Tag: nft

India’s Shemaroo Entertainment Ropes in Polygon to Launch Bollywood-Themed NFT Marketplace

The Polygon blockchain has bagged another significant partnership in India and this time, it is for the benefit of cinema buffs in the country. Shemaroo Entertainment has partnered with Polygon to launch an NFT marketplace, themed on India’s Bollywood film industry. Shemaroo announced the development on Thursday, February 9. The entertainment and media company has decided to name its upcoming NFT marketplace ‘Virtasy.io’, and it will be launched in the coming days.

Polygon is a green and energy efficient blockchain, created by a team of Indian developers including Sandeep Nailwal and Anurag Arjun. Since NFT marketplaces seem to see constant engagement and transactional processes, basing them on green blockchains tends to reduce the overall running and maintenance costs associated with buying and selling NFTs.

“By leveraging Polygon’s next-gen scaling platform, Shemaroo will be able to offer its users access to cost-efficient and lightning-fast transactions while retaining Ethereum’s robust inherent security and decentralisation. Further, the Polygon network is also highly sustainable thanks to its carbon-neutral status — with plans to go fully carbon-negative in the near future,” the entertainment firm said in a statement.

The company, that was founded in 1962, aims to connect Bollywood enthusiasts with digital collectibles inspired by celebrities and movie characters.

“Pre-empting how Web3 is going to impact the entertainment industry, and to be future-ready, Shemaroo has chalked out its roadmap in this space, and the launch of Virtasy is a major step in that direction,” Hiren Gada, CEO of Shemaroo Entertainment said in a statement.

Previously, Bollywood has expressed interest in the NFT arena after actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, and Sunny Leone released their collections of digital collectibles.

Shemaroo itself, has dabbled in the Web3 arena in recent times. For instance, last year it launched a metaverse cinema experience in Decentraland.

Meanwhile, Polygon, in recent times has emerged as a popular choice in the NFT space alongside Ethereum and Solana.

Starbucks, Warner Music, and Walt Disney are other brands that have partnered with Polygon for their respective NFT projects.

“Polygon Labs remains committed to transforming the NFT space and making it easily accessible to the thriving entertainment and art sector in India. We are delighted to now be associated with Shemaroo, a name synonymous with Bollywood,” Kelly DiGregorio, Vice President and Global Head of Entertainment at Polygon Studios.

Samsung’s Galaxy S23 series of smartphones was launched earlier this week and the South Korean firm’s high-end handsets have seen a few upgrades across all three models. What about the increase in pricing? We discuss this and more 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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NFT Projects Will Take Web3 by Storm in 2023: Indian Industry Experts

The market for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which went through a rocky momentum this year, is projected to explode in popularity in the upcoming year. More brands across industries will adopt NFTs as a way to entice, reward, and retain next-gen buyers to give them immersive experiences enveloped in metaverse experiences. Meta and Reddit are projected to drive the global products and discussions about the NFT and metaverse sectors — both of which witnessed downfalls this year.

A new form of virtual interaction technology based on Web3 is being foresighted to emerge in 2023 that will intensify industrial rivalries and promotional activities around the world, said Rajagopal Menon, Vice President at WazirX crypto exchange.

“Brands will try to outshine each other for visibility among the crypto native audience. Retail adoption of crypto, largely driven by their indirect exposure to virtual digital assets through brands they tend to engage with will also see a rise,” Menon added.

In a report last week, Bloomberg said the sales of NFTs recorded a 16-month low following the downfall of the FTX crypto exchange, citing DappRadar.

The NFT trading volumes have reportedly slid by 97 percent since January.

Next year, however, the digital collectibles sector is projected to make a strong comeback.

The main reason would be more nations having framed their respective laws — which would being a layer of safety for investors.

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

The shift in this technological trend will be sustained and profited by the global artist community.

“By issuing tokens, digital artists can sell one or more limited edition NFT offerings. They will be able to raise sales as a result, which will fuel the market’s expansion throughout the course of the forecast year. The market is expanding as a result of the rising demand for digital art. NFT has become more popular in applications for digital art. These factors will propel the worldwide NFT market’s expansion,” Abhay Aggarwal, CEO and Founder of Colexion NFT marketplace, told Gadgets 360.

