci and Giphy’s digital platforms through an updated software development kit (SDK), allowing users to build their own digital avatars on those platforms.

While this may seem to be a niche application, the market potential is important. Giphy, which is owned by Facebook, has over 700 million regular users who use animated GIFs on social media sites including Instagram, WhatsApp, and TikTok.

According to Genies CEO and co-founder Akash Nigam, many Gen Z and millennial followers want to “accessorise their online credibility.” In the immersive virtual universe of the internet known as the metaverse, he sees avatars as a way to express and highlight various facets of one’s personality.

“I believe most people consider the metaverse to be the final destination. We talk about the metaverse as a mentality in which you’re completely absorbed by the Internet and care more about what other people think about you and who you are online than you do about your physical self,” Nigam explains. “We believe that in the metaverse, everybody would need a digital identity. We want to be the go-to source of information.”

Nigam, a long-time developer, admits to suffering from depression and anxiety, but that the concept of avatars has helped him resolve it, at least in part. “I fell in love with the idea of visual identity because it allowed me to be myself and harness emotions, thoughts, and feelings through an avatar that was not constrained by my physical self or the fears of being in the real world,” Nigam says.

Roham Gharegozlou, CEO of Dapper Labs, says he is as optimistic in the project as he is in the NBA Top Shot. The sector, which is primarily responsible for the growth of NFTs, has set a high bar, with revenues exceeding $500 million in less than a year.

However, despite its widespread acceptance, it is now experiencing a drop in revenue and trading volume, which may be due to the overall cooling of the NFT boom as well as technical problems related to platform congestion and testing, as the platform is still technically in beta mode.

“We used to have a lot of downtime, but now we’re pretty much down to scheduled maintenance,” Gharegozlou says. “At this pace, I think we’ll be in very good shape and ready for Genies to stress out our servers in two months.”

NFT

Could this trademark application indicate that PayPal is developing an NFT market? 

A trademark application for blockchain and cryptocurrency technology has been submitted by PayPal. Some claim that the file has something to do with Web3 and the metaverse, although it may be tied to an NFT marketplace.

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A recent trademark application by PayPal has been found, and it suggests the development of a service pertaining to several facets of blockchain technology. The file, which was made on October 18, makes a notable allusion to the potential introduction of a non-fungible token (NFT) market.

For its logo, PayPal submitted two trademark applications. The first one concerns “downloadable software” for cryptocurrency trading and storage. The second discusses cryptocurrency-related payment processing services.

Although users may currently buy cryptocurrencies on PayPal’s platform, this filing suggests that there may be more to come. The concept of assets is substantially broader in the filing’s terminology. Mike Kondoudis, a trademark lawyer licensed by the USPTO, claimed on Twitter that this filing relates to NFTs and the metaverse.

Although there is no proof to support this, it would not be shocking if it were true. The finance business would be adding its name to a lengthy list of businesses that are starting to make inroads into the Web3 and metaverse spaces.

PayPal is investing more in cryptocurrency.
Over the past two years, PayPal has intensified its focus on cryptocurrencies. First, the company made a huge announcement for the industry by saying that consumers would be able to purchase cryptocurrency on its platform.

However, it didn’t start enabling users to move those funds into wallets outside of the network until recently. It indicated that it would roll out additional crypto-related features in the latter part of last year. One of those additions might be an NFT marketplace.

It teamed up with Coinbase’s TRUST network more recently. This was viewed by many as an endorsement of the sector. The TRUST network upholds consumer security and privacy while adhering to the banking industry’s Travel Rule.

Increased Criticism of Payment Giant
Additionally, PayPal has been in the spotlight for all the incorrect reasons. The business has recently come under fire for a contentious policy that penalized users for disseminating false information. Later, it claimed that false information was released with the amended policy. Crypto aficionados, however, were eager to point to this as evidence of the value of decentralization.

PayPal established a blockchain and cryptocurrency advisory committee earlier this year. According to the company’s management, working with governments is essential to overcoming obstacles and seizing possibilities.

