Tag: nft

OpenSea to Make Royalty Enforcement Tool That Benefited NFT Creators ‘Optional’: All Details

OpenSea NFT marketplace has decided to put a stop to its Operator Filter tool. This decision will not let NFT creators demand royalty fees on secondary sales of NFTs on other marketplaces. While OpenSea has its reasons behind this decision, it sure is bound to affect the creators of digital collectibles who wish to generate income from any sale of their digital artwork. The feature was first introduced in November 2022 by OpenSea to benefit the NFT creator community.

The Operator Filter tool, that will be made optional starting August 31, allowed NFT artists to blacklist those marketplaces that did not enforce royalty charges on secondary buyers.

The marketplace wishes to adhere to the principles of freedom of choice and ownership that the decentralised ecosystem boasts of, by giving buyers also an option to choose if they want to pay royalty charges to the NFT creators or not.

“The Operator Filter depended on support from everyone in the ecosystem to be successful and that just didn’t happen. And perhaps most importantly, the potential applications and utility of NFT technology are too diverse for creators to depend solely on a single business model that only monetises resale,” OpenSea said in its official statement.

NFT collections that enable the Operator Filter tool on OpenSea before August 31 will be able to demand secondary buyers to pay the creators’ preferred fees till February 29, 2024. Starting March 2024, the filter will be optional for these collections as well.

Concerned Web3 community members are pouring their reactions to the situation on X, with many calling OpenSea’s decision a mistake.

Explaining itself, OpenSea wrote in its post, “to be clear, creator fees aren’t going away – simply the ineffective, unilateral enforcement of them.

When OpenSea did mandate royalty charges, it was reportedly instigated by loads of requests to do so from the creator community.

The marketplace, at the time was desperate to balance its finances after monthly sales volume on OpenSea reportedly plunged to $700 million (roughly Rs. 5,500 crore) in June, down from $2.6 billion (roughly Rs. 20,600 crore) in May and a far cry from January’s peak of nearly $5 billion (roughly 40,000 crore).

The platform had launched this feature last year as a “simple code snippet”, which when enabled, allowed secondary NFT sales on marketplaces that mandated royalty charges.

While some creators were happy to be minting some money from their art, OpenSea said it heard from some creators who said, “the Operator Filter limits their sense of control over where their collections are sold, and at the same time may collide with a collector’s expectation of full ownership.”

In addition, other NFT marketplaces like Blur, Dew, and LooksRare found technical ways to go around this filter and still managed to avoid levying creator fees on secondary NFT sales.

These factors combined made OpenSea reevaluate its filter.

“The Operator Filter was meant to empower creators with greater control over their Web3 business models, but it required the buy-in of everyone in the Web3 ecosystem, and unfortunately that has not happened,” its blog noted.

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Music NFT Startup ‘Sound’ Bags $20 Million in Funding, Snoop Dogg and a16z Pour Millions

The NFT market, despite the recent ups and downs, has managed to contain the steam in the relatively volatile digital assets sector. Sound, a music NFT platform, has managed to raise $20 million (roughly Rs. 164 crore) with investments from biggies of the NFT community, including pop artist Snoop Dogg. Venture capital firm a16z led this investment round along with Palm Tree Crew, A Capital, Sound Ventures, and Collab + Currency among others also having participated in the funding round.

Sound, as a platform, offers tools to artists that lets them upload and stream their music in the form of NFTs. Without an infringement from any third party, Sound also lets artists monetise their content and earn from their work.

Artists using Sound will be able to retain 95 percent of the proceeds from the sale and streaming of their music. A ten percent resale value is also given to the artists, while they also get to keep ownership and publishing rights.

Snoop Dogg, 51, has been investing in many such Web3 platforms, that are aimed at helping artists get the renumeration for sharing their work with people around the world.

Previously, apps like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter did provide a platform for the artists to showcase their talent to people around the world, but the artists still would not make sure that they would be able to earn money out of it. This is why turning music into NFTs has seemingly gained heat in the recent past.

In October 2022, Snoop teamed up with country rock veteran Billy Ray Cyrus to announce the launch of their NFT collection titled ‘A Hard Working Man’.

In March this year, Snoop also co-founded ‘Shiller’, that lets creators token-gate their content, share products from commerce sites, and promote popular NFTs.

