According to a Twitter post dated Dec. 11, SHHAN, creator of the black cats nonfungible tokens (NFT) collection Mimic Shhans, explained to users why he was blocking posts on community social pages written in the Chinese language. The move came after users condemned the new measures as discriminatory. According to SHHAN, who is based in South Korea, but created a Chinese post to specifically address the issue: "It is because I previously announced on Twitter and Discord that my team is trying to enter the North American market. Therefore, I recommended everyone to use English when responding to Twitter posts. …

Popular entrepreneur and NFT proponent Gary Vaynerchuck — also known as Gary Vee — has argued that oversupply, greed and subpar projects are the main reasons the NFT market fell so hard over the past year. On Dec.12, Vaynerchuck highlighted his latest blog post via Twitter which explores the NFT sector's current issues and where he thinks it's headed next year. Hope this article can help some of you, the feedback has been humbling …. Why I Said 97-99% of NFTs Would Go to Zero - Gary Vaynerchuk https://t.co/BmhO7OUGdH — Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee) December 11, 2022 Commenting on the state …

Yuga Labs, creators of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and crypto fintech Moonpay are facing a class-action lawsuit for allegedly using celebrities to misleadingly promote and sell nonfungible tokens (NFTs). Over 40 people and companies are named as defendants in the lawsuit, including Paris Hilton, Snoop Dog, Jimmy Fallon, Justin Bieber, Madonna, Serena Williams, Post Malone, and Diplo. The class-action was filed on Dec. 8 by John T. Jasnoch of Scott+Scott Attorneys at Law LLP in the Central District of California and claims the crypto companies used its Hollywood network to promote the digital assets without complying with disclosure requirements. …

The Metaverse as a concept exploded last year, especially after social media giant Facebook rebranded to Meta. And while there have been a number of different virtual world projects released, interoperability and integrations are still lacking. Generally, users are provided with a virtual reality that has already been shaped for them. Not only that, limitations regarding protocols, integrations and the use of NFTs are still dominating the Metaverse sector. Yet, in the true spirit of crypto and blockchain tech, innovative projects like Bluemoon are redefining what the Metaverse can be. By bringing the executive, decision-making role to the user, Bluemoon …

Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend, but unfortunately, the billion-dollar diamond industry is rife with scandal and fraud. There have been a number of cases where lab-grown diamonds have been graded as natural diamonds. An example of this was seen last year when the International Gemological Institute analyzed and graded a 6.18ct lab-grown diamond, which was previously claimed to be a natural diamond on its Gemological Institute of America (GIA) report. It was also reported in 2005 that the Gemological Institute of America — which is one of the most trusted sources for evaluating gemstone quality — was accepting …

Just as Art Basel has expanded beyond its initial gallery showcases in Switzerland, where the international art fair was conceived, the pursuit of longer and more fulfilling lives has grown from the subject of science fiction novels to real, viable science. Now the evolution of art is being leveraged as the Longevity Science Foundation’s partnership with Triptych and digital artist Nikita Replyanski leveled up during Art Basel in Miami Beach. The partnership to launch a collection of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) was announced during the summer. The “Longevity Volumes” will help fund LSF research grants for longevity projects. Replyanski said he …

For the uninitiated, the world of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology can be daunting, confusing and difficult to comprehend. Three industry experts and a skeptical economist explore the past, present and future of the burgeoning technology in a new online learning series. Masterclass is a web-based education platform that offers “classes” from subject matter experts in their respective spheres of influence. You can learn how to cook with Gordon Ramsay, explore the art of acting with Natalie Portman or master the tennis racket with Serena Williams. Its newly launched series on cryptocurrencies, blockchain and Web3 technology follows in the same vein. …

The FTX collapse highlighted many flaws in the crypto industry. Now, the effects of the FTX debacle have broken into the nonfungible token (NFT) space with users unable to view their FTX-hosted NFTs. In a tweet, Solana engineer jac0xb.sol pointed out how the metadata of FTX-hosted NFTs now points to a restructuring website that gives out information about bankruptcy proceedings. According to jac0xb.sol, the NFTs minted on FTX were hosted using a Web2 application programming interface (API), resulting in images not showing. After the FTX exchange filed for bankruptcy, the FTX.us domain was entirely redirected to the bankruptcy proceeding page. …

In this week’s newsletter, read about how the word “metaverse” placed second in Oxford’s Word of the Year. Check out how Meta is pushing forward its metaverse plans amid doubts and how the nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace Magic Eden announced a tool to enforce royalties. In other news, find out how the Opera Crypto Browser is integrating NFT minting. And, don’t forget this week’s Nifty News featuring a new all-time high for Reddit avatar minting. Metaverse comes in second place as Oxford’s word of the year The term “metaverse” have gotten second place in Oxford University’s Word of the Year …

The metaverse platform Decentranland announced a new platform feature which allows its users who own virtual LAND to essentially become landlords. Owners can now officially rent out their property to other users on the platform for predefined periods of time. This allows users to earn passive income off of their metaverse assets. Decentraland classifies LAND owners as accounts or wallet addresses which own the smart contract for LAND, whether it be “a Parcel, an Estate, or both." All LAND rentals are performed in (MANA), the native token of Decentraland and paid upfront in total. The platform gave examples of digital …

NFT music on Winamp Old school classic PC-friendly media player Winamp has rolled out support for Ethereum and Polygon-based music nonfungible tokens (NFTs) in the latest update of its desktop player. Winamp has been around since 1997 and was one of the most popular media players for PC users but has since been overtaken by Windows Media Player and Apple’s dominant iTunes. It has a reputation for supporting a wide range of media files, and in the latest update announcement on Dec. 7 the Winamp team noted that NFT support is officially live and ready to go. @winamp I have …

The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) is currently reviewing requests to revise the “regulatory treatment” of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) within its Virtual Financial Assets Framework. Under the current regulatory framework, NFTs are included within the scope of the Virtual Financial Assets Act, which also includes virtual tokens, virtual financial assets, electronic money, and all financial instruments built, or dependent on, Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). However, the MFSA is proposing to have NFTs removed from the Virtual Financial Assets framework since they’re unique and nonfungible and therefore incapable of being used as payments for goods and services, or for investment purposes. …