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NFT

Seba Bank, a cryptocurrency company, aims to store valuable NFTs

Seba Bank, a cryptocurrency company, has launched its first NFT service, a blue-chip NFT-specific institutional-grade, certified, and independently audited hot and cold storage custody product.

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The launch comes in response to requests from customers to keep their NFTs with the bank alongside other crypto assets, such as the already-approved Bored Ape Yacht Club, Cryptopunk, and Clone X NFTs. The bank stated that new collections would be added based on customer demand.

With its newest offering, Seba Bank seeks to entice investors who view NFTs as an asset class and crypto natives. Not your keys, not your bitcoin is a well-known phrase in the crypto sphere, and adherents of this maxim could object to having their Apes or Punks stored with a third-party custodian.

Urs Bernegger, co-head of markets and investment solutions at Seba Bank, however, highlights a growing group of NFT holders who are more at ease handing up their NFTs and private keys to a company.

They don’t want the key because they aren’t even aware of how to handle and store it. He claimed that they’re more concerned with damaging the key than giving it to a bank.

It’s a significant issue. Between 2.3 million and 3.7 million bitcoins, according to Chainalysis, are trapped in inaccessible wallets. Numerous accounts of people have lost millions owing to losing private keys, including Russian officials, students, and engineers. Families have also been prevented from accessing substantial quantities of money following sudden deaths in which wallet owners had not disclosed their private keys.

Bernegger asserts institutional custody can be advantageous for native crypto users as well. There has been an increase in businesses providing services that employ NFTs as collateral for conventional banking services like loans.

Seba Bank is thinking about implementing these features in the future. Based in the crypto-friendly Swiss town of Zug, the four-year-old bank already backs several investing, credit, lending, and staking options for cryptocurrencies and might extend them to NFTs.

“Instead of traveling to the market, for instance, we could create a club for collectors and assist them in finding other collectors. There are a few things we have in mind, but we laid the groundwork by storing NFTs securely at first, “explained he.

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The NFT album maker for Kings of Leon now includes a metaverse music venue

YellowHeart, a Web3 ticketing startup, is opening a metaverse music venue in an effort to transform how performers, teams, and event organizers distribute tickets and interact with fans.

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The facility, constructed on Spatial, will feature Grammy-nominated blues musician G.Love as its opening act later this year. Fans can communicate with one another, participate in meet-and-greets before and after performances, and use several screens to view what is happening in various areas of the stadium simultaneously.

They will soon be able to order meals and drinks before the event, which will also be available as digital things.

The idea of an online concert has so far primarily been popularized by big gaming companies. The most well-liked virtual competitions have occurred on sites like Fortnite and Roblox. Ariana Grande’s Fortnite concert in August 2021 received 78 million viewers. Next month, Decentraland will host its second Metaverse Music Festival. Over 100 musicians are on the lineup, including well-known performers like Ozzy Osbourne and Soulja Boy.

In addition to throwing an event, YellowHeart, which assisted Kings of Leon in releasing an NFT version of their most recent album, stated that it hoped to accomplish more. It was established in 2017 with the lofty goal of revolutionizing the music ticketing sector as a whole, which has historically been dominated by powerful reselling organizations and exclusive ticketing relationships. These alliances frequently impose limitations on what purchasers can and cannot do with their tickets. Trying to resell a ticket for a concert you can’t go to might be a headache.

YellowHeart believes these issues can be resolved by returning control to artists and fans via web3 technology. Additionally, it may provide advantages that cannot be programmed into conventional tickets.

“These range from complete albums to personalized vinyl records, exclusive merchandise, and immersive visual art. Web3 tickets also allow performers to update fans on new tour dates, music releases, giveaway possibilities, and much more, according to the business.

It has already collaborated with well-known figures, including Julian Lennon, Maroon 5, and MGM Resorts. Contrary to the non-NFT versions offered on Spotify, iTunes, and other platforms, those obtained through YellowHeart entailed particular customer benefits.

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