The size of the global NFT market is anticipated to increase by $113,933 million (roughly Rs. 940 crore) between 2022 and 2027, according to market research firm Technavio.

In the next four years, the NFT market is expected to swell at a CAGR of 35.02 percent.

The report also said that during the projection period, 39 percent of the growth of the global market would be attributable to Asia-Pacific Countries (APAC).

Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article. 

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China Set to Launch State-Backed NFT Marketplace on Special ‘Cultural Protection’ Chain

China, that is rather infamous for keeping an extremely restrictive approach towards the crypto sector, is taking small steps into exploring the digital assets sector. The country is geared-up to launch an official, state-backed NFT marketplace, that would let Chinese NFT traders to dabble in the space, but under the oversight of China’s government. A launch ceremony for this marketplace has been slated for January 1. It will be held in China’s capital city of Beijing at a time when the country is yet again, riddled with the COVID-19 crisis.

Called the ‘China Digital Asset Trading Platform’, the initiative is aimed at creating a safe ecosystem for the secondary sales of NFTs, which if not monitored, can dangerously expose buyers to hack attacks and scams.

Three state-owned entities — China Technology Exchange, China Cultural Relics Exchange Center, and Huaban Digital Copyright Service Center Co., Ltd — have collectively created this NFT trading platforms, keeping it in alignment with China’s laws and regulations, China’s Sina News said in its report.

Instead of using an existing blockchain like Ethereum or Solana, the Chinese government has decided to base this NFT platform on a specially curated blockchain, named the ‘China Cultural Heritage Chain’.

The blockchain was reportedly initiated by the China Cultural Relics Exchange Center, aimed at ensuring the copyright protection of the cultural digital sector.

In September last year, China imposed a blanket ban on all crypto-related activities.

The government at the time, had not decided a concrete stance on the categorisation of NFTs.

In this grey zone, the secondary sales of digital collectibles had begun to pick pace in China.

In March this year, WeChat public accounts linked to NFT trading, were blocked by its parent company Tencent.

“In order to prevent the risk of virtual currency trading speculation, the WeChat public platform has recently standardised and rectified public accounts and small programs for speculation and secondary sales of digital collections,” WeChat had said in a statement at the time.

Despite increasing the oversight on the virtual assets sector, China is gradually tapping in to explore the potential of the blockchain technology.

The country is already widely testing its e-CNY CBDC, which is a blockchain representation of China’s fiat currency.

This week, the Chinese authorities introduced a feature for existing CBDC users to let them send financial gifts to their friends and family as ‘red packets’. Considered as a symbol of ‘good luck’, the ‘red packets’ — also called the ‘Hongbao’ — are used for presenting people with money as a gesture of luck around festivals in the Asian nation.

China is still not onboard with allowing cryptocurrencies to penetrate its financial systems.

Along with the volatility of the crypto sector and the anonymity of transactions crypto offers, the electricity required to keep crypto-related operations up and running had become a matter of concern for the Chinese authorities before all activities around that sector was banned.

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Magic Eden NFT Marketplace Tries to Entice Traffic with Rewards as Market Crumbles

Magic Eden is trying to dial up the engagement on its platform at a time when the digital assets market as a whole is undergoing a downturn. The Solana-based NFT marketplace has announced a loyalty rewards initiative to entice the buyers of digital collectibles. The feature will fetch users five ‘Magic Points’ for every trade worth SOL 1. As per today’s market rate, Solana (SOL) is trading at $14 (roughly Rs. 1,170). As users collect more Magic Points, the platform will upgrade them to complete all loyalty tiers.

Each loyalty tier will unlock different set of benefits for people who use Magic Eden to buy and sell digital collectibles.

These rewards include exclusive content from creators, discounts from partners, and airdropped NFTs to them.

For now, the rewards programme has been launched in its Beta phase, the company said in a Twitter post.

Select users are already testing the programme.

