Layer-2 scaling platform Polygon has been selected to partake in Disney’s 2022 Accelerator Program to build on Polygon’s Web3 technology, which will commence this week. The Ethereum scaling platform is one of six projects to be accepted into the Accelerator Program, which is focused this year on augmented reality (AR), nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and artificial intelligence (AI), according to a statement from The Walt Disney Company on Wednesda. Polygon CEO Ryan Watt noted on Wednesday that Polygon was “the only blockchain selected” to Disney’s prestigious Accelerator program. The hits keep on comin’!@0xPolygon has been invited to @Disney’s prestigious Accelerator program. …

China's biggest city Shanghai officially intends to boost the development of innovations such as blockchain, nonfungible tokens (NFTs), the Metaverse and Web3 during its next five-year plan. On July 13, Shanghai's Municipal Government published a draft of its "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Shanghai's Digital Economy." The document sets its mission of "promoting the deep integration of digital technology and the real economy," with "scientists judging technology prospects" and "entrepreneurs discovering market demand." The plan suggests supporting the enterprises that plan to construct the NFT trading platforms and "research and promote the digitization of NFT and other assets." …

While many businesses are intrigued by the proposed benefits that the blockchain can provide, finding technical experts has proven to be another concern altogether. Since blockchain technology is relatively new, few know the ins and outs of troubleshooting decentralized applications (DApps) and those that do are costly to hire. Therefore, allocating resources effectively continues to be a debilitating barrier for businesses looking to prove the return on investment (ROI) on a proposed blockchain project. For this reason, the number of new business use cases continue to exist only conceptually. In response, several blockchain infrastructure providers are now proposing new methods …

The excitement surrounding Web3 is palpable — and undeniable. Projects are flooding into the space to build cutting-edge versions of the sites and apps served up by centralized Web2 rivals, covering every sector imaginable. But at this point, it's worth taking a step back and reflecting on the challenges that the Web3 world still needs to tackle. This technology isn't inherently private — and the transactions bouncing around on blockchains are mostly transparent. Privacy coins, and the anonymizing blockchains they're normally based on, are normally viewed with suspicion by critics. They point to how cryptocurrencies like Monero are increasingly being …

Crypto exchange OKX has announced that it has made a deal with English Premier League (EPL) champions Manchester City to become the team’s training kit sponsor for the 2022-23 season. Despite the current bear market, it appears that crypto and sports partnerships have been going strong, with fellow EPL team Everton also recently signing a match kit sponsorship with crypto gambling firm Stake. At the same time, PSG has also launched preseason nonfungible token (NFT) tickets. The OKX deal will put a fair amount of eyeballs on company branding, given that Manchester City won the EPL last season and is …

The metaverse space is moving rapidly in terms of hype and the volume of new projects being launched — so much so that the industry market size is projected to grow from $100.27 billion in 2022 to $1,527.55 billion by 2029. But how many of these new projects are even remotely capable of realizing the actual vision set out? We’re a long way from seeing a true metaverse Many of the metaverse projects that have been launched are in the world of gaming. However, more often than not, these projects simply consist of standard gaming features combined with virtual reality …

Digital identity has been a fraught subject since the earliest days of the internet. Web2 bridged the gap between people’s offline lives, online identities, and creative and consumer habits, which has given way to a thoroughly integrated internet experience designed to be as personalized and targeted as possible. As a new phase of virtual interaction and digital identity appears on the horizon — one even more interconnected than Web2 — we need to rethink personalization and ownership with an eye to what did and didn’t work in the world of Web2. While there is no blueprint for the Web3 identity …

Just recently, Yuga Labs, the team behind the world-famous bored nonfungible token (NFT) primates, nabbed some $300 million with its sale of Otherdeed NFTs, a collection of land plots in a soon-to-be metaverse. Indeed, NFTs, the blockchain industry’s primary method of creating digital asset scarcity, have emerged as the preferred way to handle virtual land ownership for most metaverse projects, including Decentraland and The Sandbox. All of this has prompted an interesting question in the community: In the metaverse, a vast, near-endless digital space, how can digital land ever be scarce? Well, let’s dig in. First and foremost, let’s address …

In my latest article “Crypto, like railways, is among the world’s top innovations of the millennium,” I compare the blockchain revolution to the railway boom. If we apply this analogy further, what’s going to happen next? Stuart Hylton in his book What the Railways Did for Us: The Making of Modern Britain cites this quote: “The direct effects of railway building are, after all, considerable enough in themselves to require no exaggeration. They profoundly influenced the internal flows of traffic, the choices of the site and the patterns of land use, the residential densities and development prospects of the central …

A lot has happened in the Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency markets since our last edition of VC Roundup. The monumental collapse of the Terra ecosystem spilled over into other segments of the digital asset market, exposing over-leveraged traders, lending platforms and venture capital funds. In the process, Bitcoin’s price plumbed new lows, falling below the previous cycle’s peak for the first time in its history. Despite macro headwinds inflicting pain on the crypto markets, venture capital firms are still investing in the industry’s most promising startups. The latest edition of VC Roundup highlights funding deals for digital asset infrastructure providers, …

Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have taken the world by storm over the last year. Digital collectibles that were characterized solely as CryptoKitties in 2017 have since evolved into famous pieces of art, digitized music, high-end fashion for the Metaverse and a way for communities to connect with others across the globe. Even with the current crypto bear market, recent findings from the research firm Security.org found that NFT ownership has doubled over the last year, rising from an estimated 4.6 million people to 9.3 million people. The report also discovered that while the vast majority of Americans are not ready to …

By far, the innovation with the most impact in the Web3 world this year is the sidechain. The highest-volume blockchain providers in the world — Binance, Polygon, Ankr and Avalanche — have all recently released sidechain functionality. They are investing hundreds of millions into these new implementations — and with good reason. Sidechains are the most likely multichain solution to crypto’s scalability problem. Multiple projects have failed or stalled once they hit a certain level of traffic. Ethereum gas fees are notoriously expensive, while Solana is continually congested to the point where it needs to be turned off. Needless to …