The impact that Web3 and NFTs could have on the music industry and the overall creator economy has enticed many notable artists to take the sector seriously. Eminem, Justin Bieber, DJ Khalid, and Madonna are among other music artists who have dabbled in the digital assets sector.

The sales of NFTs meanwhile, rose by a massive 117 percent in February 2023. Around March, the valuation of the global NFT market climbed to its nine-month high since June last year to over $2 billion (roughly Rs. 17,200 crore).

In more recent months however, the NFT sector seems to have taken a hit due to the market volatility. Dapper Labs, a blockchain-based video games firm for instance, reportedly announced lay-offs in its team citing the current slowdown in market momentum.

Will the Nothing Phone 2 serve as the successor to the Phone 1, or will the two co-exist? We discuss the company’s recently launched handset and more on the latest episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Justin Bieber’s BAYC NFT Worth $1.3 Million Plummets in Value, Now Stands at Under $60,000: Details

Pop singer Justin Bieber, who has not hesitated from exploring the digital assets sector, has reportedly been exposed to the financial risks that crypto sceptics keep warning others about. An NFT purchased by Bieber last year for an outlandish price of $1.3 Million (roughly Rs.10 crore) has now crashed to a price less than half of its original value. This drastic change in the values of digital collectibles can be blamed on the ongoing market volatility affecting the overall sector.

Bieber’s NFT belongs to the famous Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection. Created by digital art platform Yuga Labs, NFTs from BAYC show bored looking apes in various avatars.

The BAYC NFT #3001, that cost the “Peaches” singer over a million dollars, now reportedly stands at the price point of $59,090 (roughly Rs. 48 lakh).

The development has been talked about heavily on Twitter as a warning to potential NFT investors.

The price of BAYC NFTs began to wobble around April when the overall crypto market was also beginning to slow down amid post-COVID-19 inflation in the US.

Owing to back-to-back interest rate hikes in the US as well as regularity uncertainty shadowing the global Web3 sector, investors exited in plenty, negatively impacting the digital assets sector.

As per NFT and Web3 analysers like OpenSea and CoinGecko, the floor price of the BAYC NFT collection has sunk significantly in the last few months, a new one recorded after October 2021.

The floor price (lowest price of an NFT from a collection) of BAYC NFTs stands lower than ETH 30 (roughly Rs. 48 lakh).

Bieber’s BAYC NFT #3001, that shows a teary, brown-coloured ape standing in a “new punk blue” background in a simple, black-coloured t-shirt, was purchased by the singer at a higher than listed price.

The original price of this piece was around $270,908 (roughly Rs. 2 crore) at the time of sale, but the Canadian singer bought it for a price 300 percent higher, according to Bitcoin.com, inviting trollers to attack him at the time.

Now that its price has fallen, it remains unclear if Bieber would retain the NFT or re-sell it for profits.

From the Nothing Phone 2 to the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra, several new smartphones are expected to make their debut in July. We discuss all of the most exciting smartphones coming this month and more on the latest episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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German Intelligence Unit BND to Use Dog-Themed NFTs to Fish for Cyber Talent: Details

A collection of dog-themed NFTs have been launched by the German intelligence unit, Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), hoping to attract promising cyber talent from among the public. The BND’s NFT collection will be a gate pass to enter a blockchain-based treasure hunt. People who manage to fare well in this difficult virtual test, could get an entry ticket into cyber services. A total of 999 NFTs have been decided to be part of this initiative.

The name of this collection is ‘Dogs of BND’ and all of the NFTs from this collection will be inspired by BND’s guard and security dogs. Each NFT will also bring along varied intelligence roles, making these digital collectibles unique, the official BND website said.

Unlike usual NFT collections, the collectibles from ‘Dogs of BND’ will not be up for sale on any NFT marketplace. Instead, these NFTs will serve as collectibles only, acquired by finding a character string posted on Instagram.

These strings will eventually connect to an Ethereum address, via which participants will be able to mint an NFT.

“Any person who has a cryptocurrency digital wallet (crypto-wallet / digital wallet / e-wallet) that supports Ethereum-based tokens has the opportunity to secure an NFT image. Since the external platform used does not allow NFTs to be offered completely free of charge, the NFT images have a symbolic price of 0.000001 ETH or $0.0019 (roughly Rs. 0.16),” the website noted.

People who are proficient in their cyber knowledge will be able to mint the NFT at the end of the so-called “treasure hunt” and prove their mettle.

