Global payments giant Mastercard is ramping up its exposure blockchain tech yet again, after announcing a Polygon-based accelerator program to help musicians build their careers via Web3. The firm announced the "Mastercard Artist Accelerator" program via a Jan. 7 blog post, outlining that from this spring, it will connect five emerging musicians from across the globe with mentors that will help them set up their brand in the Web3 music space. "The artists will gain exclusive access to special events, music releases and more. A first-of-its-kind curriculum will teach the artists how to build (and own) their brand through Web3 …

This year was a turbulent one for the whole crypto space. From NFTs to DeFi and exchanges, all areas of the industry felt the cold blows of crypto winter. Unfortunately, such an unfavorable climate is the perfect breeding ground for scammers to exploit distressed investors’ crypto wallets. The most recent examples of crypto scams include hackers stealing NFTs through over 500 fake phishing domains, while robocallers started targeting FTX customers in the aftermath of the exchange’s crash. Such malicious attacks have become an everyday occurrence in the space, and the crypto community is actively working on protective measures. On one …

Cryptocurrency Exchange Huobi has seen over $94.2 million dollars in net outflows within the past week. Within the past 24 hours alone, approximately 60 million dollars flowed out of the exchange, according to a report by crypto analytics company Nansen. In the past 24 hours, Huobi has seen a significant increase in net outflows $60.9M* of the $94.2M* net outflow in the past week occurred in the past day alone *Contains Ethereum, Avalanche, BNB Chain, Fantom, & Polygon flows pic.twitter.com/JV1Tg13QMY — Nansen (@nansen_ai) January 6, 2023 Nansen also reported that a significant portion of withdrawals was mainly in Tether (USDT), …

One of the largest Bitcoin mining operations in North America, Marathon Digital Holdings, has shared in an update that it has been experimenting with overclocking to increase its competitive advantage in the Bitcoin mining industry. Overclocking is the practice of increasing the clock speed of a computer’s central processing unit (CPU) or graphics processing unit (GPU) beyond the manufacturer’s rated maximum speed, potentially leading to improved performance in certain tasks. According to the company's press release, it produced 475 BTC in December 2022, bringing its total mined Bitcoins in the fiscal year of 2022 to 4,144 BTC, a 30% increase …

The image-hosting aspect of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) needs major improvements. First, people saw NFTs on FTX breaking after it declared bankruptcy. More recently, NFTs on the marketplace Magic Eden showed some questionable images instead of their actual thumbnails. As the problem continues to persist, Cointelegraph reached out to various industry executives to get their thoughts on how NFT projects can solve the NFT hosting issue. From using dependable blockchains to exploring the storage technologies available in the Web3 space, various executives working in the NFT industry gave their thoughts on how to avoid future problems in NFT image hosting. Samuel …

Despite the crypto winter, nonfungible tokens (NFTs) continue to draw interest. This has become apparent as many brands and retailers have started to offer digital NFTs attached to physical products. Known as “phygitals,” these offerings allow real-world products to be tied to digital NFTs. For example, RTFKT — a digital fashion and collectible company — recently launched a project called Cryptokicks iRL. According to sources, RTFKT is creating digitally-designed sneakers backed by a physical product. RTFKT’s official Twitter account recently tweeted that Lace Engine NFT holders will be able to reserve a pair of Cryptokicks iRL, which can then be …

Hong Kong authorities are looking for new designs for a central bank digital currency (CBDC), now proposing to issue a CBDC in the form of a stablecoin backed by the government. Wu Jiezhuang, a member of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, believes that turning the Hong Kong digital dollar (e-HKD) into a stablecoin would provide benefits for the adoption of new technologies like Web3. The option of developing e-HKD into a stablecoin has the potential to address the risks associated with virtual assets in Web3 effectively, Wu Jiezhuang said in an interview with China Blockchain …

South Korean tech giant LG Electronics announced that it has teamed up with Oorbit, a cloud-based technology platform and PIXELYNX, a company building an integrated music, gaming, and Web3 ecosystem, to bring the metaverse directly into the living rooms of viewers. Announced just in time for #CES2023, we’re excited to announce that we have partnered with @LGElectronics to bring interoperable gaming and social experiences directly to your LG Smart TVs. READ: https://t.co/nppJZe650B — Oorbit (@OorbitOnline) January 4, 2023 The collaboration is set to allow viewers to be able to explore interconnected virtual worlds, concerts, and AI multiplayer games through their …

Singapore-based decentralized finance (DeFi) services firm, Cake DeFi, has announced the release of its Proof of Reserves using the cryptographically-audited Merkle tree method. Developed by Ralph Merkle in 1979, the Merkle tree method is a way of proving that a certain piece of data is included in a set of data, without revealing the entire set of data. Under the proof of reserves method, a Merkle tree is used to prove that a cryptocurrency exchange has the reserves it claims to have, without revealing the exact amounts of each cryptocurrency that it holds, in order to protect the privacy of …

The multi-billion-dollar sports industry is undergoing a digital transformation and Web3 elements are likely to play a major role. This notion was highlighted in Deloitte’s “2022 Sports Industry Outlook” report, which predicts an acceleration in the blending of real and digital worlds, along with growing markets for nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and immersive technologies. According to the report, such advances may lead to a significant increase in fan engagement. This is an important point to consider, given that fan engagement has long served as the backbone for ensuring sponsor revenue, ticket and merchandise sales, along with the overall popularity of a …

Social media has infiltrated the everyday lives of a huge chunk of the global population. With media giants like Facebook and Twitter taking up a significant percentage of people’s time and attention, issues are not scarce. The main pain point stems from the exclusively centralized character of all these mega companies. With the rise of blockchain technology and the advancement Web3 offers in the digital era, social media platforms are also bound to change. The times of centralized entities hogging all control over this sector of the online world are gone. As users seek more transparency and control over their …

It’s no secret that the crypto market was gripped by bearish pressure for the entirety of 2022. However, amid all the volatility and chaos, many positive news stories appeared as well — especially regarding the global adoption of digital assets and crypto-related technologies in general. Looking back at 2022, here are some key adoption-related events that helped drive the industry last year. Polygon accrues 200 million addresses despite challenging 2022 Even though an air of financial uncertainty has shrouded the crypto market since the end of 2021, Polygon — a layer-2 scaling solution running alongside the Ethereum blockchain, allowing for …