Cryptocurrency exchange Okcoin, along with the Stacks Accelerator and Stacks Foundation, announced on Thursday the start of the “Bitcoin Odyssey,” a one-year commitment among investment firms to invest $165 million in inventive solutions to help drive Bitcoin (BTC) adoption. The Bitcoin Odyssey is funded by Digital Currency Group, GBV Capital, White Star Capital and GSR, among other organizations, to respond to the rise in interest in decentralized finance (DeFi) and new technological capabilities made possible with Stacks. Alex Chizhik, head of listings at Okcoin, and Kyle Ellicott, partner at Stacks Accelerator, will co-lead the initiative. The money and assets will …

Singapore-based decentralized finance (DeFi) services firm Cake DeFi announced the launch of a $100 million venture arm dedicated to serving as accelerators for Web3, gaming, nonfungible tokens (NFT) and other crypto initiatives. The newly launched $100 million venture arm, Cake DeFi Ventures (CDV), will fund crypto startups that complement the company’s core business. According to Cake DeFi, the venture firm “will be focused on investing in tech startups across Web3, the metaverse, the NFT space, gaming, esports and fintech spaces.” Cake DeFi’s primary suite of services includes liquidity mining, staking and lending of cryptocurrencies — aimed at generating high returns …

The International Women's Day theme this year is #BreakTheBias, so Cointelegraph spoke to 10 leaders in the blockchain industry about their experiences as women in Web3 and gathered their advice. From discussing barriers to entry to nonfungible tokens and role models, the following comments are from women in the U.S., Latin America, Europe and Asia. When asked what the current barriers to entry that women may face when considering careers in crypto, Dr. Cagla Gul Senkardes, Co-founder of the Istanbul Blockchain Women Association and lecturer at Istanbul Bilgi University, flatly answered "bias." Speaking from a more academic point of view, …

The rise of the Metaverse has resulted in an entirely new digital economy, one defined by virtual experiences and interactions. In turn, metaverse ecosystems consisting of avatars are also emerging, allowing individuals to express themselves through digital customizable 3D characters. This idea was recently broadcasted to the mainstream when Facebook’s parent company, Meta, introduced a series of inclusive avatars. While the Metaverse may sound futuristic, recent findings from technology research and consulting company Gartner predict that 25% of people will have spent at least one hour per day in the Metaverse by 2026. Gartner vice president Marty Resnick has also …

At its core, Web3 is about regaining control from centralized online experiences, allowing creators to interact within peer-to-peer (P2P) ecosystems focused on music, film, artwork, fashion and other popular topics. This has also given rise to nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and digital ecosystems often referred to as the Metaverse. Given the broad range of interests Web3 touches upon, the sector is not only attracting typical “tech bros” but has also captured the attention of many females looking to further build and develop the decentralized web. The movement of women entering Web3 has especially become apparent now, as the sector is still …

Despite extreme volatility in the price of crypto assets, venture funds continue to make strategic investments in the industry. In recent weeks, the focus has shifted to infrastructure developers in Web3, play-to-earn and GameFi — nascent industries that still have significant upside ahead. Cointelegraph’s latest VC Roundup provides a rundown of funding stories that didn’t get front-page coverage but still generated significant interest from the venture capital realm. Related: VC Roundup: Animoca leads NFT3 raise, Arca launches NFT fund and Alexis Ohanian broadens crypto exposure Pantera leads $32.9M Subspace Labs funding round Web3 infrastructure developer Subspace Labs concluded a $32.9 …

The COVID-19 pandemic, along with other recent events, have revealed the need for a fully digital economy, giving rise to Metaverse ecosystems, Web3 platforms and the adoption of digital currencies. For example, the Ukrainian government recently reached out to the crypto community on Twitter asking for donations in Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and Tether (USDT). Nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, have also gained mainstream adoption as artists and creators across the globe have discovered new forms of monetization with these models. While innovative, these use cases also demonstrate the notion that blockchain-based concepts that emerged early on often take years to …

Now that the initial hype surrounding blockchain applications and the prolonged blockchain “winter” that followed are left behind, we now find ourselves in the middle of a “spring” that is helping organizations reimagine how they deliver value. So much so that blockchain is expected to add $1.76 trillion to the global economy by 2030, according to PWC. A significant chunk of this uptick is expected to come from business-to-business (B2B) implementations, which stand to gain the most from the security, immutability and streamlining opportunities afforded by blockchain-based transactions and relationships. With processes that involve multiple partners, dozens (if not hundreds) …

Will the Metaverse(s) change humanity as we know it? Will the Metaverse(s) be the ultimate augmentation of human perception? Will it become an agora for our dreams (and, of course, nightmares), able to transform human perception entirely? Has it already started? To start with the latter question: Yes, the groundwork has already been laid. Sensors from our smartphones, social media, digital devices, and the digital data-driven companies that top the Fortune 500 comprise the new cathedrals, religions and tribal spaces for humanity. These technologies and the onset of the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution, or 4IR, and the AI-driven Society 5.0 …

After two years and many COVID-19 restrictions finally subsiding, the world is welcoming the return of in-person theater, movies, comedy, music and sports. This has left some wondering what will happen to the legions of digital creatives who occupied and entertained us while normal life was at a standstill — and to the multibillion-dollar economy they inhabit. Will the world forget the platforms and artists they discovered during the pandemic now the doors of festivals, fashion shows and concerts are open to them again? Is the creator economy, which recent estimates suggest will exceed $100 billion this year, strong enough …

In his monthly crypto tech column, Israeli serial entrepreneur Ariel Shapira covers emerging technologies within the crypto, decentralized finance and blockchain space, as well as their roles in shaping the economy of the 21st century. Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s ex-CEO and Bitcoin (BTC) aficionado, is not a big fan of Web3 — or at least of what its grand vision is shaping up to be. Users won’t own the next iteration of the internet, he asserts again and again. Instead, venture capital funds pumping millions into blockchain and Web3 projects will be the ones to hold the reins. But, will they, …

The transition from Web2 to Web3 is inevitable. Yet, as the demand for decentralization gains momentum, several important questions are being raised about the current state of blockchain technology and its promised “decentralization.” Vitalik Buterin responded with a confession that “a lot of it comes down to limited technical resources and funding. It’s easier to build things the lazy centralized way, and it takes serious effort to ‘do it right.’” Or, Jack Dorsey’s recent tweet where he claimed that it’s actually the venture capitalists who own the networks that exist today. You don’t own “web3.” The VCs and their LPs …