“The Federal Intelligence Service reserves the right to disqualify participants who manipulate or attempt to manipulate the competition or otherwise violate these conditions of participation,” the website added.

The BND will be reserving 12 NFTs from this collection, to link with more difficult challenges and gift them as prizes.

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Louis Vuitton Jumps on Web3 Wagon, Set to Launch Signature Travel Trunk as NFT

The ongoing year, up until now, has proven to be profitable for the non-fungible tokens (NFTs) sector. Hopping onboard the NFT frenzy, Louis Vuitton has decided to offer its loyalists a virtual treat. The French high-end luxury brand will transform its iconic travel trunk in the form of a digital collectible. With this, the brand will establish its presence in the NFT space, following the ongoing advertisement trend of making products go ‘phygital’ — physical as well as digital.

“Designed for those who seek to travel through new dreams and new realities,” the NFT has been priced rather outlandishly at €39,000 (roughly Rs. 34 lakh).

Called the VIA Treasure Trunk, this permanent and non-transferable NFT will grant its holders an exclusive access to the brand’s design house, Maison. Holders will also be able to get glimpses of LV’s never-seen-before designs.

For now, LV has not disclosed exactly how many of these signature trunk NFTs it plans to launch. At least a “few hundred” of them are planned, a CoinTelegraph report said on Tuesday, May 6.

People interested in purchasing this NFT will need to register with a legitimate crypto wallet and join the wait list starting June 8.

LV will later invite select people from the waitlist to visit an exclusive preview page for this NFT on June 14.

This is not the first time, however, that LV has forayed into the Web3 space.

Previously, the brand had joined forces with Prada and Cartier on the aura Blockchain solution, created by luxury brands to refresh the customer experience.

The brand has also released a metaverse game for players to look for 30 hidden NFTs as a tribute to its founder.

Amid the ongoing Web3 expansion, several brands are selling NFTs of their signature products, matching them with the original product.

High-end luxury brands including Nike, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana bagged a total of $260 million (roughly Rs. 2,074 crore) with the sales of their NFT pieces in 2022, Dune Analytics had reported last year.

A new research report also claimed that the utility of NFTs in the Web3 world is the top reason why tech-savvy investors are turning their attention towards buying digital collectibles. The second most major reason why NFTs appeal to the buyers is the element of long-term profits that they hold.

NFT sales reportedly rose by a massive 117 percent in February 2023. Around March, the valuation of the global NFT market climbed to its nine-month high since June last year to over $2 billion (roughly Rs. 17,200 crore).

Apple’s annual developer conference is just around the corner. From the company’s first mixed reality headset to new software updates, we discuss all the things we’re looking forward to seeing at WWDC 2023 on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Former OpenSea Employee Made ‘Free Money’ Off NFTs, Says US Prosecutor

A former employee of OpenSea, the world’s largest marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), used inside knowledge of which assets would be featured on its homepage to make “free money,” a prosecutor said on Monday as an insider trading trial wound to a close.

The charges against Nathaniel Chastain, a former OpenSea product manager, were the first in a series of high-profile cases related to digital assets launched by the US Attorney’s office in Manhattan last year. Prosecutors have called it the first criminal insider trading case involving such assets.

Prosecutor Thomas Burnett said in his closing argument that Chastain chose which NFTs to feature, and then profited illegally by selling his tokens shortly thereafter. He made upwards of $50,000 (nearly Rs. 40 lakh) off such trades before getting caught in September 2021, Burnett said.

“He was using OpenSea’s information like his own piggy bank,” Burnett told the jury. “It was as good as free money.”

Chastain’s lawyers were expected to give their closing argument later on Monday. They have said that his actions were not insider trading, and that the information he accessed was not OpenSea’s property and had no inherent value to the company.

Chastain’s lawyers have also said OpenSea did not start banning employees from buying or selling featured collections or creators until Chastain’s last day, in September 2021. The company did not treat such information as confidential while Chastain worked there, his lawyer David Miller has argued.

Chastain faces one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. His trial before US District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan began last week.

