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. …

Binance US has announced that it has expanded its “zero fee price model” to Ether (ETH) effective immediately. According to the announcement, users are now able to freely trade four Ether spot market pairs: ETH/USD, ETH/USDT, ETH/USDC and ETH/BUSD. Just in time for the holidays, the best #crypto platform for low fees just got even better.#BinanceUS is pleased to offer zero-fees when you buy #Ethereum or trade ETH/USD, ETH/USDT, ETH/BUSD & ETH/USDC, for all users with no trading volume requirements. — Binance.US (@BinanceUS) December 7, 2022 Effective immediately, the US exchange has also eliminated gas fees on all Ethereum transactions …

Are L2 networks the saviors? The emergence of a new tier of blockchains called layer-2 chains that have leveraged new cryptographic techniques like zero-knowledge-proofs (ZKPs) has helped address the scalability enigma. While the world was busy solving the blockchain trilemma at the L1 level, there were a bunch of smart developers who understood that optimization need not necessarily happen at the L1 level. One can create a network on top of L1 networks to solve fundamental problems. There are a few L2 networks, such as Polygon, Immutable and the Bitcoin lightning network, which use concepts such as sharding and rollups …

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 …

E-commerce and interactive platform builder LGND.io has announced a multi-year partnership with blockchain network developer Polygon and global entertainment company Warner Music Group to create a Web3 music platform called LGND Music. LGND Music, scheduled to launch in January 2023, is designed to be a music and collectibles platform that supports “digital collectibles from any blockchain in a proprietary player,” thereby making it possible for users to play their digital collectibles on the go. The partnership will allow select Warner Music Group artists to launch digital collectibles on both the app and desktop platforms. Creators will also be able to …

Once just a technical term within the crypto ecosystem, self-custody quickly took the main stage when FTX, a multi-billion crypto empire, went down in flames. The prolonged bear market, combined with bankruptcy announcements from once-prominent crypto exchanges, triggered a spike in crypto ownership awareness. The domino effect of the FTX collapse was a harsh lesson reminding users of a fundamental principle in crypto: Not your keys, not your coins. Since the custody of FTX customers’ assets was on the exchange, users faced issues when they wanted to withdraw the funds they thought belonged to them. Centralized exchange wallets vs. self-custody …

On Dec. 2, NFT Steez hosts Alyssa Expósito and Ray Salmond chatted with Victor Solomon to discuss his journey into bridging his in-real-life artwork into NFTs and how he cultivates the community and culture that surrounds it. Solomon's work centers around basketball, not just the object, but the sport itself. For Solomon, the inspiration for his work comes from his early childhood of wanting to play hockey, a sport that was not accessible for him, and his eventual discovery of basketball which he discovered to be more accommodating. Solomon said: "Basketball was such an inspirational platform for me since there's …

In an announcement sent to Cointelegraph, the firm stated that it has partnered with Alteon LaunchPad to let beginners in Web3 or the NFT space easily mint NFTs. With the integration, users will be able to access a feature that lets them drag and drop media files into the browser, which writes a smart contract and uploads the file into a blockchain, turning the files into NFTs. According to Susie Batt, an executive at Opera, this will allow users to explore Web3 and contribute to the ecosystem. Batt explained: “Now, our users will be able to create NFTs instantly and …

The GameFi champion and metaverse developer Animoca Brands has a billion-dollar fund in its plans, according to a report from Nikkei Asia on Nov. 30. Animoca Brands’ co-founder Yat Siu said in an interview that the fund could potentially have up to $2 billion dollars to allot to mid to late-stage startups with a metaverse focus. The fund and the exact amount available to developers have yet to be finalized. Cointelegraph reached out to Animoca Brands for a comment, to which the company confirmed that the fund is “in the works.” According to the interview with Siu there will be …

The web developer Mozilla, mainly known for its internet browser Firefox, has joined the rush of legacy internet platforms jumping into the Web3 and metaverse development space. In a blog post announcement on Nov. 30, the company revealed its acquisition of Active Replica, an immersive experience developer. Active Replica is joining Mozilla’s Hubs creator platform to help create virtual events. Already the virtual experience developer has worked with Mozilla during its multi-day arts and tech festival Mozfest earlier this year. According to Mozilla the acquisition will also be important to accelerate in demand work, personalized subscription tiers, on-boarding improvements and …

In changing the name of its parent company to Meta, Facebook put a stake in the ground: It would be the symbol of the evolution of the internet, the metaverse. Whether we liked it or not. According to Meta, the metaverse is “a set of digital spaces to socialize, learn, play and more.” Its first true attempt came in the form of Horizon Worlds, a virtual reality universe so lifeless and devoid of content that it has people asking if the metaverse is a step forward or backward. Thankfully, it won’t matter. The metaverse, a term from long before Facebook …

RNS.id, a digital Web3 identity platform developed to support the application and issuance of sovereignty-backed IDs, announced on Nov. 30 that it is integrating with zkSync for on-chain KYC. RNS.ID indicated in a release shared with Cointelegraph that its on-chain KYC solution is designed on a “privacy engine” to encrypt users' identity attributes or properties into different “hashed slices” with multiple signature verifications. RNS.ID aggregates users’ fragmented identity properties data and uses ZK-proofs to generate encrypted proofs from metadata. Additionally, the company stated that RNS.ID enables users to create their own "minimal disclosure identifying information system" for constrained usages, thereby …