“We want Magic Eden to be a place where collectors and creators connect beyond the transactional level and instead, a hub where users can more deeply engage with the community,” a Coindesk report quoted CEO Jack Lu as saying.

The platform, which raised $130 million (roughly Rs. 1,020 crore) in a Series A funding round in late June, touched a valuation of $1.6 billion (roughly Rs. 12,620 crore) in recent times.

Earlier this year, the marketplace added support for NFTs built on the Ethereum blockchain.

Solana NFT volumes has been down since June, with sales volume figures of $91.52 million (roughly Rs. 730 crore) in June, down by 64 percent from $261.07 million (roughly Rs. 2,100 crore) in May 2022, an analysis by BeingCrypto had highlighted in previous months.

On OpenSea NFT marketplace as well, which is Magic Eden’s more established rival, sales volumes plunged.

According to crypto analytics community Dune data, OpenSea’s trading volume saw a steady declined throughout the first two quarters of the year, sliding to $3.1 billion (roughly Rs. 24,800 crore) in May.

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Coinbase Says Apple’s App Store Blocked Its App Release on NFTs in Wallet

Coinbase Global said on Thursday customers using Apple’s iOS will not be able to send non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the cryptocurrency exchange’s wallet anymore.

“Apple‘s claim is that the gas fees required to send NFTs need to be paid through their In-App Purchase system, so that they can collect 30 percent of the gas fee,” Coinbase Wallet added in a tweet.

Coinbase said it would not be able to comply with the requirement even if it tried as the iPhone maker’s proprietary in-app purchase system does not support crypto.

“Apple has introduced new policies to protect their profits at the expense of consumer investment in NFTs and developer innovation across the crypto ecosystem,” said Coinbase, adding the policy was similar to Apple trying to take a cut of fees for every email that gets sent over open internet protocols.

Apple did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the matter.

The 30 percent fees has been a contentious point between the world’s most valuable company and other app developers like Spotify and Fortnite maker Epic Games, which have accused the company of misusing its “monopoly”.

Coinbase’s issue with Apple comes at difficult time for the crypto exchange, whose shares are down roughly 80 percent so far this year. The company has also cut jobs to manage expenses as investors lose appetite for cryptocurrencies.

NFTs, which are digital assets that exist on the blockchain and carry unique digital signatures, exploded in popularity in 2021 but have seen demand crippled by the crypto winter in recent months.

Cryptocurrencies have been roiled as higher interest rates and worries of an economic downturn force investors to dump risky assets with the recent collapse of rival exchange FTX also piling pressure on the industry.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

 

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Mattel Launches NFT Marketplace on Flow, Hot Wheels NFT Garage Drop Announced

Mattel, the global toy company, has officially launched its digital collectibles marketplace a year after its first Hot Wheels non-fungible token (NFT) minting on the Ethereum network. In January 2022, Mattel’s Barbie released a ready-to-wear NFT collection in collaboration with Balmain, a luxury fashion brand. The current marketplace is built on the Flow blockchain and does not require users to own cryptocurrency to make purchases. This platform also enables owners of Hot Wheels Garage NFTs on the WAX blockchain to eventually transfer their tokens to Flow.

“In launching our own marketplace, we’re able to translate iconic Mattel IP into digital art, engaging directly with our customers,” said Ron Friedman, Vice President at Mattel Future Lab. “This is the latest evolution of our digital endeavors, and we look forward to sharing more drops soon inspired by some of the world’s favorite Mattel brands.”

The launch comes as NFT technology has faced uncertainty amid months of slumping sales and a crash in the cryptocurrency market triggered by the collapse of major exchange FTX. But Friedman said the brand remains focused on delivering a digital collectible that stands apart from market volatility and offers fans some form of real-world utility.

According to the company, the NFT marketplace is designed for “mainstream consumers,” and users don’t have to own crypto to make purchases.

Also, there are plans to integrate a “peer-to-peer trading platform that will allow collectors to trade their digital collectibles between them.” However, this integration will take place sometime in early 2023.

The marketplace is built on top of Flow, the blockchain that powers the NBA Top Shot platform.

