Although there is still an apparent lack of women in the Web3 sector, blockchain-based games geared toward women may help drive inclusivity. A recent report from the Entertainment Software Association found that 48% of gamers in the United States identify as female. It has also been noted that nearly half of all gamers in the world are women. The interest that women have taken in the billion-dollar gaming sector is notable. This, combined with the massive growth being projected by the GameFi industry, is a key reason why a number of Web3 games are being built specifically for female users. …

As the hype surrounding play-to-earn (P2E) games and platforms began to dwindle in early 2022, Web3 participants began to emphasize the need for games to be more “fun” and less finance-oriented. In the most recent episode of NFT Steez, Alyssa Expósito and Ray Salmond spoke with Aron Beireschmitt, the CEO of Laguna games and founder of Crypto Unicorns, about the sustainability of P2E-focused blockchain games. For Beireschmitt, the evolution from a play-to-earn to a play-and-earn model suggests that there is still experimentation and maturation to be seen for these games. “Nothing has changed about making games,” says Beireschmitt, but with …

You’ve no doubt heard the expression, follow the money. Well, if you do that in the venture capital world, you’ll be led directly to crypto, blockchain and digital assets. After a modest summertime lull in venture financing, this week saw the announcement of two massive raises worth a combined $500 million. That’s $500 million VCs are allocating to crypto-focused startups at the intersection of Web3, blockchain infrastructure and decentralized communities. If you think funding deals have stopped amid the bear market, think again. I mentioned “summertime lull” at the outset, but that doesn’t mean funding has stopped. There are so …

Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have been part and parcel of the cryptocurrency space for the last couple of years. Still, their value and utility across several industries have driven their proliferation into mainstream consciousness. Cointelegraph’s director of video production Jackson DuMont delves into the intricacies of NFTs, highlighting the importance of the underlying blockchain technology in proving ownership of digitally scarce assets: “NFTs provide unique, verifiable and immutable proof of ownership of digital goods. True digital ownership of assets through NFTs is a revolutionary idea that will transform how we interact with the internet.” Another important aspect of NFT technology highlighted …

Typically a lagging indicator of the sector’s health, the explosion of venture funding in the blockchain sector in 2021 and the first half of 2022 appears to be cooling off after seven consecutive sectors of growth. According to Cointelegraph Research, inflows in the blockchain venture capital market have declined by 43% month-on-month in July 2022. The Web3 sector, including GameFi and the Metaverse, continues to command the lion’s share of investor interest. But, the decline in capital inflows should be viewed in context as the numbers are close to the same period in 2021 when the crypto market was in …

As more people begin to integrate Web3 technologies into entertainment and production, the use case for decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) in filmmaking has been highlighted in a Cointelegraph interview with Jake Fraser, the head of business development at the film-focused blockchain project Mogul Productions. When it comes to DAO usage in films, a deeper level of fan engagement was highlighted by Fraser. As an example, the executive pointed out the involvement of fans in the production process such as in creating the script, choosing stories and picking the location. He explained that: “DAOs come into play within the film industry …

While some think the Tornado Cash ban may negatively impact other projects focusing on privacy, others believe that these projects will keep pushing forward and keeping their commitments to anti-censorship and decentralization. In an interview with Cointelegraph, Ahmed Ghappour, the general counsel at the privacy-focused project Nym Technologies, shared insights on the importance of privacy in the crypto space, how to balance the interests of regulators and people who want privacy and what's next for privacy in Web3. According to Ghappour, there are contradictory concepts in the Web3 space. This is the promise of returning data ownership to the people …

Shima Capital, a new venture firm focused on early-stage blockchain projects, has launched its debut fund to support emerging digital asset companies — and has received considerable backing in doing so. The Shima Capital Fund I raised a combined $200 million from several high-profile crypto investors, including Dragonfly Capital, Animoca Brands and OKX, the company announced Wednesday. The fund is set to deploy between $500,000 and $2 million in pre-seed funding for crypto- and blockchain-focused companies at the intersection of consumer products, decentralized infrastructure and futuristic blockchain technology. In particular, Shima has identified decentralized identity, decentralized social media, decentralized autonomous …

Blockchain venture firm CoinFund has launched a new investment fund devoted to Web3 and other crypto-focused startups, opening the door to fresh funding opportunities for entrepreneurs during the bear market. The newly launched CoinFund Ventures I will invest $300 million into early-stage companies at the intersection of Web3, cryptocurrency and other blockchain sub-sectors, the company announced Wednesday. The new fund was financed by a combination of institutional investors, family offices and cryptocurrency entrepreneurs. CoinFund Ventures I is more than three times bigger than the firm’s 2021 crypto startup fund, which was valued at $83 million. CoinFund was an investor in …

While the entertainment and production industry is still primarily dominated by the West, shows like the Squid Game demonstrate an opportunity for non-Western productions to take flight on the international scene. With some help from Web3, creators in developing markets can find their way to a bigger stage, according to an expert in the entertainment industry. In a Cointelegraph interview, Mehmet Eryılmaz, the CEO of the entertainment-focused Web3 team Faro Company, shared his thoughts on how Web3 can contribute to the development of entertainment in emerging countries. According to the executive, media and entertainment companies have been plagued by gatekeepers, …

Protecting user data and private keys is crucial as Web3 advances. Yet, the number of hacks that have occurred within the Web3 space in 2022 alone has been monumental, proving that additional security measures, along with greater forms of decentralization, are still required. As this becomes obvious, a number of organizations have started leveraging multiparty computation, or MPC, to ensure privacy and confidentiality for Web3 platforms. MPC is a cryptographic protocol that utilizes an algorithm across multiple parties. Andrew Masanto, co-founder of Nillion – a Web3 startup specializing in decentralized computation – told Cointelegraph that MPC is unique because no …

While Web3 has shown a lot of potential from its inception to today, some still believe that there is a challenge that players in the space must face, which is utility, according to a Samsung Next executive. In an interview, Raymond Liao, the managing director at Samsung Next, talked about the company's move to dive into Web3 by investing in MachineFi, a term coined by the IoTeX project to describe a futuristic paradigm in which machines become the primary workforce powered by Web3 technologies. According to Liao, Samsung Next focuses on investing in blockchain, artificial intelligence, and Metaverse, on naming …