The case could have broader implications for assets that do not fit into existing regulations preventing investment advisers, brokers and others from trading on material nonpublic information, legal experts have said.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

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Donald Trump Brings Second NFT Collection After Harvesting Around $1 Million From First: Details

Donald Trump, the controversial former President of the US, has decided to venture deeper into the Web3 world by launching a brand-new collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The American billionaire has chosen the Polygon blockchain to support this second series of digital collectibles. In total, 47,000 digital cards showing Trump in over-the-top avatars will be rolled out as part of his second NFT series. As stated by Trump, these NFTs are merely limited-edition collectible items that his admirers can own or auction off in secondary sales.

Each NFT from Trump’s Digital Cards NFTs is priced expensively at $99 (roughly Rs. 8,140). Riding on the success of his first NFT series however, he has expressed confidence that these new 47,000 digital collectibles will also be sold off within just a short time since their launch.

“Original cards sold out so fast, everybody is asking me to do another series. Well, I’ve got some fantastic news for you. My Trump digital trading cards are back with a bang,” the 76-year-old businessman said in an announcement video.

Each of the Trump NFT Digital Trading card comes with a unique pre-set rarity quotient.

Buyers to purchase a total of 47 NFTs from this collection also have been promised a dinner with Trump himself.

The secondary sales of Trump’s previous NFT pieces picked pace in recent days after he was charged with 34 felony counts of allegedly falsifying business records via random money transfers to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Trump’s legal team has denied all charges and requested a trial be slated for later next year.

Nineteen days after the New York grand jury indicted Trump, he announced his second NFT collection.

“I want my fans and supporters to make money, and have fun doing it. I could have raised the price much higher and I believe it still would have sold well, with a lot more money coming to me, but I didn’t choose to do so,” Trump posted on his Truth Social networking platform.

Glimpses of Trump’s new NFT cards have emerged on Twitter.

In December last year, when Trump launched his first NFT series, he said he was doing it for the “cute art”.

Last week it was reported that Trump’s previously launched 45,000 NFTs had sold out within a day, and he could have managed to churn up to $1 million (roughly Rs. 8 crore) from those sales.

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Nike Set to Launch First NFT Sneaker Named ‘Our Force 1’, Sale Slated to Go Live in May

Nike, the multinational sportswear and sneakers brand, is set to step into the next chapter of its Web3 undertakings. The company will be launching its first ever NFT sneaker named ‘Our Force 1 (OF1)’ on its .Swoosh platform next month. This blockchain-based digital collectible from Nike is inspired by the brand’s popular Air Force 1 collection, physical shoes from which have been sold for prices as high as $8,000 (roughly Rs. 6.5 lakh).

Headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon in the US, Nike is looking to work with NFT-related marketing initiatives to bring its products in the Web3 gaming and metaverse ecosystems. This way, the company could advertise its product offerings to newer potential customers.

Starting Tuesday, April 18, Nike will begin airdropping virtual posters of the OF1 sneakers to select users registered on .Swoosh platform. Nike had launched .Swoosh in November 2022 as a Web3 platform that prioritises buying, selling, and trading NFTs based on shoes and apparel.

The receivers of these posters will get an early access to the OF1 NFTs on May 8. For others, the sales of these NFTs will open on May 10.

“The OF1 collection comes in two digital boxes, the Classic Remix box and the New Wave box. Each box is priced at $19.82 (roughly Rs. 1,625) and contains a digital Our Force 1 version of an iconic Air Force 1. In the Classic Remix box, .Swoosh members get a shot at picking up a favourite classic archive AF1 released from 1982 to 2006. In the New Wave box, members could unlock a classic archive from 2007 or later, or an expressive, custom AF1 with a more futuristic twist,” an official blog post from Nike explained.

Company official Edgar Alvarez Barajas shared glimpses of the OF1 NFTs on Twitter.

Nike has been among several high-end luxury brands to have launched NFT initiatives to connect with newer customer-base.

A total of $260 million (roughly Rs. 2,074 crore) has collectively been bagged by high-end luxury brands including Nike, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana with the sales of their NFT pieces, a Dune Analytics report had claimed last August.

Nike launched its first NFT collection named ‘Cryptokicks’ in April with a total of 20,000 pieces. The NFTs from this collection have sold for as high as $134,000 (roughly Rs. 1 crore).

Nike, which acquired virtual design studio RTFKT last December to accelerate its metaverse and NFT push, has bagged $185.3 million (roughly Rs. 1,478 crore) in NFT sales.