Mattel focuses on producing goods such as games, dolls, and action figures. The company also owns the intellectual property (IP) rights to brands such as Hot Wheels, UNO, Fisher-Price, Barbie, and Matchbox.

Mattel plans to create NFTs for all these brands and has so far released collections for its Barbie and Hot Wheels franchises. The latter comprises artwork that features 60 cars from top brands such as Aston Martin, McLaren, and many others.

The NFTs will be grouped into packs, each consisting of seven hot wheels that go for $25 (roughly Rs. 2,000) per pack. And each pack will feature NFTs of varying rarities. The rarest can be redeemed for physical die-cast replicas.

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Sony Files Patent for Tracking Digital Collectibles in Games Using NFTs

Sony, in a patent published recently, suggests it’s planning to feature blockchain technology in games in the future. That patent, which was filed by the company back in 2021, specifically lists a system and method that will track “digital assets,” and employs language commonly associated with blockchain-related products such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). In relation to video games, the patent’s description refers to digital assets as in-game items such as characters. Interestingly, it also lists digital media that represents a game, such as a trailer or photo.

The patent, which Eurogamer first spotted, is called “Tracking Unique In-Game Digital Assets Using Tokens on a Distributed Ledger,” and it seems Sony is using “digital assets” as a broad term to include a range of possible token-tracked items.

In the patent, Sony says these assets may include anything from characters and in-game items to specific moments captured via screenshots and video grabs. If there was any doubt that the patent referred to NFTs and blockchain technology, the remaining description in the patent puts that to rest.

“A unique token for the digital asset can include a unique identifier and metadata identifying properties of the digital asset,” reads the general description. “Changes to properties of the digital asset, such as ownership, visual appearance, or metadata, can be identified in a request to update the history.”

While the patent is definitely blockchain related, the concept of “digital collectibles” outside of the NFT and blockchain space is not new to Sony. The company recently launched a loyalty program known as PlayStation Stars, which provides digital representations of items from video games.

Considering that the patent was applied for in May 2021 when there was increasing public interest in NFTs, and that there is currently no official announcement from the company on its plans, it is unclear if there are any ongoing developments on NFTs in video games from Sony.

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GameStop’s NFT Marketplace Goes Live With More Features on Immutable X After Beta Phase Run

US-based video game company GameStop has officially launched its non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace on Immutable X and will now support NFTs minted via the Ethereum layer 2 scaling solution. According to the company’s announcement on Monday, the GameStop NFT marketplace will “unlock access to Web3 games and millions of world-class, NFT gaming assets to tens of millions of GameStop players and GameStop Powerup Pro loyalty customers across the United States.” Its launch follows a joint fund of $100 million (roughly Rs. 826 crore) between GameStop and Immutable X in February 2022.

GameStop first announced the NFT marketplace in February, but it dropped several hints about the same in 2021 as well. The marketplace has been operating in a public beta phase since July, and after three months of testing, it is now live.

Since February, GameStop and Immutable X have embarked upon various journeys, including debuting a $100 million (roughly Rs. 826 crore) grant fund meant “to drive new game pitches, signings and integrations from builders and creators powering the future of NFTs and Web3 gaming,” as per a statement.

Recently, the integration of Immutable X into the GameStop wallet was also announced which granted the users the ability to manage their funds and digital assets under one roof easily.

“Our partnership with GameStop is an important step forward as Immutable brings the next billion players to Web3 gaming. Today’s launch of the GameStop NFT Marketplace means that we can now provide access to millions of additional NFTs, more of the top Web3 games being developed today, while maintaining a best-in-class experience for players,” said Robbie Ferguson, President and co-founder of Immutable X.

As reported earlier, GameStop added NFT trading cards in the virtual trading card game “Gods Unchained” under its PowerUp Rewards Pro program. The members of the loyalty program were given unique codes which were then used to redeem expansion packs in the game.

In a statement provided to CoinDesk, Jonathan Reedy, vice president of strategic partnerships at ImmutableX, revealed that down the line, the firm aims to onboard new Web3 gamers with the introduction of in-person and virtual gameplay along with educational material.