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Utility, Long Term Profits Top Two Reasons Making People Buy NFTs: Report

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), that are digital collectibles built on blockchains, have puzzled outsiders of the Web3 world on — why someone would invest thousands or millions on buying images or GIFs at all? Well, a new research report claims that the utility of NFTs in the Web3 world is the top reason why tech-savvy investors are turning their attention towards buying digital collectibles. Mostly, NFTs are engageable with metaverse ecosystems that makes them usable for trading and liquidity purposes. For gaming ecosystems, NFTs also unlocks several privileges and rewards for their holders.

Over three hundred members of the NFT community participated in this survey conducted by GoinGecko and the Blockchain Research Lab. Out of these, 77.6 percent NFT holders justified their purchases for using these digital collectibles for their functions and utility quotient.

The second most major reason why NFTs appeal to the buyers is the element of long-term profits that they hold.

More than just cartoonish-images or small media files, most NFTs hold a financial value that could yield profits in the long term for their holders. Each NFT collection has its supply and rarity criteria, that distinguishes them from competing NFTs and plays a role in its value increasing or decreasing with time.

Other factors linked to the NFTs like their specific use cases, their creators, or artists associated with them also weigh in on the pricing shift for these digital collectibles over time.

Out of all who were surveyed for this report, 76.1 percent responders saw NFTs as long term investment tools.

“NFTs are increasingly being accepted as an inevitable development in the digital world. Not only are NFTs popular among crypto holders, with over 75 percent owning at least one NFT, but traditional industry brands also have NFT collections,” the report said.

In recent years, several big brands across industries have released their NFTs in order to engage with the new age customers. These brands include Gucci, Lamborghini, and Pumaamong others.

It was estimated that a total of $260 million (roughly Rs. 2,074 crore) were collectively bagged by high-end luxury brands including Nike, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana with the sales of their NFT pieces last year.

Many NFT buyers are also known to re-sell their collectibles in exchange for cash or other NFTs.

Apart from their utility and investment quotient, there a bunch of other reasons also why members of the Web3 community are continuing to pour investments on them.

These include intrigue to experiment with the new technology, gaining a stake in the NFT parent company, or promoting social welfare and contributing to charities.

Interestingly, 59 percent NFT buyers claimed they indulge in the space to disrupt established structures and industries.

NFT sales reportedly rose by a massive 117 percent in February 2023. Around March, the valuation of the global NFT market climbed to its nine-month high since June last year to over $2 billion (roughly Rs. 17,200 crore).

Smartphone companies have launched many compelling devices over the first quarter of 2023. What are some of the best phones launched in 2023 you can buy today? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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EA Founder Trip Hawkins Dives Into Web3 Sector With Barcelona-Based Startup

Former Apple executive Trip Hawkins, who founded the company behind the best-selling sports videogame franchise FIFA, is joining a Web3 startup, looking to take on top blockchain games like Axie Infinity.

The founder of Electronic Arts will join as co-founder and strategy chief of Games for a Living (GFAL), Hawkins told Reuters in an interview.

GFAL publishes titles compatible with blockchain technology across consoles, personal computers and smartphones — commonly called Web3.

Interest for Web3 gaming has risen over the past year as it is touted to attract more cryptocurrency users. Players can own, sell, and trade in-game goods in such games.

Hong Kong-based blockchain gaming developer Animoca Brands, which backs popular NFT game Axie Infinity, raised more than $500 million (nearly Rs. 4,150 crore) in 2022.

“Web3 is the bridge to the metaverse,” Hawkins said on Thursday. “And if we’re going to make a metaverse, the economy of the metaverse has to be more like the real world.”

Although there are concerns around security as “cyberwallets” are more prone to hacking, developers are also looking to diversify their platforms amid stunted growth and high app-store fees.

Founded in 2021 by former King executive Manel Sort, Barcelona-based GFAL had a post-money valuation of EUR 13.2 million (nearly Rs. 115 crore) after its latest funding round last year.

As reported a few days back, Indian industry experts believe that NFT projects will take Web3 sector by storm in 2023. WazirX’s Vice President Rajagopal Menon said the technology will intensify industrial rivalries and promotional activities around the world. 

Hardware makers like smartphone companies are also expected to tweak their products to make them more ‘Web3-friendly’ starting next year.

 

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For details of the latest launches and news from Samsung, Xiaomi, Realme, OnePlus, Oppo and other companies at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, visit our MWC 2023 hub.


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