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Eleven Percent of Global Web3 Talent Resides in India, Number Expected to Soon Grow by 120 Percent: Report

India, where rules and regulations around the crypto sector are still under drafting, is witnessing a big boom. Around 11 percent of the world’s total Web3 talent resides in India, the nation’s primary non-government tech trade body Nasscom said in a recent report. Titled ‘The India Web3 Startup Landscape, An Emerging Technology Leadership Frontier’ the report intends to explore the current state and future potential of the Web3 industry despite temporary roadblocks.

“India is the 3rd largest Web3 talent pool in the world. The Indian tech industry directly employs nearly 75,000 blockchain professionals today. Further, this talent pool is expected to grow by over 120 percent in the next one or two years,” a Nasscom press release posted by CryptoSlate said in a statement.

India seems to have an advantage in the Web3 industry now that the global demand for blockchain developer sis rising exponentially.

Indian developers are marching ahead inside the blockchain sector with expertise in development and quick reskilling that could eradicate the demand-supply gap.

At present, India is home to over 450 active Web3 startups. The Indian Web3 ecosystem has raised $1.3 billion (roughly Rs. 10,769 crore) funding through April 2022.

In addition, over 60 percent of the Indian Web3 startups have expanded outside India.

Most of the Indian Web3 firms are working in the areas of blockchain gaming, decentralised finance (DeFi), Metaverse, as well as NFTs.

“India’s rapid adoption of new-age technologies, its growing startup ecosystem, and large-scale digitally skilled talent potential is cementing the country’s position in the global Web3 landscape. While we are only scratching the surface when it comes to emerging tech such as Web3, the technology [is expected to] make significant advances leading to innovative use-cases and magnified positive impact at a grassroots level,” said Nasscom President Debjani Ghosh.

India recently secured the fourth position on the 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Index compiled by blockchain research firm Chainalysis.

In a recent interview with Gadgets 360, UAE-based crypto-centric investment firm Cypher Capital highlighted that the blockchain tech can bring most benefits to the healthcare and logistics industries of India.

Since the beginning of this year, Indians have had to pay a 30 percent tax on all crypto earnings and profits. Back in July, Indian crypto exchanges recorded a nosedive in trading volumes after the one percent TDS rule on each transaction went live on July 1.

Despite the much-criticised tax regime, over seven per cent of Indians owned digital currency in the form of cryptocurrency in 2021, according to the United Nations trade and development body UNCTAD.

Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article. 

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CNN Announces Abrupt Shutdown of ‘Vault’ NFT Marketplace, Users Call It a ‘Rug Pull’

CNN, the popular TV news channel and digital media outlet, will no longer continue its non-fungible token (NFT) and Web3 project announced in the summer of 2021. The company confirmed this in a statement on Monday, saying, “we have decided that it’s time to say goodbye to Vault by CNN,” the Web3 project in question. CNN initially launched the project as a six-week experiment of issuing digital collectables or NFTs of exclusive historical moments and new stories. However, the scope of Vault was later expanded amid engagement and support from the community.

“The Vault team is honoured to have partnered with amazing journalists, producers, artists, photojournalists, and collectors from all over the world during our time together, but we have decided that it’s time to say goodbye to Vault by CNN,” the company said in a statement.

CNN added that the Discord channel would be closed by the end of October. However, the Vault’s website and NFTs already collected by users will continue to be live (on Flow blockchain), and collectors will be compensated.

“While we will no longer be developing or maintaining this community, the Vault NFT collection will live on,” CNN added. “To thank the thousands of collectors who joined us in this experiment, we are committed to compensating wallets that own Vault NFTs.”

Meanwhile, the community appears to be rattled by the announcement, to the extent some of the collectors are accusing CNN of a “rug pull.” As per a CoinTelegraph report, a CNN staff member in the ‘Vault’ Discord mentioned that users involved in the NFT program will be compensated in one way or another. He noted that users who bought NFTs would be compensated with stablecoins or another token.

The staff mentioned that details are being worked on but stressed that the company would only pay 20 percent of the mint price for each NFT back to those that bought them. He mentioned that the Vault marketplace would continue functioning, and the collections would remain valuable.

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